Successful sales decks follow the same narrative structure as epic films and fairy tales. When you introduce your product or service, do so by positioning its capabilities like the Lightsaber, Wizardry and spells. It's the foundation for an engaging conversation with prospects about why it's so hard to reach the promised land with traditional solutions.

#4. Introduce Features as “Magic Gifts” for Overcoming Obstacles to the Promised Land

Successful sales rarely happen solely as the result of a great deck. He says salespeople must align around the narrative about change, promised land, and magic gifts. Zuora marketing folks ran campaigns around this shift to the subscription economy.

A Sales Narrative Works Best When Everyone Tells It

When you highlight a shift in the world, you get prospects to open up about how that shift affects them, how it scares them, and where they see opportunities. The way in which a story begins is a starting event that creates a moment of change.&nbsp;

#1. Name a Big, Relevant Change in the World

The Zuora marketing folks ran campaigns and branding around this shift to the subscription economy, and [CEO] Tien [Tzuo] talked it up all the time. All of that was like air cover for my in-person sales ground attack. By the time I arrived, prospects were already convinced they had to act. It was the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to sales nirvana.

Carpet Bombing

The promised land is a new future state, not your product or service. The promised land is not having your technology, but what life is like thanks to your technology. A compelling promised land is also crucial for helping prospects pitch your solution to colleagues after your sales meeting ends.Armed with a compelling Promised Land, your prospects are more likely to supply an answer that gets others on board.

#3. Tease the Promised Land

The sales deck I showed Tim came from I had received the deck from an Ex-Zuora Salesperson, who said it helped him close the biggest deals of his career. There is a lot to learn from the Sales Deck, as follows.

The 5 Elements of a Brilliant Sales Narrative

To combat loss aversion, you must demonstrate how the change you cited above will create big winners and big losers. In other words, you have to show both of the following:<ol><li>That adapting to the change you cited will likely result in a highly positive future for the prospect; and</li><li>That not doing so will likely result in an unacceptably negative future for the prospect</li></ol>

#2. Show There’ll Be Winners and Losers

The most effective type of evidence is a success story about how you’ve already helped someone else reach the promised land. Product Demos are the next most effective evidence, but features should always be presented in the context of how they help a prospect reach the promised land.&nbsp;

#5. Present Evidence that You Can Make the Story Come True

What attracts human attention is change. If the temperature around you changes, if the phone rings — that gets your attention. The way in which a story begins is a starting event that creates a moment of change.

We Respond To Change

Zuora came up with the phrase “subscription economy” to name the new world that sellers must navigate, one in which buyers increasingly choose recurring service payments over outright purchases. Zuora usually follows that with a slide laying out the history of the change:

Subscription Economy

A few months ago, my friend Tim took a new sales job at a Series C tech company that had raised over $60 million from A-list investors. He’s one of the best salespeople I know, but soon after…