What\u2019s in this article for you?<\/p>\n
A head of presales commented, \u201cThey don\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know\u2026! 50% of our sales opportunities end in \u2018No Decision\u2019 and 30% of our demos are just pure waste. We must move from our traditional approaches to a validated, proven methodology that delivers improved results!\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a simple method to assess where you and your team stand, based on ten levels of increasing demo skills proficiency:<\/p>\n
Level 1:\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Follows the standard demo script<\/p>\n
Level 2:\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Customizes based on prospect\u2019s market\/industry<\/p>\n
Level 3:\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Customizes based on discovery information uncovered<\/p>\n
Level 4:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Communicates tangible business value<\/p>\n
Level 5:\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Applies both Vision Generation and Technical Proof Demos<\/p>\n
Level 6:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Manages and explores prospect questions<\/p>\n
Level 7:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Uses Biased Questions to outflank competition and reengineer vision<\/p>\n
Level 8:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Applies storytelling techniques to reinforce key ideas<\/p>\n
Level 9: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Applies these skills to the broad range of demo scenarios required, including demos for prospects occupying different portions of the Technology Adoption Curve, presenting new products, Executive Briefing Centers, transactional sales cycles, expansion opportunities, lunch and learn sessions, tradeshows, demos for analysts and third parties, channel partners, internal demos, and other scenarios<\/p>\n
Level 10:\u00a0\u00a0 Captures and reuses demo success scenarios, and integrates, aligns, and leverages the skills above into a cohesive demonstration methodology<\/p>\n
Most people and teams, when they are honest with themselves, are operating at Levels 1-3 (and Level 3 is often debatable\u2026). That leaves a lot <\/em>of room for improvement! The average vendor suffers from a ~45% No Decision<\/a> rate and finds that ~35% of their demos are wasted<\/a>. If those numbers are similar to your experiences, then perhaps a change is in order! And even if your metrics are better, we should all<\/em> constantly seek to advance our skills.<\/p>\n What are some pathways to improvement? Books<\/a> are a terrific starting point, providing self-paced learning. However, you cannot have a conversation<\/em> with a book (or a video), so answers to your questions or clarification of ideas have to come from somewhere else. Book clubs can be a mechanism to address this, but you are still at risk of the blind leading the blind!<\/p>\n Seminars and webinars<\/a> provide the means to introduce new ideas and catalyze the process of change. These sessions are wonderful ways to kick off new programs and embrace large populations at once.<\/p>\n Workshops<\/a> provide the strongest tactic to achieve substantive change. Workshops include multiple rounds of roleplay, where participants prepare and deliver new demos applying the methodology. Each round builds upon the previous and includes personal feedback, tuning, and guidance.<\/p>\n Choose the mechanism that works best for you! Now, let\u2019s explore each level more closely\u2026<\/p>\n Most presales, sales, and customer success new hires go through basic training on their company\u2019s products and systems, along with introductions to their go-to-market and sales process steps. For presales, customer success, and some salespeople, this includes learning the basic \u201cstandard\u201d demo for each product they will represent.<\/p>\n Many organizations then test whether the new team member has mastered these standard demos through certification roleplays. That\u2019s Level 1, which is often focused on ensuring that the employee understands the various capabilities in their software and relevant positioning.<\/p>\n These standard demos are generally structured in a linear flow that includes presenting navigation, setup and customization options, various workflows, and reporting (if time allows!). They are not optimized for any specific prospect or demo scenario, and they are definitely <\/em>not focused on the interests of specific job titles or adjusted for any markets or verticals. Disturbingly, any relevant discovery information is ignored, as well!<\/p>\n These demos are commonly known as stunningly awful Harbor Tours.<\/p>\n They are woefully ineffective. They fail to inspire vision; they fail to achieve technical proof; they suffer deeply from Buying It Back<\/a>; and they are the recipients of countless painful jokes from prospects, customers, and more experienced vendor teams.<\/p>\n Amusingly, they are celebrated<\/em> by the competitors of the vendors who present these Harbor Tours!<\/p>\n Generally, (hopefully!) there is an expectation that vendor practitioners will only use these standard demos as a starting point. Unfortunately, many team members continue to follow these same unproductive demo pathways for years\u2026! (Visualize a mass of lemmings<\/a> marching unconcernedly towards a cliff.)<\/p>\n Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 1:<\/p>\n Pros:<\/p>\n Cons:<\/p>\n Grade (for demos to most prospects): F<\/p>\n What\u2019s important about +1, +49, +44, +33, +91, etc.?<\/p>\n The first small step towards customizing demos to meet prospects\u2019 specific situations is often reflected in the use of market- or industry-specific data sets and vocabulary. This can be as simple as using an adaptive<\/a> or pre-built demo environment<\/a> for each industry: manufacturing, finance, pharma, etc. In the absence of adaptive or pre-built environments, practitioners can modify data themselves and apply appropriate terminology in their verbal delivery during demos.<\/p>\n Another dimension at this level of customization is adapting the demo to meet the specifics of a geographic region, which might range from including regional addresses or phone syntax, job titles and local terminology, to verbal delivery using the prospect\u2019s local language (e.g., like Californian, dude!).<\/p>\n Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 2:<\/p>\n Pros:<\/p>\n Cons:<\/p>\n Grade (for demos to most prospects): D-<\/p>\n Wait, what? You want discovery<\/em><\/a> information before<\/em> presenting the demo?<\/p>\n Yes, please!<\/p>\n This requires three steps to complete:<\/p>\n Sound obvious? Sadly, I\u2019ve seen countless demos where:<\/p>\n Very simply, sufficient discovery<\/a> provides guidance on which capabilities to include in the demo and which capabilities to leave out<\/em>. If your team\u2019s demos follow the same path regardless of what was learned in discovery, then they haven\u2019t achieved Level 3.<\/p>\n An observation: It is incredibly insulting to prospects who have invested time in a discovery conversation with a vendor to have that vendor ignore<\/em> the discovery information provided!<\/p>\n Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 3:<\/p>\n Pros:<\/p>\n Cons:<\/p>\n Grade: C<\/p>\n The number one complaint from presales, sales, and customer success leaders about their teams\u2019 demos is that \u201cthey don\u2019t communicate business value\u2026\u201d And in order to communicate business value, teams need to know what the value is<\/em> for their prospects!<\/p>\n This is a watershed skill level. Those who fail to communicate business value will struggle with their demos; those who convey tangible value are positioned for success.<\/p>\n Most vendor demos don\u2019t communicate value<\/a> at all, leaving prospects without the ability to sell internally. Some vendors describe generic value, and a subset of these vendors go further to make it tangible. However, the real objective is to communicate the tangible value gains for each specific<\/em> prospect. Let\u2019s break these important ideas down!<\/p>\n Generic Business Value:<\/p>\n Case 1: In the simplest case, presales, sales, and customer success teams should be able to articulate the intangible benefits of their solution. This might be phrased as, \u201cOur software enables you to reduce the time needed to\u2026\u201d Frankly, this is too generic and, accordingly, it is nearly meaningless.<\/p>\n Case 2: Slightly better is to communicate the kinds of tangible gains seen across the industry, \u201cOur customers report savings of 2-4 weeks in process time\u2026\u201d But will this resonate with the current prospect? Hard to say\u2026!<\/p>\n Case 3: An additional improvement is to be more specific, \u201cOther customers who are very similar<\/em> to you report process reductions of 2-3 weeks\u2026\u201d This will feel more relevant for the current prospect but note that the numbers are someone else\u2019s<\/em>.<\/p>\n Specific Business Value:<\/p>\n In the absence of doing discovery, vendors are limited to generic value statements. Correspondingly, discovery needs to be executed with the clear objective of uncovering meaningful, prospect-specific value elements.<\/p>\n During discovery, any time your prospect \u201cadmits pain,\u201d your job is to quantify it. Each of these is a Delta: the difference between your prospect\u2019s current state and their desired future state. While the concept of capturing and communicating Deltas is richly developed in both Doing Discovery<\/em><\/a> and Great Demo!<\/em><\/a>, here is a brief introduction:<\/p>\n When your prospect says, \u201cIt takes too long\u2026\u201d your response should be in the form of two questions:<\/p>\n The difference is the Delta: A simple and direct expression of value. A few additional questions will enable you to do the math (\u201cmaths\u201d for you in the UK, etc.) to calculate meaningful business value statements.<\/p>\n Example:<\/p>\n Prospect states, \u201cIt takes too long\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n You ask, \u201cHow long does it take today?\u201d<\/p>\n Your prospect responds, \u201cThe full process currently takes 10 business days\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n You enquire, \u201cAnd what would you like it to be \u2013 what does it need<\/em> to be?\u201d<\/p>\n Prospect answers, \u201cWe need to cut this down to 2 business days.\u201d<\/p>\n You follow-up with, \u201cAnd how often do you run this process?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvery two weeks \u2013 25 times per year\u2026\u201d is the response.<\/p>\n You then ask, \u201cAnd how many people are consumed by this process today?\u201d<\/p>\n Prospect replies, \u201c10 staff members \u2013 it\u2019s their only function.\u201d<\/p>\n So, this prospect could redeploy 80% of their team to other, more valuable tasks. That\u2019s 8 FTE (Full Time Equivalents). That\u2019s <\/em>the Delta. And that represents the driving force for making the change.<\/p>\n The 8 FTEs is the tangible<\/em> and specific value of making the change for this prospect. At Level 4, this information is communicated and reinforced throughout the demo.<\/p>\n Goals, Objectives and Outcomes:<\/p>\n Finally, Level 4 practitioners uncover prospects\u2019 overarching business goals and objectives, in discovery, and align their discussion of business value with these goals and objectives. These are called Critical Business Issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the example above, when we identified the specific business value for a particular process, the Level 4 practitioner would also<\/em> ask, \u201cWhy<\/em> do you need to improve your process \u2013 what is your objective for this project?\u201d The prospect\u2019s response might be, \u201cWe\u2019ve been tasked to increase our overall productivity by 10% and this process was identified as a key problem area\u2026\u201d The Critical Business Issue is \u201cIncreasing productivity by 10%\u201d and we include this in our discussion of business value during the demo.<\/p>\n In Great Demo! methodology, we document the prospect\u2019s Critical Business Issue(s) as well as<\/em> the Delta (the specific business value) on the Situation Slide, we revisit these when we present Illustrations, and we include them in our Summaries. Consistent, precise communication of business value is a critical success factor for demos and can be a major point of differentiation between vendors!<\/p>\n Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 4:<\/p>\n Pros:<\/p>\n Cons:<\/p>\n Grade: B<\/p>\n How often are you asked to provide an overview demo to a sales qualified lead that goes nowhere? How frequently does it seem that prospects who ask for demos are just planning for the future, and have no intention of buying in the short term?<\/p>\n The ability to differentiate between prospects who are \u201cJust Browsing\u201d vs in an \u201cActive Buying Process\u201d is another major skills watershed. Those who are unable to make this determination are doomed to long sales processes that far too frequently end in No Decision outcomes<\/a> (or their sales processes never<\/em> end and are on the forecast forever!).<\/p>\n Prospects who are Just Browsing are doing exactly that: They just want a taste of your capabilities, not a seven-course banquet. These prospects are often in the early stages of exploration or planning for their next fiscal year. The don\u2019t want to engage, yet, in a sales process. How do you satisfy them?<\/p>\n You deliver a Vision Generation Demo!<\/p>\n These use Informal Success Stories<\/a> combined with a few<\/em> key software screens \u2013 often dashboards or reports \u2013 to build a vision of what is possible in your prospects\u2019 minds. A complete Vision Generation Demo can be executed in ten minutes or less, satisfying these prospects while avoiding the horrors of Lead Churn<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prospects who are in an Active Buying Process, on the other hand, may want a Vision Generation Demo to kick off their investigation process, followed by substantive discovery and Technical Proof Demos. How do you determine your prospects\u2019 level of interest? You ask<\/em>!<\/p>\n (Chapters 4-9 in the Third Edition of Great Demo!<\/em><\/a> provide the complete recipe for Technical Proof Demos and Chapter 11 details the formula for Vision Generation Demos.)<\/p>\n Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 5:<\/p>\n Pros:<\/p>\n Cons:<\/p>\n Grade: B+<\/p>\n There are three parts<\/a> to this level:<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with the third item on this list\u2026<\/p>\n You may have noted that many of the previous levels suffered from a high risk of vendor monologues. This is very typical for practitioners operating at the lower Levels! These reps are eager to pack as much info into their demos as time allows, which reduces or eliminates the possibility of prospect questions or feedback.<\/p>\n A classic indicator of monologue delivery is the following frequently repeated exchange:<\/p>\n \u201cAny questions so far?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNope, we\u2019re good.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeeling Back the Layers\u201d in Great Demo! methodology is all about encouraging a productive, bidirectional conversation to take place. Prospects that actively participate in the demo, through inquiry and commentary, are much<\/em> more engaged and are much<\/em> more likely to retain the key ideas presented, particularly if it was their questions that drove the discussion!<\/p>\n OK, now that we are actively encouraging questions, let\u2019s return to how to manage the flow.<\/p>\n Achieving the number 1 above is a dynamic process of determining, \u201cIs this something I need to answer now, or should it be deferred until later?\u201d The use of a questions Parking Lot is an indicator of successful question management<\/a>. (See Chapter 8 in the Third Edition of Great Demo!<\/em><\/a> for details on this process.)<\/p>\n Far too many demos are diverted in the first few minutes by prospect questions that drag the presenter into the weeds. Innumerable prospect executives have left demo meetings early because of lengthy, detailed explanations by vendor reps thrashing further into the underbrush!<\/p>\n I\u2019d be an extremely rich person, monetarily, if I had a dollar for every time a vendor provided protracted paragraphs of answers to questions that only needed a crisp \u201cYes\u201d response! (Please take up a collection for me.)<\/p>\n Number 2 above is exploring the why<\/em> behind prospect questions. Is the question being asked in earnest vs a \u201cI\u2019m just curious?\u201d Is it a \u201clandmine\u201d planted by a competitor? Does it represent the need for a \u201cKO\u201d capability vs a less important \u201cnice to have\u201d feature?<\/p>\n How many times have we heard a prospect ask, \u201cCan your software do X?\u201d and the vendor responds \u201cAbsolutely! Let me show you how this works\u2026\u201d or \u201cNo, but we have a workaround \u2013 here, I\u2019ll show you\u2026\u201d without any reciprocal inquiry?<\/p>\n In both cases, the vendor missed an important opportunity to seek clarification.<\/p>\n \u201cHow important is this to you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat prompted your question?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is it you need to accomplish with this kind of capability?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow often would it be used?\u201d<\/p>\n Prospect responses to these questions can make or break a demo. Skilled question management can keep you out of the weeds, enable you to identify and categorize prospect needs and wants, and address competitive threats while simultaneously encouraging the conversation.<\/p>\n The Level 6 practitioner manages and investigates prospect questions thoughtfully!<\/p>\n Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 6:<\/p>\n Pros:<\/p>\n Cons:<\/p>\n Grade: B+<\/p>\n Achieving Level 7 is a major step! Most presales and salespeople are completely unaware<\/em> of the use of Biased Questions and Vision Reengineering concepts.<\/p>\n In traditional demos, vendors endeavor to show as much functionality as time allows, regardless<\/em> of whether that functionality is meaningful or relevant for the prospect. In Great Demo! methodology, you learn how to present exactly<\/em> the capabilities the prospect needs, based on discovery.<\/p>\n But what if you realize, during the demo, that there are features your prospect should <\/em>need or want, that you hadn\u2019t discussed during discovery?<\/p>\n How do you introduce those capabilities, but without the risk of flogging your prospect with unwanted features and Buying It Back<\/a>? You use a Biased Question!<\/p>\n A Biased Question<\/a> leads your prospect towards a logical conclusion, such as the need for your competitively advantageous capability. In these cases, the capability is introduced verbally<\/em>, and then shown only when the prospect agrees that it would be useful and wants to see it.<\/p>\n The Level 7 practitioner has a store of Biased Questions ready to deploy (both in discovery and demos) and introduces them when appropriate. (Biased Questions are covered in both Great Demo!<\/em><\/a> and Doing Discovery<\/em><\/a>, in alignment with presenting demos or engaging in a discovery conversation.)<\/p>\n Next, Vision Reengineering is another relatively unknown, but essential advanced set of skills.<\/p>\n Most prospects \u201cdon\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know\u201d about your offerings\u2019 capabilities. Their knowledge, prior to a discovery dialog or a demo, is generally limited to what they can learn online. It is rare that a vendor lists all<\/em> of their capabilities publicly, to keep competitors in the dark (and often because a complete listing is impractical, if not unreadable!).<\/p>\n Vision Reengineering is the process of helping your prospect expand<\/em> their concept of a solution to embrace a broader set of your offering\u2019s capabilities.<\/p>\n An example?<\/p>\n Imagine the difference between a prospect\u2019s current deliverable of a static report vs a dynamic dashboard with live \u201cslicing and dicing\u201d and drill-down capabilities. The prospect may not realize<\/em> that such a dynamic dashboard is even possible<\/em>. In Vision Reengineering, the vendor introduces the capability using a Biased Question that describes how other, very similar customers utilized the dynamic dashboard to improve and increase the value of the solution.<\/p>\n In the midst of a demo, the functionality is then shown if the prospect agrees that it is desired. In a discovery conversation, if the prospect decides they want the capability, then it becomes a Specific Capability to be shown in the subsequent demo.<\/p>\n Biased Questions are frequently used by Level 7 reps to drive Vision Reengineering conversations.<\/p>\n Why are Biased Questions and Vision Reengineering so important? Two major reasons:<\/p>\n When you successfully expand your prospects\u2019 vision of a solution through Vision Reengineering, you are often building a larger, more complete solution. These frequently include additional for-sale products or services that increase the value of the solution and the size of the sales opportunity.<\/p>\n Similarly, Vision Reengineering is a competitive weapon. When a prospect embraces a broader or deeper solution that includes capabilities your competition lacks (or suffers from inadequacies), you are establishing competitive differentiation.<\/p>\n Applying Biased Questions and skillfully executing Vision Reengineering can tip the competitive scales in your favor and increase the size of the order. Delightful!<\/p>\n Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 7:<\/p>\n Pros:<\/p>\n Cons:<\/p>\n Grade: A-<\/p>\n Next to \u201ccommunicating business value\u201d storytelling is the most frequent demo skills improvement sought by sales and presales managers. But just \u201cwrapping a story around your demo\u2026\u201d is not a simple or effective solution. Successful Storytelling<\/a> is about communication stickiness<\/em> and the ability for your prospects to remember \u2013 and retell \u2013 your key messages.<\/p>\n Similarly, \u201cA Day in the Life\u201d demo is not<\/em> an effective story. It\u2019s just a framework and is not compelling on its own.<\/p>\n Level 8 practitioners use stories when presenting their most important points, critical concepts and key competitive capabilities. Stories help make these ideas memorable, enabling prospect players to retell those same stories with high fidelity within their own organization.<\/p>\n Stories about how other, similar customers successfully used your capabilities to address their challenges are engaging and stimulate interest: They generate hope and curiosity, \u201cIf they<\/em> could do it, then we probably can as well \u2013 and I wonder how they did it?\u201d This is where you harvest and apply Informal Success Stories<\/a> in your demos.<\/p>\n Stories don\u2019t need to be Norse sagas! Sometimes, simple<\/a> is better.<\/p>\n Never tell a good story once! When you find stories that resonate strongly, practice retelling these to tune and improve<\/a> your delivery and their impact. (See Chapter 14 in the Third Edition of Great Demo!<\/em><\/a> for a complete treatment of storytelling in demos.)<\/p>\n Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 8:<\/p>\n Pros:<\/p>\n Cons:<\/p>\n Grade: A<\/p>\n One of the key ideas in Great Demo! methodology is that there is no such thing as \u201cone demo fits all prospects.\u201d<\/p>\n A basic Great Demo! principle is to align your demo with each of your prospect\u2019s specific job titles. A CRO has different requirements than a VP of sales, whose needs are different from the those of front-line managers, who also have distinct requirements vs their salespeople staff. Add presales players to the mix and you have another set of specific needs and wants. Include marketing, professional services, and customer success, and your complexity increases.<\/p>\n One demo does not<\/em> fit all prospect job titles.<\/p>\n Similarly, there are differences across a broad range of other prospect dimensions that need to be taken into account in your demos:<\/p>\n And that\u2019s just the visible portion of the iceberg. You can (and should!) apply Great Demo! principles and skills for demos to internal players, third parties, and analysts. Vendors that sell through channel partners or resellers represent another dimension of application (several dimensions, actually!).<\/p>\n If you mentally revisit Level 1 where new hires are learning the \u201cstandard\u201d demo, you\u2019ll realize that this is where the trouble begins<\/a>! Modifying your onboarding training to embrace Great Demo! and Doing Discovery practices will both accelerate time-to-competency and eliminate the need to retrain staff.<\/p>\n Putting it all together takes training<\/a>, experience, practice, and coaching. Read A Prospect\u2019s Tale<\/em> for a humorous, yet pragmatic story that illustrates what not<\/em> to do and, more importantly, what success looks like (The last story in Suspending Disbelief<\/em><\/a>)!<\/p>\n Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 9:<\/p>\n Pros:<\/p>\n Cons:<\/p>\n Grade: A+<\/p>\n Consider these competitively advantageous resources as \u201cDemo Capital!\u201d<\/p>\n While individuals can ascend to this level (and should!), this is really an organizational<\/em> objective. While one person can collect and leverage experiences, stories, and other demonstration capital<\/a> and assets, contemplate what a team<\/em> can amass with the appropriate guidance and support systems.<\/p>\n As presales, sales, and customer success practitioners mature, they recognize the importance of altruism and mutual enablement. Sharing what has worked and not worked with their peers generates a virtuous feedback loop, enabling individuals to tap into the broader experiences of the team.<\/p>\n These positive feedback loops often start informally with post-demo vendor team discussions of \u201cWhat went well?\u201d \u201cWhat didn\u2019t go so well?\u201d and \u201cWhat could we have done better or differently?\u201d Formalizing this process to make post-demo reviews a structured, regular habit is a key indicator of Level 10 practice.<\/p>\nLevel 1 \u2013 Follows the Standard Demo Script<\/h5>\n
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Level 2 \u2013 Customizes Based on Prospect\u2019s Geo\/Market\/Industry<\/h5>\n
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Level 3 \u2013 Customizes Based on Discovery Information Uncovered<\/h5>\n
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Level 4 \u2013 Communicates Business Value<\/h5>\n
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Level 5 \u2013 Applies Both Vision Generation and Technical Proof Demos<\/h5>\n
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Level 6 \u2013 Manages and Explores Prospect Questions<\/h5>\n
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Level 7 \u2013 Uses Biased Questions to Outflank Competition and Reengineer Vision<\/h5>\n
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Level 8 \u2013 Applies Storytelling Techniques to Reinforce Key Ideas<\/h5>\n
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Level 9 \u2013 Applies These Skills Across the Broad Range of Demo Scenarios<\/h5>\n
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Level 10 \u2013 Captures and Enables Reuse of Demo Success Materials<\/h5>\n