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Dragon’s Den is not only a highly entertaining TV show but is also a great way to get business finance. You will also gain a wealth of experience money cant buy from the dragons, not to mention the exposure of your product in front of millions of viewers. Here are a few tips that hopefully might just make the Dragon’s part with some money and set you on the road to success. Create your business plan. A business plan is one of the most important items you will need if you are looking for funding. To gain interest from an investor you must show that your plan has been well researched and thought out. Many entrepreneurs on previous series have been so focused on the product that when it comes to there business plan they have struggled. A good plan will answer a lot of question that the Dragon’s and any investor will ask. Practice the pitch. Once you have your sound business plan, it must them be presented in a clear effective way. Often entrepreneurs will lose investment by not clearly putting there business idea across. Practice your presentation before hand, present it for friends and family and ask for any creative feed back they may have. Also try not to make the presentation to long, the Dragon’s or any investor are soon going to stop listening and loose concentration if you go on to long, after all how many times have you tuned out when you have been listening to a long speech! Add a unique selling point to your business plan and try to sell it with conviction to make it stand out from the crowd. Make the Dragon’s fell that if they don’t invest in you they are missing out on something big. Find and secure a route to market. Research how you are going to get your product to your customers. Retailers will be reluctant to sell a product that has had no promotion or marketing, why would they take up self space to sell a product no one has ever heard of before. The internet is a good place to start the promotion of your product as cost are lower and can be easily tracked. Find suppliers who are similar to your self and see how they have market there product successfully in their market place. The Dragon’s will likely ask the following question about how you are going to sell your product. • Is it a retail or business-to-business sale? • How will you secure direct sales? • How much will distribution cost? • Are there recurring revenues, or is it a one-off transaction? Confident negotiations. During the negotiations you will be on trail as much as the business plans, the Dragon’s and investors not only invest money into business but also those who run the business, after all it will be you who has the responsibility to make money for them. Negotiations will consist of four steps: 1) Preparation. Before the negotiations begin have a clear idea of your options and what you want to achieve. What is the best deal? At what point do you walk away? 2) Discussion. Relationships between Dragon’s and entrepreneur is not just one of handing over large sums of money for you to do what you want, the Dragon’s take an active interest in your business so its important that you get on with them and will be able to forge a productive relationship. 3) Proposals. Don’t be afraid to ask them to make you an offer. How much are they giving you? How much of a stake do they want? What are they giving you apart from their money? There is no need to rush to a decision and it is perfectly acceptable to mull over it or to seek clarification before responding. 4) Agreement. Once the deal has been agreed it important that everyone is happy with the deal they wanted. The last thing your new partner should be hearing is how much better the deal was than expected. Hopefully you are now a bit more prepared for when you enter the Dragon’s Den. Good luck!
Article Source: http://www.mycontentbuilder.com
This article was written on behalf of General Finance Centre who provide business finance.
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