Gold and Silver Bullets: Critical Messaging for Successful Investor-Funded Firms
Gold and Silver Bullets: Critical Messaging for Successful Investor-Funded Firms
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.
Gold and Silver Bullets Critical Messaging for Successful InvestorFunded Firms - To learn more about this author, visit Michael Cannon's Website.
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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.
Gold and Silver Bullets Critical Messaging for Successful InvestorFunded Firms - To learn more about this author, visit Michael Cannon's Website.
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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