Learn from the experts how to make your private equity fund raising presentations more persuasive.

Based on a series of private equity panels chaired by Benjamin Ball, this paper lays out a step by step approach to creating more persuasive investor presentations to LPs.

Click to download the white paper:

What’s Your Headline?

The 5 Rules of Effective Media Interview Preparation

As your company representative, you become its face and voice –  the reputation of your company is now in your hands.

Understanding how to handle the media is an essential skill that every executive should develop. Media training is a core management skill.

Become a confident interviewee

During your interview, one badly phrased response, a lengthy hesitation or a flippant remark can bring disaster. That’s why media training is so important.

For this reason our clients such as Olswang, Deutsche Bank, Fishburn Hedges and Miele turn to us for results-driven training.

Through our tailored 1:1 and in-house training courses, experts work with you to craft both your message and your performance. You will create a winning combination for any interview situation.

By taking a hands-on practical approach your confidence will soar and you’ll leave the workshop armed with new techniques that you can put in to practice straight away.

Make your next interview a success by calling us today on 0845 676 9766 or emailinfo@benjaminball.com to discuss your media training needs.

“It’s not just what you say that counts, it’s also how you say it.
The success of your argument critically depends on your manner of presenting it.”
Alain de Botton

Be More Persuasive

Persuasive presenting takes more than just a few well-chosen words. To succeed it is essential that your team offers the ‘whole package’.

Whether you are talking to investors, pitching for new business, or appealing to your colleagues you can improve how you Pitch, Present & Persuade.

Use the Five Pillars of Persuasion

Persuasion isn’t about emotive language and pleading looks; persuasion comes from the interaction of 5 elements:

1. Knowing your audience – what really matters to them? Create messages that speak from their point of view
2. Offering a simple message – keep your ideas clear and to the point
3. Telling them a story – facts get forgotton, stories get repeated
4. Being enthusiastic – your performance is as important as your words. Energy and passion get results
5. Acting as one – make every part of your communication work. Personal interaction, visual aids and handouts all add to the impact

As you can see, while your words and messages are important, how you look, how you talk and how you gel as a team are just as crucial.

A powerful story delivered with conviction by a united team will impress the most sceptical audience.

If you want reminding how to put together and deliver a great pitch to investors, David Rose sums it up beautifully in this short TED video

The advice is clear, simple, and gets to the point.

In summary:

You need to get across that you have/you are:

• Integrity
• Passion
• Experience
• Knowledge
• Skill
• Leadership
• Commitment
• Vision
• Realism
• Coachable

You do this by giving your pitch:

• A logical progression
• Include “Things I know and understand”
• Clear validation
• A believable upside

You must avoid:

• Things that the VC knows/thinks are untrue
• Things they don;t understand
• Things that make the VC think

David Rose’s recommended running order is:

• Logo
• Business Overview
• Management Team
• Market
• Produce
• Business Model
• Strategic Relationships
• Competition
• Barriers to Entry
• Financial Overview
• Use of Proceeds
• Capital and Valuation
• Logo

Great advice from a master.

How can you improve your firm’s success in pitching? In presenting? And in giving conference talks? How much would a 10% improvement across your company be worth?

You can learn a lot by reviewing how other people present.

We analyse great speakers to help our clients be more effective when pitching or presenting. That’s why clients such as Statoil, Deutsche Bank and Miele use Benjamin Ball Associates for their presentation skills training.

Three Persuasive Videos for Summer

Despite huge differences in the following three videos, you will see that all three speakers:

- Make a connection with the audience in the first 15 seconds
- Explain complex ideas clearly and simply
- Look and sound confident

They do this using different techniques. For example, as you watch, note how they:

- Tell personal stories
- Use short sentences
- Incorporate many pauses
- Talk directly to the audience
- Ask a good number of questions
- Use rhetorical techniques such as contrasts and triplets

Each talk has a different purpose. But each works well for similar reasons. You too can learn how to use these persuasive techniques.

Sheryl Sandberg – Why we have too few women leaders

Sheryl Sandberg is the COO of Facebook. She gives a highly personal and compelling talk explaining why few women get to the top. She has practical advice about how to change this.

Sheryl Sandberg: Why we have too few women leaders

Lt Tim Collins – Eve of battle talk

How do you get your men fired up to risk their lives and still remain disciplined under pressure? This re-enactment by Kenneth Branagh of a reported off-the-cuff speech is a perfect example.

Col Tim Collins’ inspirational speech – Kenneth Branagh

CFO of Walmart – annual shareholders meeting

Not every firm has a shareholders meeting as big as this. Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley of Walmart shows how you can speak to analysts, shareholders and employees and keep them all engaged.

Walmart Shareholders Meeting 2011 – Financial Report

Pitch, Present and Persuade

If you want to give impressive presentations and pitch more successfully we’d be delighted to help. You will find us particularly strong in making complex financial presentations persuasive. That is why lawyers and corporates, hedge funds and private equity firms all use us. The difference you will appreciate is that all our advice and training is specifically designed to help you achieve your business objectives. You can use our services throughout Europe and the Middle East.

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time. I was blown away by what we achieved.”
Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

If you have an important pitch or presentation coming up, or you want to improve the skills of your team, contact us to discuss how we can help.

We all know that body language is important in business.  But how important?

And does is really make a big difference when selling something complex like an investment in a hedge fund, private equity or venture capital?

And can you really improve how you are precieved just by changing some superficial behaviours?

The answer is definitely yes.

Professor Amy Cuddy of Harvard Business School has been studying the importance of body language and power poses on decision making.

In this 10 minute video she reviews some research into power poses and give some quick tips on how to be more successful in interviews and when pitching for investment.

In particular, note the importance of

1) Preparing in advance
2) Being enthusiastic, and not awkward
3) Using expansive body language, (without being dominant)

Call us to discuss how we can help you with your power poses.

Are there some underlying ideas that distinguish a great presentation?

Are there things that you can learn to improve your presentations?

We have found that drawing upon research into cognitive psychology and by studying great design we can help our clients create better and more effective presentations.

Even investor pitches and annual results presentations are improved by applying some simple rules.

If you are interested in some of what inspires us, these two presentations, and one video, will give you some useful tips on how to create and deliver more effective presentations.

In just a hour you can be cured of your ums and errs – permanently.

I urge you to review this quick guide to what makes a good presentation.

There are approximately 3500 private equity funds in China. Of these a large proportion are fund raising. At the SuperReturn private equity conference in Beijing we ran a series of panels looking into best practice for private equity fund raising.

As a result, we have put together a short white paper with tips from some of the leading GPs and LPs in the region.  This advice is relevant for private equity funds globally.

Download the paper here:

What Does it Take to Persuade Investors – White Paper for Private Equity Fund Raising

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