Ten Lies Investors Hear From Entrepreneurs

You may be an entrepreneur in a really good business, and you are looking for a business venture to invest in. Naturally, other firms will hear about you and will send their best telemarketing representative to give you a call. Now, you may have heard all about sales pitches and how they aim to turn you into business leads, but are you sure that these are honest enough? If you want to be sure that thelead generation process  gives you sales leads of worthy firms, then you might have to sift through the lies. And what are these lies you should beware of?  

1.“These are conservative estimates” – if these are conservative, but paint a rosy picture of their firm, beware. These firms have not done their homework and may be hiding the fact that they mean trouble for you.

2.“Analysts say that we will be a X billion dollar business in x years” – frankly speaking, I have never seen analysts get it exactly right. Trusting in something based on predictions is too risky.

3.“Fortune 500 companies will be working with us” – if they have not worked yet with you, then there is a possibility that they will not. Do not count your chicks before they hatch, that is the rule.

4.“No one else can deliver this” – really, so there is no competition then? That company might as well not exist. There will always be someone who also provides the same product or service.

5.“Hurry, since other investors are about to deal with us” – you can liken it to an infomercial that goads viewers to buy. There will always be enough stocks, but advertisers say it is limited.

6.“It will be a viral phenomenon” – the thing here is that too many companies are saying the same thing, and most fail in the end. Be more aware of this, and dig deeper from the facts.

7.“Larger companies are too slow or dumb compared to us” – excuse me, but these slow and dumb companies became big for a reason. And they are actually big enough to crush you, if they want.

8.“We have a proven management team” – this can be a bad sign, especially with start-ups. They may have experienced personnel, but you do not know yet if they are up to the test once this company hits the rough roads. Better be careful of them.

9.“Our intellectual property is patented for protection” – yes, they have the patent, but can they litigate? Besides, it is very easy for competitors to just modify or completely go around the designs they have.

10.“We only need a small percentage of the market” – if that is the truth, then there will be no large companies to start with. There is a strong reason why firms need B2B sales leads, and that is because their market share is not enough for profits.  

See? These are just some of the claims made by some overzealous marketers in their lead generation campaign. Now, you have just known them.