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You made it to the final investor meeting again. You were sure this one was yours because your pitch was on point (no surprise, given that you rehearsed every line).

But still... no deal.

What gives? Why are you always the bridesmaid but never the bride?

In this episode, Stacy is breaking down why so many fund managers find themselves stuck in this frustrating loop.

Listen in to learn:

Why trying to win allocators over in the last round is a losing game
The kind of meeting prep that actually pays off (hint: it doesn’t involve you rehearsing lines for hours in the mirror)
How to make your message land without over-explaining and putting everyone in the room to sleep
Why the final few minutes of your meeting are crucial and the secret sauce to standing out with your closing

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

TRANSCRIPT

Below is an AI-generated transcript and therefore it may contain errors.

[00:00:00] Stacy Havener: Craving more knowledge, but don't always have time to sit down for a five course meal. Take a quick snack break with story snacks, bite-size content to feed your funnel. Each short episode features Stacey, digging into one question. This series has her talking stories, sales, and so much more. Oh yeah, it's time for story snacks.

[00:00:26] Wouldn't it be cool if you could diversify your investor base and add some non-US investors? Europe could be fun, or Latin America, maybe Antarctica. Hey, icebergs aren't really my jam, but you never know. You've only got one problem. How the heck do you do that? Fair question. Maybe this is a who not how thing.

[00:00:49] Meet my friends at Gem Cap. Not only do they handle all the back office stuff, the how. They'll also solve the who in your distribution conundrum. [00:01:00] They have an incredible network of distribution partners who can help you sell the thing. Once you've built the thing. And Gem Cap won't just help you launch globally.

[00:01:10] They'll tell you where to go, and maybe more importantly, where not to go. Saving you time, money, and annoying headaches. Want to find out if your investment firm is ready to go global? Visit billion dollar backstory.com/gem cap, G-E-M-C-A-P. We've created a quick quiz that'll help you figure out if you're ready to expand beyond the US and side note.

[00:01:37] It's pretty fun too. Get your firm in front of the right investors in the right places with Gem Cap. Take the quiz and get more info@billiondollarbackstory.com slash gem. Cap ge. M-M-C-A-P.

[00:01:57] I keep making it to the finals, but not [00:02:00] winning. Always a bridesmaid, never a bribe. How can I win? How can I win? I know we all wanna win. Okay. Let's just do a little table setting here. There is a perception that the decision of choosing you or choosing the winner, so to speak. Happens in the finals. I don't mean to burst your bubble, but everybody knows who's gonna win before the finals ever happen.

[00:02:29] The decision has likely already been made, okay? And if it hasn't been totally made, it's been 80% made and this finals is just really a chance for that person to fuck it up, right? So what does that mean? That means that. It's not that it totally takes the pressures off of the final, but it means that everything leading up to the final is really what matters.

[00:02:57] And I'm gonna take you all the way [00:03:00] back to the research you do before these meetings with this particular client happen, right? So presumably you've had other meetings, either with their consultant or with them leading up to this conversation. Your preparation for those meetings is really where you win, and what I'm talking about is not necessarily you practicing your pitch, it's you researching that prospect at a very deep level.

[00:03:27] Reading all their commentaries, watching videos, listening to podcasts, really trying to understand where are they coming from, what is important to them? Who are these people? What makes them tick? Who do they serve? Or if they're the asset owner, like what are they all about? The more research you do before you start this meeting process with them, the better you're going to be able to customize.

[00:03:51] The conversation, potentially even the solution for them, and they're going to feel seen. And I know that seems like a small [00:04:00] thing, but actually that's what matters because people do business with people. So I know the question was about the finals, and I guess what I'm saying is like if you're waiting to the finals to put the polish on, you've already lost the deal way before that.

[00:04:16] Now, all of that said the finals are still a thing and it's still a chance to shine. So my advice in finals is keep it and, and there's. Tendency or there's pressure for like, how much time do I have and let me fill up all the space. Like I'm gonna come in and I am gonna nail this pitch. There was one group I talked to and they're like, we practice the pitch for five hours before we ever deliver it.

[00:04:46] And I'm like, that sounds awful. And I bet the pitch sounds awful because it probably sounds like you've been practicing it for five hours. So there's like, there's a level of over practicing. [00:05:00] Overfit this. So again, remember there's lots of different ways that this finals could be run, but let's just assume they've done some work on you.

[00:05:09] This isn't like the first time they've heard about you. So knowing what you know, because you've done all this research, what are like the three most important things you want these people to walk away with? What's a nice little short story about. Who you are, your founder, what makes you different? What are three things that you think might resonate with them?

[00:05:30] Like if you have a half an hour, can you take up 10 minutes of that with this short and sweet and simple pitch, if you will? And then can you open it up to questions? Can you let them ask questions? Now if you're in a meeting and there is a client or asset owner and a consultant, want you to be careful about who you're talking to, the tendency, especially in the investment industry, is to talk at a very high level to the [00:06:00] consultant.

[00:06:00] It doesn't feel great if you're the client. What if you knocked that down to a more simple, accessible level and also included the client or the asset owner in the conversation, right? They're the ones who ultimately make the decision, and I think it's very easy for us as investment people to sort of live up here in the esoteric ether and have this very intellectual conversation with the consultant, and we think we're wowing the client in that process, but actually it's just sort of like douchey.

[00:06:29] So don't do that. Okay. I would give them the opportunity to have questions. I guess the last piece I would add to that is to be prepared if they have none. Okay, so the risk is you do this really great 10 minute. Short, sweet, simple conversation. You're smiling, you're, you're engaging, you're approachable.

[00:06:48] You have to make them all feel comfortable to ask you questions. If you open it up and no one says boo, now you have to come up with something to say. So to be ready for this [00:07:00] right now, you could have questions in your back pocket. So ask yourself a question. One of the questions we typically hear from clients like you is this.

[00:07:08] You could also use it as an opportunity to tell an impact story. We have a client that is very similar to you. Let me tell you a little bit about them without naming them. And they had a problem that was very similar to you, and let me tell you about that and then let me tell you how we were the solution for that.

[00:07:25] You have to be ready. And this is also one of my favorite bits from a presentation coach. You can follow her on LinkedIn. Her name's Eva Daniels. I think she's fantastic. She says, don't end on a question. So you've got your 10 minutes, you've got 30 total, you got 10. You let the q and a thing kind of happen, and then at the end you control the end the message, right?

[00:07:48] So you could reiterate. You know, some of your differentiators or something you think they really resonated with in the conversation. And don't forget [00:08:00] to say thank you for the opportunity, like it would be an honor to partner with you. Really grateful for the opportunity. Remember, we are people first, so don't lose that.

[00:08:11] Control the end with gratitude. Hope that helps. Let's be real. No one wakes up and says, I can't wait to build some operational infrastructure today you are here to manage money to build something that lights you up, not chase down reports across five systems and 15 service providers. That's where Ultimas Fund Solutions comes in there.

[00:08:34] Your ops dream team, consolidating all your middle and back office chaos into one clean, scalable setup. Registered funds, private funds, SMAs, all integrated, one team, one tech platform, one rock solid source of data. But here's the real differentiator service. I know that fund in a box [00:09:00] sounds convenient.

[00:09:00] It's also a box. Know what? You can't put in a box? A human who picks up the phone when you call and need help. Real life people who know your name and your fund, and they care about getting it right. Ultimas was built on people doing business with people. You get institutional strength combined with boutique level service without getting stuck in a phone tree of doom.

[00:09:26] If you're ready to simplify scale and start working with a team that feels like an extension of yours, check out billion dollar backstory.com/ultimas. That's ul. T-I-M-U-S. You've got the investment strategy, the vision, the track record. Now it's time to upgrade the engine behind it all with ultimas. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

[00:09:58] The information is not an offer, [00:10:00] solicitation, or recommendation of any of the funds, services, or products, or to adopt any investment strategy. Investment values may fluctuate and past performance is not a guide to future performance. All opinions expressed by guests on the show are solely their own opinion and do not necessarily reflect those at their firm.

[00:10:17] Manager's appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement by Stacey Haven or Haven or Capital Partners.

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