The zone of believable fiction

A recent issue of the Secret CFO newsletter I subscribe to has an interesting piece of advice when selling your business.

The 19 Things You Must Know to Sell a Business

When telling the story about your business to a successful acquirer and pitching the value, you should "Build a story in the zone of believable fiction."

"Here you are pushing the story beyond verifiable facts (past or future). And into the realms of what is possible to achieve with the business. I.e. the potential forward momentum."

The idea is that buyers don't care about your past, but rather, how you can help them in the future.

In the case of selling a business, that generally means something like helping the buyer make more money, get a new customer base, etc.

In the 1099 world, it's not as grandiose, but the prime is still buying what you can do for them in the future.

Sometimes it's to make a little more money, or just get the work done.

But other times it may be to help them improve the client relationship, win new work, impress the client with a new technology ability, or to push a risky project forward.

While your resume gives you credibility based on your past work, make sure you get a good understanding of the prime's goals and demonstrate how you can help achieve them in the future.

Don't oversell. That may put you in the zone of "unbelievable fiction."

But be forward thinking on behalf of the prime. Pitch them a believable fiction.

Want the full playbook? Check out Going 1099.