It’s the same dynamic that plays out in epic films and fairy tales: We value Obiwan’s gift of a lightsaber precisely because we understand the role it can play in Luke’s struggle to destroy the Death Star. Once audiences buy into your Promised Land, they’re ready to hear about your capabilities. Position capabilities as “magic” for slaying “monsters” However you do it, your Promised Land should be both (a) desirable (obviously) and (b) difficult for prospects to reach without you. It’s wildly effective to introduce your Promised Land, as Drift does, so it feels like we’re watching you think it through (“what we realized was”). What’s stopping marketers and salespeople-the heroes of Drift’s strategic story-from reaching buyers in the new, changed world?Īccording to Drift, it’s tools of the trade like lead forms-“fill in your name, company, and title, and maybe we’ll get back to you”- designed for a bygone era: One of the most powerful ways to imbue heroes with a sense of purpose is to give them an antagonist. Marc Benioff squared off against software. While Drift’s slides don’t name the stakes explicitly, Cancel's and Gerhardt’s voiceovers make them clear enough: Interact with prospects through these new channels-in real time-or don’t interact with them at all. All three must be true if you want prospects’ trust as you lead them down the path of questioning their love for the status quo. Note that the change Drift talks about is (1) undeniably happening and (2) happening independently of Drift-that is, whether Drift exists or not. She’s so connected now that she practically sleeps with her phone: How do you overcome that? By demonstrating that the world has changed in such a fundamental way that prospects have to change, too.ĭrift kicks off its strategic narrative with a dramatic change in the life of a typical business buyer. Your primary adversary, in other words, is a voice inside people’s heads that goes, We’ve gotten along just fine without it, and we’ll always be fine without it. No matter what you’re selling, your most formidable obstacle is prospects’ adherence to the status quo.
Start with a big, undeniable change that creates stakes The images below are a mix of Gerhardt’s OpenView slides and Cancel’s from Hypergrowth.) #1. However, I saw Cancel pitch at Hypergrowth because I also spoke at the conference. If you’re pitching anything to anyone, lay them out in exactly this order: Here, then, are the 5 elements of every compelling strategic story, and how Drift is leveraging them to achieve breakout success.
In fact, two weeks after hearing Gerhardt speak, I saw Cancel pitch a new feature at Drift’s day-long Hypergrowth event, and he told virtually the same story, to similar effect. The answer to both starts with a brilliant strategic narrative, championed by Drift CEO David Cancel, that has transformed the company into something more like a movement.
#Greatest sales deck andy raskin series
How did Gerhardt do it? For that matter, how has Drift-a live-chat tool for salespeople and marketers-managed to differentiate itself in a market crowded with similar offerings? (The company recently raised a $32 million round of Series B capital led by General Catalyst, with participation from Sequoia, and boasts over 40,000 businesses on its platform.) By the time Gerhardt was finished, the only attendees who weren’t plotting to secure budget for Drift’s platform were the ones humble-bragging about how they’d already implemented it. There were many great speakers at OpenView’s Boston headquarters that morning-JetBlue’s VP of marketing, senior execs from OpenView’s portfolio-yet none moved the crowd quite like Drift director of marketing Dave Gerhardt. The 5 Elements of Drift’s Powerful Strategic Story They had just been on the receiving end of the best sales pitch I’ve seen all year. In fact, virtually every CEO, sales exec, and marketing VP in attendance seemed suddenly overwhelmed by an urgent desire to change the way they worked. “Right? I just texted my VP of sales that the way we’re selling is obsolete.” The CEO of another company, overhearing Yvette, chimed in. “How in the world,” Yvette said, reaching for the cream cheese, “am I going to inform my team that our entire approach to marketing is wrong?” She was chewing on a bagel during a lunch break from the VC firm’s all-day speaker event, and she was clearly upset. Here’s why.Ī few weeks ago, I met a CMO named Yvette in the office kitchen at OpenView Venture Partners.
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