How to Get Your Board to Open the Checkbook
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You’re heading into the boardroom. You’ve got a shot at unlocking serious investment.
But here’s the truth: no one’s opening a checkbook because of your financial analysis—or your perfectly aligned font choices.
Boards don’t buy into data delivered like a TED Talk.
They buy into conviction. Urgency. Vision.
Your job? Make them feel the cost of not acting—right now.
Here’s how to build a killer board presentation that moves people to yes (and makes them want to fund your idea):
I.
Stop Selling with Slides
Your deck has 47 slides.
Your board will remember just one story.
Most leaders lean on this cycle:
Analyze → Think → Do
Your hope is that if they see your careful analysis, they will think like you think and do what you want them to do.
But people don’t act because of data.
They act because of emotion:
See → Feel → Do
They have to see something that makes them feel something, and that makes them do something.
Here’s an example of what worked:
A leader pitched a tech solution to digitize restaurant workflows. The deck was strong. ROI was clear. The board was uninterested and didn’t budge.
I suggested they de-emphasize the data and tell a story.
They shared this:
A GM—single mom—was arriving hours before opening to do pencil-and-paper tasks.
Digitizing that work meant she could leave later. She’d get to see her kids before school. That hit home.
Suddenly, they weren’t approving software. They were changing lives. The funding came immediately.
💡Try This:
Ditch the spreadsheet. Start with one story. One moment. One person. Make them feel the future you’re building.
II.
Shift from Why to Why Now
By the time something gets to the Board, it’s already assumed the ROI is decent.
They’re not wondering why the idea is good.
They’re wondering: why now?
Why is this the best use of time, dollars, and energy right now?
Back to our restaurant example—what finally pushed the story over the line was urgency: “We’re losing managers every quarter. This isn't a future fix. It's a retention lifeline.”
💡 Try This:
Don’t just make the case. Make the clock tick. Articulate what’s at stake if you don’t act now.
III.
Use Their Hurdle Rate, Not Yours
You may be proud of your 75% ROI—but if your board evaluates all capital uses based on IRR, and the hurdle rate is 13%, you’re talking the wrong language.
In our case, once we recalculated to show an IRR of 28%—apples to apples with their investment framework—we cleared the bar. By a mile. But remember, data is a sidecar. Don’t put this up front!
💡 Try This:
Ask what metric they use to evaluate capital decisions. Use that. And know the number you’ve got to beat. if you can’t beat the hurdle rate, then accept it and move on to other things that drive more value.
IV.
Speak in Business Capability, Not Tech Capacity
“We need a better CRM” is a yawn.
“We need to build a predictable pipeline that tells us—daily—if we’re pacing to hit revenue targets?” Now you’ve got their attention.
Boards don’t fund technology. They fund outcomes.
💡 Try This:
Translate every feature into a future. Don’t talk about the tool—talk about what your business will be able to do that it can’t today.
V.
Punchlines First
This is where most presentations go to die: 30 minutes of slow build-up. Then, the big ask.
Don’t bury the lead.
In our restaurant example, here’s how the presentation started:
“I’m here to ask for $25M to change the daily life of every General Manager in our company. Here’s how.”
No mystery. Just clarity.
Story first. Punchline first. Then let the data support you—not lead you.
💡 Try This:
Open with your ask. Be bold. Then back it up with purpose, urgency, and proof.
The Bottom Line:
Your board doesn’t need more data.
They need a reason to care—and a reason to act now.
Lead with urgency. Speak in outcomes.
And for the love of all things strategic—start with the punchline.
When you bring clarity, conviction, and a story they’ll never forget, you won’t just get a yes—you’ll get the check.
Your coach,
Chris
P.S. 🎙 If this got your wheels turning, join me for a free webinar where I’ll share a few powerful tactics I didn’t cover here—plus open the floor for live ask-me-anything questions.
It’s not a template drop. It’s not a tools tour.
It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how to pitch bold ideas, shift a room, and walk out with real momentum.
Spots are limited—Email ‘Yes’ to chris@peoplebeforethings.co (not .com) and I’ll send a calendar poll to the group for scheduling.
