Raising Finance Talks
Helping property developers raise finance from private investors so they can grow and scale their property business!
Raising Finance Talks
How to raise finance without ever asking for money
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In this episode we explore:
Why we think using investor packs to attract investors is an absolute no go!
Why raising finance is all about relationships
The fear of ruining relationships with investors
Finding the deal and then finding the money: there's a better way
How to bridge the gap between you and the investor
How I went from having a fear of sending a text to raising £10m
How to nail the process of sending messages out to potential investors
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Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode number two. Today's episode is all about how you can raise finance without ever asking people for money. It's a topic we come across all the time when we speak to people. And it's also a big sticking point for the clients we work with. So if you know potential investors, but don't feel comfortable asking them for money, then this is the episode for you. We're going to show you exactly how you can attract investors without asking for money.
Al:Hey, guys, you're listening to raising finance talks with Salman Al, we're on an absolute mission to help developers raise their first millions of investors. So they can go on and do deals with six figure profits.
Sam:So if you're not moving forward with your property business, or a lack of cash, then this podcast is for you. We're going to deep dive into all aspects of raising private finance. So thanks for listening. And let's dive in.
Al:Episode Two, we're here. This is a big one, this is something that we do come across a lot. And it is huge. The fact that people genuinely believe that they're asking for money, and that's their mission. So what are we going to talk about here? What's the what's the big problem? I know, this is a huge one. And it is something we come across a lot. But let's delve into the problem that people are having, when they you know they're talking around this subject,
Sam:absolutely a big one. And it does stop a lot of people from moving forward. So most people are sitting on a goldmine of investor finance that they just never tap into. Usually, that's because they don't know how to approach someone without asking for money, or feel like they're asking for money. And that just always stops them from raising finance. So quite often what people will do is start well, putting together investor packs
Al:or investor packs. We love investor back. They're our favourite thing. Not at all our favourite thing we'll talk about that again,
Sam:no, not, not the one for trying to get investment is just sending out investor packs to everyone. Or people just maybe start hitting up their email list lists, and then kind of generic or pitchy emails. Yeah,
Al:yeah. Yeah, this is a big one, people love to hide behind writing in the wrong sense. I think a lot of people do tend to hide, behind, you know, pitchy emails that are just pushing out the percentages, you know, they keep pushing out those percentages in the emails, and dangling that carrot, hoping that people will sort of, you know, take a bite. And just means that you're pitching to people, you know, you are out there going against all the other people in the property industry who are pitching people as well. So it becomes impossible to actually stand out and attract investors through, you know, meaningful conversations, because you're not able to get that far. Because you're just putting that percentage out there. You're throwing out the investor pack in the hope that someone just just bites the carrot, I guess. And it's just, yeah, it's a little bit a little bit of a not not a not the way to go. Absolutely. I know, you're laughing at me right now. It's such a subject, though. And, you know, there is a time and a place for an investor pack. I get that, but certainly not with private finance.
Sam:No, not not with the initial contact or, you know, very little relationship building. You know, that's what this is raising finance is all about. It's about relationships, it's about connection. And, you know, sending out an investor back with a few numbers and percentages in maybe you might have a couple of photos in there. You know, you're not engaging people, you're not finding out what people really want. You're not having deep conversations and seeing if you know, is that the person you want to work with, rather than just wing some investor back out to everyone and hope that someone responds and has the money. Yeah,
Al:may I totally agree with you? Well, there are investors that will respond to that kind of information, the percentages and stuff like that. We know from our experience that, you know, it's a better option or a better way to do it by doing something differently, which we probably will get onto shortly. But if we think about, you know, all of the times that you've gone out to raise money in the past three to four years or so. You never ever lead with percentages. You always lead with a personal approach. I mean, I think it might be valued valuable just to delve into that a little bit and Talk about sort of your experience of what it was like going out there. Once you had this mindset shift from not asking people for money, that's not what I'm actually trying to do here. And then where did where did? Where did we get to?
Sam:Yeah. So I'd say the, the big shift for me was, you know, all the big worry for me, let's, let's go back and take a step back. The big worry for me was, you know, just gonna feel like I'm asking people for money, I can't do that, you know, I'd rather die and rather die than have to ask someone for money. That sounds like the worst thing in the world, you know. So I was just holding on to that fear, like, the whole time we're working on things I was still holding on to it. And even when we got to a point, where, you know, we'd worked on my value. And we've done a lot of sort of deep work around that. And I became, you know, as I said, in previous episode, became just a changed person from that really, and understood my value a lot better when it came to actually sending the text out, and I was ready. And it just didn't happen for me for another couple of weeks. I was just kind of stewing over it. And I remember actually, I was I was fishing at the time. And the lake I was fishing was frozen over. And so I thought, Well, not nothing much is happening here. Let's, let's have a chat with our and all the stuff that's spinning around in my head at the moment. So I gave you a call on that cold December night from the fishing lake and we work through.
Al:Yeah, I do remember it well. And you know what, again, just keeping on that what was really key is, you know, you, this is what we want everyone to understand, I guess is that, you know, Sam now is stood here, having raised 10 million pounds to fun developments. But that wasn't the case, then, you know, back then, there was a genuine fear of ruining relationships with people that he already knew. Oh, yes. You know, there was a fear around, okay, I can't like I can't do this, like, I can't send this message. Because what would somebody else think? And again, if you, if you look back at the previous episode, we talked a little bit about going into the future to find something that isn't there to build confidence. While this is the same thing, you're moving into the future to kind of, you're creating something that hasn't happened yet. You know, and I think that's something that we want you guys to understand is that, whilst you know Sam's been successful now is raised money is continuing to it wasn't the case all of the time. So he's kind of been through this entire process. And, you know, he remembers what it feels like. So I thought it was really key to share me.
Sam:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We all goes, we all go through those kind of worrying bits at the start. So yeah, absolutely.
Al:So yeah, I mean, so in terms of like, how would someone solve this problem, we were sat here, we have gone deep into the past, we understand a bit more about what we bring to investors. But we still can't pull the trigger. We still don't know. What we're doing and sense of, are we asking people for money or not? I don't quite understand this whole process. So I don't want to ask people for money. So what's my solution? What what are we going to? What are we going to do to unlock or unblock people in this situation?
Sam:Well, I think the most important thing really to start with is getting clear on what your intention is, from the beginning. So yeah, just mapping out in terms of what does that look like in terms of what you want from your first contact. So whether that's a message or phone call, or whatever that looks like for you, then being clear on what that is, before you start to put together a message or maybe like a bit of a plan for a phone call? That kind of thing? That's you have to have that from the start.
Al:Yeah. So if you're not asking for money, what you're asking for, what are you actually going for them? What what's the what's the target? What's the intention when it comes to, like, you know, that first point of contact with someone,
Sam:so the intention from the first point of contact is to gain interest? Nothing more than that, that is it. You know, the last thing he wants to be doing is sending a long text to someone you haven't spoken to for a year. And you're saying, Hi, how are you doing? I've got this deal. Are you interested? This is the money I need, you know, who wants to receive a text like that? You know, even if it's someone you know that you speak to regularly it might be a family member, it could be someone at work could be a boss could be, you know, any number of people you're in contact with regularly Unless you've spoken about investment with him before, then, you know, it's just weird, you know, dumping a text or phone call on someone and say, you know, and saying, Yeah, I'm ready to go, I've got this deal, you know, are you interested, these are the returns, that's just not how to, you know, that's why we're big proponents of money, first, build up a few investors in a, then you've got the money to go shopping for the deals you want. And you can buy quickly. All of this stuff we see a lot of which is, you know, if you find the deal the money Well,
Al:the thing is, right, and may is such a good point, and I and something to really sort of just hold on to for a second, because we've all had those messages, right? We've all had those messages that are pushing percentages that are all about the deal. You kind of know the person that sending it, but you're not really sure. And you wonder what's going on there? And are they desperate? Am I the only one who's getting this message has somebody else, you know, it's a difficult situation to sort of receive that message. And that is the thing that people are scared of. So this is the thing I think, and we believe from all the people we speak to, and the clients that we're working with is that the fear of asking for money comes from receiving those messages, because you know how shitty it feels yourself to get one of those messages. And that's the message you think you're going to be sending to people. And I think this is the big, big thing here that that's the difference. You know, we're looking, I'm talking about creating a well crafted message that's aligned with, you know, the outcome that you're trying to achieve, which is to gain interest, not ask for money. And I think that's a really, really key element here, you know, to take that time to actually break down and look at the situation of, you know, there's there's this thing where you're kind of bridging the gap between two people, right, so you're the investor. And it's us, and we're trying to bridge that gap. So an investor has, okay, a lack of time, possibly, he might not have all of these things, we'll have one or more of these things, a lack of time, or lack of opportunities, and a lack of experience. But the one thing the investor has is money. Whereas we might have a lack of sight, an abundance of time, loads of opportunity, and some experience thrown in there as well. But we don't have the money. And what we're trying to do with this message is we're trying to bridge that gap between us, we're trying to bring the investor over, so that we can have a conversation, it doesn't have to be, here's my ideal, this is what you're going to get in return. If you want it drop me a line, it can be a very subtle, well crafted message that you sort of really take the time to consider how it's going to feel for that investor to receive it, you know, so if they're sat there with a lack of time, no opportunity, and they don't have the experience that you have in property, then they receive a message that is really just all around, you know, geared around the interest element, gaining the interest as opposed to getting the money, then they're going to feel a little bit easier about responding about coming towards you. And that's where you can start to begin to attract them. Is there anything else you think about, like when it comes to, you know, really sort of nailing the process of getting this right, Sam? Yeah. So
Sam:I think part of that process is when you're putting that message together, is what it's not, you know, this, this is what helped me start to send messages out is I put the message together, we worked on them together. And you know, we would quite often bounce them back and forwards 567 times, editing them all the way till we're really happy with them, because it wasn't pitchy. It wasn't salesy wasn't pushy. It was a really simple message checking in say, How are you doing? This is what I'm up to, you know, yeah, it was those kinds of messages where it was, it was just like I say there was nothing salesy about it. And it was, you know, it was a matters that was just easy to, you know, have confidence and be relaxed about sending and then so,
Al:yeah, you just touched on something there, which I think we should keep keep going on is the preparation element to it. It's a simple message. Yes. It's no more than like, I don't know. It takes seconds to read, but it takes a long time to craft it because It takes a little bit of thought process, it takes you sort of, you know, we spent a lot of time delving into the characteristics of the people, you were actually sending these messages to thinking about what's it like to be in their shoes. Imagine receiving this message ourselves. So we spent a lot of time doing that. So I think it's really, really important to, you know, understand that element of preparation. And, you know, in terms of the preparation as well, the whole thing of, you know, starting with people that, you know, aren't your hopes and dreams in a way? Yeah. So you've started with people that, you know, don't necessarily have a chance to become an investor effectively, and you're almost practising on them like that. Well, that was useful, right?
Sam:Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Going out to that kind of cold audience, people, you thought, well, maybe they will be potential investors, but they're not kind of top of the list of who I think yes, they're definitely strong potential being an investor. So it's, once you've gone through that preparation, and then you're sending texts out, you're kind of you're building and building on to getting your experience about having those initial conversations with people and exploring the potential to see if they might be interested in investing. Yeah, no, it's,
Al:it's a great point. And it's just again, like part of the preparation, it's so much work goes into this stuff. And it can Yeah, it can make all the difference, basically. So look, in terms of results, like in terms of, you know, going through this, really focusing on this, I do want to say, guys, we've got a bit of a, you know, a bit of a surprise for you today, we have got some text templates that we're going to offer out to you guys as part of this episode. It's just simply a case of looking in the show notes, you'll be able to click on the link, and all you need to do is stick your email in and you'll be able to get these tax templates that will really, really help you to start those initial conversations and gaining interest with people. So I didn't want to mention that. But in terms of going through this process, like getting results, like what what did the results look like at the end of this, you go through it? You kind of you know, you're at that position, you're you've crafted your message, you're gaining interest, like how does it feel having had the results? What what does that look like?
Sam:You won't either.
Al:Yeah, just so you know, he's written you won't die in the show notes. Deep, it's just so deep.
Sam:So the ground will not open up and swallow a hole because you sent a message to someone, you're not asking for money, you have nothing to worry about. And even if they're not interested, they will talk to you again, because you haven't been salesy. You haven't been pitchy or desperate, you've just sent a message. That is it.
Al:That's the another thing these messages do, they don't put you in that position. They don't put you in a position that you will be crumbling the relationships around you through, you know, pitching to people. So again, just another massive point, and really, really key. So
Sam:yeah, yeah. But most, most importantly, you will have gained interest from an investor, which is a huge step forward in the raising finance process. Yeah,
Al:huge. Like, you know, that's what you're looking for. And again, the intention,
Sam:you know, one of the biggest objections or things that holds people back that we speak to, on raising finance is fear of asking people for money, you know, and it's, it's painful, really to see people not get stuck into conversations and contacting with potential investors, because it's really, really holding them back in their business and ultimately, in their life. So much so that they would rather take expensive bridging finance instead of contacting people that know like and trust them. Or they might end up with someone who's all about percentages, not really about the people, they haven't got a relationship with them. And we all know how those relationships and during and after projects. So
Al:that's, yeah, like, you know, you you take a project on, you have an investor with you. They're in that like a marriage. They're in that with you from the start to the middle to the finish to the end and beyond. So, you take on an investor based purely on percentages, you're going to struggle when times are getting tough, and I think that knowing the process that Sam's been through and having watched it as well, you know, having the ideal investors on board for Sam, I can you know I certainly see the impact that's had on him being able to sort of ride out the problems with an investor that he has a very decent relationship with, because of the way he started that relationship. It's, it's a massive point. So yeah, really, really worth sort of going through.
Sam:So we know that raising money can obviously change the game massively for property developers out there. So we really wanted to get this episode out to everyone out there. We hope it's been a value to, as our alluded to earlier, we are going to post the link in the show notes to the text templates. These are the same templates that I've used for contacting potential investors. And that's sent me on the road to raising millions in finance from these investors. So take them, use them, enjoy them.
Al:Absolutely. And like I said, if any questions pop up after today's episode, you've listened. You might have sort of had a thought that's cropped up from anything we've said, Please don't be sort of feeling like this. podcast is just for us to talk to you and you're not to talk to us. So if there is any questions you have, feel free to DM us on Instagram. We're at raising finance club, drop us a DM we will be in the DMS we will converse with you guys. We'll help you as much as we physically can. But thanks for listening. And please do subscribe and keep an eye out for future episodes because we're coming in hard.
Sam:See you next week. Take care