Convince Investors to Fund You

by Tom Marcoux

  Strive for humanness. Great brands achieve a high level of humanness.{click to tweet} They speak to you as an individual, not as part of a market. It’s “my iPod,” “my Macintosh,” “my Harley Davidson” and “my bottle of Coke.” By contrast, no one thinks, “My Microsoft Office,” so I wouldn’t label Microsoft as a great brand although kids think of “My xBox.” Unfortunately for Microsoft, “xBox” and “Microsoft” are not closely linked to each other.

  Now step back and ask yourself the $64,000 question: “If we don’t spend a dime on marketing, will people be aware of our brand and understand what it stands for?” Because the real world of marketing is this: you don’t have a big marketing budget, so you have to depend on people “creating” your brand for you.

  Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva, (an online design service) and an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, he was the chief evangelist of Apple and special adviser to the CEO of the Motorola business unit of Google. His many acclaimed books include The Art of Social Media and Enchantment. He lives in Silicon Valley with his family and on social media where he has ten million followers.

  Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College. www.GuyKawasaki.com

  More methods for working with Social Media

  If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

  – Antoine De Saint Exupery

  Antoine’s comment inspires us to touch people’s hearts and create a feeling of longing in them.

  Communicating—especially via social media—involves capturing the viewer’s attention.

  An old journalistic comment is, “If it bleeds, it leads.” We notice that news broadcasts often begin with intense stories about hurricanes and other calamities.

  If you can show people how to protect themselves from loss, you can seize their attention.

  Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

  – Antoine De Saint Exupery

  Simplicity counts. We live in a sound bite culture. You need to get your message down to a simple, clear, hard-hitting point. “Your brand is the shortest distance to trust,” I advised the audience of my sixth annual presentation to the National Association of Broadcasters Conference, in Las Vegas.

  Being positive with a simple message works in certain situations. About 20 years later, I still remember one link on Oprah.com The link stated simply Get Better Sleep. I clicked on this link.

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  Be Heard-20 Method #7

  Great Communicators Give

  Compelling Speeches

  What would you do if you were terrified of speaking before a group? Would you become a professional speaker? That’s what I did.

  How did I make the transition? When I was in grammar school, I was pushed to play the piano for thirty-one elderly people living in a senior-care facility. I sat down and my leg began to shake so fast—like a hummingbird’s wings. I felt sure they could see my terror. My foot shook so hard that I was afraid it would fall off the pedal with an embarrassing thud. I was focused on the thoughts, “How am I doing? They’ve heard these songs before. My playing is not that good. They’ll wince at all the wrong notes.”

  My fear of public performance has been part of my path to be a public speaker who entertains thousands of people from Silicon Valley, California to New York to Thailand and New Zealand—and more.

  I had to learn techniques to handle my fears. When I speak now, my focus is, “How may I serve?” I let go of the thought, “How am I doing?”

  To make things better, it is crucial that you take action. To give good speeches, here’s my action: I rehearse. Anytime I feel uneasy about an upcoming speech, I rehearse for a few moments.

  Jay Conrad Levinson shares similar insights about taking action:

  Instantly

  by Jay Conrad Levinson

  I make tough situations better by eliminating them ASAP each time. One of life’s greatest satisfactions for me seems to be throwing things away. Although you’d never know it to look around my home, I seem to be dedicated to removing stuff from my files, computer desktop, real desktop, in-basket, and to-do list. At the end of every workday, which means Monday through Wednesday to me, I delight in crossing the final task off the list in my datebook.

  At the end of every year, I cross the line into true ecstasy when I fill several full-sized garbage cans with paper no longer needed. I feel pretty much the same when I relieve my hard drive of data nobody on earth will ever need again. I’ve learned that by dealing with work assignments only one time, I am able to gain a lot more precious free time for myself. Instead of putting the work aside for a later date, I deal with it at the moment it comes in, so that I won’t have to be involved with it ever again. People say that I’m a good e-mail correspondent. I answer that it’s mainly because I don’t like having e-mail to answer. That’s why I’m getting back to you instantly.

  Jay Conrad Levinson was the author of the bestselling marketing series in history, Guerrilla Marketing, plus 56 other business books. His books have sold over 21 million copies worldwide. And his guerrilla concepts have influenced marketing so much that his books appear in 43 languages and are required reading in MBA programs worldwide.

  If you are called on to give a speech, it helps to follow Jay’s example and take action instantly—that is, rehearse.

  If you are confronted with the situation of needing to give a speech within one week, or even within five minutes, you can use the following S.P.E.E.C.H. process:

  S – Summarize

  P – Prepare your first sentence and last sentence

  E – Express an anecdote

  E – Enter with a benefit

  C – Conclude with “Thank you”

  H – Honor three memorable points

  Summarize

  What is the most important point, which you want your audience to remember for weeks after your speech?

  Imagine how great you would feel if someone came up to you one year later and said, “I heard your speech, and I will always remember that you said …” This is what happened for speaker/author Hyrum Smith, CEO and cofounder of Franklin Quest Company (prior to a later merger). Hyrum gave a speech, and one year later he received this letter:

  Hyrum, I went to your seminar a year ago in Princeton. It never occurred to me that what I do on a daily basis ought to be based on my governing values … the things that really matter most to me … I decided to dedicate my life to making a good life for my son [here he describes several activities shared with his son] … Hyrum, last week my son, eight years old, was killed in an automobile accident. I have experienced some real pain at the loss of my son. But I have to tell you that I have experienced no guilt … Hyrum, thank you.

  Inspired by Hyrum’s speech, this father had taken action to make a good life for his son. To make a powerful impact such as this, we must know our most important point. That point will be a highlight of the summary at the end of the speech.

  Your summary creates the powerful ending you desire. I emphasize to my clients that a good speech ends with the speaker in control. Avoid ending with a question-and- answer period. A Q&A session has a puttering-out effect.

  Instead, prepare for your ending by writing down three memorable points. At the end of your speech, say something like: “And now I will summarize. First, remember to … Second, we do better when we … And finally, you make a great impact by … Thank you.”

  Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood. – William Penn

  A proverb is much matter distilled into few words.

  – Buckminster Fuller

  Do not say a little in many words, but a
great deal in a few.

  – Pythagoras

  Principle: End with strength. Summarize your points.

  Power Question: What are your three main points? (Write down a strong way to repeat those points in a summary.)

  Prepare Your First Sentence and Your Last Sentence

  Did you ever attend a speech that the speaker simply read? Have you endured watching a speaker stare at the back wall as he spoke, as if his speech was plastered on that wall?

  I advise my graduate students to avoid memorizing each word of a speech. Instead, we want the presentation to have a rapport-creating naturalness. It helps to start strongly with a memorized first sentence and end powerfully with a memorized last sentence.

  For your first sentence, you can begin with:

  A question

  A powerful fact

  A detail that moves emotions

  Be sincere; be brief; be seated. – President Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Principle: People remember the beginning and end of your speech. Start and finish with strength.

  Power Questions: What is a strong first sentence for your speech? Note three possibilities. What is a memorable last sentence for your speech? Note three possibilities.

  Express an Anecdote

  How do you get past a person’s natural resistance? Tell a story. Here we will designate an anecdote as a “story with a point.” In fact, a powerful way to state clearly the value of a story is to end it with “And so, my point is …” or to conclude with “What I learned that day was …”

  What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning. – Werner Heisenberg (physicist)

  Related to Heisenberg’s comment, we see that our story is like a “method of questioning.” When questioning something, we are actually forming our own version of a story. Choose your questions well to set the direction of your story. The anecdote touches the hearts of your audience in ways that logic and rational arguments cannot.

  We’re not seeing what’s real; we just see our story.

  – Tom Marcoux

  A good, heartfelt story helps you give the audience a new view of reality. The story provides an experience in which the audience can invest their emotions. Carefully select three anecdotes and try them with friends and family. Find out which anecdote reaches people’s hearts.

  Principle: Express an anecdote to seize attention and change lives.

  Power Question: How can you make your point with an anecdote that inspires minds and moves emotions?

  Enter with a Benefit

  Picture an audience of jobseekers watching a speaker taking the stage. Her first words are: “Imagine you could make $1,000 a minute in a job interview. That’s what we’re going to cover today.”

  Does she have their attention? Yes.

  When you start a speech, the listener subconsciously asks the 3 W’s:

  1. Who are you?

  2. Why should I listen to you?

  3. What’s in it for me?

  Answer these questions. You seize the listeners’ attention and walk the path to be heard and be trusted.

  Researchers report that people will put out more effort to avoid a loss than to gain joy. When addressing a class of MBA students, I illustrated this point by placing a $10 bill on my left knee and a $20 bill on my right knee. I mimed having the $10 snatched away. I then asked, “What will people put more effort into, avoiding the loss of $10 or gaining $20?” The students replied, “Not losing the $10.” They were correct. Students told me that this illustration makes a visceral impact, driving home the point that we’re all interested in avoiding loss.

  Hard-charging people are concerned about the loss of time. They fear things that “waste their time.”

  Focus on being productive rather than being busy—your life depends on it. – Timothy Ferris

  Show people how they will save time, gain leverage, and get more done, and you have their attention. When you focus your speech on the vital few, your audience will bless you. By the vital few, I mean the three major points that provide compelling benefits for your audience. I emphasize three benefits because that gives you three chances that any given audience member will find one of the benefits to be compelling.

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  Be Heard-20 Method #8

  Get Clear on the Value You Bring to

  the Table

  A vital part of delivering a pitch is “the ask”—that’s when you ask for what you want. I have worked with clients who were seeking $2 million to $6 million in a round of funding.

  How can one be forthright and firm as he or she asks for something on the edge of their belief? You need to know, deep in your gut, the value you are bringing to the table.

  The process involves asking yourself challenging questions and making sure your answers move your own heart.

  Even before raising funds, several people have trouble charging what is appropriate for their services.

  Along this line, here’s guidance from Jeanna Gabellini.

  Why Clients Aren’t Paying You What

  You’re Worth

  by Jeanna Gabellini

  Darn near everyone gripes about money. I do it, too. We each have triggers about making, spending and saving money. But the one I hear the most about is not getting paid enough. Either you have an abundance of clients, but they don’t pay you for the real value you give, or you don’t have enough clients and you’re scared to charge what you deserve.

  You might not even know what you deserve because you’ve been brainwashed to take what you can get even if you only end up making twenty bucks an hour in the end. Maybe a few people gave you feedback that they can’t afford your services and products and now you’re convinced that nobody will buy at your current prices.

  There are more than a few reasons why your ideal customers don’t pay you what you’re worth and it’s not because they can’t afford you! Think about it. If they’re your ideal customers, then they see the value in what problem you solve and joyfully say “yes” to whatever price you set.

  If you’re not charging enough you may need to:

  1. Figure out the real cost of doing business. Include all overhead and time spent for every little aspect of delivering each product and service.

  2. Nail down exactly what you need to take home each week.

  3. Be more objective about the value your products and services give.

  4. Lay out, on paper, the features and benefits of each product and service.

  5. Charge from knowing what you want to grow into, not who you’ve been.

  6. Consider yourself more of an expert in your field, even if you’re a newbie. You bring something special to the table, no matter what stage of business growth you’re in. When I was in coaches’ training, I was serving up breakthroughs for my “practice” clients long before I got my first paying client.

  If your prices seem congruent with the value your products and services deliver, and not enough people are buying, you may need to:

  1. Nail down your ideal customer and stop marketing and saying “yes” to those who don’t fit that description.

  2. Look at your beliefs about success, struggle, wealth and making a profit from what you love doing most.

  3. Check in about what you offer. Do you love what you offer and the way you serve it up? How does your business support your desired lifestyle?

  4. Clearly lay out the benefits and features of what you offer on all marketing materials. If you don’t have bullet points on sales pages or brochures you probably aren’t spelling it out clearly.

  5. You’re trying too hard to get clients. Pushing, needing, and worrying about getting money in the door comes from a place of lack and won’t yield an abundance of anything (except heartache).

  6. Tap into your Inner Business Expert and ask, “How can I align with more ideal customers? What should I shift? Is there an action that would serve me in this desire?”

  There are more than enough people out there t
o pay you what you are worth. Before you go killing yourself to try a bunch of new strategies to figure out how to attract them, sit with the suggestions above and feel into which ones may be perfect for you to put into action. One baby step at a time will be sufficient.

  When it comes to client attraction it always starts with your beliefs. More than likely, you need to expect more. Make bigger financial goals and play to win. Play with confidence. Abundant expectancy without expectation.

  Jeanna Gabellini is a Master Business Coach who assists conscious entrepreneurs to double (and even triple) their profits by leveraging attraction principles, proven strategies and fun. Grab her FREE audio on dialing in your biz at http://masterpeacecoaching.com/freecd

  I included the above article because it notes how we need to get insight into our inner game.

  To be at your best when fundraising or getting a new client, make sure that you have real clarity about the value you bring to the table.

  Make sure you meet the investor as their peer. By this I mean, you are bringing great value to the conversation. You have the prize—your startup and their opportunity to invest in it. Beware that people feel contempt for “supplicants.” Make sure your inner game is strong and you feel in your gut that you’re bringing real value.

  BONUS MATERIAL #1

  Give a Great Speech with 2 Minutes

  of Preparation Time