Monday, October 20, 2008

Debilitating Demo Diseases – Logorrhea

Logorrhea – Excessive Talkativeness

Symptoms: Customer is unable to break-in to ask a question; presenter feels obligated to keep on talking if he/she hears nothing from customer. Condition is often exacerbated when working over certain conference room speaker phone systems. Audience often lapses into disgruntled silence for the balance of the demo. Demo fails; sales person does not get order; customer goes with the competition.

Examples: “But, what if…”

“Um, excuse me but…”

“Can I ask…?”

“Never mind.”

Cure: Remove Starbucks coffee cups from victim’s immediate area. Have victim slow down delivery and put pauses in place. Encourage victim to summarize at the end of each section. Ask questions more often and give audience time to respond. Check telephone connection and speakerphone for bisynchronicity before launching into demo.

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