Learning To Pitch Ideas Using Third Grade Words (#4)
A clever framework to ensure customers understand your suggestions every time.
Did you ever watch Back to the Future II? You remember the scenes where the jacket would poof up on its own?
Wellllll….. to make that shot happen, 4 crew members would pull on the thin cables attached to various parts of the jacket. The same technique was also used for the self-adjusting Nike sneakers Marty wore.
Pretty random but cool right? Lol, but anyways, here’s what in my noggin’ for today, and what you can expect:
The formula smart leaders use to speak in 3rd language to reach the most amount of people (the workshop includes templates, and videos I’ve consumed), and why it’s relevant for CSMs
How to get anyone (esp. customers) to follow through on a commitment
What I’m learning this week…
I'm discovering that sometimes my customers don't know the product, even if they bought the product.
It may sound strange, but it appears that other CSMs occasionally experience the same issue.
Why: Because their customers at a company with a lot of shit going on. The executive who joined the meeting had either just started a new role, is a new executive who has taken over the task from someone else, or just forgot and needs a refresher.
Either way, I'm learning that you should always have a go-to, simple elevator pitch for what your product accomplishes.
Now, the question is how:
The best practical resource I found for this was learning from Shaan Puri. If you don’t know him, he’s an entrepreneur, investor & top 50 podcast host. He was the CEO of Bebo when they sold to Twitch (Amazon). He invests in startups + recently raised $2.5mil for his “rolling fund” in 11 days, just from a tweet.
He’s dope. But his storytelling abilities are crazy high. The words sizzle when he speaks.
Here’s what Shaan said -
Ever since starting the rolling fund, I’ve heard about 150 startup pitches in 2 months.
One thing stood out - most people suck at explaining what they do.
These are smart people. Hard working. Building interesting projects, night and day.
Yet they can’t explain their business in 30 seconds in a way that is:
Clear
Interesting
I call this painting a picture while tickling the brain.
Most people struggle to explain what their company does in simple terms.
I've had trouble being brief my whole life. I've found it hard to say something that makes people say, "Ah, that makes sense."
So Shaan starts by teaching the Storybrand formula. It’s a method for explaining things in simple terms.
1) You explain the problem (this is how the world works today)
2) We offer a solution
3) Give a “so-what” So that people get this happy ending (without this, the pitch falls flat because people immediately ask, “why would someone care?”)
Here’s the video if you want to watch the workshop :)
I used the formula, and some examples to reinforce what he just taught.
Let’s use this newsletter as an example.
BEFORE:
NLCS is a weekly newsletter showing the insights, and topics that I’m tackling around adoption, expansion, retention, people management, and anything else that’s stressing me out at the office.
Ummmm…..cool, but do you see it? It falls flat - the “SO WHAT” is missing, and it’s meh
AFTER:
Most Customer Success Managers are sick of fluffy, superficial "thought leadership" content on LinkedIn.
Instead, every week I send out a simple, no-bullshit email with exact frameworks and examples of how I'm taking my Customer Success career to the next level.
So that other business professionals have the confidence and skills they need to move up in their own customer-facing jobs.
Let’s try Smartsheet as a random company / example.
When you Google “What is Smartsheet,” this is what comes up:
Smartsheet is the only platform that can scale from a single project to end-to-end work management, connecting business on a no-code, cloud-based platform where anyone can create the solution they need — backed by the control and security IT requires.
I used to memorize shit like this, and say this to people —— YIKES - live and learn though, am i rite?
BEFORE:
Smartsheet is the only platform that can scale from a single project to end-to-end work management, connecting business on a no-code, cloud-based platform where anyone can create the solution they need — backed by the control and security IT requires.
AFTER:
Even the best companies have trouble keeping track of all the projects they're working on at once, and they miss a lot of deadlines because they don't know where to focus. And the project management tools that are available now aren't the easiest to use, and IT teams don't like them because they don't pay enough attention to security.
So Smartsheet helps you make your own custom reports so you can keep track of what everyone needs to do.
So that you may build all the incredible things you're already doing without making your IT team nervous about the application you're using, while you get more done without getting bogged down with emails and meetings.
Pro-tip:
Depending on the audience, you can replace “companies” in paragraph one with the specific department you’re speaking to, and make the pitch even more relevant.
Let’s say I was speaking to the Marketing department regarding Smartsheet
Even the best marketing teams have trouble keeping track of all the projects they're working on at once, and they miss a lot of deadlines because they don't know where to focus. And the project management tools that are available now aren't the easiest to use, and IT teams don't like them because they don't pay enough attention to security.
So Smartsheet helps you make your own custom reports so you can keep track of what everyone needs to do.
So that you may build all the incredible things you're already doing without making your IT team nervous about the application you're using, while you get more done without getting bogged down with emails and meetings.
Pro-tip #2:
You can use this formula to pitch your customers any additional products, or services that you’d want to upsell.
Most CSMs use a lot of bland, business buzzwords when teaching customers about a new product.
Instead, you can use this story brand formula to make sure they remember what you say.
So that they always take your recommendations for upgrades seriously.
(See…. I did it again… pretty cool, huh?)
Try it with your own product, or solution. Let me know - reply back! What did you come up with???
What I’ve heard from other CSMs…
Getting customers to follow through a commitment is really hard.
I’m so guilty of this:
I email a customer: Any updates on this?
Customer: “I’m busy. Not a priority at the moment. Let’s connect 3 years from now…”
Okay, its not 3 years, but it sure can feel like it
Me when I reply via email: “Okay, thanks for letting me know.”
Me (internally): djaskldjsalkfjsaff’aljsfslafkaspjfowjfwofas
The author of this psychology book claims that the most effective psychological tactic for persuading someone to follow through is letting them know that you believe they are the type of person who follows through on their commitments.
He referred to it as the psychological principle of internal consistency.
Instead of asking, “Any updates?” or “How’s this coming along?” which only provides an opportunity for an excuse or a chance for someone to back out.
He says you want to say something that addresses their identity.
BEFORE:
“Hey Joe - where are we on this? Any updates on this?”
AFTER:
“Hey Joe, it sounds like you’ve had a busy week. Since our first meeting, I've always respected that despite your busy schedule, you've been really thorough about following through on the smallest issues and rigorous about bringing together all these different departments.
I remember you saying that if we don't finish these action items by the date we talked about, it could lead to bigger problems in the future. And I'm curious: have other people placed this project on hold, so that resolving these issues is no longer necessary? Or, is it still a priority and we only need to adjust the timetable by a few days?”
**SILENCE**
Take a listen if you want to hear what this sounds like…
Asking - “how are they coming?” or “shouldn’t you have started by now?” only provides an opportunity for an excuse, or for someone to back out of the commitment.
Instead, by including the statement "I've always noticed..." you can be confident that Joe will be committed, as Joe will not want to destroy the reputation he believes you have of him.
If Joe abandons the project, he must ask himself, "What type of person am I?" which is a question that few people like to answer.
How I’m feeling:
This week is strange. When I got sick last Saturday, it threw off my whole schedule.
I was sick Monday for half the day and some of Tuesday. Also, my eating schedule and what I ate were all over the place.
I'm going to the grocery store today to prepare as many meals as I can for the week ahead. Nothing super fancy... Just planning ahead for lunch so I can eat a little better.
My sleep wasn't great, which impacted my health. Hope to have a good start to a busy week coming up.
My plan is to hydrate, and catch up on some sleep this weekend.
That’s it for this week though - lmk - how’d I do? I really enjoyed learning about this topic
Ya boi / friend @ NLCS
P.S. If you know any Customer Success professionals who could benefit from this level of transparency, I would love to bring them into our small circle of people who care about Customer Success. Please feel free to forward this article and others from the NLCS (New Laws of Customer Success) universe to grow our tight-knit community one person at a time.