If you get the opportunity to pitch your business idea to an investor firstly congratulate yourself, most business plans get rejected after reading just the executive summary. If an investor has agreed to meet you there is something in your business plan, business idea or your skills and experience that interests them and they want to know more.
When you pitch your business to an investor make sure you remember these points:
Dress in a professional manner and make sure your personal hygiene is up to standard.
Research the investor (s) that you are pitching to, find out their area of speciality and business history. It will help you predict the questions they might ask. Understanding the investor will enable you to tap into the wealth of their experience and contacts, this may be more valuable than their financial investment.
Visualise your business, don’t just reel off facts and statistics. Make sure the investor understands what your business does and how it benefits your customers.
Understand your market and your market and financial projections, be prepared to ask difficult questions about your market research and your sales projections.
Be specific about how much investment you need and what the money is for. Asking for investment for a contingency will not impress a potential investor.
Show how passionate you are about your business, this will catch the investors‘ attention, but you need to explain your business in detail.
Conclusion
Pitching your business to a potential investor is difficult, it is a skill and you will get better at it. The key to success is preparation and development of your delivery and value proposition each time.
It is important to learn from every pitch and use any feedback you receive to improve your pitching technique and your business. If they choose not to invest in your business find out why and use this information to improve your value proposition.
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