With the ever increasing competition in the hedge fund industry as well as recent concerns about stability and performance, the ability to present and sell your company well in the Alternative Investment Market has never been so important.

Feena Coleman, Director of AIM Presentation Skills specialist Natural Training looks at the three factors that will give you the ability to sell your company with maximum impact and effect: Putting your brains on display, avoiding the formulaic approach and icing the due diligence cake.

Put your brains on display
When selling your organisation to prospective clients at a presentation or meeting the key is to showcase the talent within your organisation.

You are in a service industry where brains are the currency.

Allan Leighton, Chairman of Royal Mail recently said; “Never mind about headcount. What you need is brain count. Look round at your next meeting and count the brains.”

Allan’s right. Prospective customers want the edge. Your people are the key. It’s important for your people to come across as the sharpest minds on the market.

Investors aren’t buying into a completely computer automated product. They’re buying your ability and expertise to manage their investment in the best way possible.

With this in mind, why do people bury their team’s fine track record, CV and capabilities in the middle or end of a presentation? Instead try putting them right up front – that’s where introductions should go.

Only by showcasing talent can you get across one of the key ingredients of making a sale – passion.

Patrick Cooper of J.O. Hambro Asset Management shares this belief and thinks that clients want to “get inside the head of the fund manager…to see the fund manager getting across their passion for the fund they are managing”.

Glenn Baggley of Eddington Capital Management agrees. “A good presentation should get across a true insight into how the manager thinks – a flavour of the manager, and what they do.”

So, at the beginning of your next presentation, ask yourself the following simple question: “What is it about our people that makes them truly unique in the market?”

X + Y = Rubbish
Apologies if this is the first time you have heard this, but prospective customers can pick a formulaic presentation from a mile away.

Formulaic in this sense means that your presentation follows the same generic, slick PowerPoint formula as everyone else: who we are, what we do, recent results, working together etc. Imagine if you are a prospective client and you watch 10 similar presentations from you and your competitors. They might all start to blend together into one big bunch of fantastical slides with little meaning.

Ed Boscott from Oxford and Cambridge Investment Management agrees. “Investors are very savvy, aware of a smooth marketing pitch and a slick, almost agressive approach. The best approach is to give a natural flavour of the fund and processes and methodology used by the manager.”

Patrick Cooper of J.O. Hambro Asset Management concurs: “The key tip is to not script presentations. Ask the audience up front what they want to talk about, what are their main issues – and focus on them. Investors are more canny now, the better ones will steer the presentation, asking questions and shutting people down if they want to move onto a topic they are not interested in.”

Glenn Baggely thinks that “80% of hedge fund presentations are very formulaic. It’s only on a rare occasion do I see a presentation that gives me the real flavour of what a fund is about.”

So formulaic, one-sized fits all sales presentations are out. Earnest, more natural presentations are in.

But how do you achieve this?

The best idea is to ditch the PowerPoint slides. PowerPoint is meant to be an aid to your presentation style, rather than the whole presentation. You are the star of the show, not a whirring fan projecting an image on a wall.

Use PowerPoint if you think it will help explain concepts, like graphical data. Avoid using it for slick slide transitions, super sized prompt cards, and worst of all, sound effects.

From time to time conference organisers might be insistent that you use PowerPoint because “everyone else is.” Resist! Audiences love variation, and if they don’t have to stare at the same spot as they have been for 3 hours, then your presentation will be clearer, and more memorable.

Icing the due diligence cake
With the ever widening array of hedge fund companies and investment products available it makes sense for investors to spend time weeding out unsuitable prospects.

Many fund of fund managers now have a comprehensive due diligence policy. This includes factors such as sending questionnaires to the hedge fund, investigating their processes and running a question and answers style “beauty parade”.

This allows them to control the process from start to finish.

More and more companies are chosen on merit as the result of proper research. By the time the presentation comes, they have all but made their decision.

Stephen Holt of Threadneedle Asset Management thinks the onus is on the fund of fund managers to drive the process of due diligence. “It’s better to spend the time upfront on the true aims and objectives of the fund than leave everything in the hands of one presentation”.

The due diligence process won’t go away, and nor do we want it to. It is in effect your sales process. If care and good management of this process is undertaken by your team, then the presentation should be the icing on the cake.

Should be…but there are a number of times presentations have fallen over at the last hurdle.

Your prospective clients want to see the results of their time and effort backed up by the presentation content and delivery – so spend the time to ensure you aren’t letting yourself down.

After the due diligence, it’s up to you to let your professional style come across in a compelling and engaging manner. A good presentation is the icing on the cake.

If you can do this then you’re well on your way to securing the deal. If not, the poorly prepared, formulaic presentation may stick in their minds.

So, while due diligence is important, don’t underestimate your ability to provide trust and a natural flavour of your team at this last crucial stage.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 13th, 2005 at 10:55 am and is filed under Natural news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.