Have you ever had a demo where
multiple customer players wanted to see multiple solutions? Did you ever feel like the demo appeared
complicated or confusing? Would you like
a cleaner, more effective approach?
Break
your demo into “chunks” – bite-size pieces.
But before we go into detail, a couple
of comments about what not to do:
2. Don’t try to embrace the needs of
multiple players in a one piece – you’ll end up with what appears to the
customer to be an colossal bowl of demo spaghetti (or Gordian Knot) – yielding a
terribly tortured noodle journey of confusing back-and-forths, loops,
cul-de-sacs, dead-ends and parallel paths, with abuses to natural timelines
that would perplex a physicist… It is
like trying to eat a mammoth bowl of spaghetti in a single bite!
Instead,
let’s apply a structured approach…
Note:
“GD!” identifies elements specifically for
Great Demo! practitioners – those who have enjoyed (or survived!) a Great Demo!
Workshop, experienced a Seminar, or read the book – introducing when and how to
apply Situation Slides, Illustrations and other Great Demo! methodology
components.
Second Note: For
those who have not been exposed to
Great Demo!, there is still a great deal you will gain from this article, in
spite of your *ahem* insufficient education…
Four
Constituencies
Let’s say we have four sets of job
titles in our upcoming demo:
1. Executives
2. Middle Managers
3. End-users
4. Software Administrators
The traditional approach endeavors to
move swiftly from one group to another, weaving in and out, strand crossing
strand, twisting around the occasional meatball: “Now, remember this from earlier? We now pick this up, approve it, and pass it
along to…” This produces the massive,
confusingly intertwined bowl of demo spaghetti in the what not to do, above.
Instead, let’s break things into
initial chunks based on job title – we’ll essentially do 4 separate demos, one
for each – and we’ll start with the most important folks first: the Executives.
We’ll present a demo specifically
tailored to the Executives’ situation and interests – nothing else. We address the Execs’ questions, summarize
and wrap-up. Done and satisfied.
[Extra credit note: at this point an Exec may likely say, “Folks,
this looks good…” He glances at his watch
and adds, “I’ve got another meeting to attend – but I’m comfortable moving
forward with this solution for us…” Congratulations
– the deal is yours…!]
Once the Executives are satisfied and
have seen what they want, we’ll move on to the next group: the Middle Managers.
We then deliver a demo customized for
the Middle Managers only. Similarly
manage and address their questions, summarize and wrap-up for them.
Who’s next? The End-users. The next demo is theirs – and again is
crafted for their explicit needs. Once the
End-users are satisfied, we turn our attention to the Administrators and
address their interests with an Administrator-specific demo.
That’s the initial set of chunks –
organize in accord with job title, with the highest ranking people addressed
first. You’ve untangled that bowl of
demo spaghetti into a set of parallel strands – much easier to present and
consume.
Depth and Breadth
Now,
how much does each constituency need to see?
Just enough…!
Executives only need to see the
portions, typically, that are relevant for them – most often this will be
high-level reporting: “I need visibility
– show me how I’m performing against my objectives [metrics/KPI’s/etc.] – show
me any issues I need to address, exceptions, challenges, opportunities…”
GD!
This is where “Do the Last Thing
First” is most effective. Sharing a few
compelling Illustrations (key screens or reports) may be all that is needed for
the Execs. Interestingly, when applying
this approach, you may never need to go
into the live software…! With an
engaging Illustration on the screen, they’ll typically start asking questions –
most of which can likely be answered verbally.
So
how long and how deep are the chunks for the Executives? Short and shallow. Bite-size.
OK, who’s next?
Middle Managers. And how much do they need to see? Likely a bit more than the Execs, but equally
likely they’ll also want to start with dashboards and reports – and will typically
want to drill down to find more detail.
GD! “Do the Last Thing First”,
then “Do It” (fewest number of mouse clicks from a logical starting point to
navigate to the Illustration), followed most typically by questions (you are
now “Peeling Back the Layers” for them).
They’ll ask about how to assign tasks
to team members and track progress, whether alerts can be set up, how to
slice/dice data and related.
Accordingly, how long and how deep are
the Middle Managers’ chunks? A bit
longer and deeper than the Execs (but much shorter than our next group) – simply
a series of satisfying slurps.
Who’s after the Middle Managers?
Yep – the End-users. At this point the End-users have seen the
demos for the Execs and the Middle Managers and are likely thinking, “Looks
like we’re going to have to use this
software – what’s it going to be like for us…?”
End-users will want to see the
workflows they’ll have to execute. “How
hard is it? Does it do what I need? How does it compare with my current
practice? What’s in this for me?”
GD!
Again, Great Demo! methodology applies
neatly:
-
“Do
the Last Thing First” for each workflow – show them where it is going – the end
result – right up front. Note: this means addressing each workflow as its
own chunk (consider it a course of small plates…).
-
Drive
the workflow – “Do It” – using the fewest number of clicks. No “if”, no “or”, no “also” at this point –
just the shortest pathway to get the process done.
-
Now the
End-users will ask questions, “Can it do this?
How do I do that? Is there a way
to ___?” You are “Peeling Back the
Layers” in accord with their depth and level of interest.
-
Manage
questions that need to be addressed later by “Parking” them.
-
Summarize
at the end.
End-user chunks will likely be longer
and deeper than Middle Managers – and that makes sense, since they really want
to see their workflows and processes reflected in the software. They are hungrier.
Finally, who’s left?
Software Administrators. And what do they want to see? “How do I set up the system? Add/remove users? Assign privileges? Build or edit reports and dashboards?” Most of these tasks are part of “Set-up Mode”
(see my article on
this…) – and are generally topics that only
the Admins care about.
Their chunks are often very narrow,
but deep. (Similar to digging for those
delicious chocolate chunks in containers of ice-cream).
GD!
Apply Great Demo! again:
-
“Do
the Last Thing First” for each item – show the end result for each task up
front.
-
“Do
It” – show how to get the task done with the fewest number of clicks.
-
“Peel
Back the Layers” as they ask specific questions; manage and “Park” as necessary.
-
Summarize.
There you have it – four separate
demos, delivered in accord with the most important people being addressed
first, and so on down the line. Your convoluted
bowl of spaghetti has been transformed into a four-course meal – beautiful!
Let’s Get Organized
How can we let the customer know our
plan for the demo? Create and present an
agenda (it’s the menu for our four-course fixed-price dinner):
For our four-constituents scenario,
our agenda might look like:
¨ Introductions and Review of Agenda
¨ Executives’ Demo
¨ Middle Managers’ Demo
¨ End-users’ Demo
¨ Administrators’ Demo
¨ Summary and Next Steps
Presenting this at the beginning of
the session aligns everyone to the plan and lets everyone know when their
portion will take place (or be served).
But Wait – What If There’s More?
How do we apply these ideas when
several of the groups have more than one workflow or problem area – and/or
separate software tools are needed?
Bite-size chunks, again. Here’s
an example agenda for a more complex scenario:
¨ Introductions and Review of Agenda
¨ Executives’ Demo
¨ Middle Managers’ Demo
o Scenario 1
o Scenario 2
¨ End-users’ Demo
o Workflow 1
o Workflow 2
o Workflow 3
¨ Administrators’ Demo
o System Set-up
o Dashboard/Report Building
¨ Summary and Next Steps
We’ve taken an overflowing tureen of
pasta and plated it neatly for easy presentation and consumption.
GD!
And
how do we map this directly to the Great Demo! approach? As follows – let’s define some abbreviations:
SS = Situation Slide
IL = Illustration
DI = Do It
PB = Peel Back the Layers
Sum = Summarize
GD!
We
can now build our Great Demo! plan for the overall session:
¨ Introductions and Review of Agenda
¨ Executives’ Demo [SS, IL, (DI, PB if
needed), Sum]
¨ Middle Managers’ Demo
o Scenario 1 [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
o Scenario 2 [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
¨ End-users’ Demo
o Workflow 1 [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
o Workflow 2 [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
o Workflow 3 [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
¨ Administrators’ Demo
o System Set-up [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
o Dashboard/Report Building [SS, IL, DI,
PB, Sum]
¨ Summary and Next Steps
You
can use this structure to organize and manage demos that might last two hours –
or two days…!
Bonus
idea: Return to your agenda at the close
of each group’s demo. This will help
remind you to summarize and set the stage for the next group.
You
can also use checks or tick marks to indicate which segments have been
completed and which are next in line. In
this example, below, we’ve just finished with our Middle Managers and are about
to move on to the End-users:
þ Introductions and Review of Agenda
þ Executives’ Demo
þ Middle Managers’ Demo
ü Scenario 1
ü Scenario 2
¨ End-users’ Demo
o Workflow 1
o Workflow 2
o Workflow 3
¨ Administrators’ Demo
o System Set-up
o Dashboard/Report Building
¨ Summary and Next Steps
Very professional;
very effective! (And delicious, I might
add).
Could It Get
More Complex? But of Course…
What
if you have disparate groups from multiple departments, with a range of varying
job titles – who should go first? There
is no specific set of tactics to employ in these more complex situations, but
here are a few overarching strategies:
-
As possible, you may want to try to split the
overall customer team into a series of separate demos, for example by
department. This will help reduce the
overall time any individual invests in the demo meeting and decrease potential
confusion.
-
Otherwise, always start with the highest
ranking people. Ask your Champion for
guidance, if unclear of customer internal structures and politics.
-
For the next level down, contemplate
organizing by department or workflow to minimize the risk of “jumping around”
in your demo.
GD!
An Elegant Alternative
For more advanced Great Demo! practitioners,
we suggest using “Teasers” – sharing the main Illustrations for each sub-demo
in a segment at the beginning.
This follows the same idea as the “Tonight’s
top stories…” segment on the evening news – they “tease” us with a bit of the
main stories to capture our interest and (gently) force us to wait for the
balance of the narrative…
We can apply the same idea to complex demo
situations by sharing an abbreviated (or quickly verbalized) Situation Slide
followed by a compelling Illustration for each main scenario or topic. The resulting structure looks like this (with
“AS” = Abbreviated Situation Slide):
¨ Introductions and Review of Agenda
¨ Overview of the Solutions [Execs AS,
IL; Managers AS, IL; Users AS, IL; Admin AS, IL]
¨ Executives’ Demo [SS, IL, (DI, PB if
needed), Sum]
¨ Middle Managers’ Demo
o Scenario 1 [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
o Scenario 2 [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
¨ End-users’ Demo
o Workflow 1 [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
o Workflow 2 [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
o Workflow 3 [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
¨ Administrators’ Demo
o System Set-up [SS, IL, DI, PB, Sum]
o Dashboard/Report Building [SS, IL, DI,
PB, Sum]
¨ Summary and Next Steps
There
you have it – how to turn a complex, complicated, long, tortured spaghetti
basin of a demo into a delightfully structured set of well-organized slices. Enjoy your meal!
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