Ever heard of Marc Randolph?
No?
Ok, how about Reed Hastings, you’ve probably of him, right?
Well, Reed and Marc are the co-founders of a little outfit called Netflix.
Netflix recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.
25 years. Doesn't time fly?
To celebrate, Marc published a great piece on LinkedIn sharing some of his amazing story and it reminded me the importance of story-telling as a great sales tool.
What's So Important About Stories?
Stories make you relatable and, ultimately, win customers
Marc shared how both Blockbuster and Amazon made him offers that he and his business partner Reed couldn’t refuse.
But, they did refuse.
They could have accepted the $50million dollar offer, walked off into the sunset and had a very nice life but that wasn't the biggest takeaway.
Netflix's Takeaway
Netflix's biggest “takeaway” for me as a salesperson was that they were fantastically successful because they solved a problem for customers.
Lots of customers.
A problem that was big enough for customers to pay to solve.
Namely, taking the hassle and cost associated with renting videos and providing a service that was much easier to access and that had no due dates and no late fees, ever.
Customers immediately bought into those values and the rest, as they say, is history. (rather like Blockbuster's business model)
3 Top Tips: My Question to You
What problem do you solve for customers?
What kind of customer do you solve it for?
How will your customer feel or what will be different for the customer after you’ve delivered your product/service?
Only when you have the answers to those questions, can you tell your story in a compelling way that gets more prospects buying from you.
As for Netflix & Chill: "Never" said Marc, "did I ever think Ben and Jerry would name an ice cream after us!
True, that is praise indeed.
Now, when Ben & Jerry make an ice cream called “Marvel-lous” - that will indeed be a great day!
Need a Hand?
Need a hand telling your own story?
We've helped numerous SMEs and Enterprise salespeople tell their story in a way that customers buy into.
Message us at marvel@salesmarvel.co.uk
or
simply Book a free call
See Marc's LinkedIn story post right here