Demo Skills Level 9 – Adapts Across a Broad Range of Demo Scenarios

 

How adept are you with these?

 

-       Demos to the 5 Technology Adoption Curve Populations

-       “Burn Victims”

-       Executive Briefing Centers

-       New Products and New Categories

-       Transactional and High Velocity Sales Cycles

-       Expansion Opportunities

-       Tradeshows

-       Lunch and Learn Sessions

-       Internal Players, Third Parties, and Analysts

-       Channel Partners and Resellers

-       Demos at Conferences

-       Demos to Individuals

-       Small Groups (e.g., 2-10 participants)

-       Large Groups (11-50 people

-       Huge Groups (100s)

-       And more!

 

One of the key ideas in Great Demo! methodology is that there is no such thing as “one demo fits all prospects.” 

 

A basic Great Demo! principle is to align your demo with each of your prospect’s specific job titles. A CRO has different requirements than a VP of sales, whose needs are different from the those of front-line managers, who also have distinct requirements vs their salespeople staff. 

 

Add presales players to the mix and you have another set of specific needs and wants. Include marketing, professional services, and customer success, and your complexity increases.

 

One demo does not fit all prospect job titles.

 

Similarly, there are differences across a broad range of other prospect dimensions that need to be taken into account in your demos:

 

-       Technology Adoption Curve: Each category has specific needs, desires, and differing willingness to accept risk. A technology demo (or painful Harbor Tour) may actually be preferred by some Innovators. Conversely, the Early Majority will want extensive discovery followed by fairly detailed demos of the functionality they plan to use. The Late Majority will require “comprehensive” demos as well deeper additional forms of proof (e.g., POCs and POVs).

 

-       “Burn Victims”: These are prospects that suffered a failed implementation or the inability to achieve a predicted ROI. Discovery and demos for this group will require gaining a clear understanding of what happened previously along with demonstrated proof that these Burn Victims won’t endure the same result again.

 

-       Executive Briefing Centers (EBCs): These demos need to educate prospect leadership and staff about possibilities and solutions for the future. They leverage Vision Generation Demos, the Menu Approach, and often include substantial Vision Reengineering.

 

-       New Products and New Categories: Success with these demos requires a clear understanding of the Technology Adoption Curve as it applies to discovery and demos.

 

-       Transactional and High Velocity Sales Cycles: How do you execute sufficient discovery and deliver compelling demos in a highly transactional mode?

 

-       Expansion Opportunities: How do you leverage your position as the incumbent vendor to expand your solution footprint?

 

-       Lunch and Learn Sessions: What is the best way to execute Lunch and Learn demos and similar events? Skilled practitioners find success applying the Menu Approach and Vision Generation Demos for these opportunities.

 

-       Tradeshows: The perfect environment to apply the Menu Approach and Vison Generation Demos!

 

And that’s just the visible portion of the iceberg. You can (and should!) apply Great Demo! principles and skills for demos to internal players, third parties, and analysts. Vendors that sell through channel partners or resellers represent additional dimensions.

 

If you mentally revisit Level 1 where new hires are learning the “standard” demo, you’ll realize that this is where the trouble begins! Modifying your onboarding training to embrace Great Demo! and Doing Discovery practices will both accelerate time-to-competency and eliminate the need to retrain staff.

 

Putting it all together takes training, experience, practice, and coaching. Read A Prospect’s Tale for a humorous, yet pragmatic story that illustrates what not to do and, more importantly, what success looks like (The last story in Suspending Disbelief)!

 

Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 9:

 

-       Applies Great Demo! and Doing Discovery methodologies across the full range of demo situations you encounter.

 

Pros:

 

-       Embraces a broad set of demo scenarios confidently.

-       Reduces onboarding time.

 

Cons:

 

-       Requires extensive personal experience, training, and coaching.

 

Grade: A+

 

 

 

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

 

-       Technology Adoption Curve populations:

https://greatdemo.com/discovery-and-demos-across-technology-adoption-curve/ 

 

-       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/ 

 

-       Transactional Sales Cycles:

https://greatdemo.com/discovery-and-demos-for-transactional-sales-cycles-when-more-must-be-less-and-less-more/

 

-       The Advantages of the Incumbent Vendor:

https://greatdemo.com/the-advantages-of-the-incumbent-vendor/

 

-       Expansion and Renewal Scenarios:

https://greatdemo.com/expansion-and-renewal-demos/

 

-       Lunch and Learn Sessions:

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

 

 

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

 

Great Demo! Third Edition:

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

Demo Skills Level 8 – Applies Storytelling!

 

Next to “communicating business value” storytelling is the most frequent demo skills improvement sought by sales and presales managers. But just “wrapping a story around your demo” is not a simple or effective solution. Successful Storytelling is about communication stickiness and the ability for your prospects to remember – and retell – your key messages.

 

Similarly, “A Day in the Life” demo is not an effective story. It’s just a framework and is not compelling on its own.

 

Level 8 practitioners use stories when presenting their most important points, critical concepts and key competitive capabilities. Stories help make these ideas memorable, enabling prospect players to retell those same stories with high fidelity within their own organization.

 

Stories about how other, similar customers successfully used your capabilities to address their challenges are engaging and stimulate interest: They generate hope and curiosity, “If they could do it, then we probably can as well – and I wonder how they did it?” This is where you harvest and apply Informal Success Stories in your demos.

 

Stories don’t need to be Norse sagas! Sometimes, simple is better. 

 

Never tell a good story once! When you find stories that resonate strongly, practice retelling these to tune and improve your delivery and their impact. 

 

Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 8:

 

A)    Uses structured stories to support key capabilities or concepts.

B)    Bonus: Prospects retell your stories internally!

 

Pros:

 

-       Makes your demos particularly remarkable and memorable.

-       Enables champions to recommunicate key ideas effectively.

 

Cons:

 

-       Requires extensive personal experience or a team stories repository.

 

Grade: A

\Want a couple of demo horror stories? (Of course you do!)

See “The Credit Card Story” and “Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory” in Suspending Disbelief: 

https://tinyurl.com/yc7rsrmy 

 

 

And here’s a bit more on “Effective Storytelling in Discovery, Demos, and More”

https://greatdemo.com/effective-storytelling-in-discovery-demos-and-more-a-never-stop-learning-article/

 

See Chapter 14 in the Third Edition of Great Demo! for a complete treatment of storytelling in demos.

 

Demo Skills Level 7: Using Biased Questions to Outflank Competition

 

Achieving Level 7 is a major step! Most presales and salespeople are completely unaware of the use of Biased Questions.

 

In traditional demos, vendors endeavor to show as much functionality as time allows, regardless of whether that functionality is meaningful or relevant for the prospect. In Great Demo! methodology, you learn how to present exactly the capabilities the prospect needs, based on discovery.

 

But what if you realize, during the demo, that there are features your prospect should need or want, that you hadn’t discussed during discovery? 

 

How do you introduce those capabilities, but without the risk of flogging your prospect with unwanted features and Buying It Back? You use a Biased Question!

 

A Biased Question leads your prospect towards a logical conclusion, such as the need for your competitively advantageous capability. In these cases, the capability is introduced verbally and then shown only when the prospect agrees that it would be useful and wants to see it.

 

The Level 7 practitioner has a store of Biased Questions ready to deploy (both in discovery and demos) and introduces them when appropriate. 

 

In the midst of a demo, the functionality is then shown if the prospect agrees that it is desired. In a discovery conversation, if the prospect decides they want the capability, then it becomes a Specific Capability to be shown in the subsequent demo.

 

Biased Questions are frequently used by Level 7 reps to drive Vision Reengineering conversations.

 

Why are Biased Questions so important? Two major reasons:

 

1.     Avoids leaving money on the table.

2.     Enables outflanking competition.

 

Using Biased Questions is an effective competitive weapon. When a prospect embraces a broader or deeper solution that includes capabilities your competition lacks (or suffers from inadequacies), you are establishing competitive differentiation.

 

Skillfully applying Biased Questions can tip the competitive scales in your favor and increase the size of the order. Delightful!

 

Measurement(s) for Achieving Level 7:

 

A)    Uses Biased Questions.

B)    Expands and establishes Reengineered Vision for prospects.

 

Pros:

 

-       Enables outflanking competition.

-       Can increase the size of the purchase.

-       Often improves the solution consumed by the customer.

-       Reduces potential churn.

 

Cons:

 

-       Demos may still be comparatively dry and uninspiring.

 

Grade: A-

 

 

Want a bit more?

See “Stunningly Awful vs Truly Terrific Competitive Differentiation – What, When, and How?”

https://greatdemo.com/truly-terrific-competitive-differentiation/

 

And here’s more on “Buying It Back”

https://greatdemo.com/stunningly-awful-demos-buying-it-back/ 

 

Biased Questions and Vision Reengineering are both covered in Great Demo! and Doing Discovery:

 

Great Demo! Third Edition:

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

 

Doing Discovery:

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