Demo Data – Another Angle

 

I’ve blogged about the need for demo data to reflect real-life problems and situations, including the ability to find and surface problems, identify opportunities, and explore exceptions.  I can add one more to the list:  the ability to identify certain gaps – when things that should be happening aren’t happening…

A real-life example of this recently happened to me, when I discovered that certain emails were not being delivered to me…!  This was only recognized via a phone call (thanks Dave) – and these situations can be easily overlooked.  We are much more likely to notice the appearance of something new than the absence of something occasionally expected.

This use case can be very insightful:  detecting and providing alerts when things aren’t happening as a change from previous patterns.  Sounds like a great opportunity for some AI tools!

The Ignition Demo: A Conversation with Peter Cohan – Podcast

I joined Randy Frank of Navattic to explore the “Ignition Demo”, the spark needed to engage early stage prospects in the buying journey.

We discussed the risks of ignoring today's "just browsing" prospects (who become tomorrow's buyers) and the challenges of traditional “overview" demos for those who are “just browsing”.  We also explored how to move the sales and buying processes forward (by a full step!) through the use of Ignition Demos, employing either human or tech touches.

You can find the full 13-minute conversation here and on the Navattic website.

“Customer Fill-in” – A Terrific Demo Tip

 

I was watching a series of demos that highlighted vendors’ customer-facing intake forms and portals – and all of these demos exhibited the following SAD (Stunningly Awful Demo) artifacts:

• The vendors claimed that end-customers can complete the process “in 5 minutes or less…”, but… 
• They turned the 5-minute workflow into 15-30 minutes of click and talk, click and talk…!
• They all used obviously fake demo names and data
• They covered many or most of the possible pathways and options, sometime exhaustively
• It was also obvious that the demonstrators presented the same demo pathway dozens of times
• The prospect was largely or completely silent through the entire process
• And the vendors never asked the prospect to provide input any into the workflow…

Here’s a truly terrific tip:  Invite your prospect to be the end-customer and fill-in the form by proxy, through you.

Let’s say your software offers an intake portal for consumers who want a loan.  You say to your prospect, “OK, let’s have you play the part of your customer.  Let’s use fictitious names and info as appropriate, but otherwise you tell me what to enter on each screen…”

On each new screen you can prompt your prospect or provide guidance, if necessary – but let him or her go through the process from start to end. 

Advantages?

• You and your prospect actually complete the intake form in 5 minutes (proving your original claim)
• Your prospect gains a first-hand vision of how the process works
• Your prospect thinks about desired options – and asks these questions either during or immediately afterwards
• And is your prospect engaged during this?  Yes indeed!

This approach is called “Customer Fill-in”.  

Any time there is an option to choose from (and you don’t care about the choice), invite your prospect to make the choice.  They’ll be engaged and develop a growing amount of ownership of the process and the result.  Delightful!

How Do You Determine the Technical Win?

The goal for many presales teams is to secure the Technical Win or Technical Close.  I’m curious, what criteria or measurement do you use to determine whether the Technical Win has taken place?

For example, is your definition based on the opinion of one or more individuals in your organization, or specific metrics, or positive affirmation from the prospect, or something else?

Separately, how often do you achieve a Technical Win but fail to close the business (e.g., due to “No Decision”, loss to a competitor, or other negative outcome)?

What is the significance of 33334?

 

That’s how many copies of Great Demo! have been purchased (not including those that have been resold or passed around).  This means that at least 33,334 people have been exposed to the Great Demo! methodology – but how many folks have actually changed their habits as a result of reading a book?

People and companies make claims about numbers all the time – for example, I’ve heard vendors claim:

• “We have 2500 customers…”  (But how many of these are actually happy, referenceable customers?)
• “We’ve trained 100,000 people…”  (But how many of these are actually applying the training?)
• “Our customers report 50% more productivity and 25% less waste…” (But is this most or many customers – or just one?)

Accordingly, I am curious:

1. If you’ve read Great Demo!, what kinds of improvements have you seen with your demos?
2. What ideas from the book have had the most impact for you?
3. And finally, what parts of the book would you like to understand more clearly – e.g., specific ideas or implementation with your software and sales practices?

Should There Be Both Sales AND Presales Motions?

 

HubSpot defines Sales Motion as, “A sales motion is the combination of the actionable steps and general sales philosophy an organization employs to sell a product or service to prospects and customers.  Sales motions often vary depending on the nature of the company enacting them and the buyer persona that business is trying to appeal to.”

 

A search on Google for “sales motion” yields “About 18,800,000 results”, with hundreds (likely thousands) using the exact term…

 

Searching “presales motion” generated “About 1,390,000 results”, but with only one using the exact term.  (Which was done by me, describing Great Demo! training on the Presales Collective Education page.)

 

Sadly, there is no definition for Presales Motions…  Perhaps there should be!  Here’s a draft, based on the HubSpot wording above:

 

“A Presales Motion is the combination of the actionable steps and general presales philosophy an organization employs to secure the technical close or win for a product or service to prospects and customers.”

 

Some examples of Presales Motions?  How about:

• Discovery that complements and goes beyond sales’ Discovery
• Vision Generation Demos (could be both sales and presales motions)
• Vision Reengineering
• Solution Mapping
• Technical Proof Demos
• Executing POCs (and “workshops”, POVs, etc.)
• Any “motion” that is done exclusively or typically by presales in the process of securing the technical close or win…

Thoughts?

Demo Data: The Importance of Problems, Gaps, and Exceptions

I was working with a vendor on an example demo and we identified a dashboard to serve as an Illustration (a “Wow!” screen for that use case) – but while the dashboard had all the right data elements, the data itself was uncompelling.  There were no problems, gaps, or exceptions exhibited.  Everything looked “OK”. 

While this could be a good example of a desired future state, it is insufficient to build vision of how problems are surfaced and solved.  

 

When you are creating demo data, be sure to include at least three sets of scenarios:

1. “Before” scenarios, where important problems are clearly represented;
2. “During” scenarios, where these problems can be shown being addressed;
3. “After” scenarios, where the history of problem(s) identification and resolution can be presented.

Even better, in addition to problem-based use cases, also consider including outlier situations – e.g., intriguing gaps in time-series, exceptions to otherwise regular patterns, and opportunities to be exploited.  

 

Bring your demo data alive…!  For more ideas on improving your demo environment, see our article on the topic at https://greatdemo.com/a-perfect-demo-environment/.  Enjoy!

 

Additional Note:  Even if your demo environment lacks this data today, there may be an easy way to “doctor” the data using one of the emerging demo enablement/automation tools.  Stay tuned for more on these new tools as they appear…!

Great Demo! Public Workshops

We are working on scheduling a number of Great Demo! Public Workshops in the next several months – please let us know if you have interest:

• How many people would you plan to include?
• What is the general location of these participants (e.g., the Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific)?
• Do you have specific good or bad timeframes?

Note that this is in addition to the Workshop already scheduled for EMEA folks (April 7-9, 2021) - Click here for more information about this Public Workshop.

We will likely schedule sessions to run over three consecutive days (e.g., Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).

Contact us at Info@GreatDemo.com with your preferences or if you’d like more information.  Thanks!