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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
—
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.
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
*Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath, 2007, Random House
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Client Services Director
Louise Angus
+44 (0)20 7018 0922