All too often, presenters fall in love with the “genius” idea behind their business idea – and ignore what the prospect needs-to-know. As our ADAP formula instructs, the only way to succeed is to share What’s Important Now (WIN) from the audience’s perspective (Audience-Driven, Authentic- Presentations). Over and over again, we need to help presenters get the message, because the people who are designing the presentation are focused on their “unique” idea or making sure the presentation meets the format requirements of their institution. What a shame.
This week, I met with a former client with a distinguished career in raising money for a wide-variety of companies – from start-ups to public companies focusing on M&A. His team recently developed a unique, cost-effective, risk-minimizing financial structure for creating a fund for a new business accelerator. He brought in the draft presentation, and we spent time reviewing the concept he developed. It’s impressive for its scalability capabilities for investors and investment opportunities.
When he asked for help in developing the presentation itself and its delivery, I had to disappoint him by telling him he needed to do more homework. Nowhere in the presentation were answers to the key questions that investors have, especially those focused on early stage ventures to give them confidence that the money will be invested in companies with the right market opportunity, the right customer value proposition, and right management team to execute the plan successfully. Of course, it was too early to list specific companies; so the investor needs to have confidence that the Fund management team has current (not just past) expertise to attract a large universe of likely candidates and the ability to select a few winners based on a unique screening process. We discussed two other similar companies who had successfully accomplished what they wanted to do: both demonstrated multi-step screening processes that allowed them to sift through 1000 candidates to pick two winners. One actually raised a $100M opportunity fund, using such an ADAP presentation.
The lesson is one we see often at Presentation Excellence where clients come to us with high-stakes deals: it’s okay to fall love with your idea, so you can authentically sell it. But if you’re not audience-driven, it will not persuade the prospect. What’s your experience? Share it!