Fantastic post! But can we please, please stop calling power point presentations "decks".
The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016)
101–110 of 171 posts
Re: The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016)
#102I learned much of what I know about product marketing from Tien (CEO of Zuora); as this thread demonstrates its hard for a lot of product / developer folks to understand why its such an important part of any non-consumer offering, as so much of customer development culture is focused exclusively on metrics and optimization. Immodestly I did a presentation on the topic at Heavybit a few years ago for those that are in…
Any pointers where to start, if I haven't read/seen anything (nor even heard about) Tien, but I find it interesting to see what he has to say?
Re: The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016)
#103Fantastic post! But can we please, please stop calling power point presentations "decks".
Sure, but we can't call them PowerPoint presentations either.
Re: The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016)
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
For about 5 years, any tv you found in an electronic store was 3D, and I have yet to find a single person who claims to like them. Today, every tv is a Smart TV, and yet again, I haven’t found anyone who thought they weren’t awful In cars theres the same issue with GPS systems: even luxury cars have awful interfaces. Presumably tesla’s is decent (never tried), but otherwise the only interface I’ve encountered yet tha…
>I have yet to find a single person who claims to like them I like 3D well enough at least for the occasional novelty and film that uses it well, e.g. Gravity. There is just about zero content available however. My impression when I bought my TV was that there were certainly non-3D options available. But I got a pre-Christmas deal and I paid about the same as for an equivalent TV that didn't have 3D. It's the same wi…
And the better news is that if you don’t actually care about these silly new features you can get amazingly great TVs for next to nothing. I saw a 46 inch 4K LED smart TV at Costco for around $300. It didn’t have HDR (the current trendy hotness in the top of the line TVs), so I guess it’s considered substandard, but holy crap that’s a great deal.
Re: The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016)
#105They just reinvented Monroe's Motivated Sequence.
Re: The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016)
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
For about 5 years, any tv you found in an electronic store was 3D, and I have yet to find a single person who claims to like them. Today, every tv is a Smart TV, and yet again, I haven’t found anyone who thought they weren’t awful In cars theres the same issue with GPS systems: even luxury cars have awful interfaces. Presumably tesla’s is decent (never tried), but otherwise the only interface I’ve encountered yet tha…
>I have yet to find a single person who claims to like them I like 3D well enough at least for the occasional novelty and film that uses it well, e.g. Gravity. There is just about zero content available however. My impression when I bought my TV was that there were certainly non-3D options available. But I got a pre-Christmas deal and I paid about the same as for an equivalent TV that didn't have 3D. It's the same wi…
Just because it doesn’t increase the cost of the base model doesn’t mean it doesn’t increase the price, just that you don’t have the option of not paying for it.
Re: The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016)
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 ru…
I keep hearing this "capex vs. opex" argument from time to time; are there tax benefits to this, or something else that justifies putting the same costs under different label?
Yes. Cash at hand is very valuable. It cushions you against certain types of business risk and also gives you the ability to pounce on opportunities that may come up (e.g. acquiring another company).
In some companies there are also budgetary reasons. For example, a department may blow their capex budget on something early in the year. If you have a payment model that supports regular payments, the customer can still buy your product, as opposed to having to make room in next year's budget (which is not only not guaranteed, but also delays the purchase).
But the biggest reason is ROI. Let's say there is a software that will save your department $1000 per month. You can either buy this software for a $24,000 one-time payment, or for $500 per month. If you do the former, it would take you two years to start realizing the ROI. If you do the latter, you start realizing it immediately. And of course, if you don't like the software, you can always cancel your subscription, which means you're also protected against the risk of, say, buying something that never gets adopted by the users (or project failures, etc.).
Re: The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016)
#108Earlier 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…
Agreed, and I'd add high-end smartphones with <5" screens, and non-"smart" TVs with decent picture quality as things that people still want but are forced into alternatives.
Re: The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016)
#109Earlier 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 -…
As far as enterprise, certainly. There are real merits to subscription models, not only in accounting but in risk avoidance (you haven't paid up front) and support (the vendor has a cash incentive to keep you happy). There are obviously drawbacks too, like lock-in and the risk of a vendor collapsing, but in some cases it looks like a good decision. As far as consumer-facing? I'm not so sure. Lots of companies, especi…
Microsoft Office is still sold as a one time purchase if you prefer. Although Microsoft is getting quite annoying with in app messaging encouraging people to switch to the subscription version. Also the onedrive storage is a very good value by comparison, so you’re basically burning money to buy the one time purchase version.
As for music, TV shows, movies, it’s definitely possible to buy them rather than using a subscription service. Music is the easiest, Amazon and iTunes still offer MP3 purchases for reasonable prices that you can play anywhere and not have to worry about DRM. Movies and TV shows are more complicated because they all have pretty crappy DRM and the pricing is kind of ridiculous, but it is possible to buy them outright.
As much as I hate how everything is moving to subscriptions, there are occasions when I prefer it. For example my Plex pass, I don’t really trust that the company will be around and providing enough value in the long term for me to invest in a lifetime subscription even though it is offered. And so I pay annually and sometimes I don’t renew. I think I paid for 3 out of the last 5 years, depending on how much use I’m getting out of it.
Re: The greatest sales deck I've ever seen (2016)
#110Fantastic post! But can we please, please stop calling power point presentations "decks".
Honest question, what’s the difference?