Ways to Sell Your Idea

Ways to Sell Your Idea

Find any problem that affects users in terms of complexity and efficiency and solve it to create your selling proposition. The best possible way to sell your idea is to highlight challenges and show how your skill could help the person get rid of those problems and improve overall efficiency and result. Just think about how Airbnb disrupted the whole hotel industry by revolutionizing the rent-a-room service. The smart identification of problem related to the hotel industry, like vacancy, pricing, and formality, and finding a highly scalable simple solution to allow booking of rooms in private property made them what they are today—a multi-billion dollar company with global reach. The initial experimental model worked like wonder, and they started pitching before investors in 2009 to scale the operation and make it a global revolution.   
        
The core idea is to have clarity and confidence in the solution you are offering. Once you have that, you have to state your unique selling proposition (USP) effectively in the simplest possible manner. The M&M sells its milk chocolate, highlighting the USP of melting in the mouth, not in hands. This is what makes M&M unique and creates a differentiator in a highly competitive chocolate market. So, when you are going to pitch your idea, you have to state the competitive edges you have over the nearest competitors. Of course, you have to highlight the market value, revenue potential, and possibilities of scaling in a defined time, but your investors will bring money only when they will see better returns on investment (ROI) potential in the long run. The rule is simple; the more potent the USP better is the ROI.

It is a fact that even the best of the ideas and products fail to trigger consumer passion, and this is where effective marketing comes into the scene. So, when highlighting USP, you have to emphasize your brand building approach and how you are going to enter and capture the market. You have to be very clear about brand identity, value, and promise, just like FedEx slogan says, “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” It is not just about the promise, but delivering beyond expectation. So, you have to work on your product promises and pitch them effectively before investors. Once convinced about your customer commitment and delivery approach, investors will value your idea more as they invest in the future. 

Great ideas are rare, so you have to protect your idea, especially when it is in the public domain, as the majority of people find ways to copy your idea and replicate it in a better manner. You should be very particular about intellectual property rights protection. If your idea can be classified as an invention, then get it patented before making it public so that you could protect it legally. The IPR protection helps you drive value upward as investors value this most. Beyond idea, you should get protect your logo and brand name by following the relevant trademark and copyright laws. It is better to seek legal advice before you approach investors as any theft could be devastating for you.

We are living in an era of information overload, and investment professionals are under tremendous pressure of time and performance. You have to be very effective in communicating your idea through meticulously prepared pitch deck to attract investors’ attention in the shortest possible time. Of course, you have to follow the defined pitch deck structure, which involves the introduction of self and product, the idea flow with the problem-solution approach, market analysis and projection, marketing strategy, and the revenue model with forecasts in the short and long term. In the end, you have to highlight investment needs and how you plan to use the fund efficiently for defined purposes. 
Since time is the most valued commodity, you have to be ready with a highly effective elevators pitch so that you could state your idea in the simplest possible way in minimum possible time to grab his attention. Igniting curiosity is the key here, and you have to be very precise in expressing your idea without divulging much. Be confident and introduce yourself smartly, then start emphasizing on problems your idea is going to solve and what your plan is going forward. In excitement, we usually forget normal things like exchanging business cards and creating room to meet again soon.

Once you have the desired attention, you should invest your time in preparing a professional pitch deck. This document will have all the possible details related to your business. Thankfully, you can get an excellent grade pitch deck template on the internet. Your professional approach highlights your passion for business, understanding of fundamentals, and skill to manage resources.

Visual presentation of the idea, especially if it is a product, matters most in triggering investors’ interest. So, you should be ready with a product prototype to give it an excellent visual feel and touch. If you are working on some app, then be prepared with a visual presentation to show workability in action. Words are essential, but they cannot beat the audiovisual sensory trigger, so invest your time and energy in making an excellent visual presentation. 

The last and most important thing is to show your passion for building the idea and how far you could go in making it possible. The investor community values your confidence and faith in idea the most, so express it with decency. Although, behavior cannot be modified overnight, but do some research about investor you are going to meet and reorient your approach accordingly. The first 30 seconds make all the difference, so highlight your USP effectively and then let investors ask expected questions. Learn the art of directing the interviewer; you will be the master seller of an idea.