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Guest post by: Michael Cannon Become an Author

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The success of an investor-backed firm is measured in three ways. The first is through raising the capital it needs to launch and to sustain itself. The second is in obtaining enough customers to validate a market and to exponentially increase market share. The third success measure is the liquidity event, be that a strategic acquisition or an IPO.

While it may seem self-evident that the sales messaging - the words you use to get investors to invest and prospective customers to buy - must be different in order for your company to move through these three phases successfully, the reality is that few investor-funded companies make a true distinction between their investor messaging and their customer messaging. Instead, the slide deck and messaging used to secure investors are modified somewhat, and used to try and sell prospective customers (or visa-versa).

**Investors Lose Billions Annually on Bad Messaging**

The results of bad messaging - the blurring of investor and customer sales messaging - are well known: Over 80% of investor-funded firms are not successful. Investors lose billions annually. The dreams of many a founder and executive team evaporate as equity is diluted and the firm dissolves.

To reduce the risk of this sad fate, make sure your company uses the principle of gold and silver bullets to differentiate your messaging.

**Gold Bullets Are for Winning Investors**

Gold bullets answer the potential investor’s primary buying question:

• Why is your company a great investment opportunity?

An excellent answer to this investor’s question is:
The target return on investment is 25x in 3 years. The addressable market is $50 billion annually, and the risk of failure is negligible because the intellectual property is patented and the management team has successfully worked together in two prior start-ups.

**Silver Bullets Are for Winning Customers**

Silver bullets answer the customer’s primary buying questions:

• Why should I change-out my current solution for a new solution?
• Why should I buy your solution rather than a competitive alternative?

A good answer to the first customer question is:
Adopting the new methodology will improve your closing ratios by 5% and net income by 25% while simultaneously reducing your turn-over rates by 10%, which adds another 3% to net income.

**What a Difference**

Notice how different the answers are to each of these questions. Then consider the difference between the answer to the buyer’s first question and second question. Or the answer given to an early-stage investor versus a late-stage investor. And how about the answer given to a late-stage investor who’s is considering an acquisition as compared to one investing in an IPO?

If your company is like most, you are blurring your investor and your customer messaging - and it is costing you and your company millions in lower valuations and lower performance. Review your investor and customer messaging today. Have you created separate and compelling answers for each type of investor and for each customer question?

Successful investor-backed firms use gold bullets to help them get better traction with investors. They also provide their sales team with silver bullets to help them get better traction with potential customers. You, too, can use this proven sales messaging principle to increase your valuations and accelerate funding cycles, while simultaneously increasing your sales revenue and improving operating margins.

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