The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016) • Hacker News Board

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

#31

Post by thrav » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 3:24 PM UTC

GiuseppaAcciaio wrote: post #19

retube wrote: post #4

interesting. but slightly off topic - do sales guys construct their own decks? surely decks need approval / sanctioning before distribution to prospects? don't firms have their own decks for sales people to leverage?

It really depends on the organization: the Holy Grail is to have a well developed Sales Support function that prepares decks for sales people from a data source which is pre-approved (some investment banks have that, it's awesome) so that the Sales people can focus 100% on doing their thing. In smaller, scrappier companies or just in less "sexy" industries, sales people are known to prepare their own decks and whethe…

Even in the biggest companies, Sales people make the choices about which resources to pull into their pitch deck, but yes, there is a corporate template with a typical flow.

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

#32

Post by gk1 » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 3:26 PM UTC

Persuadem wrote: post #27

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 Raski…

Seems as though you actually agree with the article's premise, which you mistook to be about the sales deck.

The point is that your messaging should be about what the buyer needs, not what your product does. You happen to have different packaging for it (as do I[1]), but overall it seems we're in agreement.

[1] https://www.gkogan.co/blog/buyers/

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

#33

Post by ghaff » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 3:28 PM UTC

Illniyar wrote: post #21

chank wrote: post #7

>Zuora came up with the phrase “subscription economy” to name the trend in which buyers increasingly choose recurring service payments over outright purchases. It's not a trend where buyers choose recurring payments, but where companies only offer services through recurring payments.

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 arguably the poster child for a software company for which subscription vs. one-time licenses is a particularly polarizing question among its user base. For companies, it arguably didn't matter much and access to the current versions of the entire portfolio was probably a win for many. At the same time, some Adobe software was and is widely, but often casually, used by a fairly wide range of consumers who were fine with running programs that were a couple versions old given the price to upgrade. (This described me for a fairly long period of time.)

That's really where subscriptions break down. You need to use something every now and then but you don't care if it's five years old as long as it still works.

Of course, one-time purchase alternatives like Photoshop Elements are one option these days as are free programs like The GIMP.

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

#34

Post by gk1 » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 3:29 PM UTC

ackfoo wrote: post #5

That this works is evidence that people are stupid and they suck.

Everyone likes to think that sales and marketing doesn't work on them. More often than not, I find this attitude in people who have no decision-making authority anyway.

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

#35

Post by carlmr » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 3:32 PM UTC

kbuchanan wrote: post #15

retube wrote: post #4

interesting. but slightly off topic - do sales guys construct their own decks? surely decks need approval / sanctioning before distribution to prospects? don't firms have their own decks for sales people to leverage?

No, in many companies, different sales people thrive on different sales strategies. Good sales decks are not feature reviews; like the article says-a deck is a launchpad for discussing a compelling narrative, which is why they’re only really effective as part of a presentation (as opposed to a downloadable resource).

I also think it's probably better if you have your own sales slides, because other people's slides might not fit your presentation style.

I did prep a few sales presentations for my former boss though. He just didn't have the time.

There is usually a review though. Depending on what industry you're in you can't promise certain things, and often the company wants a bit more control over outward presentation.

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

#36

Post by hodgesrm » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 3:35 PM UTC

retube wrote: post #4

interesting. but slightly off topic - do sales guys construct their own decks? surely decks need approval / sanctioning before distribution to prospects? don't firms have their own decks for sales people to leverage?

Most sales people I know pull from existing corporate collateral then tweak for particular opportunities.

The reason is that good pitch decks can be excruciatingly hard to write. Writing includes the storyline (obviously) but also details like PowerPoint formatting. Relatively few sales people have the time or experience to do this from scratch.

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

#37

Post by ghaff » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 3:37 PM UTC

tjoff wrote: post #29

Illniyar wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 -…

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…

>It cannot be simpler than pay once and you are done for life.

Although that's rarely the case. At some point, your OS upgrade--which you probably have to do for security reasons--breaks your five year old program. Or the program doesn't handle some new format or peripheral, etc.

I don't really disagree with your basic point. I dislike money leaks. For online services of various types, I mostly have no choice but I at least want to minimize them with on-prem software--especially for things I only use every now and then.

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

#38

Post by saiya-jin » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 3:37 PM UTC

tjoff wrote: post #29

Illniyar wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 -…

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…

Bent TV probably no since they are mostly viewed with other people, but ultra wide bent monitors are super nice, especially for gaming. I go this way instead of VR which seems to take time to 'get there' (also HW requirements are easier to pay for).

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

#39

Post by enraged_camel » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 3:41 PM UTC

chank wrote: post #7

>Zuora came up with the phrase “subscription economy” to name the trend in which buyers increasingly choose recurring service payments over outright purchases. It's not a trend where buyers choose recurring payments, but where companies only offer services through recurring payments.

Not true. I work in the enterprise software space. We definitely noticed a strong trend, starting around mid-2010, where prospective customers started shying away from one-time, upfront purchases and demanding a subscription model.

The reason is simple: one is a capital expenditure, whereas the other can be categorized as an operational expense. With a subscription model, even if you end up paying more in the long run, you realize the return on investment almost immediately.

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

#40

Post by emilfihlman » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 3:44 PM UTC

michaelmcdonald wrote: post #23

dajohnson89 wrote: post #22

Good write-up -- is there a link to the actual deck?

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

Irrelevant. If the deck is available and discussed, we might as well take a look.