Why Structure Demos Like a News Article - Part 3: Ever Run Out of Time?

 

Have you ever heard a demo presenter say, “We have lot to cover so I’ll go really fast…”? Have you ever said something similar yourself?

 

Have you ever been unable to get to the “best stuff” because time was short or a corporate overview presentation consumed part of your time?

 

Many of us respond by moving very rapidly through our demo (while also telling our audience that “we want this to be as interactive as possible, so please ask questions…”). Are we surprised when we don’t get through the material and our prospects don’t ask any questions?

 

We shouldn’t be, we’ve turned the demo into a one-way monologue!

 

So, take a page from the news services. Present the demo equivalent of a headline or photo succinctly and rapidly. That’s the top of the Inverted Pyramid, and in Great Demo! methodology we call this an Illustration.

 

For some prospect players, particularly executives, this may be sufficient!

 

For those interested in the demo equivalent of the first couple of paragraphs (the lede), present the key capabilities using a minimum of mouse clicks. This corresponds to the Great Demo! “Do It” pathway.

 

Finally, for audiences who are really interested, you can dig deeper and explore the breadth and depth of the relevant capabilities, just like those who wish to read more of the article. In Great Demo! we call this “Peeling Back the Layers.”

 

Interestingly, also note that there are very few readers of the news who read everything on a news website (I can’t imagine if it is possible, in fact!). Similarly in demos, you are not obligated to present everything that your software can do, so please don’t.

 

And as news people say, “Don’t bury the lede!”

 

If you missed Part 1 you can find it here:

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

 

And here’s Part 2:

https://greatdemo.com/why-structure-demos-like-a-news-article-part-2-inverted-pyramid/ 

 

For more on the incredible impact of Illustrations, see

https://greatdemo.com/illustrations-doing-the-last-thing-first/ 

 

And for the full methodology, grab a copy of Great Demo!

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

Why Structure Demos Like a News Article? Part 2: Inverted Pyramid!

 

Carefully examine the next news article you read…

 

Each individual article is cleverly organized to enable readers to make rapid decisions about their depth of interest. The headline presents the topic, providing a binary opportunity for readers to pursue the story or move on. 

 

In a well-written news article, the first one or two paragraphs summarize the story concisely (known as the lede). Many readers are completely satisfied with this amount of information and read no further, returning to scan for other headlines.

 

The subsequent paragraphs in an article drill deeper and relate the story in more detail. Readers who are truly interested in the topic are the typical consumers of this level of information.

 

Inverted Pyramid

 

This article structure and presentation of information is known as the “Inverted Pyramid” style of writing. It presents the most important information right at the beginning, starting with the headline then followed by the overall summary of the article in the first one or two paragraphs. 

 

Material in subsequent paragraphs is more and more detailed and of less importance. Reading on towards the end of an article we generally find the finest levels of granularity and smallest details.

 

In the bad old days of paper and ink, newspaper editors were able to cut articles to fit the space available (or to sell more advertising) by cutting from the bottom of the article upwards. That way they knew they’d be removing the least important information. 

 

News organizations have evolved the Inverted Pyramid method of presenting information over hundreds of years. Why not take advantage of this learning in your demos?

 

For the full methodology, grab a copy of Great Demo!

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

Why Structure Demos Like a News Article?

 

Part 1: The Menu Approach!

 

Remember newspapers, the analog version of web-delivered news? We can take an extremely valuable page from their playbook and apply it to our demos…

 

Structure your demonstrations like a news article!

 

News organizations have been presenting information for several hundreds of years, in print and for the past three decades via the web, and they have learned some highly effective practices that we can employ in demonstrating software.

 

Think about the news articles you read and consider:

 

1.   How you select which articles to read

2.   How the articles are written

3.   How much you consume of each article

 

Imagine you’ve just browsed to your favorite web news site (or, for those who are still killing forests, you just picked up today’s newspaper). From their home page (or newspaper front page), what is presented to you and what do you explore? How much do you explore?

 

You are shown perhaps ten to twenty headlines, many of which are paired with images (think Great Demo! Illustrations). You scan these for stories of interest to you.

 

You browse some headlines but never click into the articles. For others you read the headline, click into the article, and consume a paragraph or two and then exit. And for a few intriguing articles, you read most or even the entire story!

 

In this method of communication, you are enjoying two highly effective strategies:

 

1.     The Menu Approach.

2.     Inverted Pyramid.

 

The Menu Approach is applied as you scan the headlines and images, seeking stories of interest to you. It works (literally!) like a restaurant menu: It shows you what’s available and lets you choose which items you’d like to pursue.

 

News websites (and newspapers) organize information in a hierarchy of consumable components that can be accessed rapidly, explored as deeply as desired, and then exited at any point to move to the next topic of interest. The top level of the news hierarchy is the home page, followed by the list (another Menu!) of sections: sports, finance, international, entertainment, technology, health, comics (my first-thing-in-the-morning favorite!), weather, etc. 

 

The homepage and each section’s start page are beautiful examples of the Menu Approach in action.

 

Part two tomorrow: Inverted Pyramid!

 

For more on the Menu Approach see this article:

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

 

You Are My Audience…

 

A colleague pointed out that many people are perfectly comfortable staying exactly where they are with respect to skills and practices. They come to work, do what they are supposed to do (in their opinion) and go home. Done and done.

 

That’s great! Because it gets them out of the way of people who truly want to improve, to get better, to find new ways to achieve their goals. YOU, who seek ever-improvement, are my audience!

 

(And I’m grateful and invested in you…!)

Founding and Growing Your New Company Podcast: Why Most B2B Software Demos Fail and How to Fix Them

I joined Emmanuel King Ibironke of The Intelligence Forge for this discussion of demos, discovery, and founding and developing a training and content business. The first half of this discussion focuses on founding and growing a new company; the balance introduces Great Demo! methodology:

 

00:00   Teaser and ad

02:00   Welcome and introduction

03:00   Have you ever seen a bad software demo?

            The problem, and origins of the solution: A revelation!

08:45     Getting traction… When you are self-employed, you have a fool for a boss!

09:30     What happens when you are oversubscribed?

13:00   How were you funded?

15:30   Getting started, getting references…

17:30   What about AI?

21:00   AI, the Technology Adoption Curve, and the story of Buck’s Café

24:00   The magic wand question…

27:00   LinkedIn content and strategy.

28:00   The single most broken piece in sale processes is doing discovery:

            A harsh but accurate analysis of a 30-minute discovery call.

31:30   Where do the Great Demo! and Doing Discovery methodologies apply?

33:00   What does a great demo look like? The key elements of the process…

37:30   How long should a great demo be?

39:30   A demo horror story!

41:30   The top three mistakes vendors make vs Buyer Enablement…

45:00   And champion enablement!

46:00   Moving forward from here…

47:30   Storytelling! Features vs Advantages vs Benefits vs Analogies vs Stories.

52:00   Good stories get retold!

54:00   What happens if you are gone?

55:00   What is one great piece of advice?

 

You can find the full recording here – enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZYaOdWXbnw 

 

Assessing Demonstration Skills Levels – The Complete Article!

What’s in this article for you?

 

-  Assess yourself and your team

-  Ten levels of demonstration skills

-  Exploration of each level’s characteristics

-  Measurements for achieving each level

-  Pros and cons of each level’s demos, plus grades

-  The significant gains enjoyed by advancing through the skills levels

 

A head of presales commented, “They don’t know what they don’t know…! 50% of our sales opportunities end in ‘No Decision’ and 30% of our demos are just pure waste. We must move from our traditional approaches to a validated, proven methodology that delivers improved results!”

 

Here’s a simple method to assess where you and your team stand, based on ten levels of increasing demo skills proficiency:

 

Level 1:    Follows the standard demo script

Level 2:    Customizes based on prospect’s market/industry

Level 3:    Customizes based on discovery information uncovered

Level 4:    Communicates tangible business value

Level 5:    Applies both Vision Generation and Technical Proof Demos

Level 6:    Manages and explores prospect questions

Level 7:    Uses Biased Questions to outflank competition and reengineer vision

Level 8:    Applies storytelling techniques to reinforce key ideas

Level 9:    Applies these skills to the broad range of demo scenarios required, including demos for prospects occupying different portions of the Technology Adoption Curve, presenting new products, Executive Briefing Centers, transactional sales cycles, expansion opportunities, lunch and learn sessions, tradeshows, demos for analysts and third parties, channel partners, internal demos, and other scenarios

Level 10:  Captures and reuses demo success scenarios, and integrates, aligns, and leverages the skills above into a cohesive demonstration methodology

 

Where are you and your team on this spectrum?

 

Enjoy the full article here!

https://greatdemo.com/assessing-demonstration-skills-levels-how-do-you-rate-2/ 

Demo Skills Level 10 – Methodology!

 

What’s important about “methodology”? A great deal!

 

A methodology is an integrated, coherent suite of skills that interconnect, leverage and support one another, enabling process, playbooks, coordinated motions, consistency, tracking, measurement, and structured coaching. Methodology addresses four key questions:

 

1.     Why do things a certain way.

2.     What should be done.

3.     How to execute specific skills: explicit instructions.

4.     When to apply the skills and in what order.

 

An Analogy: Let’s Build a House!

 

Contemplate construction skills: The ability to hammer nails, drill holes, saw wood, pour cement, connect wiring, plumb sinks, install drywall, paint, etc.

 

Each of these skills takes time to learn and master.

 

Building a house requires these skills and coordinated timing and flow.

 

In order to know what to build, an architect generates plans that include pages for the foundation, framing, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, roofing, painting, cabinetry, and more.

 

The contractor takes the plans and coordinates the timing for each step: That’s the methodology of construction!

 

You can’t install wiring until the framing is in place, but you also need to do the electrical before internal drywall.

 

Imagine the disaster if a concrete foundation is poured and then the contractor realizes that plumbing and electrical conduits should have been installed first!

 

Methodology is what coordinates individual skills with the correct timing and flow.

 

Methodology enables skills to be taught and practiced, both individually and as integrated components.  In Great Demo! methodology, for example, Informal Success Stories feed Vision Generation Demos and associated Menus, supporting a variety of demo scenarios (including “just show me a demo” requests from prospects, Executive Briefing Center demos, demos for 3^rd parties, and many more). 

 

The application of the Inverted Pyramid structure in Great Demo! delivery is another example of methodology vs individual skills, guiding us to present the most important content early in our demos, followed by inviting our prospects to Peel Back the Layers as deeply as they desire. The Inverted Pyramid arrangement tells us why, what, how, and when to present information in a demo.

 

Fascinatingly, the VP of Enablement of one of our Great Demo! customers noted that, “Methodology enables enablement…!” An insightful and provocative perspective!

 

Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 10 – Methodology Implementation:

 

A)    Operates as a team or organization as opposed to individuals.

B)    Establishes objectives and tracks metrics to improve team performance and efficiency.

C)    Actively evolves and tunes the methodology in accord with company objectives, market changes, and culture.

 

Organizations that achieve Level 10 Methodology Implementation enjoy remarkable scaling and amplification metrics and establish substantial competitive advantages vs their peers.

 

 

 

Explore the Articles on our website for guidance on these individual topics, including:

 

-       Informal Success Stories:

https://greatdemo.com/fabulous-fuel-for-sales-presales-and-customer-success-the-incredible-utility-of-informal-success-stories/

 

-       The Menu Approach:

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

 

-       Demos for Executives:

https://greatdemo.com/demos-for-executives-a-never-stop-learning-article/ 

 

-       Presales Metrics:

https://greatdemo.com/presales-metrics-what-to-measure-and-why-2/ 

 

See the Third Edition of Great Demo! and Doing Discovery for the full methodologies!

 

Great Demo! Third Edition:

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

 

Doing Discovery:

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