- July 24, 2014
- Posted by: John Fischer
- Category: Accredited Investors
If You’re Trying to Find Accredited Investors, Here’s the Easy Way to Do it.
Many people spend years building up their referral network in order to create a stable of potential investors. This is an option and one that should be included in your long-term strategy. It should include local influences and people like bankers, lawyers, and CPAs. While effective, this does take time and is not ideal for people that need to raise money quickly.
When trying to find accredited investors, start by ordering a lead list from www.salesleads.tv or www.accreditedinvestorleads.com. By purchasing a lead list, you will cut down on the amount of time you spend searching for qualified prospects and increase the amount of time you spend speaking with prospects. This is a highly specialized list and one that could take you years to formulate on your own. It is also important to note that just because someone was accredited at one point in time, does not mean they are accredited now. The SEC changed the definition of accredited investor to remove the value of a person’s primary residence from the net worth equation. When this happened, many investors became disqualified. As a result, old lists may no longer be accurate, especially in areas of the country where people were “house rich”.
When ordering your lead list, you can specify additional criteria that go beyond them simply being accredited. This includes geographic location, an important factor when trying to reach local investors. You can also specify gender and other criteria that you feel may be important to the overall deal. The more you can breakdown the type of investor that may be interested in your offering, the better your chances are of making a successful sales pitch.
Prior to calling accredited investors, make sure to have your pitch down. These are not novice investors or people that have recently come into money. These are people that earn a good living and have a higher than average net worth. They are by definition sophisticated and are likely to ask detailed, probing, and intelligent questions. Calling these investors without doing your homework is unwise. You should know everything there is to know about your industry, market conditions, and the deal itself. If they ask something, you need to provide an intelligent answer that is backed up with facts if you want to close the deal.
In addition to ordering a custom lead list, you can find accredited investors by asking for referrals. When you have a lead on the phone or are meeting in person, ask if they know of anyone else that may be interested in investing in your offering. Since they have already taken the time to speak with you, they clearly see some level of value in what you are presenting. Asking for a referral is a natural next step that can lead you to additional investors and help you to raise more capital.