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

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

#51

Post by Illniyar »

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…

err... are you implying that there are no alternatives in the market to 3D TVs and bent TVs? As far as I know 3D TVs have basically gone out of market[1] because no one bought them. It is actually the exact opposite of what you suggested - they could not start a trend, even thought they tried to force it on people, because there was no demand for it.

[1]-https://www.cnet.com/news/shambling-corpse-of-3d-tv-finally-...

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

#52

Post by Illniyar »

ghaff wrote: post #33
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 -…

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 we…

Actually the way you describe it Adobe didn't lose anything - they angered the people who already didn't care to upgrade, and supported the preferences of those (businesses) who are paying them on a regular basis.

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

#53

Post by edoceo »

emilfihlman wrote: post #40
michaelmcdonald wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You missed the relevant part where the deck is not available

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

#54

Post by Bartweiss »

michaelt wrote: post #45

#1. Name a Big, Relevant Change in the World #2. Show There’ll Be Winners and Losers Is it common someone will invite a Zuora sales rep to give them a presentation, if they don't _already_ think they want to launch a subscription product? I would have guessed most people attending sales presentations would be looking to fulfil a need they had already identified.

I assume someone involved wants to launch a subscription product, yeah. And that person probably doesn't care about hearing how subscription products are really great.

But since this is B2B, it's pretty likely that not everyone at the buyer's company is convinced on the project and looking to buy a product. They might want to in-house everything, or not want a subscription product, or just be someone up the chain who doesn't know about the topic at all yet. It's one of the weirdest things about enterprise sales - it's not just informing people that products like yours exist, or pitching your merits over competitors. Instead, it tends to mean bolstering the business case someone at the company is already making.

(Actually, that might well be why the guy at the start of the story failed. I've seen people sell their product to employees as the best option for their needs, then lose out because management decides there's no need at all.)

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

#55

Post by ghaff »

Illniyar wrote: post #52
ghaff wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 we…

Actually the way you describe it Adobe didn't lose anything - they angered the people who already didn't care to upgrade, and supported the preferences of those (businesses) who are paying them on a regular basis.

No disagreement. Aside from a few consumer and prosumer products, Adobe has always kept a hard line that their primary customer base is graphics professionals who are willing and able to pay for a premium product. At a time when retail software generally was dropping in price, Adobe maintained its pricing on most of its products. It's a strategy that's generally worked out pretty well for them during a period when business models around selling software have become much more challenging.

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

#56

Post by chasingthewind »

dantillberg wrote: post #43
anoncoward111 wrote: post #3

"Name a big, relevant change in the world". Example given from Zuora, "We now live in a subscription economy". Except one problem: Instead of a nice solid color on the background of the slide, or a city skyline... ... it's a full shot of a skinny young blonde girl's legs. Like, can you sales guys be any more predictable and sexist? I'm sorry, this frat house behavior really needs to stop. There are so many better way…

In defense of the parent comment: It's absolutely a deliberate choice to include an attractive woman in that slide's background photo, just as it was a deliberate choice for the doors to be gold. I'd guess that people looking at the slide most consciously notice the conspicuous gold doors. But we all also notice that there's some sort of person standing there. That person is greeting us with a smile. We may not proce…

I agree. That particular slide really struck me as being "attention grabbing" in a way that had nothing to do with the actual point they were making on the slide.

It's a cool photo and visually appealing but I cannot think of a single thing about the image that has anything to do with the idea that "we are all living in a subscription economy."

I can think of some slides that would evoke that. Like a slide with an animation of money flowing out of my pocket incessantly as calendar pages are torn off a calendar. :)

I am feeling a bit biased against the "subscription economy" right now after only narrowly avoiding the "router as a subscription" that my internet provider wanted to saddle me with this weekend when I upgraded my plan.

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

#57

Post by welly »

emilfihlman wrote: post #40
michaelmcdonald wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I saw at least five slides from this deck.

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

#58

Post by cm2012 »

secabeen wrote: post #44
ghaff wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 we…

Yeah, it's an interesting question if Adobe is going to hurt their channel of new users with this.

The student subscription costs almost nothing, and the professional is the same price as netflix.

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

#59

Post by PopeDotNinja »

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…

Speaking only for myself, when I'm an investor, I wanna know stuff like:

- cost of customer acquisition

- gross margins

- revenue growth

- size of market

- yada yada

That being said, a slick pitch deck is nice to see. It makes me feel good, which never hurts.

I only invest on the fundamentals of the business. If a startup had great numbers AND their pitch deck sucked, I'd stikk give them the money. If I had specific thoughts on how their pitch deck sucked, I might offer suggestions on how they could improve.

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

#60

Post by ataturk »

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.

Ha! I came here to say the exact same thing! Talk about being inside an echo chamber--you're not creating value, you're strip mining wealth.

Auto makers are starting to get in on it, too.

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