How to Deliver a Successful Business Pitch for SME’s

Television programmes such as Dragons’ Den have done little to quash the fears of pitching novices, with the TV show delivering sweaty-palmed hopefuls into the investors’ lair each week. Pitching is the Marmite of the business world – some people thrive on the buzz, but many hate the thought of being in front of an audience. If you want to grow your business, though, pitching might be necessary to win the support you need.

Luckily for small business owners, going on TV isn’t the only way to deliver a memorable pitch. Here are a few ways SMEs can present a convincing pitch:

Keep it brief

Sir Richard Branson has seen and delivered his fair share of pitches. “You need to stand out from the crowd,” explained the entrepreneur at 30:30 Vision, a recent Virgin Media Business event in London for small businesses and social enterprises. “To do that you need to keep it really short, as short as possible. And do it with a smile if you are good at cracking jokes.”

He added: “The most important thing is to be concise. My own feeling is that a good idea can be written on the back of an envelope.”

Tim Mills, an investment director at Angel CoFund, which was established to support the development of the UK business angel market and provide investment for high potential SMEs, agrees that keeping pitches short and sweet is essential.

“There’s nothing quite so disheartening as seeing a 100-page business plan. A nice two page, very crisp, clear overview is a great way to introduce the business,” he says.

“When you are making that first pitch, all the rules of marketing and advertising apply. It’s about being able to get your message across clearly and having a call to action of some sort.”

Know your numbers

One thing Dragons’ Den makes clear is that if budding businesses don’t know their numbers, they will be in for a hard ride. Cheryl MacDonald, founder of YogaBellies, was awarded £50,000 on Dragons’ Den, and had her figures nailed down.

“The first thing for pitching is you have to know your numbers, you can’t go in and not know them,” she says. “We were very, very prepared. We knew the business inside out, we knew the figures inside out, we don’t have any business debt and it is a profitable business from day one.”

MacDonald advises pitchers to take in a copy of their key figures with them if they struggle to commit them to memory.

Investors will also want to be reassured that risks have been taken into account as far as possible. Mills says: “Fundamentally as an investor it is all about pricing the risk. Anything that can give you comfort that the risks are mitigated makes it more appealing.”

Team spirit

Investors aren’t just interested in great ideas, they also want to be confident that a business has the right team for the job. Mills typically encounters companies that are past the startup phase and on to their second or third round of funding. He says that at this stage the impression your team makes is hugely important.

“What you are really looking for in a pitch, initially, is to feel confident that there is an opportunity there, that you have a team that can execute against that opportunity,” he says.

“One of the challenges is that they start with the solution, which is obviously the most exciting bit, and they tend to be good at talking about the opportunity, but probably the area they are weakest is articulating why they as a team can execute against that opportunity.”

Finding the right partner

Although cashflow is traditionally the biggest concern for startups, pitching to investors should not be purely about pound signs. Ross Fobian, who recently raised £4m through venture capital for ResponseTap,  a call-based marketing automation business, says: “One of the key things for us was finding the right partner. Getting investment isn’t just about the money. You get a lot more value when you get someone who believes and understands and has the right network behind them.”

Fobian adds: “Investors don’t necessarily invest in the business, especially first stage investors. They are actually investing in the founders, seeing what they have done, their drive, their passion. Obviously they have to have a company behind them that makes sense, but if they don’t like the founders they won’t invest.”

ResponseTap went through two rounds of venture capital funding, and Fobian says there is a marked difference between each stage.

“The main difference between the first and second round is the first is very much about the founders and our passion for the business,” he says. “With the second round we had a lot more numbers and rather than it being about us, although they still have to like the founders, it was very much a case of being focused on the numbers.”

For the first pitch, focus on your story as a founder and don’t focus so much on the business, says Fobian. “It is quite important that you have some concept of market size. If you are going for venture capital they are looking for big returns and for something that could be big.”

 

How apps could improve business performance for your SME

Small businesses are increasingly turning to apps to improve business performance, generate sales leads, win new business, keep existing customers and promote their brand.

Rob Hodges, digital executive at Mobiles.co.uk, believes small businesses should rethink their strategy with mobile devices in mind. He believes with the rollout of 4G, small businesses can place greater reliance on smartphone and tablet applications to make decisions and streamline processes.

Hodges recommends Pocket, a productivity app which allows users to save media for later. He says: “One key benefit is the ability to store files offline, making it ideal for catching up on the work commute. As business leaders communicate across multiple devices during the day, the cloud-based nature of Pocket ensures content can be viewed at a more convenient time.”

Other small businesses are using social media apps to connect with customers and enhance sales. Mike Tomlinson, small business director at UK mobile network EE shares the example of street food seller Mark Gevaux using Twitter to share videos of his ribs being made in order to entice new customers to buy his product.

William Agush, founder and chief executive officer of app Shuttersong has been working with a number of small businesses to improve their social media campaigns. His app allows users to add 15 seconds of voice and sound or music to any digital photo. He recently worked with a fashion house, Leota Dresses in New York, to improve their publicity campaign. Agush says: “Leota used Shuttersong to promote their dresses since using the app they have had several hundred plays for the images.”

Another example of a small business using an app to help their performance is Sailign Logic. The company was set up in 2003 by Allie Smith with the purpose of offering individuals without connections to the elite yachting industry the chance to experience yacht racing. After receiving feedback from its customers in 2012, Sailing Logic decided to look for an easier way for customers to book tickets for its events. The company has now teamed up with online ticketing platform web app Bookitbee. Currently, 25% of their Royal Yachting Association (RYA) course bookings are now received via Bookitbee, which has saved the company a huge amount of office administration and processing time – so by the end of 2014 they expect to roll this feature out to include their yacht racing events.

Barnaby Lashbrooke, founder of virtual workforce platform Time Etc, uses a web app called SameWave, a tool that collects and reports data, like sales figures. He says: “Staff don’t have to sit through endless boring meetings [because of this app]. Instead everyone simply reports their performance via SameWave once a week.”

Lashbrooke also uses video conferencing: “We use it for everything: keeping in touch with clients, coordinating our remote workforce and staying in touch with each other in the office too. Its greatest appeal is that almost everyone knows it already and there is no training or learning required to use it.”

He adds: “We’ve also developed a Time etc mobile app, which helps business owners set tasks for their virtual workforce when they’re on the go. It means they can delegate all the jobs they don’t want to or can’t do to a team of trusted freelancers, who’ll get on the case straight away.”

These small business owners all use various apps to make their businesses more productive: from helping with administrative tasks, communicating quicker and more efficiently with staff globally and promoting themselves more directly via Twitter and Facebook.

Peter Chadha, founder of DrPete Inc., a strategic business and technology consultancy, says: “For a small business owner, apps also generally provide a richer and easier functionality than using web-based clients on a mobile handset or tablet. For instance, they can interact with mobile device functions such as the mic or camera, and they can control the user experience by touching and swiping, send data to and from the app provider, and they often work as well offline – as opposed to web-based solutions which are totally reliant on a reliable internet connection.”

Chadha adds: “There are a plethora of apps in the market to assist business owners and their staff. VOIP apps, for instance, can be used to dial in from local or even free phone numbers, which gives the perception to clients and prospects that the business is larger than it actually is. They can also use video conferencing and instant messaging to communicate remotely, use location apps to locate staff, and there are even apps for time recording or billing and project management.”

Although a lot of small businesses are using apps daily, only 22% of small businesses provide apps for their employees to use at work. Recent research (which questioned 1,083 small businesses) found that 37% of small business employees – equivalent to 5 million UK workers – believed they would be more productive if provided with apps tailored to their job role.

Entrepreneurship and Finding the Right Idea

If your dreams of running your own business are frustrated by the notion that you have to come up with a brilliant new idea, think again. The key is to come up with a business concept that is relevant in today’s market to meet customers’ needs. The majority of successful new businesses are based on existing ideas, products or services with maybe a tweak or improvement in the offering, thereby creating its appeal in the current market.

We all develop a unique set of experiences as our work and personal lives and this is where we suggest you go hunting for your own new business idea. To achieve this you need to undertake a thorough, logical and well-organised search – including researching the current market – and the ideas will begin to flow.

Our suggestion is that you adopt the following three-stage approach.

1. What skills have you developed?

Look at all your historical experiences. You will have developed specific skills in your career, which may be provide the basis for a business. In addition, you should think about the different companies and market sectors that you have worked in. Some will have been more interesting and enjoyable than others. More than likely, you will have excelled in those elements of the businesses that you found most interesting and enjoyable.

Do not confine your thinking to those experiences you have had at work, though. Think about the skills you have developed outside of work too. In particular, what do you most enjoy doing when you are not working and what would you ideally love to spend more time doing? It could be sports related, voluntary work or just a hobby, but importantly this pastime could involve additional skills. Creating a business that focuses on a hobby can create a very satisfying future job.

2. What’s going to work?

Once you have documented your past, you can think about your experience in the context of what is happening right now.

Look for areas of growth in the economy for instant inspiration. Look for businesses that are succeeding and explore if there is room for you. We live in a world where people are prepared, even in times of recession, to pay for perceived added value.

Similarly, look around for changes and opportunities that are being thrown up through the depressed economic climate. Is a particular market now being inadequately served? Staying abreast of local press, business publications and trade organisations may suggest some possibilities. The London Gazette, available online, publishes a variety of insolvency notices including winding up petitions and orders and details of the appointment of administrators and liquidators. Keep your eyes and ears open.

The world is becoming a smaller place all the time and this opens opportunities for you to be able to source products from afar and take them into a more local market. Also, there is a very rich vein of consumer interest in locally sourced products.

Think about your friends and colleagues, as you may be able to marry up your business and management skills with someone else’s physical or creative skills.

Online shopping is the fastest growing area of the retail trade. Can you see opportunities to meet consumer need with a product with limited online provision?

3. Think long-term

Finally, do not forget to look forward.

There are certain global and local trends in markets and demographics that you should consider when searching for your inspiration. It makes sense to go into a business that has future growth potential. The media can be a good source of information as they regularly report on new trends – the skill here is to find long-term opportunities as opposed to short-term fads.

But possibly the greatest inspiration of all is to try to envisage how it will feel to have your own business. Think about the rewards of running your own company both financially and emotionally and the benefits of being independent. More than anything, this should spur you on. Your personal experience is unique and should be the foundation for any new business venture; don’t underestimate it as it can go a long way to making your business unique too.