Debilitating Demo Diseases – Tabbed-out (The Terrible Tabs Death March)

 

Symptoms:      

 

Presenter exhaustively (and exhaustingly) presents the contents of each tab in a row of tabs, one after another after another after another… Audience counts the tabs and calculates the time it will take to work through all of them, then gasps in horror when they realize how much time this will consume. Audience begins group text game, with the winner of each round guessing the closet time when the presenter begins to present the next tab.

 

Examples:        

 

“I’ll go through each of the tabs across the top here in order…” 

 

“Now in this first tab…”

 

“Now in this second tab…”

 

“Now in this next tab…”

 

Cure:   

 

Apply Great Demo! Situation Slides (Chapter 6, page 78) to the afflicted areas, show only the Specific Capabilities uncovered in discovery. 

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

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

Demologue Podcast - Discovery, Menus, Automated Demos and More!

 

I joined the fine folks at Demoboost for this 30-minute informative discussion:

 

“This one’s special! ✨

Peter Cohan has been an inspiration to us since the early days of Demoboost. As one of the first thought leaders in the presales space, he has continuously educated and guided us in the right direction.

It’s always a privilege to talk to him, and this time, we’ve covered everything we’ve discussed over the past three years!

In the third episode of Demologue podcast, we chat about:

✅ The key discovery principles every sales team should know
✅ What a "menu" is and how it differs from standard demo presentations
✅ How automated demos can help drive better discovery
✅ Best practices to get started with automated demos

…and more!

Tune in now!”

YouTube: https://lnkd.in/dBCayPT5
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dVCH_8Q3
Apple podcast: https://lnkd.in/dWJYCZ8D

Debilitating Demo Diseases – Feature Pox, Vomitus Munera

 

Symptoms:      

 

Presentation of waaaaaaaay too many features and functions. Severe boredom, ennui, and sleeping may ensue in your prospects’ ranks. Other symptoms include prospects’ stifled yawns, glances at phones, texting, and online shopping. Causes other complications, including Buying it Back and losses to more competent competition. Severe cases may include projectile feature vomiting.

 

Examples:        

 

“We’ve got over two hundred canned reports – let’s take a look…”

 

“And next I’ll show you our context-sensitive help system…”

 

 “Here are the seventeen file export options: I’ll go through each of them one by one…”

            

Cure:   

 

An initial high dose of Discovery Reality (available in visual capsules, electronic tablets, and audio waves), followed by rigorous completion of Great Demo! Situation Slides. Patient then must practice a strict regimen of presenting only the Specific Capabilities needed by prospects to address their problem(s). Hold everything else back to avoid recurring gag reflex.

 

Rx: https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes/dp/B0B8RJK4C2/ and https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SNKC2Y/.

Debilitating Demo Diseases – Phonic Consumption

Symptoms: 

 

[Generally experienced in face-to-face demos, but virtual demos are not immune] Sales rep sitting in the back of the room completely focused on their phone during the demo; severely swollen thumbs; impaired ability to communicate in complete, grammatically correct sentences.

 

Examples:  

 

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tapity-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap… “Huh?”

         

Cure: 

 

Actively engage in the demo presentation; choreograph your team’s roles before the demo begins. As the sales rep, it is your role to:

         

1.     Perform the introductions, review the meeting objectives, and confirm time constraints.

2.     Present and review relevant Situation Slides and accompanying Illustrations.

3.     Help manage and capture “Good” (and “Stupid”) questions on a whiteboard, chat window, or similar vehicle.

4.     Redirect audience attention away from the scene of the disaster after a software crash or severe bug.

5.     Summarize when appropriate and/or inject pauses in the delivery.

6.     Identify next steps and summarize the overall meeting.

Begin treatment immediately starting with the Sidebar in Great Demo! on page 187 and “Team Play” on page 396. Repeat application as necessary until tapping ceases. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SNKC2Y/ 

In the Spotlight Podcast – Doing Discovery

I joined Roi Carmel of Spotlight.ai for this delightful discussion:

 

“Join us for a masterclass in modern sales methodology in this pivotal episode of our ‘In the Spotlight’ series, featuring Peter Cohan - founder of The Second Derivative and architect of contemporary discovery practices. In this deep-dive conversation, the creator of the Great Demo! methodology reveals groundbreaking approaches to value selling and buyer enablement that are reshaping enterprise sales: 

• The evolution of value selling from business case development to full buyer enablement lifecycle strategies 
• Demo-qualified lead framework with its six critical elements for effective solution design 
• Vision Generation demos - the 5-minute alternative to painful ‘harbor tour’ presentations 
• Quid pro quo discovery techniques that transform interrogations into collaborative conversations 
• Future-proofing discovery through AI-supported processes and the critical role of human curiosity 
• DIKW framework (Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom) for modern sales enablement 

Special focus areas include:

• Building mutual solution validation between buyer and seller 
• Cultural assessment techniques for complex sales environments 
• The ‘myth of the informed buyer’ and vision re-engineering strategies 
• Practical examples from 25+ years of training global sales teams”

You can find this discussion here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH_o8RJ8Lcs

 

Enjoy!

Debilitating Demo Diseases – Demo Dyspnea

 

Symptoms: 

 

No pauses or breaks in the delivery, followed by shortness of breath, flushed face and, finally, passing out. (Fainting is often an outcome of Rambleitis when compounded by Whooping If and Conjunctionitis.)

 

Examples:  

 

“And another really cool thing about our software is the ability to ____, or ____, and if you want to ____ then you can click here, or if you have to ____ then choose this, and the next thing I want to show you is our new import wizard, which has seven different options, the first of which is ____, which is really great if you need to ____, or ____ or ____, and if you need to… need to… need… uhhhhhhhhh…”  *Thunk*!

         

Cure: 

 

Breathe, fer cryin’ out loud! Put some pauses in your delivery; put some theatre and passion in your delivery. Put some dynamics (louds and softs) into your delivery.  

 

Reciting Shakespeare without pauses and dynamics makes for a very boring experience and the same is true for demos. Imagine the following scene:  

 

But-soft-what-light-through-yonder-window-breaks-it-is-the-east-and-Juliet-is-the-sun-arise-fair-sun-and-kill-the-envious-moon-who-is-already-sick-and-pale-with-grief-that-thou-her-maid-art-far-more-fair-than-than-tha… *THUNK*!

 

These lines from Romeo and Juliet are of course to be expressed with deep, fervent passion:

 

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.

 

Begin treatment immediately with repeated applications of Doing Discovery (https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes/dp/B0B8RJK4C2/) followed by daily doses of Great Demo! through page 236. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SNKC2Y/.

Debilitating Demo Diseases – Morsover (Death by Corporate Overview)

Symptoms: 

 

Palpitation of the audience, sleeping audience and, eventually, severe audience loss.  Audience members doodle aimlessly, glance at watches or phones repeatedly, furtively use their phones, and, in one documented case, a prospect got up from the table to physically bang his head on the wall!

 

Examples:  

 

“Oh my God, no more slides…” 

 

“No, I’m not interested in their founding fathers, their revenues-to-date, the geographic locations of their offices, and I’m really not interested in their mission statement.”  

 

“Please let this be over…!”

         

Cure: 

 

Perform an immediate Radical Overectomy. Replace with two or three crisp, focused sentences, e.g., “Good afternoon. We’re ABC software, we’ve been in business twelve years, providing forecasting solutions to customers in manufacturing, high tech and other industries with over two thousand customers in eighteen countries around the world. Now, let’s talk about your situation.”

 

In extreme cases where there is clear and extensive Marketing Metastasis, a deep cut may need to be made into MarCom to help address the root cause.

 

Begin treatment immediately with repeated applications of Doing Discovery (https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes/dp/B0B8RJK4C2/) followed by daily doses of Great Demo! through page 236. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SNKC2Y/.

CBI Plus CEBI – A Powerful Pair Driving Purchases

 

Many folks have commented that “people buy based on emotion and justify with logical reasons.” This is certainly true in some cases.

 

But I think the strongest purchasing drivers include two major components:

1. A Critical Business Issue (CBI): a business goal or objective that needs to be achieved
2. A Crucial Emotional Business Issue (CEBI): a personal goal or objective that is very strongly desired 

For example, many of our Great Demo! customers are presales and sales leaders who:

  1. Need to hit their numbers 

        and 

  2. Want to make their teams the best possible version of themselves.

A CEBI is not the same as a personal goal, such as “I need to spend more time at home with my family.” A CEBI is aligned with other business goals or vision (and perhaps business cultural goals or vision).

 

It may also be a source of passion about one’s team, colleagues, products, or customers:

 

-       A head of sales who not only wants to meet or exceed quota but is also passionate about seeing all the sales team make their numbers and go to President’s Club.

 

-       A customer success manager who wants to achieve the desired renewal and expansion metrics and also has a private metric of seeing zero voluntary churn.

 

-       A sales or presales person who needs to make their numbers and is also deeply focused on enabling customers to achieve the desired outcomes and value.

 

-       A product manager who is measured by product revenues and who also truly believes that their product can change the world for the better.

 

While a CEBI by itself is likely insufficient to move a major purchase forward, the combination of both a CBI and a CEBI becomes an especially powerful, dual set of drivers.

 

 

Thoughts?

 

Debilitating Demo Diseases – Rambleitis

 

Symptoms: 

 

No pauses, no breaks, no interaction with audience; an unceasing talk track. Often compounded by Conjunctionitis, fits of Whooping If, and Zippy Mouse Syndrome. In moderate cases, Speaker Switch times take place after five or six minutes; in more severe cases Speaker Switches may exceed eight to ten minutes or not take place at all.

 

Examples:  

 

“I’ll start by showing navigation, then go through all the workflows, then show you how to set up the system, and finally I’ll go through the configuration options and, if we have any time remaining, we can look at building some reports…”

 

“OK, now let’s look at how to…”

         

Cure: 

 

Break your demo into discrete consumable chunks. Introduce each segment, execute it, and close each chunk with a crisp summary, then pause. Causatively interact with your audience using phrases like “What do you think so far?” and “Questions, comments, observations?” at least once per segment, at the end, and repeat as frequently as needed.

 

An older cure, still applicable in extreme cases, is to place the patient in an ice bath until talk-track subsides.

 

Consume Great Demo! through page 236. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SNKC2Y/