Closing investors is an art form. It takes intricate preparation.
You have your pitch, your business plan, and all your elements in place. You may give a fantastic presentation, and think it went great, but then you don't get an investment.
“What went wrong?” you wonder. You may have felt that was the best you could do, but you didn't reach your goal of getting the film investment.
In this article, I'd like to go over some of the signs that I get when I have seen investors close in the past.
Signs an Investor will Close
When I'm in the meeting, and I'm in my “flow” for the pitch of the movie, there are certain cues I look for:
- Is he or she asking specific questions about the project? – if they are sitting there just smiling and nodding, they may be giving you lip service. But if they ask a question like, “Do you think you could shoot this entire film in 18 days?” then you're in much better shape.
- Do they look like they're thinking about it? You should be comfortable with silence. In silence, the potential investor is thinking if he or she would like to put money in.
- Are they paying focused attention? Or are their eyes glazed over? Are they glancing at their phones or their computer screens? None of that is good. You should be holding their attention with a focused pitch.
- How do they react when you ask them about the next steps? You eventually need to get to a point where you ask what the next step will be, or flat out ask if they're interested in investing in your film. What is their reaction? Do they give you a quick yes or no? Or are they silent while they think about it? I will say that the latter is better. Even a quick yes can turn into a no. But a thoughtful yes usually lands.
Here are more secrets:
Understand that, after using all these tips, you still never know.
Your potential investor might be going through a divorce. Or he/she might be buying a business. Or they may have talked to a friend who told them “Don't ever invest in a film!” Any of this could be the case, and that's not on you.
Your job is to go in, give a dynamite pitch, have all your elements lined up, then continue pitching investors until you close the financing for your movie.
If you want more tips, check out my instructional series on Producer Pitch Secrets.
