{"id":36032,"date":"2024-09-23T16:46:05","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T16:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/?p=36032"},"modified":"2024-11-21T06:01:16","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T06:01:16","slug":"stunningly-awful-demos-irrelevance-of-setup-mode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/stunningly-awful-demos-irrelevance-of-setup-mode\/","title":{"rendered":"Stunningly Awful Demos \u2013 The Painful Irrelevance of Setup Mode"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">How to Make Your Software Look Complicated, Confusing, Overwhelming, and Expensive<\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Or<\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">How Setup Mode Is Destroying Your Demos!<\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">A Never Stop Learning! Article<\/h2>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Vendor: \u201cProgramming this system is so simple a six-year-old could do it!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prospect: \u201cGreat: Find me a six-year-old!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s in This Article for You?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An Astonishing Demo<\/li>\n<li>A Few Thought-Provoking Questions<\/li>\n<li>What Is Setup Mode?<\/li>\n<li>Monday Morning<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>An Astonishing Demo<\/h3>\n<p>I watched a ninety-minute recorded demo and noted two rather astonishing things:<\/p>\n<p>Astonishing Thing Number One:<\/p>\n<p>Approximately <em>half<\/em> of the demo was consumed by setup and configuration items, including setting up the environment, configuring the application, creating and editing templates, forms, reports, dashboards, etc.<\/p>\n<p>This wasn\u2019t astonishing on its own, perhaps, until\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Astonishing Thing Number Two:<\/p>\n<p>At the end of all this setup activity the vendor said proudly, \u201cOf course, you won\u2019t have to <em>do<\/em> any of this. We take care of it during implementation. It\u2019s all done by our Professional Services team\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wait. What did you say?<\/p>\n<p>You just spent <em>forty-five<\/em> minutes showing stuff your prospect will <em>never<\/em> need to use?\u00a0 (Enter your choice of an appropriate exclamation of surprise and astonishment here ______.)<\/p>\n<p>But wait, there\u2019s more: A bonus Astonishing Thing!<\/p>\n<p>I called the presales manager who had sent me the recording and asked, \u201cWhy did half of the demo present capabilities that your prospect will <em>never<\/em> use?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They responded, \u201cOh! We\u2019ve been told that these are key differentiators and that we must include them in <em>every demo<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHmmm,\u201d I thought to myself. \u201cThis edict must come from the \u2018Sales Prevention Team!\u2019\u201d And that\u2019s what prompted me to write this article. Let\u2019s move away from software demos for a moment to put this in perspective\u2026<\/p>\n<h3>A Few Thought-Provoking Questions<\/h3>\n<p>When it\u2019s time to cook dinner, do you start by rearranging your kitchen?<\/p>\n<p>When it\u2019s time to get dressed, do you begin by reorganizing your closets and drawers?<\/p>\n<p>When it\u2019s time to draft a document on your computer, do you start by readjusting all the preferences and settings?<\/p>\n<p>Nope to all three! These are things you did <em>once<\/em>, when you first completed setup.<\/p>\n<h3>What Is Setup Mode?<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cSet it and forget it.\u201d<br \/>\n\u2013 Professional Service Implementation Specialist to a customer<\/p>\n<p>Most software has the ability to configure the product for each customers\u2019 specific desires. However, once the system has been configured, most organizations rarely change the settings. And while a system <em>administrator<\/em> may make periodic adjustments, the <em>consumer<\/em> users are highly unlikely to interact with the configuration screens.<\/p>\n<p>Setup Mode includes three sets of operations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Implementation, configuration, data loading, and integration with third party tools<\/li>\n<li>Definition and construction of templates, dashboards, forms, and workflows<\/li>\n<li>Enrollment of users and associated privileges and restrictions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Implementation is done only once.<\/li>\n<li>Construction of templates, dashboards, etc. is also done during system setup for the majority of entities. Occasionally, there may be changes to existing components or creation of new ones, but this work is generally done by the system administrator, not consumer users!<\/li>\n<li>Similarly, initial user enrollment occurs during setup, with occasional changes, adds, and drops done thereafter, but <em>again<\/em> typically executed by the system admin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Executives <em>never<\/em> touch the configuration screens. Nor do ninety-nine percent of middle and front-line managers. And individual contributors are often <em>prevented<\/em> from accessing the config screens, for fear that they\u2019ll break something! These are all <em>consumer<\/em> users and none of these groups <em>care<\/em> about setup capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>So why do <em>so<\/em> many demos consume time showing, often in gory detail, \u201cHere\u2019s how to set things up?\u201d Why, indeed?<\/p>\n<h3>Victims of Momentum<\/h3>\n<p>Inertia<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve <em>always<\/em> done it that way!\u201d answered one presales practitioner. They could easily be speaking for the hundreds of others who would give the same response. In many cases, showing Setup Mode is part of an organization\u2019s \u201cstandard\u201d or \u201cgold\u201d demo, and onboarding often includes having new hires walk through the full list of capabilities to <em>pass<\/em> demo certification!<\/p>\n<p>The presales manager who described setup features as \u201ccompetitive differentiators\u201d offers another explanation. Sadly, showing Setup Mode items is definitely differentiating, but it\u2019s <em>negative <\/em>differentiation! The time invested in showing Setup Mode features to any of the <em>consumer<\/em> users just makes your offering look complicated, confusing, overwhelming, and overly expensive.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine having to set up your laptop or desktop computer from scratch each time you want to use it, as if you just took it out of the box. You want to check your email? Sorry, first you\u2019ll have to update the operating system, install a mail application, establish an email account, and set up your preferences for that tool!<\/p>\n<p>So, what <em>should <\/em>you show in your demos in place of Setup Mode?<\/p>\n<h3>Daily Use Mode<\/h3>\n<p>Daily Use Mode is what most users do in their day-to-day work. Executives consume reports and examine dashboards to view projects and KPIs\u2019 status, uncover trends, explore opportunities, and investigate exceptions. Middle and front-line managers do similar activities, plus they identify problems and assign resources to tasks. And individual contributors execute predefined workflows, often over and over.<\/p>\n<p>Those activities are what comprise daily use for these consumer users. Interestingly, they <em>consume<\/em> the results of Setup Mode!<\/p>\n<p>Examples of Setup Mode including creating a dashboard, report, or workflow: something that is typically done only <em>once<\/em> for that specific dashboard, report, or workflow. Daily Use Mode is when users <em>consume <\/em>this previously created dashboard, report, or workflow in their day-to-day work, which might happen multiple times per day, or daily, weekly, monthly or on some other cadence. Create once, consume many.<\/p>\n<p>Traditional demos squander far too much time (and audience attention) in Setup Mode showing how to build these dashboards, reports, and workflows, versus showing how these deliverables can be easily consumed.<\/p>\n<p>How can you move your mindset from Setup Mode to Daily Use Mode for your demos? Think about what you and your prospects do on Monday morning!<\/p>\n<h3>Monday Morning<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s Monday morning and you\u2019ve just arrived in your office. What\u2019s the first thing you do?<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Build a brand-new dashboard, report or workflow<\/li>\n<li>Set up your user account and preferences for software you already use everyday<\/li>\n<li>Configure the options for another software tool you use everyday<\/li>\n<li>Browse your web favorites and bookmarks<\/li>\n<li>Check your email<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>For most people and for consumer users in particular, the answers are as follows:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Nope<\/li>\n<li>Nope<\/li>\n<li>Nope<\/li>\n<li>Likely<\/li>\n<li>Highly likely<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>What do <em>you<\/em> do when you start your business day on Monday morning? What do your <em>prospects<\/em> do when they start their business days on Monday morning with respect to your software? <em>These<\/em> are the activities that are most important for your demos!<\/p>\n<p>Show the executives the richness and ease of accessing the dashboards and reports they need to manage their businesses. Present how middle managers can identify problems and manage resources using similar deliverables and brief workflows. Show the individual contributors how much more crisply and effectively their workflows run using your tools.<\/p>\n<p>A moment ago, I noted that checking email on Monday morning is highly likely for nearly all users. This suggests an idea!<\/p>\n<h3>Start Your Demo in Email?<\/h3>\n<p>Oh, yes!<\/p>\n<p>What do most people do when they arrive at their desks on Monday morning? They check email. (Yes, and some browse their favorites\/bookmarked websites first, and <em>then<\/em> they check their email!)<\/p>\n<p>So, consider starting the Daily Use Mode portion(s) of your demos <em>in<\/em> email, if possible.<\/p>\n<p>For example, start by saying, \u201cIt\u2019s Monday morning and you\u2019ve just arrived in your office\u2026\u201d You then show an \u201cunopened\u201d message, open it to reveal a link, then click the link to launch a browser that takes the user to the dashboard, report, or appropriate portion of a workflow. The user then consumes the deliverable or enters an associated process in accord with what your software enables.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the way most people start their day: Why not map to it?<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, note that this demo clickstream is typically very short, perhaps just a couple of clicks. Hooray! You\u2019ve just made your software look really easy to use!<\/p>\n<p>For <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0C9SNKC2Y\/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1688763837&amp;sr=1-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Great Demo!<\/em><\/a> practitioners, the above pathway of starting in email and proceeding to the dashboard, report, or workflow element is a truly terrific \u201cDo It\u201d pathway, leading crisply back to a compelling \u201cIllustration.\u201d Delightful!<\/p>\n<p>Are there other tips to make your software look easy to use?<\/p>\n<h3>New vs Save As<\/h3>\n<p>How many times have you seen someone build a new dashboard or process flow from scratch, step by step? How many times have <em>you<\/em> done this in a demo?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m always amazed to see three sets of mistakes:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Showing all the options and possibilities, which makes the process look complicated and only suitable for experts<\/li>\n<li>Similarly, this extended pathway makes the effort take <em>much<\/em> longer than necessary<\/li>\n<li>The presenter often never <em>finishes<\/em> the project, leaving you without a vision of the deliverable or its value!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>While not strictly Setup Mode, this unproductive demo pathway is presented frequently. Amazingly, it is often <em>highlighted<\/em> by vendors in their demos!<\/p>\n<p>Most of us rarely start from scratch, particularly if good examples already exist. For instance, how often do you open an existing document, spreadsheet, or other entity, and choose \u201cSave As\u201d? Your next steps are often simple edits to the <em>existing<\/em> entity.<\/p>\n<p>Doing this in your demos makes your software appear <em>much<\/em> easier to use than if you started with a blank page. \u201cSave As\u201d is a terrific strategy!<\/p>\n<h3>Best Practices<\/h3>\n<p>Many vendors tout how their software can be easily <em>configured<\/em> vs requiring extensive (and often expensive) customization. This is wonderful and can be an enormous advantage. However, many vendors also <em>show<\/em> all the nuances of their extensive configuration capabilities early in their demos, which, as we have seen, is out of alignment with their prospects\u2019 interests.<\/p>\n<p>The moral? Show Daily Use Mode first; show Setup Mode items only if <em>requested <\/em>by your prospect (and you may want to park these requests to address them towards the <em>end<\/em> of your demo meeting). Additionally, many or most Setup Mode questions can be answered <em>verbally<\/em>, without ever moving your mouse.<\/p>\n<p>But wait, there\u2019s more! Which prospect team members will be making the buying decision, and how important is their opinion?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Executives and senior management: extremely high and have the authority to buy<\/li>\n<li>Middle and front-line managers: may <em>recommend<\/em> purchasing, but often do not have the <em>authority<\/em> to buy<\/li>\n<li>Individual contributors: may provide an <em>opinion<\/em> that is considered in the decision-making process<\/li>\n<li>System administrators: may also contribute an <em>opinion<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bonus moral? Satisfy your audience constituents in the following order:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Executives and senior management<\/li>\n<li>Middle and front-line managers<\/li>\n<li>Individual contributors<\/li>\n<li>System administrators<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Put the Setup Mode portions of your demos \u201cbehind your back,\u201d metaphorically. Have answers ready for Setup Mode questions (or park them for later).<\/p>\n<h3>Traditional vs Great Demo!<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cHowever beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.\u201d<br \/>\n\u2013 Winston Churchill<\/p>\n<p>Vendors\u2019 traditional demos follow an ill-conceived \u201clogical progression,\u201d showing how to configure the system, then set up forms, reports, dashboards, templates, workflows and alerts, and then specify those workflows in gory detail. These vendors often struggle, in the final few minutes of their demos, to cram in showing the reports, dashboards, and other deliverables actually <em>desired<\/em> by their prospects.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the result? Demos that are perceived by prospects as complicated, confusing, overwhelming, and expensive.<\/p>\n<p>Guidance? Turn your traditional demos upside down: That\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0C9SNKC2Y\/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1688763837&amp;sr=1-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Great Demo!<\/em><\/a> methodology, <a href=\"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/7-validated-habits-for-stunningly-successful-demos\/\">validated<\/a> in studies of <em>thousands<\/em> of demos!<\/p>\n<p>Your results will be crisper, aligned, <em>surprisingly <\/em>compelling demos that map delightfully to audience interests, delivered in accord with audience authority and interest.<\/p>\n<p>How much Setup Mode are you showing in <em>your<\/em> current demos?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2016-2024 The Second Derivative \u2013 All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n<p>To learn the methods introduced above, consider enrolling in a Great Demo! Doing Discovery or Demonstration Skills <a href=\"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/training\/\">Workshop<\/a>. For more demo and discovery tips, best practices, tools and techniques, explore our <a href=\"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/learn\/books\/\">books<\/a>, blog and articles on the Resources pages of our website at <a href=\"https:\/\/GreatDemo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/GreatDemo.com<\/a> and join the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2430414\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Great Demo! &amp; Doing Discovery LinkedIn Group<\/a> to learn from others and share your experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to Make Your Software Look Complicated, Confusing, Overwhelming, and Expensive Or How Setup Mode Is Destroying Your Demos! A Never Stop Learning! 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