{"id":32142,"date":"2023-04-26T16:19:55","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T16:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/?p=32142"},"modified":"2023-05-17T00:13:56","modified_gmt":"2023-05-17T00:13:56","slug":"7-validated-habits-for-stunningly-successful-demos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/7-validated-habits-for-stunningly-successful-demos\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Validated Habits for Stunningly Successful Demos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are seven validated demo success factors that lead to closed business. These approaches map delightfully to Great Demo! and Doing Discovery principles while differing markedly from traditional demos. How do your<\/em> demos compare?<\/p>\n

Seven Validated Success Factors<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fine folks at Gong.io analyzed thousands<\/span> millions of demos to uncover these seven success factors:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Pre-Demo Discovery<\/li>\n
  2. A Crisp Review of the Prospect\u2019s Situation<\/li>\n
  3. Do the Last Thing First<\/li>\n
  4. Inverted Pyramid<\/li>\n
  5. Peel Back the Layers<\/li>\n
  6. Peel Back the Layers (reprised)<\/li>\n
  7. Transition Vision<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

    In their original study<\/a>, the Gong team analyzed 67,149 demo recordings and matched the results to closed or progressed business. More recent studies now include data from over 3 million demos across a broad range of B-to-B software companies\u2019 offerings and verticals \u2013 that\u2019s a LOT of data!<\/p>\n

    Their analysis identified four \u201cacts\u201d in the most successful demos:<\/p>\n

    Act 1: The Contextual Overview<\/p>\n

    Act 2: The Upside Down Demo<\/p>\n

    Act 3: Accelerated Interaction<\/p>\n

    Act 4: The Wrap Up<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s examine each in order, along with the seven key success factors.<\/p>\n

    Doing Discovery<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Gong found that the most successful demos focused on what was learned in substantive discovery conversations. These were not<\/em> \u201con-the-fly\u201d disco-demos, but effective pre<\/em>-demo interactions:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Key Success Factor Number 1: Do<\/em> Discovery<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Presales and sales teams need to actually execute discovery (not just qualification or \u201cBANT\u201d) to uncover the situational information needed to deliver successful demos. This is absolutely key!<\/p>\n

    The Gong studies also provide a simple guideline: Map your demo to what you learned<\/em> in discovery. Sounds obvious, but you need to actually do<\/em> sufficient discovery in order to accomplish this!<\/p>\n

    Not surprisingly, the studies also suggest that demonstrating capabilities that were not<\/em> discussed in discovery puts you at risk of \u201cbuying it back\u201d and making your demo look too complicated.<\/p>\n

    Sadly, many sales and presales folks believe<\/em> they do a good job doing discovery but have actually only scratched the surface. For example, for many vendors discovery is limited to confirming \u201cpain\u201d and a brief exploration of the prospect\u2019s tech stack and required integrations. They are operating at Level 1 of the 7 possible levels of performing discovery.<\/p>\n

    This is an important opportunity for improvement and represents a fabulous way to differentiate from your competition! The wonderful book Doing Discovery<\/a><\/em> (I know the author) provides a framework and a structured approach to doing discovery, enabling you to differentiate positively right from your first interactions.<\/p>\n

    In Doing Discovery and Great Demo! Workshops<\/a>, we teach what <\/em>specific discovery information is needed to enable a vendor to prepare and deliver a highly successful demo and how<\/em> to execute discovery to achieve this.<\/p>\n

    Gong Act 1: The Contextual Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Traditional, unsuccessful demos consume the first Act with corporate overviews, logo slides, and product and architecture presentations. Rarely do prospects consider this information to be compelling: It\u2019s like sitting through 10-20 minutes of commercials before getting to see your movie or program!<\/p>\n

    Conversely, the Gong studies showed that the most successful demos began with a \u201ccontextual overview\u201d that ran no longer than two<\/em> minutes. No corporate overview. No product intro. No architecture slides. And especially no slides of \u201cour customers\u2019 logos\u201d. Just a crisp review of the prospect\u2019s specific situation that you collected in discovery.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Key Success Factor Number 2: Situation Slides<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The studies confirm what we logically already realize (but often fail to put into practice), that the demo meeting should be all about the prospect<\/em>. Traditional demo meetings that start with corporate overview presentations are all about the vendor<\/em>. That\u2019s the problem!<\/p>\n

    The most successful demos start with a crisp review of the prospect\u2019s<\/em> situation: They are prospect<\/em> focused. That\u2019s a critical success factor and another major opportunity to differentiate.<\/p>\n

    Great Demo! methodology uses Situation Slides to begin the demo, aligning delightfully with the findings. Situation Slides concisely summarize the vendor\u2019s understanding of the prospect\u2019s situation: Their overarching goals, their current situation, pain and problems, the specific capabilities the prospect is looking for, the value desired, and the required timeline.<\/p>\n

    And the typical time to present a Situation Slide is \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 about 2 minutes. Perfect!<\/p>\n

    Gong Act 2: The Upside Down Demo<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Traditional demos typically follow a seemingly logical linear pathway, from set-up, through a series of workflows, to finally getting to the end results and reporting. The data shows that this is an unsuccessful<\/em> approach. Why?<\/p>\n