There are a handful of things that even many highly successful people are fearful about and amateur at doing.
Public speaking is often talked about, but one that haunts us daily is our fear of selling.
All day every day we’re “selling” ourselves and our ideas, but even many who sell for a living lack the skills they need to do it well, let alone confidently.
Fearful being “salesy.” Fearful asking for the order. Fearful hearing no. Fearful being rejected. Fearful facing objections…
Ignorance Ain’t Bliss
Perhaps in some contexts ignorance makes your life better but not when it comes to the most important skills of success.
Competence equals confidence, and at selling, many of us lack both.
Even many who have selling on their business card haven’t developed the skills they need to do it confidently, let alone excellently.
Then there are people like many investment bankers who live in denial that their job is selling, so few ever learn the skills they need to succeed. (hence, nearly all fail to become rainmakers, wondering why)
Capital raisers have the same problem, where all day every day investment managers run around meeting potential investors “trying” to sell them on their fund.
They’re smart people. Highly successful. Professionals at investing.
But few approach capital raising the same way.
Pros Being Pro
If you’re a professional, you approach every aspect of your game this way.
And while most investors dedicate their lives to being pros at the game of investing, many overlook the fact that capital is the entire game.
No capital. No game.
That’s OK for employees, but for any ambitious professionals looking to start their own firm, whatever they call it, capital raising is the name of the game.
Many of them think “I’ve got this.”
They’ve “presented” plenty before. Sat in countless “pitches.”
But, ignorant of what is selling, and unwilling to approach capital raising like a pro, many fail, and many more live in fear and torment of the capital raise.
What Does It Take To Be Pro?
Working on deals at Goldman Sachs I advised clients on pitching investors and I was terrible at it…
Well, in all fairness I was probably about average, maybe above average, yet by my definition today, I grade myself “T.”
Ignorant, back then it seemed that if you could speak eloquently and script up smart-sounding answers you were “pitching” effectively but pros never do it that way.
Of all the things I’ve studied, selling might be the most under-appreciated craft, and, yet, one of the most powerful skills for driving all success.
Get Excellent At Capital Raising
Over some 8 years I’ve built a highly systematic approach for capital raising which we now use in our consulting firm, BLK.
Our institutional clients don’t have years of their life to read books and master the craft of selling, and we must be able to give them a method they can learn quickly and put to work effectively.
In many different places I came across many top ideas for selling and capital raising, but I also saw that was insufficient.
Even the best ideas are useless unless you have a method for putting them to work.
And, even then, all that matters is how excellent you are at doing it.
A Systematic Approach To Capital Raising
I’m no longer going to share advanced ideas without actually providing a solution.
This report is our best solution to capital raising.
In some 65 pages we break down capital raising into four parts:
1. Become The Capital Raiser: Whereas most start with selling, just as my Do What You Want books begin with a chapter titled Starting With You, we do here. Straight up, what matters most to selling is you’re the one doing it… This is skill. Development. Training. Preparation. Being the person who drives the capital raise.
2. Sourcing / Lead Generation: A secret of selling is that the most important part isn’t “selling,” but getting in front of people who want to buy. Said differently, capital raising isn’t “selling investors.” First and foremost it’s a search process, finding those investors who don’t need to be sold.
3. Getting To The Heart… Of Capital Raising: What actually sells? If you ask most people you’ll hear a laundry list of ideas but pros know there are only two things to master: What moves people forward—Emotional and Logical Drivers—and what holds them back—Objections? How you collect this intel and use it is selling.
4. Structure Of The Sale: Even once you’ve got all the right ingredients you must bring it together in the right way. If you’re baking a cake you can’t leave out the eggs and if you’re capital raising you must hit every part of the sale. This takes leading, skill, and of course preparation.
While most investors settle for amateur, if you’re serious about being a professional at capital raising, you want this report.
And if you’re a real pro you’ll want to work with us to win at the only necessary part to winning the investing game!