Can Upskilling Be Fun?

 

Yes!

 

Stories make learning informative and entertaining:

 

-       Doing Discovery is spiced with stories providing an outstanding foundation for doing discovery!

 

-       Great Demo! leverages stories to communicate the validated yet constantly evolving demo methodology that lifts demos from mundane to truly exceptional!

 

-       And Suspending Disbelief entertains with thirty-five life lessons that are all stories!

 

Invest in yourself and enjoy your journey of improvement!

 

You can find these story-rich books here:

 

Doing Discovery

https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes/dp/B0B8RJK4C2/

 

Great Demo! Third Edition:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SNKC2Y/

 

Suspending Disbelief:

https://tinyurl.com/yc7rsrmy 

 

Pro Tip: Read them in parallel!

Suspending Disbelief – Are These Stories Any Good?

 

A lot of folks say yes!

 

-       “Every one of these bonbons of wisdom were educational and entertaining at the same time”

 

-       “They are amusing! Shorter, digestible nuggets with a clean take-away/moral”

 

-       “Gentle reminders of important lessons in a way that’s impossible to forget”

 

-       “Fun, relatable tales that reinforce all the best practices”

 

-       “‘A Prospects Tale,’ should be required annual reading”

 

You can find Suspending Disbelief: A Collection of Sales and Presales Stories (and Lessons Learned) here! https://tinyurl.com/yc7rsrmy

What Is Suspending Disbelief?

 

Announcing the launch of Suspending Disbelief: A Collection of Sales, Presales, and Marketing Stories (and Lessons Learned)!

 

Suspending Disbelief presents thirty-five engaging and occasionally humorous short stories recounting sales, presales, marketing, and customer success engagements, plus several stories offering insights into intriguing travel and cultural experiences. Each story shares a life lesson in the form of a moral designed to enable you to avoid (or enjoy) similar fates. 

 

It’s an Aesop’s Fables for people in customer-facing roles!

 

The book is now available in paperback and Kindle versions. The Audiobook version should appear in a few weeks as well.

Friday Funny “The Expert”

 

Enjoy!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

The Reverse Demo: A Fabulous Discovery Method!

 

If you are looking to displace an existing system (either a competitor or customer-built), a wonderful approach is to ask for a “Reverse Demo.” Your objectives are to:

 

1.     See what your prospect LIKES in the incumbent product. This enables you to avoid disparaging the capabilities that your prospect appreciates!

2.     See what your prospect DOESN’T like and then explore the depth of pain, impact, and value etc. associated with making a change.

3.     If you are familiar with the competitive offering, you may realize that there are capabilities your prospect may be UNAWARE of. This can help your cause as well.

 

Many Great Demo! and Doing Discovery practitioners report they have incorporated this step in their standard discovery process with great success: “Before I demo to you, why don’t you demo to me?”

 

What a great way to flip the script!

 

 

You’ll find much more about Reverse Demos starting on page 225 in the Elements of Discovery sections in Doing Discovery here: 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes/dp/B0B8RJK4C2/

Ready, Fire, Aim! What’s the Difference Between Skills and Methodology?

 

We frequently see posts like:

 

-       “42 Killer Discovery Questions!”

 

-       “Crush Your Quota with These 17 Discovery Questions”

 

-       “Top 20 Discovery Tips”

 

Are these helpful? Sometimes yes, but frequently no! 

 

Why? Because individual discovery questions and tips, without context, can be more trouble than help.

 

Imagine you just learned how to saw, hammer, drill, screw, glue, sand, and stain. Does that enable you to build beautiful furniture? Not yet!

 

You also need to know when each skill should be applied, for example. Failing to follow the right order will yield kindling for your next fire, not fine furniture!

 

The same is true (oh, especially true!) for doing discovery. Before you apply any tip, tool or skill, you also need to understand:

 

ü  Why:  why do things a certain way

ü  What:  what should be done

ü  How:  how to execute specific skills – explicit instructions

ü  When:  when each should be done

 

That’s what the Doing Discovery methodology provides.

 

Check it out – and build a real opus every time!

 

 

Read the book https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes/dp/B0B8RJK4C2/

 

Or even better take the course! https://greatdemo.com/training/workshops/doing-discovery/ 

How Do You Create Truly Great Automated Demos?

 

Not by automating a Harbor Tour…

 

Not by pounding “Tell Show Tell” over and over…

 

And definitely not without:

 

-       Setting Context 

-       Identifying Specific Challenges

-       Presenting Solutions Clearly

-       Communicating Tangible Value

-       And a Crisp Call to Action

 

That’s why we worked with the fine folks at Demoboost to create a practical course to help you build effective, compelling automated demos that convert.

But it is not for everyone!

It’s for Demoboost customers and prospects who want to make demo automation successful.

What’s inside?

✔  Setting the right context – fast
✔  Showing the end result – first
✔  Letting your prospects choose – their own paths
✔  And guiding prospects to take action – crisply!

The course leverages the validated Great Demo! methodology, tailored specifically for automated demos.

Take a look and get going with highly effective automated demos right away!

 

 https://demoboost.com/courses/great-demo-playbook

(And enjoy!)

What Did You Learn in the Past Year That You Didn’t Know Before?

 

How about the last two years? Five years? Ten years? Fifteen, twenty, or more?

 

Imagine tapping into that learning, that knowledge, that wisdom, saving yourself that time, avoiding errors, and improving your practices in just a few minutes right from your fingertips!

 

It’s just a few clicks or taps away: Here are topics to choose from for this weekend’s wisdom:

 

-       The Power of Analogies and Metaphors in Demos and Discovery - https://greatdemo.com/analogies-and-metaphors-in-demos-and-discovery/

 

-       What Makes a Demo Truly Memorable? - https://greatdemo.com/remarkable-demos-what-makes-a-demo-truly-memorable/

 

-       Demo Do: Let Your Champion Drive - https://greatdemo.com/demo-do-let-your-champion-drive/

 

-       The Power of Numbers in Communicating Value - https://greatdemo.com/the-magic-of-numbers-in-communicating-value/

 

-       Stunningly Awful Demos – Two Words to Avoid - https://greatdemo.com/stunningly-awful-demos-two-words-to-avoid/

 

-       Leveraging Attention-Retention Curves in Demos - https://greatdemo.com/leveraging-attention-retention-curves-in-demos/

 

-       We Are Programmed to Forget – And How That Impacts Our Demos - https://greatdemo.com/we-are-programmed-to-forget/ 

 

Enjoy – and let us know if there are other topics you’d like to explore!

Great Demo! Before and After Illustrations: A Visual Story!

A very effective method of presenting Great Demo! Illustrations is a “Before and After.”

 

The “Before” is an image that represents your prospect’s sad, painful, current state; the “After” is your software Illustration screen(s) presented with the sound of angels singing!

 

Imagine that your prospect is considering a digital transformation from paper-based workflows to SaaS processes. A simple example of a “Before” is an image of piles of paper on desks; a more elegant “Before” might include images of overflowing filing cabinets plus a picture of sheets of paper that have literally fallen into cracks behind a desk! Your “After” Illustration could be a screen that captures the new SaaS-supported workflow and/or the output or deliverable the workflow produces.

 

Bonus idea for face-to-face demos is to have physical stacks of paper to use as props or visual aids!

 

What do you use for your “Before” and “After” Illustrations?

Heading to DemoFESTx East? Stop By and Say Hi!

 

I’ll be presenting “Essential Elements of Discovery” in which you’ll get to choose from TWO sets of topics! (An application of the Menu Approach!)

 

And in between sessions we’ll be hanging out in the Partners area – please drop by! I’d be happy to chat, answer questions on the methodologies, explore new ideas, and just catch up. 

 

Additionally, I’ll have signed copies of Great Demo! and Doing Discovery available for purchase.

 

I’ll also be taking orders for signed copies of Suspending Disbelief: A Collection of Sales, Presales and Marketing Stories (and Lessons Learned), due out shortly!

 

You can register for DemoFESTx East here: https://goconsensus.com/demofestx/demofestx-east-coast/ 

“Remember When I…?”

 

In your demos when you find yourself saying, “Remember when I…” it means your demo is too complicated!

 

 

And here’s your GPS for crisp, clear, comprehensible demos! 

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SNKC2Y/

The Power of “You” in Demos

 

It’s You Not We

 

Who can solve your customers’ problems? Is it you, your customers, or both?

 

It may seem like it should be both of you, but only your customers can take the actions necessary to address their challenges.

 

Will you as the vendor be running the software you sell them? Of course not.

 

Will you be making the decisions that your software enables on behalf of your customers? Not a chance.

 

The problems are your prospect’s problems, not yours. The Critical Business Issues are your prospects’ Critical Business Issues, not yours. The value they receive from using your software is theirs, not yours (they already paid you!).

 

And will you be taking responsibility for your customers’ outcomes? Only indirectly. While you may provide guidance on best practices, you won’t be clicking their mice or making their decisions for them. (Note that services may be a different situation; this only applies to software purchases and use.)

 

So, when you are presenting demos, stay in “You Mode.” Avoid using “we.” But is this just an opinion or is there research that validates this idea?

 

YOU will find the rest of this article here: https://greatdemo.com/the-power-of-you-in-demos/