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NB: This newsletter is published every Monday. Point your browser to www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets to read at least ONE new post added to my SD Nuggets blog on a different category from Tuesday till Saturday (sometimes even Sundays) in line with this publishing schedule 
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IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS newsletter is published online on the “reincarnated” version of my Self-Development (SD) Nuggets blog. I continue to put finishing touches to the content. If you encounter ANY bad/dead links, and you can spare the time, email them to me via tayo at tksola dot com. Thanks in advance
No. 161: To Succeed, be Prepared to Deliver a Smart Presentation Using Your (Farm) Business Plan
Last week, I delivered an elaborate Poultry Layer Farm Business Plan (see below) to a new client in Nigeria.
Since reading it, he has sent me 2 emails (also below).
I now explain why, even with a well written plan, you’ll be wise to rigorously PREPARE yourself to deliver a convincing verbal presentation, to win over prospective investors!
:
Email No. 1: Received 24 hours after I sent him the Full Business Plan
From: <Name and email address removed for privacy>
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 13:50:35 -0700
To: tayo at tksola dot com
Subject: Re: Here they are…!
Hi Tayo,
I have read and still reading the business plan, while trying to understand the cash-flow, forecasts and balance sheet projections better as well. So grateful for th(is) beautiful and comprehensive proposal, which by God’s grace will definitely never be in vain.
I stumbled on this article of a major firm in Uganda, taking advantage of the lack of supply of poultry demands in the country, to establish the largest poultry settlement in the whole of east africa, meaning that this livestock business and agricultural practice in general, will continue to strive and flourish until the world ends..lol, the link is: <link removed>
I will revert if there are still certain aspects of the excel sheets i need full interpretation on, while trusting God for fruitful outcome of my first meeting tomorrow evening.
Regards,
<Name removed for privacy>
NB: I sent him the full business plan, along with a One Page Micro Business Plan and the multisheet MS Excel Workbook containing the projection tables with formulas etc.
Email No. 2 (Received in the evening of the day after email No.1 arrived):
From <Name removed for privacy>
To tayo at tksola dot com
Date Sun,28 Sep 2014 15:44:04
“I have paid the 10k balance now, hope you have received alert. So grateful for your support all along and won’t hesitate to keep disturbing you 24-7 once your professional touch is required, even after the business empire stabilizes in Jesus name, hence you have no hiding place like the gold fish o…lol”
I’ll also keep you updated on progresses made whilst imploring you to also pray fervently along.
Thanks bro. Regards,
<Name removed for privacy>
Did You Notice I Did NOT Have to Wait to Get My Balance Paid?
I have said this in the past – about serving AUTHENTIC clients. Just devote yourself to delivering the VALUE you promise them, and they will return the favour.
BUT…it’s Not So Easy to Find “Authentic” Clients!
Indeed, it takes LOTS of practice – even trial and error – using your gut level instincts as guide.
There are however rules you can follow to increase your chances of finding such profitable clients.
Email me via tayo at tksola dot com if you’d like to know what they are, and how to use them.
Now, I must note here that THIS client, being a childhood friend, actually got certain concessions that others – even when I believe them to be authentic – rarely get.
For instance, I agreed to let him pay in 3 instalments – though the 1st 2 were the heftiest.
I did this because I knew him well enough to be sure he would honour our payment agreement.
The best I would offer most other clients, no matter how convinced I am that they are authentic, would be 2 instalments. And the first would be 80% of the total.
Details of why I operate as described above have been treated in past articles. And I’ll still share more insights in future write-ups. Hint: It’s manly due to chronic lack of integrity of many today.
The Above Emails from my Client Awoke Me to a Realization I’d Been Blind to For YEARS: About “How Your Public Speaking Competence Can Affect Your Ability to Sell Your Business Plan”
You see, from reading both emails he sent me, it was obvious he wanted to make sure he fully understood the plan’s contents ahead of the meetings.
And that’s smart thinking, because…
No Matter How Good Your Written Plan is, Using it to Raise Funds May Still Require YOU to Do a Formal Presentation to Prospective Investors
It won’t matter if the presentation is to a prospective investor who is your best friend, your former boss, or even your father.
Most people – even close relatives – won’t just dip their hands into their pockets and hand over the money you ask for. I doubt you would either!
We all want to be assured that we will not be throwing our money away by investing in another person’s business venture or idea.
But delivering a smart and convincing business plan verbal presentation – even to a familiar persons – can be a disconcerting experience.
And when you’re doing it before total strangers, it can get even more disorienting.
Your mind will constantly warn you s/he or they can say NO. And that possibility can make you nervous – to the extent that you botch your presentation.
But that will often ONLY happen IF you fail to prepare and practice ahead of that event!
The reality is that those who have to decide to “award” you funds will be expecting you to not only have a good written plan, but to also SPEAK about it convincingly.
Among other things, they will expect you to be articulate, and confident in responding to their questions or objections. If you’re stammering all over the place and fidgety, nervous or shifty eyed, they could quickly lose confidence…and interest.
So, How Can You Equip Yourself to Present Your Business Ideas Smartly Enough to Win Prospective Investor(s) Over?
What I recommend is quite simple:
1. First, know your subject inside out.
Do this by conducting a proper, real life market survey, and put together your business plan based on that.
2. Next, practice thinking and speaking about its contents relentlessly until it becomes second nature.
By this I mean, until it becomes something you can do without thinking, even when woken up from deep sleep.
A good way to achieve that end will be to enlist the help of your spouse and/or other competent persons to listen to you do the formal business plan presentation. Take on ANY questions they throw at you.
3. Repeat the exercise as often as necessary, until you feel at EASE doing it.
Once you can get yourself to do the above state of mind/competence, you’re likely to win more than passing attention from prospective investors genuinely interested in your idea.
It would just be a matter of time before you find one or more willing to give you what you want!
To Achieve The Above, Your Start-Up Idea Will Often Need to be A PASSION of Yours
Starting a poultry farm business, for instance, can be as risky as it is profitable.
Prospective investors would NOT be unaware of that fact. They would therefore want to be sure their money will be in capable hands most likely to deliver the promised returns on investment!
This is why it would be unwise to attempt starting a venture on other people’s money, IF it is not based on what I call a Magnificent Obsession (click here to read one of several articles in which I explain what having it means – for me)!
In certain ways, presenting a business plan to investors is similar to defending one’s university research paper, to qualify for graduation
By implication, you may find it useful to prepare your business plan, and presentation with a similar mindset.
For instance, you’d conduct a survey (field or literature review), then analyze – and interpret your data/findings. Following that, you would draw conclusions and make recommendations – or propose an action plan.
All of that would be written in your neatly bound document.
The way it happens varies across institutions. But you would typically have to do a formal presentation of your paper, to an academic panel who would have read it BEFORE you come before them to speak.
They would subsequently award a “pass” or “fail” rating – based on their impressions of your performance (taking into consideration the quality of your written paper).
It’s just like a prospective investor (or venture capital team) saying YES or NO to your request for funding – AFTER listening to your presentation!
The truth is not everyone finds it easy to communicate their ideas intelligently and convincingly, when in front of people they know will decide their fate!
I know people who really knew their stuff, and did all the hard work putting it together, only to stumble during their presentations.
In the process, they failed to win the support they needed.
Final Words: The Above is Why I Believe Everyone Needs Public Speaking Coaching!
At some point in life, we will each have to do a formal presentation of some kind. Why wait till you need to do it, to learn?
You’re much better off preparing yourself well ahead of time.
That way, having to think on your feet (which is a key requirement for success speaking) will be something you’re already comfortable doing. You would just need study the subject to speak on.
It is my considered opinion, that doing this will make much fewer people rate “public speaking” as their biggest fear (even ahead of exposure to life threatening danger), in research surveys!
I’ll be recommending the above line of action to my client in an email.
If he applies this idea diligently, I know his chances of impressing the prospective investors he plans to meet with, will greatly improve.
I hope you’ll take a cue from what I’ve said here, and start YOUR own public speaking training from today.
If you need help, Burt Dubin’s website – www.speakingsuccess.com – offers more than 30 years of experience based timeless wisdom (in form of very insightful free articles, as well as a unique range of powerful mentoring products and services) for experts who want to speak competently.
Don’t wait: Click the above links to go there now!
…and good luck to you!
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Have a great week :-))
