Avoiding Harbor Tour Demos: “Ifs”

When you find yourself using "If" early in your demo you are likely embarking on a Harbor Tour – and the more “ifs”, the longer the Tour!

Each time you use “if”, you are generating a branch in your demo.  And, almost by definition, you end up pursuing each branch to a logical conclusion, making your software look complicated, difficult to use, and possibly too feature-rich for your audience.

Here’s another way of looking at it:  Each “if” presented in a demo represents a discovery question that was unasked (and unanswered).  Each “if” suggests information that could (or should) have been explored prior to the demo itself!

A suggestion:  Listen to recordings of your demos and make a list of each “if” occurrence.  Ask yourself, “What could I have done in discovery to avoid the ‘if’ pathways?”  Contemplate how much crisper your demo would have appeared – and how much more focused on your prospect’s specific situation and needs…

Here's a during-the-demo self-rescue thought:  Any time you are about to start with “if”, ask a question instead!  This will make your demo more interactive and take you down the pathways that matter to the prospect.