For Sales: When it comes to reaching out to a Family Office, you need the right materials to present your investment offering. While you need to nail your verbal pitch, having a clearly crafted email campaign can be used to attract the initial attention of Family Office Investors.
This means having emails that briefly describe who you are, what you’re offering, why they may be interested, how much you need — or want — and when the investor may get the investment back and/or what the expected return will be. If you’re a fund manager, briefly state your past returns, draw-downs and experience.
The best thing you can do is make the Family Office feel you’ve done your homework to understand their core business principles.
Here are the steps to launching a successful email campaign that wins over a Family Office:
Choose a catchy subject line
The first hurdle is to get the Family Office to actually open your email. That means you need a non-spammy yet eye-catching subject line. Brainstorm with your team on what would interest a Family Office, and if you have a big enough list, A/B test different subject lines to see which ones get opened more often.
Personalize the email
You should never use the list in a mass mailing since it’ll damage the integrity of the list and classify your server as spamming, blocking any future contact efforts. Be sure to use their names in the salutation line and always give something of value, not just a sales pitch, so they’ll look forward to receiving your email.
Measure your progress
Mail programs such as SendGrid help you measure the stats you need to know, including the open rate, click through rate and contact rate. As you review these stats, you can continue to refine how you reach out to the Family Office. Following up with contacts in a respectful way after your initial email is crucial as well.
Add value for potential investors
Creating documents to support your pitch shows investors you’ve more than done your homework; you’ve created additional resources for their review. Consider creating a PowerPoint presentation, a one-page sheet with specific information about the investment or create an irresistible opt-in for your newsletter so you can stay in touch with them. Additionally, featuring your team in an email campaign can showcase their talent and knowledge, especially if their expertise is relevant to the Family Office.
Avoid tired phrases and clichés
No one wants to hear the words “synergy” or “wheelhouse” when talking about a new investment. This will turn off Family Offices who are wise to catch-all phrases that aren’t specific about the investment or industry itself. They want to hear the specific benefits that are relevant to them.
Conclude with your pitch with these three points
Be sure to include how much you are raising, i.e. the actual number. Then, talk about what fundraising stage you’re currently in so the investor knows where you’re at. Finally, give the timeline for potential times to meet or talk more about your offer. Even if the investor has their own potential times, you are starting the process of setting a potentially rewarding meeting with them.
Make your email look appealing
Convey your opportunity in an attractive way. Marketing is key and this includes consistent branding. If you’re not tech savvy, enlist the help of a marketing professional to create an aesthetically pleasing email. Use graphs and pictures to display your offering. Keep it clean and avoid getting bogged down in detail; instead, include links to devoted websites and attachments with supporting details.
Make it a collaboration
The creation of your pitch should be a team effort. Talk with your board members, industry-savvy peers and the administrative members of your team. Better yet, talk with one of your service providers to see if they have ideas; a small change of a phrase or word can make the difference.
Crafting and sending the right email, whether separately or as part of an email campaign, can set you apart from the other emails in the Family Office’s inbox. These tips can help you do that while providing value to your recipients. Even if you don’t end up nabbing an investment from them now, you are planting the seed for a possible return in the future.