Cash flow problems are one of the biggest causes of business failure, especially in the first few years. Nothing ever goes quite to plan and, even though you projected large profits by this point, they haven’t appeared. Don’t worry, it happens to every business owner at some point. When you find yourself running out of cash quicker than you bring it in, there’s a simple solution: get more cash. Except, it isn’t that simple. Trying to find people to invest more cash in a business that is failing to bring in enough revenue is going to be hard. Hard, but not impossible. You’ll just have to wow them with an amazing pitch and convince them that you can still turn this business around and give them a return on their investment. When you’re setting up for your meeting, make sure to remember these things.
Look Professional
The substance of your pitch is the most important part, but aesthetics play a huge part in people’s perception of you. If the investors get the impression that you’re scruffy and unorganized, they won’t want to deal with you. Make sure that you look the part, and that goes for all of your equipment as well. Companies like Alpine Display provide bespoke designs for custom exhibition stands which give your presentation that professional edge. Turning up with an easel and a few posters isn’t going to impress anybody. Have good quality business cards to hand out at the end of the pitch as well, so they can contact you if they want to offer you the money.
Don’t Overdo It
When you get in there, you’ll have the urge to splurge out any piece of information that you think might help your case, but this won’t help you. Less is always more. Most investors want an elevator pitch that covers all of the basic information and nothing more. Let the products do the talking and you should be fine. If you start explaining everything in massive amounts of detail, the investors will get bored and switch off. If they can’t get to grips with the product in a short amount of time, then they won’t trust that customers can either.
Facts Not Fiction
Walking in and giving them some grand speech about how your projected profits are going to be in the millions within five years sounds great, but investors aren’t going to buy it. Projections are never airtight and often, people fall short. Instead, you should go in with something that you can actually back up. Show them the progress that you have made so far and speak to them about how you plan to build on it. That will inspire a lot more confidence than numbers you’ve plucked out of thin air that aren’t likely to come to anything.
Don’t Be Too Ambitious
Ambition and drive is an important trait in any good businessman and you’ll want to show that off to investors. However, if you take it too far, you could come across as a liability. Investors might think that you’re the kind of person that would try to expand too much and end up losing it all again. Come across as passionate and driven, but don’t be too in their face about it.
This pitch is make or break for your business so follow these tips and give it everything you’ve got.
