Organise Investors to Increase Your Income

It's really, really important as deal sourcers, that you manage the investors that come through your door and treat them all as leads. As that is exactly what they are - until you complete a deal with them, they remain a 'lead', just as in any other business setting. 

This includes any investor that approaches you on social, via email, at a networking event, and indicates that they may be interested in working with you is a lead.

They may be incredibly 'hot' in the moment, however without some nurturing these leads can quite quickly become cold and even lost altogether. 

So let's start with a story, as I'm sure we've all been disheartened by investors ghosting us at one time or another...

Have You Been Ghosted By An Investor?

An investor approaches you directly. They provide you with their email and contact number to get in touch as they love the sound of your business, your sourcing strategy and the locations you talk about are perfect for them. 

You come away from the investor beaming, as this sounds like an absolutely 100% dead cert. You send them an email with your details and to arrange further conversation to get the ball rolling on your initial sourcing paperwork. 

A few days pass and you've heard nothing. 

2 weeks pass by and still no communication back.

You try calling. 

Goes to answerphone.

You leave a message + a text follow-up to say you have called. 

A further two weeks go by and still absolutely nothing from the investor who seemed so keen only one month ago, you thought he wanted to secure deals from you there on the spot. 

So, what do you do?

Keep Your Investor Leads 'Warm'

So the investor essentially bailed on all communication. But things happen - just as it does in our own lives.

A new project comes in, a family crisis, or another scenario that may stop us fully committing to a new project or connection. 

Is it right that they ignore your messages and calls? Not really no - I'm sure they wouldn't like it the other way. However, it's a fact of business that people will come to you when they're good and ready. Before that point, they might just ignore you completely. 

This isn't just something that happens to deal sourcers, every single industry faces this challenge and there are some tricks to help you keep your investors warm. The goal is to keep your business front of mind for when your lead is ready to move forwards. 

However, it's also important to know that some investors will move forwards...and some just won't. Winning 100% of leads that come through your door would be wondering, but it's an unrealistic target, so don't punish yourself too much if this happens. 

There are however quick tips we can give you to help keep investors warm: 

Organise Your Leads

Whenever you get a new lead through, organise them somewhere so you can keep track of who you've been speaking to and what your next planned action is. 

You can try tools such as Monday.com to easily organise leads into columns, add date last contacted, notes for next steps etc. 

This is a good way to filter your leads into 'hot' 'warm' or 'cold' categories, so you can determine where your time is best spent with each. 

Maintain Regular Communication

Once you've sent your initial custom communication to your investor but had no response, you can switch them to an automated schedule to keep regular emails going through to them. 

• This could be letting them know of a deal you've recently completed in an area they are interested in. What did you achieve with the other investor? 
• Any relevant business updates - you've added a new strategy, you're going to be at a networking event, will they be there? You've spotted some useful information about the area they are investing (that you source in)
• General check-in - are they ready for a call. Keep it open ended and the opportunity for them to reply to you

Just whatever you do, please DO NOT send them deals through. If they have not replied at this stage, you don't want to be breaking compliance regulations by not having any due diligence in place. 

How Often to Message Investor Leads?

You can start with once a week or every other week. Regular enough to maintain communication but not enough to spam. 

Make sure what you send them is relevant to them and potentially interesting for their own investment portfolio. 

You can use a platform such as Pipedrive (offer a 14-day free trial) to manage your leads, send emails, send campaigns, or set up automations (for emails), so you can take away a lot of admin time from yourself if you end up managing a larger lead list. 

They key is not to spam. You want them to remember you for when they are ready, not loathe the amount of emails you block their inbox with!

Also - when sending 'campaign' emails, i.e. to more than one investor in one send; make sure to follow GDPR rules and have an 'unsubscribe' link or option on the email. 

Stop Them Dropping Off a Cliff

It might seem like a lot of work for someone who hasn't replied in a while, or keeps saying "I'm not ready", however keeping a presence and regular communication could be the difference between building a positive relationship 3-6 months down the line, or losing the investor altogether to another sourcing agent who swooped in at the right time. 

We have had leads who tailed off for 8 months, only to come back a few months later ready and raring to go. With leads it really can be a waiting game. 

First Step: Get Yourself & Your Leads Organised

It's up to you which platform you use - or stick to a simple spreadsheet - the trick really is to get your business organised. 

Sort through all of those leads. Determine who is 'hot' and required more of your attention now, vs those 'cool' leads that might just need regular communication every couple of weeks. 

Plan the communication in. Add reminders. Create email templates if that helps. 

Just. Keep. Communicating. 

If they are no longer interested, they will ask you to stop. But remember, they came to you in the first place - so there has to have been some interest or a need to start off with! 

Increase Your Income

By separating out your 'hot' i.e. really interested leads, you can put much more energy into them and encourage them through your onboarding process. 

Create email templates that explain how it works, reassure them of how you'll guide them through and make it smooth, so it's the legal hurdle to complete before getting to the exciting deal sourcing. 

Adding a level or organisation, not just for initial leads, will impress investors and make you look much more professional. 

You can use tools such as Monday.com or Pipedrive for this entire process too - so you know exactly where each of your leads are up to.