Dragons going Forth

The 4th of the current series of my fave show (Dragons Den on its 3rd series in England) had its usual collection of lunatic ideas, near-misses and funding secured.  Here are the relevant sales-y pieces:

• when someone mentions money, a chuckle and this line can disarm “right, get down to the hard numbers, then”
• ensuring you know where your offering is “vulnerable”, can fend off negative vibes, especially being able to explain why a so-called expert could have made the wrong decision in not pursuing interest in your product, ie: in sales terms, why other prospect’s hadn’t bought from you or customers stopped buying is vital
• you should always acknowledge a jittery persons concerns, even asking them to elaborate where possible
• give all instructions correctly pre any hands-on demo (in this episode, one forgot to say don’t drink the corked-wine, aka vinegar!)
• the funding success was for a music download idea who made sure he knew what else could be brought to the table by the Dragons

And as a personal aside, it was fascinating to see the Dragons’ views on valuation.  When viewing valuer advisers Dragon Richard after fearing a valuation which was too high, asked, “how much did they invest? there’s a big difference between valuing something and writing a cheque…” (& former Dragon Doug commenting from afar “I believe there is nothing more harmful to start-ups than the parasitic swarm of advisors that seek to “mentor” small business with no experience to speak of themselves.”  Something I’d echo from my various calamatous experiences with UK’s ‘Business Link’ small business advisors.  They’re totally useless.)