April Dunford - How To Craft a Story That Sells (Turing Fest 2022)

We understand stories are a great way to connect with customers but few startups really take advantage of a good narrative to help them market and sell their products. Are you losing deals to competitors with clearly inferior products? Do your sales meetings leave customers excited or confused? Is your marketing closer to a feature list or a set of compelling reasons to buy? In this talk, April will give you a framework you can use to build a story that focuses on WHY you built what you built in a way that is differentiating, compelling, and most importantly, gets you business.

Head to www.turingfest.com to learn more about Europe's best cross-functional tech conference.

Transcript

1. How to Craft a
   Product Story
   that Sells
   April Dunford
   @aprildunford
   aprildunford.com
   

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2. Selling is HARD
   

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3. Buying is HARD
   

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4. Example: April Buys a Toilet
   

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10. 3 weeks
    2 showroom visits
    on the internet
    0 New Toilet
    

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11. 3 weeks
    2 showroom visits
    on the internet
    0 New Toilet
    

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12. 3 weeks
    2 showroom visits
    on the internet
    0 New Toilet
    

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13. 3 weeks
    2 showroom visits
    on the internet
    0 New Toilet
    

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14. How hard is it to buy your product?
    

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15. Before prospects
    buy, they need to
    figure out how to
    make a short list
    

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16. Sales Puts Customers in the
    Windtunnel of Features
    FEATURES!!!
    

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17. If I make a
    poor choice
    Bad things
    happen
    

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18. 40% of B2B Sales
    Purchase Processes
    end in “No Decision”
    The lowest risk
    decision is to 

    do nothing
    

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20. Salesperson
    Guide
    

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21. Buyers Want Our Help
    Question: What do you
    want in a sales meeting?
    ● Perspectives on the market
    ● Help me navigate
    alternatives
    Challenger Group - 2019 https://www.challengerinc.com/resource/how-b2b-buyers-choose-their-suppliers-a-decade-of-
    analysis/
    

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22. How do we Build a
    Better Sales Narrative?
    

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23. Why Pick You Over the Alternatives?
    

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24. Our Current Frameworks
    Weren’t Designed For This
    Pitch Advantages Shortcomings
    Product
    Walk-
    through
    Shows the
    product
    Why pick you over the alternatives?
    Problem /
    Solution
    More focus
    on Value
    Why pick you over the alternatives?
    The VISION
    Pitch
    (Old way/
    New way)
    Investors
    love it
    Gives buyers a reason to delay a purchase
    Other “New Ways” exist so - why pick you
    over the alternatives?
    

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25. What would a Perfect Sales Narrative
    Look like?
    • Starts with our insight into the market
    • Discusses the Pros & Cons of different
    approaches
    • Helps a customer understand what a perfect
    solution for them looks like
    • Demonstrates how we map to that
    

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26. Sales Pitch Structure:
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Value We Deliver
    How We Do It
    

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27. Example: Help Scout
    

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28. Example: Help – Product Walkthrough
    Here’s how you get started
    Here’s the shared inbox
    Here’s how this works across channels
    Here’s how you do assignments, prioritization
    Look at these workflows & integrations
    Blah, blah, blah, features, blah, blah, blah blah,
    blah, blah, blah, blah
    

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29. Example: elp Scout – Sales Narrative
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Customer Service as a Cost Center
    vs a Growth Driver
    

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30. Example: elp Scout – Sales Narrative
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Customer Service as a Cost Center
    vs a Growth Driver
    Approach Pros Cons
    Shared
    Inbox
    Easy Limited Service Features
    Traditional
    Help Desk
    Full-featured Complex
    
    
    cost reduction focus
    

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31. Example: elp Scout – Sales Narrative
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Customer Service as a Cost Center
    vs a Growth Driver
    Approach Pros Cons
    Shared
    Inbox
    Easy Limited Service
    Features
    Traditional
    Help Desk
    Full-featured Complex
    
    
    cost reduction focus
    • Easy to use/adopt
    • Advanced features we grow into
    • Customer Experience – that drives
    loyalty, growth
    

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32. Value we Deliver
    How We Do It
    Example: elp Scout – Sales Narrative
    Easy to use/adopt
    • Start in minutes
    • Shared inbox
    Features/Scale grows with you
    • Workflow
    • Integrations
    Customer Experience
    • No “tickets”
    • Customers choose channel
    

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33. A good pitch starts with
    good Positioning
    

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34. A Great Sales
    Narrative
    Paints a Picture
    of the Market
    and Positions
    Your Product
    within it
    

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35. Alternatives
    Capabilities
    Value
    Best Fit Customers
    Market Category
    Positioning Sales Story
    The Story Maps to Our Positioning
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Value We Deliver
    How We Do It
    

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36. Alternatives
    Capabilities
    Value
    Best Fit Customers
    Market Category
    The Story Maps to Our Positioning
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Value We Deliver
    How We Do It
    Positioning Sales Story
    

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37. Alternatives
    Capabilities
    Value
    Best Fit Customers
    Market Category
    The Story Maps to Our Positioning
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Value We Deliver
    How We Do It
    Positioning Sales Story
    

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38. Alternatives
    Capabilities
    Value
    Best Fit Customers
    Market Category
    The Story Maps to Our Positioning
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Value We Deliver
    How We Do It
    Positioning Sales Story
    

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39. Alternatives
    Capabilities
    Value
    Best Fit Customers
    Market Category
    The Story Maps to Our Positioning
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Value We Deliver
    How We Do It
    Positioning Sales Story
    

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40. Alternatives
    Capabilities
    Value
    Best Fit Customers
    Market Category
    The Story Maps to Our Positioning
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Value We Deliver
    How We Do It
    Positioning Sales Story
    

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41. Example: Leveljump
    

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42. Example: Help Sc – Product Walkthrough
    Here’s how you get started
    Here’s how you set up the training
    Here’s how reps access the training
    Blah, blah, blah, features, blah, blah, blah,
    features, blah, blah
    Here’s how you track results
    

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43. Example: elp Scout – Sales Narrative
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Every day your reps aren’t fully
    enabled costs you money
    

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44. Example: elp Scout – Sales Narrative
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Every day your reps aren’t fully
    enabled costs you money
    Approach Pros Cons
    Shared drive Easy No good version control
    CMS Know who
    accesses what
    Can’t design courses
    
    
    Can’t measure impact
    Learning
    Management
    System
    Can set up
    courses
    Can’t measure impact
    

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45. Example: Help Scout – Sales Narrative
    Insight
    Alternatives
    Perfect Solution
    Every day your reps aren’t fully
    enabled costs you money
    1/ Measure the impact of your onboarding
    with sales metrics
    2/ Use metrics to improve onboarding to sell
    more faster
    Approach Pros Cons
    Shared drive Easy No good version control
    CMS Know who
    accesses what
    Can’t design courses
    
    
    Can’t measure impact
    Learning
    Management
    System
    Can set up
    courses
    Can’t measure impact
    

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46. Value we Deliver
    How We Do It
    Example: Leveljump – Sales Narrative
    Measure Impact of enablement on
    Sales Metrics
    • Track time to make quota, time to
    first deal, etc.
    Improve Onboarding to sell more
    faster
    • Take what’s working and improve on
    it
    

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47. Homework
    Answer these questions
    • What are the reasons to pick you over
    the alternatives?
    • What does a customer need to
    understand to understand your value?
    • Is it time to check in on your
    Positioning?
    

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48. Key Takeaways
    1. Buying is hard
    2. If buyers can’t decide, they will
    do nothing
    3. Your Sales Narrative should
    answer “Why buy us over the
    alternatives?”
    4. Positioning is a fundamental
    input
    

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49. Thanks.
    april@aprildunford.com
    @aprildunford
    aprildunford.com
    

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