Regarding the role of sales in demos, here’s what NOT to do:
1. Nothing.
2. Way too much.
Far too many salespeople contribute far too little – or far too much – in demos with their team members. They handle introductions (often too limited), inflict corporate overview presentations on their prospects, then apparently disappear during the actual demo, only to magically reappear for the final few minutes of “next steps” discussions. Others feel an urge to “pile on,” adding unnecessary comments in an effort to reinforce the presenter’s statements.
Here’s a “don’t” list to get you started:
0. Before the demo: Communicate little or no discovery information to the balance of the team. Just say, “Show them the standard demo…”
1. Do detailed introductions of the vendor’s team, but nothing about the prospect.
2. Present a corporate overview presentation that is longer than one slide or one minute.
3. Check out while the demo is underway.
4. Tell the presenter to show “that really cool thing…”
5. Pile on (adding an additional answer to every question already answered by someone else). For a really amusing experience, get two salespeople who naturally pile on in a demo and watch them try to out-do the other. Great fun, if you have no desire to win the business…
Pursuing these pitiful practices earns vendor reps placement on the Sales Prevention Team!
Any to add to this list?
And here are resources for improvement:
- Situation Slides: A Swiss Army Knife for Sales and Presales
https://greatdemo.com/situation-slides-sales-and-presales-swiss-army-knife/
- Doing Discovery
https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes/dp/B0B8RJK4C2/
- Illustrations
https://greatdemo.com/illustrations-doing-the-last-thing-first/
- Vision Generation Demos
Great Demo! Third Edition Chapter 11
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SNKC2Y/
- Managing Questions
https://greatdemo.com/the-elegant-art-of-managing-questions-and-time/
- Business Value
https://greatdemo.com/lets-talk-about-value-uncovering-the-delta/
- Storytelling
- All of the Above
