How do you make your investment pitch more memorable?

It’s a real challenge these days. Investors have more opportunities than ever to invest. So if you are pitching to investors, it’s much harder to stand out.

One essential strategy you want to deploy when pitching is to be more memorable. If you are memorable (for the right reasons) you increase your chances of progressing beyond “just a first meeting”.

According to US Professors Chip and Dan Heath*, there are six essential attributes to becoming memorable. If your investment pitch demonstrates these six characteristics, you increase the chances of raising the money you want.

Much of the work we do at BBA is to help funds and businesses craft their investment propositions so that they are memorable and therefore more investable.

Apply these six tips to your investment pitch to stand out in the minds of prospective investors:

Memorable Investment Pitch Tip #1. Be Simple

If it’s easy to explain, it’s easy to remember. But complexity is easy; achieving simplicity is hard. One challenge when raising money is to strip back your investment proposition to its bare essentials. If you are too complex you become forgettable.

Memorable Investment Pitch Tip #2. Be Unexpected

DON’T BE BORING. If your pitch sounds just like everyone else’s, you’ll be forgotten quickly. Instead, intrigue us and appeal to our natural curiosity. Is there something counter-intuitive about your approach? Get investors thinking (but not too hard) and they are more likely to remember you.
Make my pitch more memorable

Memorable Investment Pitch Tip #3. Show Credibility

If your business plan has you with ‘just’ a 5% share of a $50bn market in 5 years, you’ll lack credibility. Help us believe. Show (don’t tell) what you have done, what you are doing and what you will do so that we can all have faith in you. This rule also applies to your pitch book: check your private equity pitch book for investor-readiness against our six tests here.

Memorable Investment Pitch Tip #4. Make the Abstract Concrete

 Bring your pitch to life with metaphor, analogies and clear examples. When Steve Jobs launched the iPod he talked about “1,000 songs in your pocket”. That was concrete. No MB, no Hz, no bit rates, no hard drives. You can do the same – even with the most obscure hedge fund strategy.

Memorable Investment Pitch Tip #5. Harness Emotions

In the logical investment world, it’s easy to forget the critical role that emotions play when making decisions. If our gut says yes, then we may well take a second look, even if uncertainties remain. How do you harness emotions?  You can use stories, appeals to greater things and make it personal. For example: do you offer investment returns, or do you offer security in retirement.

Memorable Investment Pitch Tip #6. Tell Stories

Facts get forgotten; stories get repeated. Turn your pitch into a story. Tell stories within your pitch. Get away from the dull “deep” dive into detail on every page and instead help us understand the big picture. Then you can fill in the details where we need them.
Make my pitch more memorable
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Of course, being memorable is one of the tools in your fundraising arsenal. There are seven others which are equally important for successful fundraising. Our new eBook, Standing Out with Investors, sets out all the elements of a successful PE Fund or VC pitch through a series of questions. Each question will help you identify whether that element is a current strength for you, or an area for improvement.

The eBook is also full of practical tips, advice and feedback from LPs, and will help you make immediate improvements to your investor pitches and meetings. Download it for free here.

How memorable is your investment pitch?

If you want help transforming your investment proposition into something more memorable, get in touch. Speak to one of our expert advisors about how we can help you become more memorable and therefore more investable.

Email Louise or call her on +44 (0)20 7018 0922 to book an initial chat with a member of our team.

You may also be interested in our Little Green Book for Private Equity Fund Managers. This short guide details what we do at each stage of the process and how we can help you overcome your challenges with investors.
Make my pitch more memorable

Video: How Private Equity Funds can pitch, present and persuade more effectively

Paul Farrow is a Partner at Benjamin Ball Associates. In this video from SuperReturn US East, Paul discusses the common mistakes made by Private Equity funds when communicating with potential investors. He reveals the unexpected personality trait that investors look for in fund managers, and why LPs don’t want to ‘be taken through your pitch presentation’. He shares essential advice that will improve your fund’s messaging, help you stand out and impress prospective investors. Click the play button below to watch:

*Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath, 2007, Random House