Tweet

Gold and Silver Bullets: Critical Messaging for Successful Investor-Funded Firms

Written by: Michael Cannon

Article Overview: Too often, companies use the same set of words and ideas in their attempts to win buyers as they use to win investors. But this approach fails to address key questions — and can cause firms to flounder. There is an efficient and effective way to increase profitability and avoid dissolution — through the use of Gold and Silver Bullets. The Gold-and-Silver-Bullet methodology demands clear, separate, and fully articulated answers to different types of stakeholder-questions. This helps companies gain secure footing with investors and customers alike, increasing valuations and accelerating sales cycles. Cannon offers groundbreaking advice and practical solutions that help firms evaluate and adjust blurred me

Gold and Silver Bullets: Critical Messaging for Successful Investor-Funded Firms

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.

Related Articles
  Going For The Gold
  Lessons from Bonnie St. John
  ETF For Life!
  Waiting for a Pullback!
  The Stuff Youre Stepping In Could Be Your Silver Lining

Article Tags: sales, sales messaging



Related Forum Posts
Re: What's 1 word to describe what your business will be in 2012 - Successful.
Congratulations - Hi Shri, Congratulations to your win. Next time you will go for the 'Gold Medal'. This does not happen everyday. All the hard work is paying you off. We wish you well for future projects you have in mind. Be encouraged! Kindest Regards Beat "Unlock People's Potentials!"
Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women
Starting New Business Venture would like some tips - Hello I am new to this website and just want to say its awesome!! currently I am involved in a new business venture, I am new to the business world and I would like some extra help on this subject. Our company specializes in Custom Gold Foil Printed Ribbon, and Personalized Products (Napkins, Buttons Etc). so if anyone has any ideas of where to go, who to contact, or even if your looking for these types of products yourself, let me know and any tips to help me out it would be greatly appreciated.
Facebook and Business - While on the Elevator today I read that MySpace and Facebook are surpassing adult-sites in traffic volumes - just thought that was interesting fact. As far as your business is concerned I think that having a Facebook account is viable as long as you keep it business and the most important thing to increase your traffic would be to link up with people well-known in your business-circle. e.g. if your were in the Marketing Business Circle I would link up with people like Dan Kennedy, Mike Filsame, Yanik Silver etc. People linked up with them will now start pouring into your content.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Qualities of Leadership Part 1

Work at home Opportunities for the Disabled

Leading from Authenticity is a Beautiful Thing

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.