The value of using enticing language in a business plan
The value of using enticing language in a business plan
The value of using enticing language in a business plan.
You have an amazing idea. You’ve thought of everything, you’ve analyzed the market and you have relative advantages that will destroy your potential competitors. You’ve built an impressive strategy, and you have the ability to reach potential clients at a minimal expense. From a technological point of view, you have the winning equation and the business plan that you hold dots all the ‘I’s and crosses all the‘t’s and shows that, without a shadow of a doubt; your venture is the next Google. You’ve showered, shaved and shined your shoes. You’ve out your best suit on and headed for a meeting with an investor – surely there is no way that he could not be interested in investing.
The investor you meet is a busy person, with limited patience. He has opinions and personal experience, and as far as he is concerned – or at least that’s how he makes you feel, sitting in his office – you need him more than he needs you. Subsequently, unless you intrigue him, unless you present him with a sexy and attractive business plan, he will simply be bored and will not invest in your idea.
Here are 10 tips to help you encourage investors to invest:
• Match chapter titles to their content. You thought you were going to get something totally different on this page didn’t you? Exactly – chapter titles prime certain expectations in the reader. Unclear, irrelevant or false chapter headings cause a cognitive dissonance that can alienate the reader and negatively influence the investor’s decision with regards investing in your business.
• Teasing – if you have gotten this far, then the chapter title has obviously done its job! Interest the investor by using attractive, perhaps even provocative, language and content.
• Executive Summary – at the front of any business plan you will find the true value to the investor. Executive summaries should be written in simple and inviting language. This chapter represents your first encounter with the investor. Psychological research has shown that it is very difficult to alter a negative first impression. A ‘sexy’ executive summary will prevent investors from getting a negative first impression of the entrepreneur.
• Think before you write – know what it is you want to say and its purpose, only then begin to write it down.
• Clear and neat presentation – a business plan should be relevant, clear and focused. Be careful not to be drawn into using poetic language and long sentences.
• Add color and interest using descriptive language – adjectives add life and color to a description. Use them to make a boring text, interesting, but be careful not to go overboard. Business plan writing style lies somewhere between dry, informative content and literature. You should try to include enough description in your plan to moisten the dry text, but not so much that you drown it.
• Avoid overusing terminology – don’t assume that your investor is familiar with the industry and its terminology. You can provide a short glossary for key terms in your plan; however, you should also ensure that even a layman (not a professional in the relevant field) could understand your plan.
• Say things “nicely” – using rich and beautiful language will give your business plan gravitas. You want to appear intellectual and serious before investors to encourage them to invest. So rather than writing: “What we want is to get as many customers as possible”, write “we wish to obtain the largest possible market segment”. These two sentences may mean the same thing but the impression they create differs significantly.
• Know your investor – even the best business plan will not help you secure investment from an investor if he cannot read the language it is written in or connect to its style. The style of writing that might intrigue a 35 year-old investor may not be suitable for one who is 70 years –old, or one that only recently came to the country and has limited vocabulary.
• Go to a professional to write your business plan.
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