"We've heard of you, we know why you're here, let's talk about how we get involved"

The most significant thing I want to impart to you is that your individual insights are worth sharing with the world.

I know this because, having spoken to thousands of professionals, everyone shares a different truth. Your truth is based on your experience and your values, and these change over time. The culmination of your life to this point means you have a particular take on the world.

When we put in the effort to ask you a question that will reveal your particular take on things, we can shine a light on that which makes you human—your insight and experience.

When we capture that in short video, it becomes accessible and repeatable to as many people as you are willing to let see it.

When we structure those insights into themes related to customer journeys that people will go on when dealing with you, we can create narrative journeys which act in the same way as you being in the room with people for the first time, or maybe the second and the third.

How many times do you repeat yourself when speaking to somebody you've not met in a professional context?

When you're asked to go in and deliver a presentation or have a new business meeting, what do you say again and again?

It’s these insights that form the core of my Investor Engagement Systems? (you can see several content examples here), based on the premise that your story is worth telling, and the success of clients using them is a testament to this!

They will allow you to become accessible to a much broader audience who can take the time of their choosing to review and understand this material.

And as we get further into this, I'm going to talk to you about how you can leverage the availability of this messaging to send to people before you meet with them and after you've met with them, so that you can deepen the personal relationship you're having with them, and you can do so at scale without having to be there in person.

The key thing to remember is we're not trying to remove human interaction.

We're simply taking the entry-level, repeatable elements of it, whether they be demonstrating your expertise as an industry leader, or letting people know how they can interact with you and getting it out of the way.

This is so that when you are there sharing in person, you can both have a deeper conversation about the why that has brought you together and the value you can co-create.

This is a much better place to start than waiting a month for a preliminary meeting, and then spending half of your time covering the basics.

Question: What do you and your team first hear when kicking off meetings with potential clients, investors or strategic partners?

You’ll know your systems, messaging and process are aligned when you’re arriving at meetings and hearing;

“We've heard of you, we know why you're here, let's talk about how we get involved”

To build stakeholder trust, you need insights on 4 things

Context is everything, and I’ve had three in-depth conversations in the past week with teams who said “yes, all of these are things we’re aware of and either working on or need to be” - I say context is everything because the varied business strategies meant the purpose, scale and impact varied massively when used as a communication device to open doors with customers or strategic partners.

This is underpinned by the company’s awareness of and positioning against macro trends, market challenges and competitor differentiation, and then questions of resourcing (focus), problem awareness for clients being engaged with as they relate to positioning, and on to relatability, which is codifying all of that in accessible ways.

And this is all great to know, and critical, though as I quote Alan Weiss, “Logic makes people think, emotion makes them act” - which is why I build my Investor Engagement Systems? for clients.

Question: Which of these stand out to you as areas you may not be addressing?

You can do a free self-assessment on the 4 Investor Trust Builders by clicking here.

Thanks for reading

Tomorrow at midday AEST (Friday) I’ll be releasing the final part of my interview with Durreen Shahnaz on LinkedIn, don’t miss it, click here to watch part 3.

If you’d like to have a 1:1 contextual discussion about your Investment Fund or Growth Stage Business, reach out - I’d be happy to help.