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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)

#61

Post by bhauer »

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.

Thank you for this. It made me laugh and makes HN feel like HN.

As I read the blog entry, I was struck by how much apprehension I had about the particular subject (Zuora and subscriptions) and not the theme (making a compelling sales presentation). I was tempted but decided to refrain from adding a comment about the subject and how much I find the "Subscription Economy" disappointing. After all, railing about an incidental matter from a submission rather than its point would be HN comments in a nutshell. So many of us here do it, myself included.

But I was happy—and not really surprised—to see the point had already been made and all I had to do was upvote. But here I am writing a reply to say that it provided me a good chuckle this morning as we get back to work after a holiday break. Back to the ol' grind in the Subscription Economy, eh?

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

#63

Post by alehul »

Illniyar wrote: post #51
tjoff wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-..…

Seconding this.

The markets aren't spectacularly and miraculously efficient, but they're efficient enough that products without demand will not last, with the exception of industry-wide collusion to remove the consumer-preferred option from the market. Game theory says the existence of a wanted-but-not-provided product probably won't last, however. And regardless of continuous cooperation of the participating suppliers, there can always be a new entrant.

Anecdotal on the TV point, but I recently purchased a new TV... no bend, no 3D (didn't even see that as an option), no hassle. :)

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

#64

Post by TomMarius »

corndoge wrote: post #49
saiya-jin wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

VR is already here and better than you might expect

Is there something I missed? I wouldn't call Vive "here".

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

#66

Post by jvagner »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #59
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…

a good sales/pitch deck can be relatively friction-free, or unimpressive. it's an element.

but a bad deck will lead to a painful experience, almost every time.

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

#67

Post by corndoge »

TomMarius wrote: post #64
corndoge wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VR is already here and better than you might expect

Is there something I missed? I wouldn't call Vive "here".

I think Vive is pretty good and Rift is even better (I own both). What are your gripes with it?

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

#68

Post by tjoff »

Illniyar wrote: post #51
tjoff wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-..…

No? I'm saying that there were no alternatives during the hype.

They didn't try to start a trend. They tried to make something up to warrant a new purchase.

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

#69

Post by r_singh »

hodgesrm wrote: post #36
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.

I'd love links to some resources on how to make a great sales deck if you could share some

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

#70

Post by DINKDINK »

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.

>It's not a trend where buyers choose recurring payments, but where companies only offer services through recurring payments.

If a firm could be profitable and offer out-right purchases relative to recurring payments, why aren't they doing that? Let the market be rife with only recurring-payment firms. A purchase firm enters with higher prices, if they fail to succeed, it's "buyers [are] increasingly choose recurring service payments over outright purchases."

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