When I first started my business plan consulting firm I hired a good friend of mine to design a brochure and other marketing collateral. The project consumed a good amount of my time over the course of a month. While it turned out to be much more effort than I had anticipated, working with my friend – let’s call him Steve for this discussion – was overall a great experience. I was very pleased with both the end result of the materials as well as the process Steve and his team took me through.
After completing the process, I began passing out my shiny four-color business cards and brochures to anyone and everyone I met during the course of my day. From attorneys to CPA’s to venture capitalists to entrepreneurs, I never passed up the opportunity to hand out my brochures. I must have put brochures in the hands of more than 1,000 people throughout Arizona and Southern California.
With all of those brochures floating around the southwest United States, I figured my phone was sure to start ringing and probably never stop. Well, as you may guess the phone rang rarely over those first few months.
So, what did I do? I promptly put a call into my buddy Steve to ask him what was wrong with the brochures. Was the content he wrote not as persuasive as I thought? Were the images and colors just not impressive enough? Maybe we should have doubled the number of pages. It had to be the brochure. Something must have been wrong with the brochure. If the brochure was doing its job my phone would certainly be ringing, wouldn’t it?
Ok, this story never happened. Well, I did hire a friend of mine to design a brochure. But the part about me blaming Steve and the brochure he designed never happened. I realized very quickly that it was not the brochures responsibility to sell my business plan services – it was my responsibility. The brochure was nothing more than an introduction, a way to expose myself to people I wanted to meet. It was up to me to develop a relationship with a prospect, convey the value I was bringing to the table, and convince them that I was the right person to help them achieve their goals.
Why do I tell you this long winded story? Because, we speak with entrepreneurs every day who believe that an outstanding business plan is the singular key to funding success. With an outstanding business plan in hand money is sure to follow.
However, this is often not the case. Similar to the brochure for my company, a business plan targeted at investors is primarily a communications tool. It is a way to expose your business model and value proposition to investors. It provides investors comfort that you have at a minimum done your homework.
If your business plan results in a meeting with an investor it has done its job. That is its primary responsibility and some might say only job – to help you get a meeting. Everything from that meeting on is up to you and your ability to find a willing investor and convince them to part with their money.
So, before you throw your business plan (and most likely your business plan consultant) under the bus, be sure to remember that it is you, not your business plan, that will ultimately determine if you are successful at raising capital.
Need a second, third or fourth opinion about the quality of your business plan? Then schedule a FREE 30-Minute Telephone Consultation with a member of our team today!
About the Author, Scott Pollov
