The following interview
transcript offers some intriguing insights into demos, Great Demo! methodology,
doing Discovery, and offers some potentially surprising (and highly useful) recommendations
for coaching to improve demo skills.
Enjoy!
Refract Interviewer: Tell us a little bit about Second
Derivative, Peter, and what Great Demo! is all about...
Peter Cohan, the Great
Demo! DemoGuru: Have you ever seen a bad demo?
If the answer is
yes (or a whimper, guffaw, or statement along the lines of, “Yes, I’ve probably
done hundreds myself…!”), then you know why I am in business. My purpose in
life is to fix that problem.
Great Demo! is a
methodology that makes software demos surprisingly crisp, compelling effective.
The Second Derivative, my company, delivers Great Demo! training to yearning
customers around the world.
Refract Interviewer: Sounds great - which type of companies
do you typically work with?
Cohan: Mostly B-to-B
software organizations – although I’ve also worked with a number of
instrumentation companies (for whom software is a key or critical component).
My customers range from start-ups with just a few folks to some of the biggest
software companies on earth.
My “sweet spot”,
however, are software companies that range from 100 employees up to a few
thousand. My training is not “cookie-cutter” – each Workshop is specifically
tailored to the needs and interests of each set of participants.
One of the most
fascinating aspects of my job is encountering and getting to know the
enormously broad range of software companies out there… For every vertical, there
is a set of software organizations that serve that vertical specifically –
ranging from software for the trucking industry, to hotels, to pharma
compliance – literally from A to Z!
Refract Interviewer: You've been working in this space for
some time, how has the delivery and importance of software demos changed during
this period?
Cohan: Interestingly, the
importance of demos in the sales process really hasn’t changed…
Perhaps,
however, demos have become more important as vendors have begun to realize that
demos don’t have to be long, painful, and boring. Companies more and more are
looking to “up their game” specifically with respect to their demos; presales
and sales teams are looking to differentiate (in a positive manner) by the way
they approach and deliver demos.
Regarding
delivery, the major changes are the use of web-delivered demos (e.g., via WebEx
and GoToMeeting) and the use of tablets, in particular, and smart phones, to a
lesser extent, in the case of enterprise software. iPads and other tablets
enable a delightful, refreshing change in the dynamics of face-to-face demos –
no longer is the vendor/presenter fixed to that front-left spot in front of the
screen… No, using a tablet, you can take the demo right to the customer – and
even have them drive. Fabulous!
Web delivery of
demos has also changed both the dynamic and the immediacy. It is
(frighteningly) easy to “jump on a demo” – as opposed to the bad old days of
trains, planes and rental cars. However, web delivery of demos has its own
challenges – if you have ever been on the receiving end of a web-delivered demo
and realized that you could leave the room, get a cup of coffee, talk with
colleagues and come back 15 minutes later to find the presenter still
blathering on, with no clue that you weren’t present!
Refract Interviewer: What do you see as the most common
problem that exists within sales people, in delivering great software demos?
Cohan: The Number One
problem is, without question, insufficient Discovery. Far too many demos are
delivered with a wholly insufficient understanding of the customer’s needs,
interests and situation – how can you possibly present a “solution” if you have
an insufficient understanding of the customer’s problem?
Next, is the misconception
that “one size fits” all. Far too many organizations inflict the “standard
demo” on all customers, under the assumption (incorrect, of course), that all
customers are the same.
Third is the
overwhelming desire for sales and presales people to teach their customers how
the software works, as opposed to presenting what good things – what
deliverables – their offering provides.
Sales leaders
often articulate this problem by saying, “They aren’t communicating the
business value” or “They aren’t connecting to the business needs – they are
lost in the technology…”
Refract Interviewer: Connected with that - what do you see as
the number one thing which makes a demo 'GREAT'?
Cohan: A poor demo is one
that doesn’t get the job done – causing extended sales cycles, “No Decision”
results, or losses to competitors. A good demo is one that moves the sales
process forward. A Great Demo! is one that completes the technical sale in the
shortest amount of time (and fewest clicks).
What makes a
Great Demo! happen? The single most important part of preparing a Great Demo!
is doing Discovery. When sufficient Discovery is done, it enables a Great Demo!
to take place.
The results of
Discovery identify the Specific Capabilities the customer is looking for – and
the specific deliverables the customer needs for their solution. A Great Demo!
presents the customer with these key deliverables right up front, right away –
this is what makes a Great Demo! crisp, compelling, and surprisingly effective.
Refract Interviewer: You famously ask the question - Have you
ever seen a bad demo? How many bad demos have you seen versus killer demos'?
Cohan: Waaaaaaaay too many!
It requires very little thought to execute (good choice of words, here) a
“standard” demo, over and over and over. Contrariwise, it requires a great deal
of thought and preparation to deliver a Great Demo!
I would say that
there are three categories, with the following rough percentages, based on my
experience:
-
“Standard”
(poor) demos: 67%
-
Good
demos (where Discovery is done and an earnest effort is made to “tailor” the
resulting demo): 26%
-
Great
Demos (following Great Demo! methodology to a substantial degree): 7% (a
depressingly low number…!)
One might ask,
“Haven’t you trained more people than the 7% above in Great Demo! methodology?”
Well, yes, most likely. But we are victims of momentum, and without support,
feedback and coaching, people tend to fall back into their old habits. I need
to add that those 7% are enjoying rather dramatically improved success rates
with their demos…!
Refract Interviewer: In the field of software sales demos -
what would you say are the key differences between 'training' and 'coaching'?
Cohan: Very interesting
question…! You can train someone to follow a process; coaching explores how
well that process is being executed and makes improvements in performance.
Training introduces process; coaching improves the performance of that process.
For example, you
can teach someone how to run a 5 kilometer race: you start, pace yourself over
the first 4.5 kilometers, and then “kick” the last half a kilometer to finish.
The runner listens to the instructions, then runs the course as best he/she
understands or interprets the plan. That’s training.
Coaching is what
happens next. A Coach, who has watched and timed our athlete during the run,
reviews what happened with him/her – and offers corrections and changes. “Start
a bit faster; remember to focus on smooth, steady breathing, and when you see
the final half kilometer distance sign you can start your ‘kick’ – increase
steadily over that half a km so that you are at top speed in the last 100m
before the finish line.” That’s coaching – working to improve the performance
of the process.
Our athlete
(after a bit of a rest), runs the course again, focusing on the guidance from
the coach – and sees some significant improvement. Importantly, that’s the
positive feedback loop that coaching enables.
Refract Interviewer: From your experience, what are the top
three challenges software companies have, with consistent and effective sales
and presales coaching?
Cohan: I’ll expand this to
“sales and presales demo coaching”, if I may… Top three challenges?
1.
Presence:
Manager/Coaches are unable to “ride-along” – they don’t have time to join as
many as they would like of the face-to-face demos delivered by their team
members, and similarly they aren’t available to join web-delivered demos when
their team members have them scheduled. Doing the math helps to understand this
a bit further…
Let’s
say a typical manager has 8 reports, located in several different locations and
time zones (very typical in the U.S.). Each staff member does 2 major demos per
week; the manager would like to sit-in on (minimally) at least 1 major demo per
month per person.
Sounds
like this should be easy for the manager – only 8 hours of demos to join per
month, in theory (assuming each demo is an hour in length…). But that manager
has her own tasks, internal and customer meetings, travel, etc. – and her
calendar is already largely full. Physically travelling to join a face-to-face
demo at a customer site may consume 1½ to 2 full days. 1½ days invested for 8
people may consume 12 working days each month – and there are only 20 working
days in a month…!
She
can’t afford this much investment, so she misses a few iterations – and
performance improvement stagnates for those players. She has a similar problem
joining web-delivered demos. She’s already booked; they take place before or
after her normal working hours; customers change dates and timing…
The
end result is the same: she sees and is able to coach many fewer demos that she
would like – and staff performance suffers accordingly.
2.
Consistency:
Manager/Coaches generally have no good way to be consistent in their coaching
practices.
Face-to-face
demos have “curb-side” reviews, generally exploring “how did we do?” on the way
to the airport… Coaching is delivered ad
hoc, based on what the manager remembered from the demo, generally
consisting of a few highlights and a few areas of improvement – “You should
have done this…” The next time coaching takes place for the same team member
could be weeks away – and neither our Manager/Coach nor our staff member recall
the previous engagement.
Result?
Inconsistent coaching for that individual – and with similar inconsistencies on
a team-member-by-team-member basis.
A
similar challenge is faced with web-delivered demos. Manager/Coach feedback is
often delayed (“Sorry, I have to jump on another call…!”), ad hoc because of similar constraints (we can only coach on what we
remember…), and sadly fragmented – Manager/Coaches will often “multi-task”
while they are watching web-delivered demos and may miss critical elements as
they respond to an email message…
3.
Tracking:
Manager/Coaches generally have no good way to track the progress of their team
members – and this represents a huge problem…!
The
inability to track results in a broad range of smaller coaching problems:
o
Hard
to tell if staff members are improving or not.
o
Relying
on “gut” when making periodic performance assessments – hard to collect
sufficient data to support promote, “performance program”, or fire decisions.
o
Very
hard to compare one staff member to another.
o
Very
hard to establish and compare against a team “norm” – there is typically a lack
of consistent, controlled vocabulary and rankings. One Manager/Coach may list
everyone as “terrific” while another defines the same behavior as “adequate”.
4.
What
Great Looks Like: I’m adding a 4th item to the list. Manager/Coaches often find
it extremely hard to show staff members, and new hires in particular, what
“good” and “Great” look like.
It
is relatively easy to criticize and say, “Don’t do that”; it is much harder to
show what should have been done. Forbes recently conducted a survey (http://onforb.es/1S7BnMp), which discovered
that nearly 75% of leading companies cited mentoring and coaching of sales
reps, as the most important role, front line managers play.
Refract Interviewer: Why do you think therefore, that so many
companies struggle with this?
Cohan: A (rather broad)
range of reasons:
1.
Very
(very!) few managers are taught how to coach. Coaching is not an inherent skill
for humans; it is something that needs to be learned…
2.
Similarly,
managers are often unclear on what to coach.
3.
Some
managers are simply unable to coach, even though they have been promoted into a
front-line manager position. Many of these people are “intuitives”, who were
able to execute their sales or presales roles at a very high level of
performance, but simply can’t explain what they did or why they operated as
they did…
4.
Difficulty
in organizing and executing coaching sessions, due to time and distance constraints.
5.
Compensation
drives behavior. Most presales and nearly all front-line sales managers are
measured and compensated by achieving target revenues. Coaching and other staff
development activities are often relegated to “stretch” objectives.
6.
Perceived
lack of time. There is always more on managers’ plates than they can address –
coaching activities fall into the “important” category, but not the “urgent”
category.
7.
Focus
on on-boarding vs. ongoing development. Along the lines of “urgent” vs. “important”,
front-line managers find that bringing new hires up-to-speed is an urgent
activity, but developing existing employees falls off the plate as being simply
“important”.
8.
Some
managers are unaware that they need to coach. “I just inherited a great team and
they are doing just fine.”
9.
“Squeaky
wheel” effect. Managers are generally focused on dealing with underperformers,
neglecting their strong performers and tolerating their average performers. I
frequently get told that 'time' is a big hurdle to sales managers being able to
provide sales demo coaching to their reps.
Refract Interviewer: What would you say to these managers who
face this challenge?
Cohan: Time is the one
resource we cannot get any more of (Yes, I know; “dangling prepositions is
something up with which I cannot put”). However, we can certainly do a (much)
better job of using the time we have. A few suggestions, particularly with
respect to ensuring the sufficient coaching takes place:
1.
Understand
that coaching your team is an urgent priority and allocate time for it.
2.
By
allocate, I mean block specific time slots. Even better, add to your daily
schedule 1 hour for coaching activities – and honor this.
3.
Make
coaching activities a habit – part of your routine day. We all tend to start
our day by reviewing email and browsing certain websites; add to that routine
investing 20 minutes (for example) in providing coaching guidance to an
employee.
4.
Similarly,
or as an alternative, allocate 2 hours each week to coaching activities – at a
specific time, on a specific day. Most managers have weekly calls with their
teams (often on Monday or Friday); block and devote a similar allocation of
time on a specific day and time-of-day to coaching activities.
5.
Track
and measure your coaching activities: How many hours did I invest this past
week in coaching activities? How many people was I able to coach last week?
Assign yourself goals and metrics to measure and track your progress.
6.
Take
courses or classes on learning how to coach – doing so will make your time (and
your team members’ time with you) much more effective.
7.
Work
with your manager or a mentor on coaching – on an ongoing basis – to
continuously improve your coaching skills. Think training vs. coaching, for
you…!
Refract Interviewer: Sales enablement software solutions are
now the single biggest investment for leading organizations to help boost sales
productivity. What are your thoughts on software enablement solutions in
improving demos, compared to 'the human touch'?
Cohan: Technology can be
thought of as enabling; it is how you choose to use the technology that can
differentiate.
For example,
nearly every software vendor has implemented a CRM system, but how they have
managed their implementations and ongoing use differs broadly from company to
company.
There is an
enormous range of sales enablement software products available today – ranging
from content management, to playbooks, to CRM, to compensation management, and
on and on. In most (all?) cases, organizations need to be very clear on their
specific objectives when bringing in and implementing new tools. That’s where
the “human touch” is most important; vague objectives will yield vague (or no)
results.
Along those
lines, Refract.tv offers technology that enables coaching and feedback to be
accomplished asynchronously, without the need for the Manager/Coach to be
present during the sales or presales player’s interaction with the customer –
and then enables the Manager/Coach to provide coaching feedback and guidance
back to the player in an equally asynchronous manner, so that both the Manager/Coach
and the staff player can communicate without the need to be face-to-face or
voice-to-voice.
That’s what the
technology enables, fundamentally (and that is pretty liberating…!). Further,
Refract enables a structured approach to coaching and the ability to track
progress. So the Refract technology enables a great number of important things
and, if an organization is clear about their specific objectives (and matches
their implementation to those objectives), great gains can be expected in terms
of coaching frequency, consistency, timeliness, and tracking.
To realize
substantive improvement in a team’s demos, there needs to be a clear
understanding and agreement on what “good” and “Great” look like – and what are
the process steps to achieve “good” and “Great”.
These steps –
and commensurate coaching attributes – should be included when setting-up
Refract. [I can provide a set of Great Demo! Coaching Attributes and Weightings
to those who are interested – send me an email at PCohan@SecondDerivative.com.]
Further, a clear
definition of a scale of progress or skill level needs to implemented (and
agreed upon) so that Manager/Coaches can establish baselines and track progress
over time. These definitions and agreements represent the “human touch”. If these
are lacking and Manager/Coaches simply enter an unstructured, inconsistent set
of comments when reviewing a demo, and do this once in a while, the team as a
whole will have nothing but a pile of non-useful opinions. (“Great job, Sally,
you really scored with this demo” or “Bob, they were falling asleep; you’ve got
to get better…” – not particularly helpful).
Refract Interviewer: You are a big advocate of Refract,
Peter. Can you tell us what you believe are the top three ways in which Refract
can help software companies with their sales demo coaching?
Cohan: Here is a list, from
which you can choose 3 (or more…!):
On-boarding:
-
Providing
“good” or “Great” examples of the core (“standard”, “bronze”, etc.) demo.
-
Certifying,
asynchronously, that the new-hire has achieved a sufficient level of practice
in delivering that demo.
-
Establishing
a baseline for new-hires with respect to their demo skills set.
-
Discovery
Skills (part of Great Demo! Methodology):
o
Establishing
a baseline for staff members’ Discovery Skills.
o
Providing
recordings of what “good” and “Great” sound (and look) like.
o
Providing
Coaching to improve.
o
Identifying
and distributing new Discovery elements, questions, and methods as they are
found by existing team members, and broadcasting examples to the balance of the
team.
-
Pre-Great
Demo! Training:
o
Establishing
a baseline for the current level of practice.
-
Post-Great
Demo! Training:
o
Establishing
a new baseline, immediately post Great Demo! Workshop (highly recommended).
o
Providing
Coaching to improve.
o
Providing
example of what “good” and “Great” look like.
o
Avoiding
return by participants to their old ways.
-
Ongoing
Improvement:
o
Establishing
a positive feedback loop for continuing improvement (multiple iterations
version a single instance).
o
Establishing
a set of controlled vocabulary and ratings for coaching.
o
Tracking
and comparing individual and team results over time.
o
Clear
identification of areas of strength and weakness.
o
Identifying
and distributing new “best practices”.
o
Identifying
potential mentors in the team.
-
Teaching
Coaching and Mentoring:
o
Providing
examples of what to look for when coaching and how to provide feedback.
o
Providing
examples of what “good” and “Great” coaching looks like.
-
3rd
Parties and Partners:
o
Providing
examples of “good” and “Great” Discovery, demos, and coaching.
-
Sales
(who are not doing demos, but rely on presales for their demos to customers):
o
Training
on the role of the salesperson in demo meetings.
o
Providing
examples of “good” and “Great” sales/presales teamwork.
o
Capturing
examples where the salesperson really needs to improve…
-
Avoiding/Reducing
Stagnation:
o
In
the absence of coaching, staff members tend to continue their existing habits
(it is the comparatively rare person who can drive his or her own continuous
improvement).
-
Promotion/Firing:
o
Provide
tangible evidence for promotion (progress over time, mentoring others, sales
successes through specific demos).
o
Provide
tangible evidence for probation programs or firing (lack of progress, decay,
repeating disasters, etc.).
-
Tangible
Evidence:
o
In
face-to-face demo reviews, evidence of what was presented, audience reactions,
etc. is both subjective and subject to memory loss (or migration…). With a
recording, the evidence is documented and (relatively) undisputable.
Netting it out,
I’d say the top three are:
1.
Timeliness/Frequency.
2.
Consistency.
3.
Ability
to Track.
Refract Interviewer: For any company who feels they are not
performing as well as they could be with their software demos, what would be
your key advice?
Cohan: Hire a Great Demo!
trainer…! (And then follow up with ongoing coaching, of course.)
Well, perhaps.
The first step should be to identify the heart of the problem, the root cause.
Is it the demos? Or is it a lack of Discovery information from sales? Is it
poor presentation skills?
Next is to
decide how important it is to improve (let’s say in this case the team feels
its demos are causing ongoing losses to competitors). At this point, the
company’s presales/sales leadership should have a conversation with me (or
other Great Demo! Certified Affiliate) to investigate and understand their
situation clearly (our turn to do Discovery), from which we should be able to
make a considered recommendation for a course of action. Thanks for the plug!
1 comment:
NICE ARTICLE.
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