More Questions, More Successful Demos!

 

"The power to question is the basis of all human progress."

 – Indira Gandhi

 

Gong’s study of tens of thousands of demos found that successful demos enjoyed 28% more questions compared to average performers.

 

That’s right: More questions are better, much better!

 

In my personal experience, 28% more questions is low: That’s just the starting point!

 

But how do you stimulate prospect queries?

 

First, by not pre-answering questions (also known as “premature elaboration!”). How many times have we heard a rep say, “Here’s a question we always hear…” and then immediately provide the answer? If you expect to hear the question, then let your prospect ask it! Periodic summaries and pauses provide opportunities for your prospect to engage.

 

A second method that encourages a productive conversation is by not over-answering! Provide just enough information to address the question. Leave room for follow-up and gently test for it: “Is that answer sufficient or would you like to go deeper?” 

 

“Peeling the Onion” (“Peeling Back the Layers” in Great Demo! methodology) is designed to facilitate questions. Your objective is to reveal the answers in as much depth as your individual prospect players have interest.

 

After all, what happens if you peel an onion too far? You cry!

 

Consider: Most executives only want the 30,000-foot (9114-meter) view; middle managers typically want to go a bit deeper; staffers want the workflow details; and system administrators desire a different set of specifics. If you answer questions at the wrong level or go too deep, you may be driving yourself into the weeds.

 

And, as we have all experienced, starting a demo by saying, “Please stop me if you have any questions – we want this to be interactive…” will not drive questions by itself! Nor does asking, “Any questions so far…?” over and over.

 

What does drive interactivity?

 

-       Pausing is one of the most effective ways to encourage a question or comment from your prospect.

-       Even stronger, offer a brief interim summary … followed by a pause.

-       Ask for feedback: “Thoughts on what you just saw?” “How does this compare to your current process?” “How does that resonate?”

-       An extremely effective method is to use Customer Fill In, where you invite your prospect to choose from a list of options.

-       The Menu Approach, by its nature, drives interactivity right from the beginning of your demo.

-       And once you’ve “trained” your prospect to respond, shorter prompts may be all you need to continue the conversation, such as: “Comments?” “Feedback?” “Thoughts?” “Questions?”

 

Is this sufficient or would you like more?

(See Chapter 8 in Great Demo!

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

The Menu Approach: Two More Applications!

 

How else might you use The Menu Approach?

 

Tradeshows: Dealing with “Show Me A Demo…”

 

If you have ever worked a demo station at a tradeshow, you are familiar with the prospect who walks up to you and says, “What do you guys do?” or simply, “Show me a demo…” (Clearly, they know not what they ask!).

 

A solution? Use The Menu Approach! You can have your list of topics available on your demo laptop, computer, or tablet, or consider having a list produced as a poster and attached to the wall of your demo station. You can then simply point to your Menu and say:  

 

“Here is a list of some of the things we do – let me describe each briefly and then you can let me know which ones are most interesting to you.”

 

Delightful!

 

Lunch and Learn Sessions

 

The Menu Approach is also a fabulous method for starting Lunch and Learn sessions. Organize what you plan to present in accord with the results of your Menu review and subsequent poll, starting with the use cases with the most interest (or highest-ranking job titles) and apply the Inverted Pyramid approach. If you run out of time, schedule another session to complete the list!

 

You can also incorporate your customers’ additional interests in the process. At the beginning of the session, ask “Do you have any specific topics you’d like to explore today?” Include these on your menu (or use them to start the process).

 

Lunch and Learn demo meetings are terrific vehicles for securing renewals and driving expansion.

 

Great Demo! Pro Tip: Add Illustrations

 

I love Korean food, but I have trouble remembering the names of the various items. That’s why I’m always delighted when Korean restaurant menus include small photos of the dishes. 

 

Bulgogi? Got it! Bibimbap? Oh, that’s right! Mandu? Wow, that’s new to me – and they look interesting!

 

You can apply the same idea to your menus by adding a small image of the main deliverable for each menu item: An Illustration, in Great Demo! terminology. Some folks even generate links from the small image to a full-sized version of the screen.

 

Great Demo! Pro Tip 2: Vision Generation Demos

 

The Menu Approach is also the perfect setup and lead into Vision Generation Demos. Extending the idea above, many Great Demo! practitioners generate links from the menu to Situation Slides paired with corresponding Illustrations.

 

In our Korean restaurant, this would be like choosing a menu item and having your waiter say, “Would you like a small taste?” Delightful and delicious!

 

The Menu Approach

 

Many Great Demo! Workshop participants have reported that The Menu Approach is one of the most effective tools they have used. The Menu Approach: a truly terrific demo self-rescue tool for situations where your audience is partly or largely undiscovered.

 

 

If you missed any of the first three posts, you can find them here:

https://greatdemo.com/the-menu-approach-a-truly-terrific-demo-self-rescue-technique-2/ 

 

https://greatdemo.com/the-menu-approach-an-example/ 

 

https://greatdemo.com/the-menu-approach-a-few-important-subtleties/ 

 

 

And for more on Lunch and Learn sessions, enjoy this article!

https://greatdemo.com/lunch-and-learn-demos-a-potent-practice/ 

 

And see “Origins of The Menu Approach: A Demo Survival Success Story” in Suspending Disbelief for a real-life successful example of The Menu Approach! https://tinyurl.com/yc7rsrmy)

 

The Menu Approach: A Few Important Subtleties

Not all votes are *ahem* equal!

 

When counting votes, remember that businesses are not necessarily democracies, and all votes are not necessarily equal! For example, if there is one C-level person in the room, and she is the only one who wants “Marketing Campaign Execution,” that topic moves (magically and mystically) to the top of the list.

 

Similarly, you can choose to bias the presentation (and subsequent scoring) of topics up or down in accord with your current understanding of your prospect’s situation: “Many of the other customers we’ve worked with in very similar situations to what you’ve shared with us so far found that the topic of “Analytics and AI Insights” was most important. They were able to save months of otherwise wasted effort as a result of what they learned. How many of you are interested in this?”

 

Finally, when you complete a topic, you can use strike-through text to show that it has been completed, giving you and your prospect a written record of what was completed and what is still open:

 

-       Analytics and AI Insights – 12 

-       Forecast and Pipeline Reporting and Inspection – 11 

-       Workflow Automation – 10 

-       Opportunity Management and Coaching – 7 

-       Improving Contact Management – 5 

-       Marketing Campaign Execution – 4 

-       Enablement Support – 4 

 

Pro Tip: Be Prepared!

 

Do menus need to be implemented on-the-fly?

 

Successful practitioners of The Menu Approach recommend having a menu (or two or three) previously prepared. Their starting point is to create an “uber menu” that includes a fairly long list of topics spanning the full set of expected audience member job titles, markets, verticals, and applications.

 

Next, they generate subset menus that are aligned with specific verticals and likely prospect interests. These get tuned over time to improve, add, or remove specific menu items. It’s like a restaurant, constantly seeking to improve their own menus!

 

And along those lines, draft your individual topics as solution phrases or problem statements, rather than lists of features.

 

 

If you missed the first or second posts, you can find them here: 

https://greatdemo.com/the-menu-approach-a-truly-terrific-demo-self-rescue-technique-2/ 

 

https://greatdemo.com/the-menu-approach-an-example/ 

 

 

And see “Origins of The Menu Approach: A Demo Survival Success Story” in Suspending Disbelief for a real-life successful example of The Menu Approach! https://tinyurl.com/yc7rsrmy)

The Menu Approach – An Example!

More on a Truly Terrific Demo Self-Rescue Technique

 

You’ve been asked to present a demo to a prospect team of dozen people, about which you know very little. Instead of taking the prospect on a painful and boring Harbor Tour demo, you start by presenting a list of topics that you believe may be of interest. 

 

For a CRM system, a typical list of “menu items” might look like:

 

-       Improving Contact Management

-       Analytics and AI Insights

-       Workflow Automation

-       Opportunity Management and Coaching

-       Marketing Campaign Execution

-       Forecast and Pipeline Reporting and Inspection

-       Enablement Support

 

You say, “Here is a list of some topics we could cover. Let me describe each of these briefly and then I’ll ask for a show of hands, and each of you can vote for as many topics as you wish.”

 

At the end of the exercise, your list might look like:

 

-       Improving Contact Management – 5 

-       Analytics and AI Insights – 12 

-       Workflow Automation – 10 

-       Opportunity Management and Coaching – 7 

-       Marketing Campaign Execution – 4 

-       Forecast and Pipeline Reporting and Inspection – 11 

-       Enablement Support – 4 

 

You then re-order to yield a list that is rank prioritized in accord with your prospect’s interests:

 

-       Analytics and AI Insights – 12 

-       Forecast and Pipeline Reporting and Inspection – 11 

-       Workflow Automation – 10 

-       Opportunity Management and Coaching – 7 

-       Improving Contact Management – 5 

-       Marketing Campaign Execution – 4 

-       Enablement Support – 4 

 

Wow! You just accomplished several, truly terrific things:

 

1.     You’ve uncovered the prospect’s most important issues (they’re at the top of the list).

2.     You have a roadmap for the balance of your demo.

3.     You can organize your time to ensure you address the high-importance topics first (and it’s OK if you don’t have time to cover everything on the list). 

 

This third item also takes advantage the Inverted Pyramid structure, a fabulously successful method that enables you to align with your prospect’s depth and level of interest for the topics.

 

Additionally, you may have also expanded your prospect’s vision of what solutions and solution areas your organization can provide. It is possible that your prospect was previously unaware that you have solutions across this range of topics.

 

Give The Menu Approach a try!

 

Next: A Few Important Subtleties…

 

 

If you missed the first post, you can find it here: 

https://greatdemo.com/the-menu-approach-a-truly-terrific-demo-self-rescue-technique-2/ 

 

 

And see “Origins of The Menu Approach: A Demo Survival Success Story” in Suspending Disbelief for a real-life successful example of The Menu Approach! https://tinyurl.com/yc7rsrmy)