For a moment, put yourself in the shoes of a bank loan processor, assessing a multitude of applications for business finance. You might also imagine that you are assessing a pile of grant applications, or tenders, that could be many thousands of dollars. Or possibly an investor, with eager entrepreneurs pitching their big ideas to you. In all of these cases, you need to make assessments of these pitches and plans in a short time frame, to understand the strengths, risks, suitability and opportunity of each one. There is a lot of pressure to make the best choice, for the most suitable proposal or opportunity.
Translating your business’ strengths is crucial. Your documents need to be sharp, concise and complete. They need to match criteria and understand demands.
If you were in their shoes, what would you look for? Key criteria would include a strong performance, a well-presented proposal, strong business management skills, reliable business owners, a proven track record and solid business plan. From what I have seen working on these projects, what many business owners present is a long way from the stellar representation that the owners wish it was. Not surprisingly, they didn’t win their applications. In the rush to go asking for money, these owners forget to put their pants on before heading out the door.
Rose coloured glasses.
One of the most common types of pant-less applicants I have seen are the starry-eyed start-ups. Having seen stories of successful celebrity business owners, particularly the mega rich founders of Airbnb or Uber, these aspiring business owners pack their big idea and go seeking investors. Inexperienced, not well connected, poorly structured and unfamiliar with how they are perceived, their lack of preparation shows up starkly.
Looking inside not outside.
Every application, pitch and submission that you make is reviewed within the view of someone else. They have specific needs, wants, criteria, processes and priorities. Not considering these is equivalent to throwing your pants out the window. It’s all about the audience not you, so make sure your submissions tell the story they will actually consider.
Who’s in charge?
The founders of a business are a key consideration in pitches to investors or loan applications, rightly being considered the biggest risk to a successful venture. Yet aspiring owners so often present themselves poorly, with no business ownership experience, a management team lacking key skills and, to make matters worse, they don’t even supply sufficient detail to polish their presentation. A lack of relevant business owner detail weakens submissions significantly. In the worst case, I even had a CV sent as a Post-It Note.
Big ideas don’t turn into big businesses on their own.
Seasoned businesspeople know that even the best ideas are just ideas. Until they show traction in the market and the product-market fit is proven (usually with a lot of iterations from the first idea), there are no home runs to celebrate. Presenting a bare bones idea and expecting total investment from the bank or investors can be tough work when the founder has done no development whatsoever (not even a name or a prototype), has no clients and has not invested any of their own money.
The Scramble.
The other common scenario is ‘The Scramble’. Pant-less business owners come along in urgent need of a business plan, tender or proposal, usually at short notice. Then The Scramble begins. As part of the plan or submission, up-to-date information such as financials, OH&S systems, policies and procedures and evidence of brand presence in the market. What we often find, however, is that the accounts haven’t been updated, the website is a mess and all those things that were on the ‘should have done’ list, suddenly matter. When we create the plan, we polish up what our clients have and make good descriptions of intentions. But it shows. In a competitive market, assessors can see the shortcomings from a mile off.
Bring out the polish.
Getting money from banks or investors, winning tenders and getting applications approved is tough. Make no mistake, competition is fierce. Polishing up your submission is essential but can only go so far; underneath that, the substance counts. If you put yourself on the other side, you can very easily see those who have no pants on. Doing your homework, with good business planning practices, and thorough, thoughtful submissions pays dividends.