The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016)

A trend rarely happens on only one side of the demand-supply axis. There is definitely a trend towards subscriptions, especially for SMBs, but enterprise and individuals as well.

It's so much easier to pay a monthly or yearly fee then up front, especially for companies - both in terms of cashflow , accounting practices and stability.

Some companies has gone that route that have customers on both sides of the aisle - adobe is one of them. Their choice alienated some part of their customers, but be sure that many others were glad for the change - probably big companies with shifting employee roster, or those who upgraded frequently.

The author literally says directly in the article that the person he received the deck from asked him to not publicly share the deck.

In what way is that a picture of legs? It'd be more accurate to describe it as a picture of a door.

I disagree with two things in the article.

1. I disagree with the underlying premise of the article - the deck is unimportant.

2. I disagree with the reasoning given as to why it works.

Firstly the deck is unimportant because - as the ex-employee quoted at the end said: the prospect is already sold thanks to the marketing and branding campaigns run by Zuora. The deck is superfluous.

Secondly, the reasoning that Raskin often gives as to why this works is based on the fact it follows the "storytelling" formula that Hollywood uses. He liberally uses examples of Star Wars and other films in his articles.

But we aren't characters in a movie.

Rather than looking to what motivates characters in a movie to act as a model for persuasive messaging, we are better looking at what persuades people to act in real life.

Arguably religion and politics are the most persuasive forces on the planet.

And the real reason Zuora's message works is that it follows the same formula (and has the same elements) as religious and political ideologies.

1. There's a heaven and hell (for Zuora, heaven is thriving and getting more customers and hell is losing one's business)

2. There's a devil which is stopping us getting to heaven and sending us to hell (for Zuora this is the traditional business model of single non-recurring purchases)

3. There's a doctrine that needs to be followed to get to heaven & avoid hell (for Zuora that's the subscription business model)

4. There's a leader that provides the tools and solutions necessary to implement the doctrine and get to heaven (for Zuora this is their solution)

Viewing Zuora's success through this model, through this lense, makes more sense than Raskin's model.

There are plenty of other examples. Hubspot is a great example - they used (unconsciously) this model to sell the concept of inbound marketing. Check out this article on the subject - https://bit.ly/2Ov3NCT

Sure they do. 3D TVs and bent TVs are two glaring examples of something people never wanted. The only way companies could uphold that view was by ensuring that no manufacturer had sensible alternatives - effectively forcing people that wanted a TV to buy it. And then pretending that the sales were proof that people wanted it.

It is the exact same with the majority of subscription services.

For a company I get that it is easier. But easier for an individual?

I walk twice around the earth before even considering a subscription service. It cannot be simpler than pay once and you are done for life. The reason as to why so few companies offer both is because it then becomes apparent how bad the subscription value is.