Copy Examples

Elevator pitch examples for handymen

An elevator pitch fails when it describes the business instead of giving the listener a reason to ask a second question. These end somewhere the other person can pick up.

Ten of them follow, written for handymen rather than filled in from a template. Your customer is someone with a list of six small things and nobody who will do them, and what they are weighing up before they get in touch is nobody will take a job this small, and the ones who say yes never call back.

The one-liner

I am a handyman in [your town] — I take on small repairs and furniture assembly for someone with a list of six small things and nobody who will do them.

Use this when you have one sentence and no idea who you are talking to.

Problem first

The thing people worry about with handymen is nobody will take a job this small, and the ones who say yes never call back. That is the part I deal with. I am a handyman, and send me a photo and I will tell you what it takes.

Use this where the problem is instantly recognisable and the service is not.

Names who it is for

I work for someone with a list of six small things and nobody who will do them. Mostly small repairs and furniture assembly. If that is not you, you probably know someone.

Use this at an event where most people are not your customer, to find the ones who are.

Credential first

I am insured. I turn up in the window I gave you. I mostly do small repairs and furniture assembly.

Use this in a room where qualification is the thing that buys attention.

The contrast

Most handymen [what the default does]. I am the one that actually shows up for the small job. That is more or less the whole difference.

Use this when your market has a clear default and you are not it.

With a number in it

I am a handyman — [number] years, [number] jobs, and I take the small jobs, which is the whole point.

Use this when you have a real number. Do not invent one.

The origin

I started because nobody will take a job this small, and the ones who say yes never call back was normal in this trade and it did not need to be. So that is the business: a handyman where send me a photo and I will tell you what it takes.

Use this when the reason you started is short and true.

Ten seconds

Handyman. Small repairs, mostly. [your town].

Use this when someone asks what you do and is already half-turned away.

Ends with the ask

I am a handyman doing small repairs and furniture assembly. If you ever hear someone say [the thing your customers say], that is me.

Use this when the point of the conversation is a referral, not a sale.

The warm version

[their question] — I am a handyman. The part people usually ask about is actually showing up for the small job.

Use this where the pitch would land badly and a conversation would not.

Writing for handymen: what actually matters

What should a handyman’s website say that a generic one does not?

Three things, in this order. That you are insured. That you understand the thing people are actually worried about, which for handymen is nobody will take a job this small, and the ones who say yes never call back. And what happens next: text me a photo of the job and I will tell you what it needs. Everything else on the page is decoration by comparison.

What does someone with a list of six small things and nobody who will do them check first?

The credential, then the proof. For handymen it sounds like this. I take the small jobs, which is the whole point. I tell you my hourly rate up front. I answer my own phone. Put at least one of those above the fold rather than on a separate page nobody opens.

What is the most common mistake on a handyman’s website?

Writing about the business instead of the customer. "We have been established since 1998" answers a question nobody asked. "Text me a photo of the job and I will tell you what it needs" answers the one they are actually holding. If you only fix one thing, fix that.

How long should the copy be?

Shorter than you think, except where trust is being built. An About page of 120 well-chosen words beats 500 vague ones. The exception is anything explaining nobody will take a job this small, and the ones who say yes never call back — there, specifics earn their length.

Everything else for handymen

Elevator pitch for other trades

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