Walking the Talk
A demo day, typically used by start-ups at accelerators, is a great opportunity for public companies to sell their story to current and potential investors. We caught up with Lisa Riley, VP of Strategy & Sales & Deputy CEO at Vitalhub UK to talk about what makes for a good demo day and how it differs from a sales pitch.
With 20 years of nursing experience, the message Lisa conveyed to investors went beyond the typical ‘who we are’ and ‘what we do’ pitch. The stories she shared to demonstrate Vitalhub’s impact on their customers were personal, emotional and logical. Over the course of her career, she has listened to a lot of software pitches and knows that to sell an IT solution you don’t need to choose between compassion and performance.
“You can’t just tick off all the buzzwords,” she said. “Customers want to know what it can do. Ultimately, our solution is all about the patient: how is our technology improving healthcare and outcomes at the patient level.”
This theme, much like a sales demo, guided the afternoon as the Vitalhub UK team educated investors about the company; it’s purpose, strategy, operations and reach in the National Health System, the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems in the UK.
She continued, “We know our customer’s pain points and why they need our solutions. Customers trust us and know our brand. Even with all the acquisitions we’ve made over the years [Vitalhub has made 14 in the last eight years], we haven’t lost our personal touch as a very service-oriented firm. Vitalhub has the same values today that we’ve always had when we were a much smaller company. We want our customers to be happy, we want to make their lives easier, and we want to make a real difference. At the end of the day, it’s all about the patients. Making a difference in their lives”
The in-person and virtual presentation went beyond rhetoric, strategy and numbers. A singular type of fireside chat, the Vitalhub team talked about the impact of their technology on real people offering investors real-world validation. It went further, adding how customer insights are a critical building block of innovation for the company.
“Our sales pitches aren’t really focused on the technology but the everyday benefits of using our products and solutions,” Lisa said. “There’s a heart to all our messaging. That’s why we use it in both our sales pitches and why I used it the investor deck. The reality is there are patients dying every day because time is being wasted. Customers buy for their reasons, not yours.”
Lisa presented a moving personal story of her stepfather who after reluctantly agreeing to visit the doctor for a bum knee ended up being diagnosed with advanced stage lung cancer. The images featured her dad at her wedding, with several others at home after he got sick.
It was a bold strategy.
“You only have a short amount of time to get your message across. We’ve spent a lot of time joining the dots between our companies and all of our products to tell a powerful story focused on the advantages of our solutions in a deep, meaningful way.”
When companies fully leverage the power of storytelling to educate investors, the impact can be extraordinary. This is the story investors want to hear. It’s human-centered, personal and emotional.