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Remember Papa John's commercial on TV with the slogan "Better Ingredients, Better Pizza"? Well its nothing more than puffery: general, non-provable, inane claims. The problem is puffery is not only acceptable it's often expected. Phrases like “the biggest,” “the best,” “the cheapest,” and so forth are so over used most people simply ignore them. If you're guilty of using puffery in your business plan, you risk filling your plan with circumstantial evidence and bold claims that won't do a thing to market your business. These frivolous claims add nothing to help an investor decide whether your business venture is truly any different from the other ventures they are evaluating. To weed out general, non-provable, inane claims, you need a plain and simple puffery sensor. And, here it is: whenever you make a claim in your business plan ask yourself this question, "Will investors really believe this?" Let’s take as an example a business plan for a car dealership that included these claims:
Seasoned investors read right over this kind of hollow puffery in business plans. They’re to the point that they expect entrepreneurs and business owners seeking investment monies to say anything and everything in an attempt to impress them. Aren’t puffery, platitudes, and generalities all the same thing? You bet they are. And if you believe Mr. Hopkins, these kinds of statements roll off the human understanding like water off a duck's back. They make no impression whatsoever. I don't know about you but if I'm spending my money and time writing a business plan to raise capital for my business, I want it to make an impression! Here are some other examples I’ve seen in business plans. A commercial realty company says, "We Go The Extra Mile For Our Clients." It's puffery. How about this wonderful statement regarding a consulting firm’s competitive advantages ..."Knowledge. Expertise. Determination." That’s it. That's the first line! That's their big "hook" to get investors to part with their money and back the firm’s business plan. They might as well not list any competitive advantages. Now, suppose this construction management company explained their “unique” process, provided cost comparisons, and gave the actual length of time to complete their last twenty projects against industry standards for similar projects. And, suppose they provided customer testimonials to back their figures. Would this be more believable? More convincing? Starting A Child Daycare. - Complete business package to help you easily and quickly start your own profitable home-based day care business! Federal Grants! - Free Government Money! - FederalGrantSource.com free government money, business grants and cash grants directory. We guarantee results! This webinar will provide an introduction to the exciting new world of cloud-enabled mobile computing. A few complex user scenarios possible with this new paradigm will be discussed, along with a hands-on tutorial for developing such mobile applications on Microsoft’s Windows Phone Platform. The presenters and moderator are tops in their field. To found out more and register for this Webinar January 26th 2012 at 2pm EST, go to: Article Index: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 |
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