“Stalker” Demos

Just heard this phrase in a recent Great Demo! Workshop:  “Stalker Demos”.  Loosely translated, it amounts to “If you don’t agree to purchase after this demo, we’ll come back again – and again – and again – and we’ll keep delivering demos until you cave in…!”

This is amusing at one level, but it is based on situations where an initial demo didn’t go well – often because the initial demo was a Harbor Tour or Show-Up-and-Throw-Up Demo – causing the vendor to request doing another, “better” demo for the customer.  Given that there are only about 220 “selling” days per year, repeating a demo meeting represents a large opportunity cost. 

I suspect that many of us have or had parents who offered the advice, “Measure twice, cut once”.  Insufficient preparation, especially with regards to performing adequate qualification and discovery, can yield these “Stalker Demo” results!