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It’s not easy to tell the story behind your company to a group of investors or clients succinctly and effectively - whether the story is given as an intense pitch or as a more casual way of introducting yourself. Shawn Riegsecker, CEO and founder of Centro, offers his best tips for storytelling in a room full of potential investors, partners, clients or peers:
1. Look through the investor’s glasses and avoid being stale
“For investors, what they want to know is—what problem in the world are you solving? How big is this problem and how much better is your solution? Great ideas aren’t incrementally better, they’re transformative and, most often, disruptive to the status quo. Additionally, what other companies are trying to solve the problem and how far are they along? As an investor, do I believe in the team trying to solve this problem?
When all these answers come together, you will most likely find great success in raising money.”
2. Identify the client’s pain point and break the mold
“As for clients, it comes down to identifying the pain point in their lives you solve and showing them why your solution is differentiated from the competition. If you don’t solve a real pain point and your product isn’t that much differentiated from your competition, I’d look to build a different business.”
3. Know who your audience is and what they need most
“Understanding your audience is critical in selling anything. Gone are the days of taking one product and giving the same pitch to everyone. Businesses that do that are average at best. In contrast, knowledge is power. The person most prepared and most knowledgeable wins the sale. Never go into any meeting unprepared. If you don’t have time to prepare it’s better off to cancel the meeting.”
4. Do the research and flip perspectives
“I always want to be the most informed person in any situation. That requires a ton of studying and reading. It also requires you to think about the meeting from the perspective of the audience. Flip it around. Pretend you’re the client or investor and look at your product from their point of view.
Great success is having looked at the problem from all angles, upside-down and backwards and forwards. Once you’ve explored every pathway and understand where each pathway, solution and problem leads, you’ll be in the highest leveraged position in any meeting and greatly increase your chance of success.”
