Council Post: Pitched An Investor? Nine Ways To Keep The Conversation Going

Congratulations! You’ve just had a great pitch meeting with an investor. But holding an investor’s attention during your pitch is only the beginning of securing a deal. The real challenge lies in staying top-of-mind afterward. 

To ensure a lasting good impression, you’ll want to keep the conversation going with investors post-pitch. A panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared effective ways to continue the discussion after your meeting.

1. Ask About Their Other Projects

My absolute favorite parts of the fundraising journey are all the relationships made along the way. When an investor joins our circle (or is considering), I ask about their other portfolio companies or any projects they have in motion. Then I dig through my contacts to see if there are any valuable introductions I can make for them. Everyone loves expanding their network with a strategic introduction. Or maybe there’s a skill set you might have that can help them directly. I always try to be helpful to anyone I meet. There’s some genuine joy when helping contribute toward a solution. You invite me to play in any sandbox and I’ll get my hands dirty with you to help build something great. So stay in touch as a resource, not a salesperson, and you’ll see great things fall into place. – Christopher Seshadri, PhotoSesh

2. Build A Long-Term Personal Connection

The best time to sell is when you are not selling. After a meeting, follow up, follow up, wait, then follow up again. The key is to think long term. An investor you want to partner with may not be ready for your business just yet. If that is the case, the best thing you can do is to keep them in the loop between fundraising rounds. Send personal notes about your progress and share your thoughts on the industry. Investors are humans—they want a personal connection. If you want to be successful in the long term, you need to find that connection and build an authentic relationship. When it comes to finding investors, quality beats quantity. – Gregor Watson, Roofstock

3. Ask Them Questions

Ask questions to find out what they’re thinking. There are two ways to do it, and whatever approach you go with should be on a meeting-by-meeting basis. First, go straight to the point and ask them why they wouldn’t want to invest in your company. It’s a bit tough to execute, but it’s an approach with many benefits. Remember, you’re selling the potential of your company or idea. So knowing the objections of your prospects could help you counter them and land funding or give you a unique perspective to what it is you’re selling. It’s an approach best used when prospects are doubtful of your idea. Second is to ask how your idea made them feel. They’ll give you their thoughts on your business and sales pitch and how it affected them, which will then give you insight into both. – Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS

4. Treat Them Like They’re Already An Investor

I add every potential investor I meet to a spreadsheet where I write in details from the meeting, rank their level of interest and keep track of the last time we connected. I make sure to send them an update once a quarter. Generally, these updates are similar to what I send to my investors but with fewer financials. I’ve raised over $3 million from investors who originally told me they weren’t interested but then decided to invest years later after seeing Kuli Kuli’s continued growth through my quarterly updates. – Lisa Curtis, Kuli Kuli Foods

5. Use Social Media (Appropriately)

I think that the way to stay on the radar is to communicate using social media appropriately. Many people are on LinkedIn and Medium, and you can follow them there or make a new connection. Be sure to add content in the form of articles, news updates and other material. Using social media and publishing platforms can bring you to their attention. You can also use these places as jump-off points to start a conversation whenever it seems appropriate. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

6. Aim To Create ‘FOMO’

Keep the FOMO (fear of missing out) going with regular updates. Assume every investment pitch is going nowhere—just keep working on hitting your milestones for the business and meeting other potential partners. Keep the pitched investors updated with semi-regular updates announcing the completion of important milestones and important partnership updates, including other potential investors that might join the round. This will create urgency in the form of FOMO, helping push the investor past the finish line. Otherwise, in a perfect world, they would just wait longer if they didn’t feel any threat of losing out on a company that’s becoming increasingly de-risked to the point that another investor gets the deal before they do. – Andy Karuza, LitPic

7. Remind Them Of Your Last Conversation

Once the conversation is over, feel free to reach out to investors with company updates. They’re busy people and likely won’t be the one to initiate further contact with you. If you remind them of your conversation and continue where it left off, they’ll feel more inclined to respond and help you with your needs. If they told you something in person that stood out, you can mention it the next time you reach out to them, which adds a personal touch. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

8. Find The ‘No’

One of the best negotiation and communication strategies in sales is getting to “no” because it saves time if a client is just not going to buy or it can create dialogue. After you deliver your pitch, which should prove value beyond a shadow of a doubt, you should continue asking questions until you get a “no.” If you encounter an “I don’t know,” then you are pitching to the incorrect person and you need to refine your discovery and sales process. Keep moving until you find the definitive “no” person and then ask as many questions as possible to take you to a “no” or a “yes.” Many sales professionals are so busy trying to get to yes, they aren’t listening for the “no” and using it as a negotiation starting point. Find the “no” to get the “yes.” – Matthew Capala, Alphametic

9. Reach Out With A Thank-You Letter Or Phone Call

I think one of the best ways to follow-up after a pitch is to follow up with a thank-you letter or phone call. Perhaps consider mentioning things that have nothing to do with the investing pitch. Just focus on continuing to build that relationship. Ultimately people are always willing to do business with their friends, so the more that you can become somebody’s friend, the more likely you are to do business with them in the long run. – Amine Rahal, IronMonk Solutions