Buying Process vs Rebuying Process?

Buying processes, as typically defined by most vendors, run from initial contact to the close. Perhaps we should rethink this and consider a richer customer-oriented approach.

 

A more enlightened vendor might define a “Buying and Rebuying Process” that spans initial contact through initial close, to achievement of Value Realization Events, to renewal, to expansion (and beyond!). This model seeks to maximize Customer Lifetime Value and vendor revenues while minimizing cost of sales.

 

Achieving this may require rethinking customer-facing roles, training, compensation, and mindset.

 

Thoughts?

Demo and Discovery Do: Five Answers for "Can it do ___?”

Vendors often get questions during demos and discovery calls from prospects and customers who want to know, “Can your software do ___?” The best answer is, “Yes it can.” (When it actually can, of course!)

 

But what if that capability is not currently available?

 

Here is a framework of five answers that can help you “bin” your responses:

 

1.     It’s available today: It’s in the current release.

2.     It’s coming soon: It’s scheduled for the next release.

3.     It’s planned: It’s on the product roadmap. Let us know the level of importance and urgency from your perspective.

4.     It’s possible: It’s achievable within the product architecture and can be implemented via consulting/professional services.

5.     Nope: It’s not achievable in the architecture and we don’t expect to have that capability in the foreseeable future.

 

This framework has proven to be a very successful approach, offering consistency in communications with prospects and customers. In addition, of course, you should explore your prospects’ and customers’ motives and rationale: “Why is this important? What’s does this capability enable or impact? How important is this to you? What specific value would this provide?” and related exploration.

 

Let me know how it works for you!

 

PS: Why do people look upwards when thinking about answers to questions?

Demo and Discovery Do: Pause Before Answering

 

Ah - the Power of the Pause! Even if you already HAVE an answer to a question, sometimes pausing thoughtfully for a moment gives your response more gravitas and apparent depth!

The Power of Analogies and Metaphors in Demos and Discovery

The Power of Analogies and Metaphors in Demos and Discovery

 A Never Stop Learning! Article

 

“The world is full of hopeful analogies and handsome, dubious eggs, called possibilities.”

– Mary Ann Evans (pen name George Eliot)

 

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. It’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

 – Mark Twain

 

“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.”

 – Albert Einstein

 

What’s in This Article for You?

 

-       A couple of demo and discovery analogies.

-       Why use analogies and metaphors? Retention!

-       Why use analogies and metaphors? Understanding!

-       Manufacturing metaphors and accumulating analogies.

-       Beware the morass of mixed metaphors.

-       Stories: the best!

 

Analogies, metaphors, and similes: Which is which? I was once told an analogous story about a metaphor, or perhaps it was a metaphorical tale of an analogy? Or a simile-like metaphor? In any case, as Steven Wright once quipped, “It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it…!”

 

Demos Can Be Like…

 

A stunningly awful demo is like being stuck for an hour listening to music that you loathe: You can’t wait to leave the venue!

 

On the other hand, a great demo is like enjoying a delicious meal: Just the right flavors, textures, colors, scents, timing, and just the right amount of food!

 

Discovery Can Be Like…

 

For many prospects, discovery calls often feel like an inquisition, answering question after remorseless question about speeds, feeds, and needs tonelessly recited by vendors from a never-ending list!

 

In contrast, well-executed discovery conversations are an engaging, mutual learning experience, like a first meeting with someone who becomes a lifelong friend. These are dialogues where both parties are mentally stimulated, curious, and are often sad to see the discussion end!

 

Well-crafted analogies and metaphors help our audiences understand and remember the key ideas we present in our demos and discovery conversations. How does this happen?

 

You can find the balance of this article here – enjoy!

 

https://greatdemo.com/analogies-and-metaphors-in-demos-and-discovery/

A Simple Test for Discovery Skills: How Do You Rate?

Yes, really simple! Take a look at your Talk:Listen ratio:

45:55 – If you are here or better (less talking), congratulations! You are at the level found by Gong (and others) as the sweet spot for high performers.

 

55:45 – You could improve: Dig deeper! Explore impact, tangible value, related pains, culture, and vision reengineering.

 

65:35 (or worse) – You could definitely improve: This isn’t a discovery call anymore! If you are including a corporate overview or product preso in the call, stop it!

 

Take a quick look at your discovery call Talk:Listen ratios and see where you stand. And if you’d like to get better, read or listen to Doing Discovery or enroll in a Doing Discovery Workshop!

Demo Don’t: Rampaging Pronouns!

 

I was watching a demo today and heard the vendor use a pile of personal pronouns in their delivery: Multiple and mixed uses of “I, me, we, you, them, they, us, she, her, he, and him…” 

 

I could also see the audience getting more and more confused. It was very hard to tell who was doing what to whom!

 

There is only one pronoun that should be used by the vendor in a demo: “You.” It’s all about the prospect!

 

(Some people use “we,” but it is important to keep the problem and the responsibility for the solution, along with its benefits, squarely on the prospect’s shoulders: It’s “You!”

 

Additionally, while I know I’ve come across formal studies of the effectiveness of using “you,” I don’t have any at hand and would love to see a reference or two!)

 

The moral? Avoid “Rampaging Pronouns” in your demos!

One Picture = One Great Software Screen = ??

 

If one picture is worth 1000 words, then one great software screen is worth 1000 mouse clicks!

Demo Caffeine!

 

“Ready to transform your demos from "show up and throw up" to decisive deal catalysts?”

 

I joined Tom Pisello the “ROI Guy” and April Morley of the Enterprise Value Collective for this well-brewed discussion on their fabulous Value Coffee Podcast:

 

(Minutes:Seconds into the recording)

0:00     Introductions.

1:30     What do buyers expect when they click the “Book a Demo” button?

3:00     Flipping the script on traditional, boring overview demos.

5:45     Avoiding “Buying It Back.”

7:00     An interesting and important aspect of human attention and retention.

9:00     Meeting expectations…

10:00   The recipe for Vision Generation Demos.

13:00   The segue into discovery!

13:30   Tom’s version as an alternative, yet similar approach.

14:45   The reasons for No Decision outcomes.

15:30   Identifying Critical Business Issues.

16:00   The importance of tangible value.

16:45   The importance of Critical Dates/Compelling Events.

18:00   The book that should have been written first: Doing Discovery!

19:00   Identifying outcomes and associated value.

20:15   Uncovering Deltas.

21:30   Attaching the value to the software screens.

22:00   Sales-presales teaming.

23:00   An amusing analogy for demos.

24:00   An example of team play during the demo.

24:30   Defined roles…

25:30   Leveraging the Primacy-Recency effect.

27:45   Two words to avoid in demos…

 

Play the recording at 1.5x speed to get the full effect of the caffeine and enjoy!

Demo Do: Take a Page from Recipes

Ever notice how nearly every recipe online opens with an image of the completed dish, the end result? And ever notice how they don’t start by showing the ingredients or the steps?

 

Why do you think they do this?

 

It’s because one of the most effective ways to entice people to explore a recipe is to show them the completed product. If it looks delicious, we are much more likely to give it a try!

 

(Of course, if it doesn’t look good, we are much less likely to follow it! And, if there is no photo at all, like some old cookbooks, we probably won’t even read the recipe…)

 

The same principle applies to software demos: Audiences want to see the end result first. Then, if the result looks (ahem) appetizing, they may want to learn how it works and the steps involved.

 

I first discovered this principle around 1999 when I was a prospect on the receiving end of vendors’ demos. The idea evolved into a practice and then the full Great Demo! methodology, subsequently validated in studies of tens of thousands of demos.

 

Great Demo! continues to advance, improving win rates while offering elegant and effective solutions to painful “overview” demos (by applying Vision Generation demos), reducing No Decision outcomes (through efficient pre-demo discovery), increasing retention via compelling storytelling techniques, and many more practices.

 

For some delicious bite-sized appetizer ideas, explore the blog and articles on the Resources pages at GreatDemo.com. For a richer dining experience, consume the Doing Discovery and Great Demo! books (both available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and Audiobook formats). And for a complete hands-on experience to improve your demo and discovery skills, enroll in a Great Demo! or Doing Discovery Public or company-specific Workshop!

 

Bon appétit!

Demo Don’t: Don’t Bury the Lede!

Definition of lede:

1. The introductory section of a news story that is intended to entice the reader to read the full story.

Would you ever read a news story starting from the bottom? Or the middle?

 

Nope.

 

Then why do so many demos ignore this practical guidance and start with “how to set things up,” or drag you through “a day in the life,” or slog you through the vendor’s entire workflow?

 

And why do so many demos “save the best for last?”

 

Why indeed? Here’s what I hear:

 

-       “We’ve always done our demos this way…”

-       “We were taught to do it like that…”

-       “That’s our ‘Gold Demo’ approach…!”

-       “Marketing gave us the demo script...”

-       “Sales says to do it that way…”

 

Do any of these responses make it right? Nope.

 

Instead, consider a validated approach for success: “Do the Last Thing First!”

 

Start your demos with the “Wow!” screens that entice the viewer to engage. You’ll find a bite-sized intro in this article and the full instructions in the Third Edition of Great Demo!

 

Don’t bury the lede in your demos!

How Bad Is the Pain? Is It Critical?

 

Sales teams are taught to uncover “pain,” but the presence of pain may be insufficient to drive a sales opportunity forward. This is why we differentiate between “pain” and a Critical Business Issue. It’s also the difference between an opportunity that results in a No Decision outcome vs moves forward with a purchase!

 

People (and prospects) are often willing to live with pain, sometimes forever! But pain that is sufficiently painful and impacts an organization’s and individual’s goals and objectives has a much higher likelihood of getting addressed. That pain is causing a Critical Business Issue.

 

Here are some examples of pain vs Critical Business Issues:

 

You’ve cut yourself and you are bleeding. Is bad enough that you need to head to the hospital?

 

-       If not, it’s (literally!) just a pain (Problems/Reasons, in Great Demo! Situation Slides). A bandage should take care of it.

-       If yes, it’s a Critical Business Issue (your life may be at stake if you keep bleeding!).

 

Similarly, you have a pain in your abdomen that’s been bothering you for a week. Is it bad enough that you should see a doctor?

 

-       If not, it’s (again literally!) just a pain and you’ll try to ignore it.

-       If yes, it’s a Critical Business Issue as your health is likely at stake!

 

You’re outside, it’s very cold, and you are underdressed for the conditions. Do you need to put on more clothing?

 

-       If not, it’s just cold for now and you’ll warm up once you get back inside.

-       If yes, it’s a Critical Business Issue because you may be freezing to death!

 

Similarly, you’re outside, it’s very cold, and while most of your body is well-insulated your hands are exposed. Do you need to get some gloves?

 

-       If not, it’s your hands can tolerate it for now and you’ll wrap them around a hot chocolate once you are done.

-       If yes, it’s a Critical Business Issue since your fingers are turning frightening shades of blue!

 

You are a salesperson and are considering doing some cold-calling, which you hate to do! Do you pick up the phone or hold off for another time?

 

-       If you are making your numbers (quota), you choose to hold off. You’ve got enough inbound leads to work for the present.

-       If achieving your quota is at risk, it’s a Critical Business Issue, and you sigh deeply, but start dialing!

 

You are a salesperson and just received a massive RFP which takes hours to complete, and you know that success rates are low. Do you start filling it out?

 

-       If you are making your numbers (quota), you leave it in your Inbox, but ignore it otherwise. You’ve got enough opportunities in your pipeline for now.

-       If you are not making your numbers, it’s a Critical Business Issue, and you sigh very deeply and start the response!

 

You are a sales manager, concerned about this quarter’s forecast. You have reps that “sandbag,” (who understate the probability of their opportunities closing, so that they can look like heroes when the business comes in) and you have reps that suffer from “Happy Ears” (whose optimistic forecasted opportunities often end in No Decision outcomes and never close). What do you do?

 

-       If you are confident that enough opportunities will close by quarter end, then you make some notes about “need to coach these guys” but do nothing.

-       If you feel that your forecast is at risk, it’s a Critical Business Issue and you schedule time with each rep to review their opportunities (and you check their definitions of “pain” to see if they have tied their prospects’ pains to real Critical Business Issues!).

 

Learn more about the differences between simple “pain” and Critical Business Issues in Doing Discovery: What you learn may directly impact your ability to achieve your objectives (and head to “President’s Club”)!

 

There are also articles on the Resources pages at GreatDemo.com that provide more insights:

 

-       Uncovering Critical Business Issues – What, Why, and How

-       Avoiding No Decision Outcomes