by Basil Damukaitis
Hubbard Street Marketing
Every broker for whom I've written copy have the exact same complaint, "I don't have time to read through an offering memorandum, just give me the highlights."
How much time have you spent ploughing through opportunities with pages of information and examining spreadsheets only to discover it doesn't fit your criteria or your client's parameters?
Worse yet, how many times have you passed on an opportunity because you glossed over information and didn't notice key factors because they were buried in a wall of text, surrounded by secondary information?
Pitch Deck or Offering Memorandum?
Pitch Decks are a great way to grab the attention of your clients and get them to focus on the features of your opportunity. They don't replace offering memoranda, they set the stage for them. In brief, pitch decks:
Highlight key features of the investment.
Direct and guide your reader's attention.
Excites your clients.
Makes it easier to understand and identify key points.
Reduce reading time.
Simplify complicated information
Offering Memoranda serve a different purpose from a pitch deck. Offering Memoranda are meant to be a comprehensive source of information. This makes it difficult for features to really stand out.
A well-written pitch deck is an essential marketing piece that highlights features and specific information in a way that can be easily understood and remembered by the reader. Investor Decks create a sense of urgency and build value by focusing on key features that will resonate with buyers. They're informative and build interest and enthusiasm.
Think of it this way, when you see a wall of text, that is, several paragraphs one after another, you read through it quickly, hoping to identify key information that will tell you whether it meets the parameters of your client. If it does, you typically go back and read through it again, but slowly and more carefully.
Pitch Decks make that same process easier and faster. Rather than read through the same document twice, the pitch deck gives your reader the highlights in a simple and easy format that helps them absorb and remember key points.
Your opportunity will receive more attention because a pitch deck is easy to read and understand. It's visually more attractive and less overwhelming. It also gives you greater ability to control the flow of information and direct your reader to connect key pieces of information.
Numbers Need a Story!
Private Equity, Venture Capital, and Commercial Real Estate Brokers all share a common problem; numbers need a story. To get buyers excited and interested, you need to tell a story behind numbers that make them real and believable. We're all trained skeptics. That's why story-telling is such a growing trend in marketing. Private Equity and Venture Capital investors always examine the story behind the numbers when evaluating a worthwhile opportunity.
Back up your numbers with a story told by using text and graphics. The advantage to pitch decks is that they can tell a story without adding more text to read.
Graphics "Diagram" Information
Graphics have the ability to explain a selling point quickly and easily without asking yourself, "did I read that right?" When you "diagram" information its more easily understood. In the case of a pitch deck I composed for a client below, I took two key features of a tenant's financial stability and highlighted them (edited for privacy) by the use of graphics to drive home a key selling point, that there are two tenant guarantees.
When you can visually highlight and explain to the reader important information in a fraction of the time it would take them to read a paragraph, it's certain to be seen, understood, and remembered.
Pitch Decks aren't exhaustive sources of information. They point out specific highlights and features that make the opportunity unique and leave the potential buyer wanting to know more. Business Overviews and Offering Memoranda still remain essential tools to communicate the good, the bad, and the boring, but you're doing yourself a disservice by leading with it.
Creating an Investment Property Pitch Deck
Identify the the Benefits
First, identify key benefits and characteristics that make an opportunity unique. Don't assume the reader will figure it out or catch it in a long list of features.
Get them Excited
Pointing out or spotlighting a benefit or feature doesn't necessarily get your reader excited. Telling a story and pairing it with the deliberate and thoughtful images, graphics, and color build urgency. You have the ability to control how people will perceive the information through the use of layout and declarative statements. Every type of sale has an emotional component to tap!
Use as few words as possible
Graphics replace long narratives and sentences. Font size and type, the use of color, space and shapes communicate your message efficiently. Graphics bring words to life. Communicating a message using different forms of media reinforces your statement. The use of color can promote the type of feeling you want to elicit from your reader.
Avoid walls of texts
Use as few words as possible. No one reads walls of texts any longer. Don't get mired in details, that comes later.
Pitch Decks aren't exhaustive pieces of information. Nor do they sell the asset. But they do create the first and lasting impression.
Pitch Decks let you control the feed of information by prioritizing and organizing it in the most effective way possible. Think of the offering memorandum as the instruction book, and the pitch deck as the advertisement that gives you the first overall favorable impression. They allow you to control the narrative and flow of information.
A Few Pointers for an Effective Pitch Deck
There are some basic principles about pitch decks that make them such an effective medium for investment opportunities. Here are a few pointers toward creating a pitch deck that will get noticed and drive a potential client toward a "call to action."
Keep to 6 and 20 panels Don't overload them with useless information.
One idea per slide This makes it easy for the reader to remember and makes a greater impact. It's also less confusing.
No spreadsheets Don't make your reader hunt for the information they're looking for. Put important numbers into a simplified "spreadsheet."
Prioritize Information Create a roadmap and arrange the slides in a way that prioritizes the information for your reader.
Guide your reader: Do the thinking for them. Connect the flow of information and point out its relationship to other pieces of information through the use of arrows, boxes, shapes and colors.
Be Consistent Use no more than two fonts, one for headings and subheadings, and one for descriptions (usually one serif type font and one sans serif font).
Create a Feeling There's a whole psychology about what colors to use to produce different emotions. Use a color wheel in choosing color combinations to create a desired effect. Keep to three colors at the most.
KISS (keep it simple) Graphics are supposed to enhance information, not detract from it.
You are the caboose! Put your information at the end of the pitch deck, not the beginning! The focus should be the property.
Branding: Put your logo in the same place on each slide.
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