Discovery and Demos Across the Technology Adoption Curve – Part 5: What About Discovery?

 

The type and amount of discovery required changes as you progress across the curve and can provide clues as to your position in or out of the Chasm. Early Adopters and Innovators won’t need much discovery. Innovators, for example, want to see the technology demo, they want to understand how the technology works. Discovery might consist of, “How many licenses do you want?”

 

Early Adopters will want a bit more discovery, focused particularly on how they can achieve the strategic advantages associated with implementation ahead of their peers and competitors. Fast-Followers (an intriguing subset of Early Adopters) similarly need to have their objectives and processes clearly understood by vendors. Discovery for these groups should also focus on implementation milestones and achieving key Value Realization Events. (You can find more details on Value Realization Events in Doing Discovery.)

 

Overall, Innovators and Early Adopters require briefer discovery conversations about implementation and adoption of new technologies than the Majority. These first two groups probably already have a culture of fast, complete rollout. In comparison, Majority players will often prefer to roll out new technologies carefully, in waves, with testing and adjustment before and after each wave. 

 

Your discovery discussions of implementation practices and desires can tell you if you are entering (or deep into!) the Chasm. Early and Late Majority prospects will appreciate – and sometimes require – deep, thorough discovery. They need you to gain a rich understanding of their Demographics, their Environment and Extended Environment, their Major Pains and Related Pains, and the nature of their Culture. They’ll want you to be conversant with the details of their workflows and processes.

 

Very simply, you should expect to execute more discovery as you move from left to right across the Technology Adoption Curve categories. In the absence of sufficient discovery, as perceived by your prospects, one simple symptom of languishing in the Chasm is that prospects’ objections increase. These are often along the lines of phrases like, “You don’t understand our business” or “Our workflows are unique.”

 

Resources:

 

The Incredible Value of Value Realization Events

https://greatdemo.com/the-incredible-value-of-value-realization-events/ 

 

Overcoming Sales Objections – Why Many Sales Objections Shouldn’t NEED to Be Overcome

https://greatdemo.com/overcoming-sales-objections-why-many-sales-objections-shouldnt-need-to-be-overcome/ 

 

Doing Discovery:

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

 

Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4:

https://greatdemo.com/blog/ 

 

Discovery and Demos Across the Technology Adoption Curve – Part 4: Proof and the Majority

Majority prospects need to see concrete solutions to their problems. They don’t react strongly to vision-of-the-future pitches. In many cases, you not only need to communicate the possible solutions to Majority prospects, you may also have to help them see the problems they face!

 

Next, where technology demos were sufficient for the prior categories, those in the Early Majority want to see proof of solutions to their problems. This is where Great Demo! methodology is particularly effective, providing a successful, validated approach that frequently satisfies the proof requirements of Early Majority prospects.

 

As you progress further into the Early Majority, you find that prospects demand short POCs, when previously a Technical Proof Demo was sufficient. Advancing still further into the category, you’ll receive requests for longer, detailed POCs and POVs. Later on, sometimes years after your initial customers purchased your fabulous new technology, prospects present you with RFPs and RFIs, followed by excruciatingly long evaluation, proof, and buying processes.

 

Applying Great Demo! principles can reduce the requirements and timelines for POCs as you move to the right, on the graph, from Early to Late Majority. That’s part of the purpose of a Technical Proof Demo: To prove as much as possible in the demonstration stage and reduce (or eliminate!) the need for POCs.

 

Another trait of being mired in the Chasm is that your No Decision rates change, rising dramatically from comparatively very few to far too many! Early Adopters and Innovators can often make (small) purchases rapidly, but the balance of the categories move like glaciers.

 

The Early Majority will frequently delay buying until they feel confident about the new technology’s pragmatic application and market acceptance. They need to see success with their perceived peers before moving forward with a purchase, and this could take many months or longer. They only are willing to implement mature, production-hardened software. It’s very unlikely that a Majority prospect will purchase a version 1.0 release!

 

Great Demo! Third Edition

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

 

Parts 1, 2, and 3:

https://greatdemo.com/blog/ 

Discovery and Demos Across the Technology Adoption Curve – Part 3: Into the Chasm!

 

 

As you rollout your ground-breaking new product, technology, or disruptive offering, Innovators and Early Adopters will make small purchases. You’ll enjoy rapid success with some easy sales.

 

When you run out of Innovators and Early Adopters, things change – for the worse! Prospects appear dubious, cautious, and erect substantial obstacles to sales. They want increasingly complex and expensive forms of proof.

 

The “Let us show you how the technology works” demo no longer resonates. That’s your first key indication that you’re in the Chasm! Both Early and Late Majority prospects are skeptical and require deeper, longer, and sometimes painfully detailed demos. Next, they’ll demand POCs, POVs, and deeper forms of evaluation and proof.

 

Early Majority prospects also seek validation of your product in use by customers similar to themselves. They need to talk with happy reference customers. 

 

You need to have good, effective references that align with your Early Majority prospects. This is one of the biggest challenges in crossing the Chasm: Early Majority prospects want to talk with their peers who are likewise in the Early Majority! This is clearly an oxymoronic problem, and many organizations solve it by positioning their initial Early Adopter customers as members of the Early Majority. (Obi-Wan Salesperson: “These are not the references you seek…,” spoken with the appropriate accompanying hand motion.)

 

Next, where Early Adopter and Innovator purchases were made by individuals or very small groups, you find that larger buying committees are becoming the norm. That’s another indication of being in the Chasm.

 

Very intriguingly, Innovators and Early Adopters are captured by the vision of what’s possible. Innovators, in particular, can take a set of features and synthesize on their own the problems these features can address and the solutions that are possible. This is a key attribute that differentiates this category from Majority prospects, in particular. This is why Vision Generation demos are the delightfully effective starting point for your selling journey and their buying journey.

 

I love to ask people if they know anyone who purchased an iPad when it was first released. Invariably, a colleague is mentioned. I ask, “Did your colleague have a plan as to how they expected to use their new iPad?” The consistent response was, “No, they just thought it was amazingly cool!”

 

If you connected with these Innovators a few weeks later, they would report how their new iPads were solving a pile of problems, many of which were previously unknown or unaddressed. Innovators synthesize solutions on their own; Early Majority prospects need you to paint pictures of both the problems and the solutions. Their comparative lack of vision is another indicator of residing in the Chasm.

 

 

(You can find details on Vision Generation Demos in Chapter 11 of the Third Edition of Great Demo!)

 

And you can find Part 1 and 2 here!

https://greatdemo.com/blog/ 

Discovery and Demos Across the Technology Adoption Curve - Part 2: Insights into the Curve

 

Who do you know who experiments with every new phone and phone-like device?

 

How about those who always buy the latest iPhone or Android phone the moment it is available?

 

And who only upgrades after the phone has been around for a while and its use and value proven by others?

 

Do you know folks who only upgrade when their existing phone is no longer able to run apps?

 

And who do you know who either has a flip phone or no phone at all?

 

Each of these are representatives of their slice of the Technology Adoption Curve, and each have very different buying and evaluation processes!

 

Wikipedia (the source of all truth today!) writes “The technology adoption lifecycle is a sociological model that describes the adoption or acceptance of a new product or innovation, according to the demographic and psychological characteristics of defined adopter groups.” 

 

Equally or more commonly known as the Technology Adoption Curve, it provides extremely useful insights into the business buying habits of individuals and organizations by identifying five distinct categories:

 

-       Innovators: Those who are eager to accept the risk of change and experimentation, often out of a love of technology.

-       Early Adopters: This group seeks to gain the advantages of technology implementation ahead of the mainstream followers.

-       Early Majority: These buyers, also known as “pragmatists”, are willing to change but do so carefully.

-       Late Majority: This group wishes to avoid change but will do so grudgingly and only when required.

-       Laggards: Forget it. These non-buyers resist change with every fiber of their being!

 

The amount and type of discovery and subsequent demos for these categories can be remarkably different!

Next: Into the Chasm!

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?