Sell Like the Movies

Have you ever noticed how, at the beginning of a movie, the director is working incredibly hard to set the scene as quickly as possible?

They call this the 'establishing shot'. Its goal is to provide the audience with context for what lies ahead; whether that's time or location or maybe part of the characters’ backstory. 

Think of the opening shots of Top Gun, for example: fighter jets land amongst rising fog, welcomed by air traffic controllers in full gear. We watch as two fingers count down the take off of a jet that blasts away as “Danger Zone” kicks in. The atmosphere has been made clear, as well as the central focus of the movie. 

Or, look at The Karate Kid. We open on different shots of New Jersey, before we focus on the LaRusso family car, ready to drive across the country. Family and friends wave off Daniel LaRusso and his mother as they go, while his mother sings ‘California, here we come.’ The audience is seconds into the movie, and they already know that their protagonist has moved from somewhere surrounded by friends, to California, with only his ‘Ma’.

This is a process we can – and should – bring into our customer engagements. You just need something that, at the beginning, can establish the value your solution brings to your customers.

Establishing the Shot in GTM execution? Introducing the lead role: Metrics.

As quantified measures of value, Metrics, in the hands of a professional, act like an establishing shot for your solution. At least, they do if you have the metrics framework including M1s, M2s and M3s. It's important to realize that 'not all MEDDICC is equal'.

M1s are the most powerful angle you can take early on in any customer engagement. M1s educate your prospects of who you help and the quantified value you successfully deliver with your solutions in a unique way (or a way that’s simply better than anyone else).

Like how the establishing shot is the foundation from which the rest of a movie grows, when you agree on the relevancy of an M1 with a prospect, it can become the foundation for directing the version of how you will deliver value to the prospect (M2) and how you establish mutual goals that you can measure together (M3).

Establishing the shot with an M1 has proven again and again to be the way, validated by our 20,000+ alumni.