Discovery and Demos Across the Technology Adoption Curve - Part 1: A Story

 

We had recently released our new flagship software which embodied the latest cutting-edge technologies. We had great success selling it to some of our existing customers and a few prospects, and then there was the terrible sound of nothing: no subsequent sales.

 

The balance of our prospects and existing customers didn’t resonate with our technology presentation. They didn’t understand our demo. Discovery, which had been previously seemed very effective, didn’t yield the expected results. We heard nothing but the sound of crickets in an empty room. Over 80% of our market was unresponsive.

 

What was happening?

 

My boss at that time was good friends with Geoffrey Moore, who was in the process of launching his “Crossing the Chasm” workshops, and Dr. Moore was invited to use us as a test case for his training.

 

It was highly successful. In the midst of the session, I exclaimed, “Holy cow – we’re in the Chasm…!”

 

What we learned and applied pulled us out of the chasm, resulting in a sales renaissance of our flagship, dominating the verticals that we addressed, and catapulting us towards the coveted $100 million annual revenue milestone.

 

Axioms:

 

A “standard” demo will not satisfy all Curve categories.

 

Similarly, “standard” discovery does not apply across all Curve categories.

 

Very simply, for discovery and demos, one size does not fit all!

 

 

Next? Insights into the Technology Adoption Curve!

“Want to Run a Free POC?”

 

I am surprised at how many software vendors offer a POC early in discussions with prospects. Not surprisingly, many of these organizations suffer from low win rates!

 

Here’s something to consider before offering a POC: Your objective is to secure the order using the least expensive form of proof. Accordingly, here’s a quick list of different forms of proof, from least to most expensive:

Reference call: 

 

This may be all that is needed for a prospect to be convinced. They pick up the phone, call a colleague at another organization and ask, “I understand you are using ___ from ___ company. Two questions: Does it do what you need, and would you buy it again?”

 

As a buyer, I’ve done this! End result? Very inexpensive for both parties.

Vision Generation Demo: 

 

A brief Vision Generation Demo may be all that is needed for Innovators and Early Adopters to accept the risk of a new offering. 

 

It also may be sufficient for executives who simply want to find an adequate solution, rapidly, to a non-strategic challenge. 

 

(Chapter 11 in Great Demo!)

Technical Proof Demo: 

 

Here, discovery has been completed and the corresponding demo maps closely to the Specific Capabilities desired by the prospect. Great Demo! readers and Workshop graduates frequently report that a well-prepared Technical Proof Demo secured the order without the need for a POC!

 

(Chapters 5 – 9 in Great Demo!)

POC: (Proof Of Concept)

 

The prospect needs a deeper level of proof than can be provided in a demo and needs to minimize specific risks (their data, network, user culture, workflow specifics, etc.).

 

(Chapter 16 in Great Demo!)

POV: (Proof Of Value)

 

A POC with the added requirement to prove the value equation.

 

(Chapter 16 in Great Demo!)

Pilot: 

 

While Pilots are often paid-for by prospects, they also represent the most expensive form of proof. Pilots are frequently driven by substantial implementation requirements or the need for longer-term use to confirm fit or value.

 

(Chapter 16 in Great Demo!)

 

So, before you jump to offer a “free POC!” carefully evaluate the level of proof your prospects require!

 

Great Demo! Third Edition:

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

A New Metric for Discovery Call Effectiveness?

 

A simple yet illuminating assessment!

 

Reviewing Discovery Calls with AI Summaries

 

A quick assessment of noun-verb pairs or the first few words in each summary section can be very enlightening:

 

-       The more summary sections that describe the prospect’s situation, the better the call.

 

-       The more summary sections that describe the vendor’s capabilities, the worse the discovery call. 

 

Good calls have phrases like:

 

Prospect is seeking…

Current issues include…

Current challenges include…

Data is stored…

Prospect aims for…

Prospect aims to…

Prospect shares…

Prospect details…

Prospect detailed…

Prospect desires…

Prospect describes…

Prospect envisions…

Prospect mentions…

Prospect clarifies…

Prospect confirms…

Prospect needs…

Prospect expresses…

Prospect explains…

Prospect notes…

Prospect prefers…

The discussion…

Goals include…

Prospect highlights…

Prospect prioritizes…

Prospect currently…

Prospect uses…

Prospect is…

Prospect has…

Prospect is looking for…

Prospect inquired…

 

These phrases may also be indicators of good calls:

 

Vendor recaps…

Vendor confirms…

 

Poor calls include phrases such as:

 

Product is presented as…

Product offers…

Product is…

Product can…

Vendor introduces…

Vendor positions…

Vendor explains…

Vendor explained…

Product originated as…

Company originated…

Company is…

Vendor highlighted…

 

Consider a metric: The “Prospect:Vendor Statement Ratio” defined as the number of desires identified by the prospect vs the number of pitches by the vendor. Clearly, a good discovery call will have more prospect statements than vendor declarations.

 

Calculating the percent of prospect statements vs vendor statements can yield a rough but potentially illuminating metric. 

 

For example, a call that shows 9 sectional summaries where 2 are prospect statements and 7 are vendor statements yields 22%:78% – that’s a pretty bad discovery call!

 

On the other hand, a call with 6 prospect statements and 3 vendor statements is quite a bit better: 67%:33%.

 

Of course, analyzing the full transcript may yield even more intriguing results, but I love that you can just scan the AI summaries and come to a rapid conclusion about the effectiveness of the call!

 

I’m sure this can be refined further… Thoughts?

How Chunking Improves Demos – Part 8: Pro Tip – Apply Inverted Pyramid!

"The inverted pyramid doesn't bore the reader. It gives them what they want straight away.”

 – The Writing Cooperative

Inverted Pyramid, developed by newspeople, organizes and presents information in alignment with how people want to consume it. The most important material is presented first, followed by the next most significant, and so forth.

 

This enables consumers to explore in as much depth as they desire, without getting bogged down by details. We can (and should!) apply this same approach to demos. Executives only want the headline and the lede; middle managers continue for another paragraph or two, and staff members often want the details.

 

In demos, you can apply Inverted Pyramid in two dimensions:

 

1.  Across the entirety of the demo: Which chunks are most important? Which are secondary? Which can be left out? Inverted Pyramid helps you organize the overall structure of a multi-segment demo to align with your prospect’s interests.

 

And if you don’t already have your prospect’s priorities from discovery, you can use the Menu Approach to accomplish this on the fly.

 

2.  Within each chunk: This enables your audience to explore each topic in as much detail as they have interest.

 

This demo structure models a news website (or for the ancient, a newspaper!). The headlines and photos enable you to choose which articles you want to consume. Many of us pursue some articles just that far: the photo and headline. That’s all we want to know.

 

For other articles, we read a bit further to get more context and development of the topic. And for a few articles, we read most or even all of the text (I hear this most frequently with sports topics!).

 

Also note that news services offer a Menu of their content: National, International, Politics, Business, Health, Entertainment, etc. The Menu lets you rapidly access the topic(s) of greatest interest to you.

 

There you go: Organizing in bite-size chunks and applying Inverted Pyramid make your demos surprisingly crisp, compelling, and successful!

 

Resources:

 

Why Structure Demos Like a News Article?

https://greatdemo.com/why-structure-demos-like-a-news-article/ 

 

The Menu Approach – A Truly Terrific Demo Self-Rescue Technique

https://greatdemo.com/the-menu-approach-a-truly-terrific-demo-self-rescue-technique-3/ 

 

Bite-Size Is Better: 

The Power of Chunking in Software Demos

https://greatdemo.com/bite-sized-is-better-the-power-of-chunking-in-software-demos/ 

 

How Chunking Improves Demos – Part 7: Can You Improve Your Chunking Practices?

https://greatdemo.com/how-chunking-improves-demos-part-7-can-you-improve-your-chunking-practices/ 

 

Great Demo! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SNKC2Y/

 

-       Chunking – page 239, 249

-       Refresh – pages 327, 371, 375

-       Props and Visual Aids – page 376

-       The Water Bottles Story – page 313

-       The Menu Approach – page 285

-       Inverted Pyramid – page 16

-       Online Demos – page 306

 

Short Stories as Chunks!

 

Suspending Disbelief: A Collection of Sales, Presales, 

and Marketing Stories (and Lessons Learned)

https://tinyurl.com/yc7rsrmy 

How Chunking Improves Demos – Part 7: Can You Improve Your Chunking Practices?

Of Course!

 

"Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak."

 – Epictetus

 

Analyze your demos in terms of the number of Speaker Switches and the length of time between Speaker Switches.

 

If you see just a handful of Speaker Switches in your demo, then you are overstuffing your prospect, like our previous food analogies. If the duration between Speaker Switches is six or eight minutes or (gasp) longer, you are at risk as well.

 

Your target should be three or four minutes; even shorter is better. This helps your audience stay engaged and pay attention. 

 

The more Speaker Switches, the more you have enabled a real conversation to take place. 

 

The more your prospect is asking questions, offering comments, and sharing observations, the more successful your demo.

 

That’s your objective, a rich, bidirectional conversation!

 

Practice delivering demo chunks that fit within these constraints and remember to conclude each chunk with a summary.

 

Next: Pro Tip – Apply Inverted Pyramid!

 

 

Resources:

 

Bite-Size Is Better: The Power of Chunking in Software Demos

https://greatdemo.com/bite-sized-is-better-the-power-of-chunking-in-software-demos/ 

 

How Chunking Improves Demos – Part 6: What IS a Good Chunk in a Demo?

https://greatdemo.com/how-chunking-improves-demos-part-6-what-is-a-good-chunk-in-a-demo/

 

Great Demo! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SNKC2Y/

 

-       Chunking – page 239, 249

-       Refresh – pages 327, 371, 375

-       Props and Visual Aids – page 376

-       The Water Bottles Story – page 313

-       The Menu Approach – page 285

-       Inverted Pyramid – page 16

-       Online Demos – page 306

 

Short Stories as Chunks: Suspending Disbelief: 

A Collection of Sales, Presales, and Marketing Stories 

(and Lessons Learned)

https://tinyurl.com/yc7rsrmy