Upcoming Webinar: The Perfect Demo Environment

Thursday, October 10, 2019 at 10 AM Pacific Time – Register here.

Have you ever heard (or said):

-        “Sorry, I don’t have an example like that in our demo system…”

-        “No, we can’t show that workflow – this is a demo database…”

-        “Our demo environment isn’t up-to-date – that’s why this feature isn’t working…”

-        “No, I don’t have good data to show in this report – no data, in fact – sorry…!”

-        “That report hasn’t been built for our demo system – but trust me, it’s terrific!”

In your demos, how often do you find you are apologizing for an inability to demonstrate capabilities, complete workflows, or present compelling results and reports?  Far too often, in many cases!  A perfect demo environment enables you to show what you need to show, clearly and convincingly. No apologies, no excuses.

In this webinar, Peter Cohan will join the fine folks at Consensus to provide (some surprising) recommendations for demo environments to make your demos as crisp, compelling and successful as possible.

The Menu Approach 3X – For Vision Generation, Vision Expansion, and Competitive Outflanking

A recent Great Demo! Workshop graduate pointed out that The Menu Approach is a terrific three-way tool:

• For Vision Generation:  It provides a crisp, very successful “art of the possible” alternative starting point vs. Stunningly Awful Harbor Tours.

• For Vision Expansion:  It communicates other areas of potential interest to the prospect – who might have been unaware that solutions exist for that problem set, and/or are unaware that they have problems in that area (and that solutions exist).

• For Competitive Outflanking:  It can also introduce solution areas that are not offered or handled as well by your competition – a terrific way to outflank competition right from the beginning…!

Check out the article to learn more…

A POC is NOT the Least Expensive Form of Proof…

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I am constantly surprised at how many software vendors offer a POC early in discussions with prospects.  Even worse, many of these organizations suffer from sadly low win rates for their POC’s. 

Here’s something to consider before offering a POC:  Your objective, as a vendor, is to secure the order using the least expensive form of proof.  Accordingly, here’s a quick list of different forms of proof, from least to most expensive:

• Reference call.  This may be all that is needed for a prospect to be convinced.  They pick up the phone, call a colleague at another organization and ask, “I understand you are using xxx from yyy company.  Two questions:  does it do what you need and would you buy it again?”  Very inexpensive!

• Vision Generation Demo.  A brief Vision Generation Demo may be sufficient for executives who simply want to find an adequate solution, rapidly, to a non-strategic challenge.

• Technical Proof Demo.  Here, sufficient Discovery has been completed and the corresponding maps closely to the findings uncovered in Discovery.  Great Demo! Workshop graduates frequently report that this has secured the order without the need for a POC!

• POC.  The prospect needs a deeper level of proof than could be provided in a demo and/or needs to minimize specific risks (network environment, user culture, workflow specifics, etc.).

• Pilot.  While Pilots are often paid-for by prospects, they also represent the most expensive form of proof.  Many pilots result from substantial implementation requirements or the need for longer-term use of the product to confirm fit or value.

Offering a POC can often (substantially) lengthen and increase the cost of the sales process.


[Note:  For folks unfamiliar with the term, a POC is loosely defined as an implementation of the vendor's software into an environment that reflects the customer's data, software environment and/or processes.  The customer (typically) wishes to run the vendor's software to reduce risks associated with the customer's environment, users/culture, data, and/or processes.  

In some cases, vendors offer POC's to customers in expectation that "once they have it, they won't want to let it go" or as a competitive outflanking tactic.]