Webinar Recording – “Discovery Masterclass”

I joined Julien Emery of Superpanel for this delightful discussion:

• Why discovery?
• What is discovery?
• Common questions/challenges, including
• What if a prospect doesn’t want to answer your questions?
• What if someone just wants a demo?
• What if the person doesn’t know the answers?
• What if it is an existing customer – expansion opportunities?
• Discovery framework – with real-life brief examples!
• 5 secrets (which are now no longer secret!)

The actual webinar starts around 3.5 minutes in. You can find the recording here!

Bits About Books – Great Demo! Third Edition Conversation

 

From the host:

“Bits About Books episode #70 featuring Peter E. Cohan, is now live. We welcome him back to BAB and speak with him about the latest edition of his Best Seller ‘𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼! - 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗧𝗼 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 (Third Edition).’

Available in iTunes, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher and all major outlets. It is a Bizcast.in Original Production. Brought to you by Pitch.Link - The Buyer Seller Engagement Platform. 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺!

Most Demos of software fail miserably because they are not crafted with the viewer in mind. They start and end by demonstrating each feature of the software. Within 15 minutes it becomes boring and irrelevant, and the viewers have tuned out. What they should be, instead, is a demonstration of the problem solving ability for the viewer being presented to.

Each person in the buyer organization has a different objective, and a different problem to solve. For the CXO level it is about revenue and long-term growth. They are not interested in the details of how each function within the software functions. So, when presenting to this level, the seller must take into account this requirement, and craft the demo accordingly to address their needs and concerns.

The way to craft captivating demos that resonate with the audience is through focused, conversational storytelling that align with the customers’ problems and show how the software being demonstrated has solved similar problems for other customers in the same category. This helps to engage the audience and improve the effectiveness of demos, in turn, increasing close rates aiding go-to-market strategy.”

You can find this 1-hour recording here. Enjoy!

Two Presales in a Pod – Digging into Discovery

 

How much discovery is enough, and is a disco demo a good thing or bad thing? Peter Cohan joined legume-man Adam Freeman for this 38-minute exploration of:

• How do you know enough discovery is … enough?
• An illustrative story about visiting two doctors – and the answer to the “enough?” question
• Personality differences and “enough”
• Trust and relationship – and discovery
• Asking even when you already know the answers
• Prospects need to feel “heard”
• Culture-based discovery questions
• POCs vs discovery
• Vendor job perspective: salespeople vs presales vs implementation vs customer success
• The Curse of Knowledge revisited
• What to do if something is missing
• Going further than just uncovering pain
• Pain vs Critical Business Issues and risk avoidance
• Vision Generation – earning the right to discover
• “Just Browsing” vs “Active Buying Process” prospects – and No Decision outcomes
• Two great final questions
• Sharing the info during discovery (very effective!)
• “Disco Demos” defined – when should they be used?
• “Monday Morning” as a paradigm for Vision Generation Demos
• The Disco Demo sad reality
• Shameless self-promotion!

You can find the recording here. Enjoy!

Interview: The importance of Discovering Critical Business Issues

Listen to my recent interview with Tom Meerstadt of Cuvama where I share practical tips to avoid “No Decision” outcomes. We explored:

• 2023 sales (and buying) challenges 
• Changing our thinking for 2024
• No Decision outcomes – 45% in typical years
• Three discovery elements that yield No Decision results
• Critical Business Issues as the main reason for No Decision outcomes
• The difference between pain and Critical Business Issues – an automobile example
• Another example: A Head of Sales
• Tips for uncovering Critical Business Issues
• Using “why?” and other insightful questions
• The impact (and challenges!) of Job Title level on uncovering Critical Business Issues
• Why isn’t sufficient discovery done in most organizations?
• What about call recording tools?
• Learning takes place by doing!
• Three discovery elements reprised

You can watch this 25-minute interview here. Enjoy!