August 2006

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article was first published in the Eastern Daily Press' 'The Business'  on 23 August 2006</I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Would your business survive the Dragons?</B></div> <bR> <div> Talking to a client recently, I encouraged him to develop a very brief statement of what his business does and how it benefits the customers it serves.  In business networking circles, this might take the form of a 60-second presentation, or what the Americans call an `elevator pitch'. I want my client to treat this short speech as the basis of all his future marketing communication; face to face conversations, advertisements, brochures, website pages, etc. If you can't explain to a stranger just what it is that your business does, and how it might benefit them, you will always struggle to grow.</div> <bR> <div> Consider the wannabe entrepreneurs who face the investors on BBC 2's `Dragon's Den', pitching for money to grow their ideas into businesses that will make them millionaires. Every week, cringing with embarrassment, I watch victim after victim suffer humiliation and worse, struggling to secure money to realise their dreams. And every week, I am amazed that nearly all of the applicants seem to be totally incapable of describing their ideas concisely, clearly and in such a way that one or more of the dragons will see potential in the concept - potential, that is, to make more money themselves. I know that the producers don't really want to have too many genuinely good people with sound business propositions that will hold up to the inquisitors' scrutiny - that simply doesn't make for `good television'. But I am still surprised at the poor standard of most of those that appear. </div> <bR> <div> Having been a loyal viewer of the programme it seems to me that there are only a few major problems experienced by those who fail to win the support of the investors.  One, they simply can't speak in public about their idea; they freeze or dry up whilst delivering their pitch.  Two, they don't understand the financial essentials of either their proposed business, nor of the dragons whose money they want. Three, they are not good at reading their audience and behave in ways guaranteed to ensure a swift exit. Argumentative, condescending and sometimes downright rude behaviour is not a recommended approach to gaining investment in a new venture. Nor, as we witnessed last night, is overconfidently and arrogantly providing `business lessons' to each dragon in turn, when asked a perfectly legitimate question about the proposition. For people with lots of self-made wealth, and who don't especially lack ego, this style did not go down well and that candidate was doomed early on.</div> <bR> <div> From my observations, the people who manage to obtain funding from the dragons inevitably meet three crucial criteria: </div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">they have a truly viable business idea; a product or service for which there is a definable market and which usually offers something a bit different to customers;</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">they can articulate what it is they are doing or want to do and how it can benefit their customers and investors;</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">they know their facts and their numbers; they can speak confidently about the key metrics - market size, competitors, planned revenue, costs and margins.</div> <bR> <div> So, why not try imagining how well you would do if you were thrown into the Dragon's Den and asked to pitch your business to them?  How well could you explain what you do and would any of the BBC's self-made millionaires see a profitable opportunity investing in you and your business? Only the brave or foolhardy need apply!</div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" width=180 BGCOLOR="#CC3333" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>