6 Steps to Successful Financial Roadshows

Insider Tips for Successful Financial Roadshows

Financial roadshows are like engines: keep them well oiled and they’ll run smooth; pour the wrong type of fuel into the tank and they break down. Without the right ingredients, a roadshow can quickly turn into a physical, emotional and financial drain instead of a boost to your company’s health. There’s no magic recipe to a successful roadshow, but following these guidelines will improve your chances of success.

Planning and Preparation

Executives, like most humans, tend to procrastinate, even on projects as important as multi-billion dollar IPOs and investor conferences. When you’re running a business, it’s easy to put off roadshow planning in favor of in-the-moment tasks. But early planning reduces stress, prepares the team to perform well and boosts the odds of successfully wooing investors.

We recommend planning eight to 12 weeks in advance. This lets executives fine tune their game plan over time so they can devote meticulous attention to the details while balancing their daily workloads.

Use the prep time to review and sharpen your messaging, delivery, and key points for Q&A sessions; arrange your roadshow transportation; and prepare a backup plan to account for contingencies.

Sharpen Your Message

Facts are important. But let’s face it: facts are pretty boring. They’re call road “shows” for a reason, so give the audience what it wants — to feel like their time was well spent. No one likes a show that’s boring. People love shows that make them laugh, cry, think and feel; in other words, a good show generates an emotional response. When you stir investors emotions, you’ll boost your odds of a successful pitch. How do you do that?

Tell an engaging story. Support it with proof points and testimonials and you’ll earn investors’ attention more than facts and financial figures alone. A good place to start is at what leadership author Simon Sinek calls “The Why.” You can watch this short TED talk on how great leaders inspire action, but if you don’t have time, here’s the short version: Focus your message on the reason your company exists and why it does what it does; this has the power to inspire others to believe in your idea.

Sharpening your message also means skipping the boring parts and getting right to what investors care about. Don’t let details kill you — keep your message crisp, clear and concise. Starting with “Why” can help you avoid the pitfalls of boring and irrelevant minutiae.

The sharper your message, the better it’ll reach investors’ emotional core.

Be Flexible

Be ready to deliver your presentation in a variety of formats, from short five-minute briefs to hour-long presentations, with or without a slide deck in case you run into technical issues. Just ask Michael Bay what happens when you’re dependent on a teleprompter or slide deck.

Flexibility also allows you to adjust your presentation by tailoring it in real-time based on the feedback you receive at each stop.

When you know your key points, you’ll be able to adapt to any time constraints to make sure you hit your audience’s questions and goals.

In our experience, one of the most important elements to any presentation is the Q&A.

According to executive consultant Peggy Klaus,”the first three questions you should ask every small group are: Are you familiar with your company? Our industry? Have you read the prospectus? If the answer is collectively yes, then bypass that respective information, or pick and choose a few tidbits and then go straight to the Q & A.”

Take Care of Your Body

roadshows push people to their physical limits. The time spent traveling to different cities and the stress of multiple daily presentations in front of different audiences will wear you down, and when you’re drained, your performance suffers. Battle fatigue by staying mentally and physically fit. Stay hydrated, eat healthfully, get a lot of sleep, and make time for stress-relief, whether it’s through exercise, meditation, or both. If the roadshow is extremely important to your business’s future, which most are, you may want to invest in an on-the-road personal trainer or plan to have easy access to healthy foods, such as setting up catering or food delivery to your team.

Treat your roadshow the way a professional athlete treats a championship game: with focus, determination, preparation and smart habits.

Consult With Legal

Executives should know what they can and can’t say during investor conferences; violation of Regulation Fair Disclosure and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act carry harsh penalties. Work with legal counsel to brief executives of these rules, so they can interact with the investment community without any negative legal consequences.

Be Punctual

Tardiness and no-shows are unacceptable. Period. When your company’s financial future is at stake, you should do everything in your power to make sure you show up to your commitments. Planning, again, is the key to ensuring you’re punctual.

Hiring the right team of transportation professionals to help you plan travel logistics and execute them perfectly is also key, so make sure the executive transportation company you hire has experience with corporate roadshows. If you’re traveling to Boston, New York or across the globe, DPV Transportation Worldwide can help you plan your roadshow(s) and offers professional, reliable and punctual transportation with its fleet of executive sedans, SUVs, luxury vans and buses. To contact a roadshow planning specialist please send us an email at roadshowdesk@wp.eemaginedev.com/dpvtransport, or please click the button below to request a free quote.