Thursday, December 29, 2022

Demo Tip: Curing Zippy Mouse Syndrome

Do you suffer from Zippy Mouse Syndrome? Here are the symptoms: 

Mouse movements are erratic and haphazard; movement may never stop. Mouse circles constantly around portions of the screen. Audience members grow uncomfortable and turn away from the screen; may reach for Dramamine, Bonine, or another motion-sickness remedy.


Diagnostic Method: Watch other folk’s demos or record your own and time how long before you get uncomfortable trying to follow the mouse flying around the screen: 


- Sick after 5 minutes: Mild, but needs treatment

- Sick after 2 minutes: Moderate, treat right away 

- Really sick within a minute: Severe, emergency measures required! 


Cure: Slow your mouse down. 


Sloooow the mouuuuuse doooooown…! Move your mouse smoooothly and deliiiiiiberately to the location you want, then take your hand off of the mouse while you talk. Repeat for your next point. This is called “Move and stop; move and stop”. 


In severe cases, change the mouse speed setting in your system settings or preferences from “Normal” to “Painfully Slow”: this will compensate and appear comfortable to the audience. Apply treatment right away.


For more remedies, consider enrolling in a Great Demo! Doing Discovery or Demonstration Skills Workshop. For more demo and discovery tips, best practices, tools and techniques, explore our blog, articles, and other content on the Resources pages of our website at https://GreatDemo.com.

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Webinar Recording – Discovery on the Fly: Some Plane Thinking

 

You can find the recording here – enjoy!


The temptation can be strong to try Discovery on the Fly, particularly when the prospect initiates an inbound lead by clicking the “Book a Demo” button. After all, they want to see a demo, right? We’ll just ask them a few questions along the way…


We explored when and when not to use Discovery on the Fly. We examined the risks, challenges, and best practices to help you make your discovery flights safe, productive, and on time! We covered:

  • Avoiding Harbor Tours and Similar Crash Landings
  • Avoiding Buying It Back
  • Vision Generation
  • Vision Reengineering
  • And More!

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Storytelling in Demos: The Hero’s Journey in 60 Seconds…!


Nearly all sales and presales folks want to improve their storytelling skills in demos and discovery conversations. Here’s one simple approach: present a hero’s journey story in 60 seconds…!

How do you do this?

  • Identify the hero – use an existing, successful customer that your product has helped (best if the job title is the same or similar as your prospect)
  • Describe the situation – the challenge faced by that person
  • Articulate the depth of the pain suffered by that person, prior to implementing your solution
  • Share what happened when that person used your product, including a compelling, tangible outcome or reward
  • Finish with how it has changed that person’s job (for the better)

The hero should be the prior customer, and your product is the enabler (e.g., Thor the hero, his hammer – Mjölnir – the enabler).


Here’s an example:


“Wow – we just heard how another customer in a very similar situation was able to declare a major victory. They were struggling with their digital transformation and their manual processes were rife with errors. It was so bad, in fact, that they were losing customers who received erroneous information. They implemented our solution and in just a few days they had eliminated all of the manual processes that generated these errors. What’s more, they were able to recover many of their lost customers, several of whom actually became extremely strong references and brought even more business aboard. Now they are moving forward with the next stage of their transformation project!”


Read this example out loud – you’ll find you can complete this short story in about 30-45 seconds.


If you want other examples of the Hero’s Journey delivered in a minute or less, check out the commercials you often see on the web or TV!


For the definitive work on storytelling, see Chip and Dan Health’s excellent book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.


For more on using stories in demos and discovery conversations, read the article Storytelling and Demos. To learn these methods, consider enrolling in a Great Demo! Discovery or Demonstration Skills Workshop. For more demo and discovery tips, best practices, tools and techniques, explore our blog and articles on the Resources pages of our website at https://GreatDemo.com and join the Great Demo! LinkedIn Group to share your experiences and learn from others.

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

‘Twas the Night Before the Big Demo


 ‘Twas the Night Before the Big Demo

(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)


‘Twas the night ‘fore the demo and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, ‘cept my SE and their mouse;

I’d proposed a big licensing deal with great care

In hopes a big order soon would be there;


Management was restless and not in their beds

As visions of bonuses danced in their heads;

And my VP with their forecast and me with my own,

Had just started a long EOQ roam,


When out from my mobile there came a great ring-tone,

I sprang from my chair to answer my phone,

What could it be?  Was it good news or no?

A last-minute order?  A contract?  PO?


Greetings, said my PA, who spoke on the line,

It was someone to see me, offering help at this time!

Who could it be at this late eleventh-hour,

To make the deal sweet and avoid something sour?


Away to the door I flew in a flash,

And swept it wide open in my quest for fast cash,

When who to my wondering eyes should appear,

The DemoGuru! And standing so near!


He came in my office and while dusting off snow,

Said, “I have some news that you’ll want to know.”

He drew up a chair and asked for some tea,

And said to my VP, SE and to me:


“Your deal is in trouble and I’ll tell you now,

Your demo’s confusing, complex and lacks ‘Wow!’

It’s riddled with features and functions and more,

And too many cool things, mouse clicks galore,


Don’t flog them with features and other neat stuff,

Stick with the substance, stay ‘way from the fluff,

The more that you show is not always nice,

Prospects will say, ‘Please lower the price!’


The Buzzword-Compliant Vocabulary list,

Are words, I’m afraid, that are better off missed,

Not Flexible, nor Powerful, nor Easy-to-Use,

Not Robust, nor Seamlessly Integrated abuse,


And no corporate overview, please don’t do that,

After ten minutes they’re grabbing their hats,

Use real data, stay focused, on target, be brief,

Build vision, while you suspend disbelief!


Your prospect is queued and ready to go,

They love the vision you’ve built with them so.

They want Technical Proof in the demo you’ve planned,

Just the key capabilities, everything else banned.”


“But how can we do this?” I heard myself cry,

“We’re victims of momentum, we’re nervous to try,

Another approach, a new way to go,

We have to admit we’re just a bit slow!”


Do the Last Thing First!” he said with a smile,

“Then Peel Back the Layers, and Do It with style,

Peel it back in accord with their interest,

Stay focused and execute, and you’ll find it best,


Your prospect’s Situation is a great way to intro,

Their Problems and Reasons, from CBI flow,

Review these and check – is this still the case?

Are we aligned or are we off base?


Start with the end, that big pay-off piece,

Illustrate and describe, those are the keys!

Capture their interest, compel their attention,

Make sure it aligns with their mode of consumption,


When it clicks and they’re hooked, they’ll then ask for more,

There’s absolutely no way that they’ll head for the door.

They’ll say, “Please show us, prove that it’s so,

Show us the rest, please do demo.”


Then Do It, just Do It, with no extra clicks,

To return to that Illustrative image that sticks,

Make it simple and fast, make it easy and clear,

Then they will realize they’ve nothing to fear,


Encourage their questions, most are not new,

Good ones and Great ones (and Stupid ones too),

Treat Hostiles with courtesy, use your Parking Lot so

Those mean, crusty folks can’t damage your flow,


Peel back the layers, you know, like an onion,

Show only what’s needed, put nothing else in,

Let them drive the demo, let them think they’re in charge,

While their Vision Solution you work to enlarge!


Summarize, summarize, tell them again,

‘Cause adults do learn by repetition,

And when you show a key take-away screen,

Leave it up, let it linger, so they’ll know what they’ve seen!


“I get it – I’ll do it!” exclaimed my SE, 

“This is all so obvious, it’s way clear to me!”

And they sprang into action, their mouse flew like lightening,

(Frankly, their speed was a little bit frightening!)


And with that the DemoGuru smiled and he said,

“Your way is now clear, put that baby to bed,

Your deal’s now on track, your order secure,

You’ll make your numbers at the end of the year,


Then he strode from my office in the flash of a pun,

Turned ‘round and he said, “My job here is done,”

Ere he drove out of sight, I did hear him say,

Great Demo! to all and to all a Great Day!”


Happy Holidays and Winter/Summer Solstice!

The DiscoAndDemoGuru


Copyright © 2005-2022 The Second Derivative – All Rights Reserved.

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Prospects Say “No” But Vendors Don’t Listen…

Fundamentally, people don’t like to say “no” to other people. They are often uncomfortable expressing their true feelings. We see this play out in sales cycles over and over, costing both vendors and prospects an enormous amount of wasted time and energy. Here’s an example:

A prospect, exploring solution possibilities, browses a vendor website and clicks the “Book a Demo” button. The vendor SDR/BDR contacts the prospect to qualify and sets a meeting for the prospect with a salesperson and a presales resource, promising an “overview demo”.


In this meeting, the salesperson asks a few questions to confirm pain and ensure that the prospect’s tech stack is appropriate, then invites the presales person to deliver the overview demo. At the end of the demo, the salesperson asks, “What do you think?”


The prospect replies, “Um, well, looks interesting, thanks. Great demo…” However, the prospect’s tone is not particularly positive. The prospect is unconvinced.


Our salesperson, detecting this reluctance, offers another meeting, “Hey, would you like a deeper demo? You really didn’t get to see everything in our solution…!”


“Um, well, OK, I guess…” are the words that come out of the prospect’s mouth. But what the prospect really just said was, “No, thank you”. 


Another, longer meeting is scheduled for the deeper dive demo, and our salesperson encourages the prospect to invite more participants to join, as well.


The deeper dive demo meeting takes place, with more people from the prospect (and potentially more from the vendor as well). Sadly, there is a “rinse and repeat” exchange at the close of this longer call, with the salesperson again asking, “What do you think?”


“Um, well, thanks again. We’d like to digest what we’ve seen…” says the prospect. But again, what the prospect really meant was, “No, this is not a good fit.”


What do you think happens next? Our salesperson, again sensing the prospect’s hesitancy, jumps in with, “Would you like a POC?”


Our prospect responds, “Um, well, OK…” but again, what our prospect is really trying to communicate is “No, thanks.” 


Sadly, the process continues with the POC, consuming resources from both the vendor and the prospect. At the end of the POC, another meeting is organized to discuss “next steps”.


At this point, finally, the prospect comments that “We’ve decided to go in another direction…” Note that the prospect never actually said, “No”!


Has this ever happened to you – either as the vendor or the prospect?

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

2022 SE Trends Series Interview


Natasja Bax, Great Demo! EMEA Partner, joined Navattic for Episode 6 of the 2022 SE Trends Series. They discussed:

  • Put yourself in the customer’s shoes
  • Two types of demos
  • Early portion of the buying cycle is becoming more important
  • Presales as a valued profession
  • More qualification, more discovery
  • Focus on the things that are most important to your customer
  • Continuous learning!

You can find this 10-minute interview here. Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Upcoming Webinar: Discovery on the Fly? Some Plane Thinking

Tuesday December 20 at 9:00 AM Pacific, 12:00 PM Eastern, 5:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time

Register here!


The temptation can be strong to try Discovery on the Fly, particularly when the prospect initiates an inbound lead by clicking the “Book a Demo” button. After all, they want to see a demo, right? We’ll just ask them a few questions along the way…


We’ll explore when and when not to use Discovery on the Fly. We’ll explore the risks, challenges, and best practices to help you make your discovery flights safe, productive, and on time! We’ll cover:

  • Avoiding Harbor Tours and Similar Crash Landings
  • Avoiding Buying It Back
  • The Reverse Demo
  • Vision Generation
  • Vision Reengineering

Let us know if there are other topics you’d like us to explore. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Monday, December 5, 2022

Doing Discovery: Be Curious!


One of the best ways to be perceived as authentic and natural is to be genuinely curious when doing discovery.


Any time you hear something out of the ordinary, it should make you curious: why are things this way? How did it happen? What is the impact? How much value is associated with making a change?


Being earnestly curious is also a path to being perceived as trustworthy. Reading a list of questions will often sound exactly like what it is: a dry, repetitive, linear review of prebuilt questions. Showing genuine curiosity is an engaging self-rescue that takes you wonderfully off-script!


So, in your next discovery conversations, when you hear something different, say so! “Wow, that’s unusual, how did that happen?” or “Interesting! I’ve never seen that before, why did that take place?” What you learn may provide you with intriguing insights, in addition to building a deeper relationship with your prospect.


Be curious!


[Now, aren’t you curious about what you could learn, apply, and use to your advantage from the Doing Discovery book?]

Friday, December 2, 2022

Why Many Discovery Calls Go Wrong (And the Vendor Doesn’t Realize It!) – Part 3

 


How does this 55-minute “discovery” call compare with yours?


0:00 Introductions and small talk (establishing “rapport” by noting a photo/trophy/item of common interest, the weather, sports, etc.…)

0:04 Discussion of “pain” (“So it looks like you reached out to us because you are interested in addressing XX – is that correct?”)

0:08 A couple of questions about “integration requirements” (“Are you using YY today? OK, good, we can connect to that…”)

0:10 Corporate overview presentation (including all the standard slides…)

0:18 “Any questions so far?” “Nope, we’re good…” followed by product(s) overview presentation

0:25 Overview demo, interspersed with a few questions along the lines of, “What do you think about this feature?” and “Are you using ZZ for this currently?”

0:50 Next steps discussion (“Would like a POC?” or “Shall we schedule a deep dive demo?” and “I’ll send you a proposal…”)

0:55 End of call


Frightening! 


In this 55-minute “discovery” call, the vendor preformed only about 6-8 minutes of actual discovery. “Pain” and a bit about the prospect’s tech-stack/environment was the only information collected.


Is this prospect in an active buying process or “just browsing”? Unknown.

Is this prospect really worth pursuing as a sales opportunity? Unknown. 

Is this opportunity a candidate for a No Decision outcome? Unknown.


Why are vendors so eager to talk about their offerings rather than actually doing discovery? Is it a lack of confidence to ask questions? Is it a desire to “provide value” by presenting these various overviews? Is it “this is the way we’ve always done it”?


Whatever the reason, it is time to uplevel discovery skills!


The market demands it and is proving it: on average, 45% of forecast opportunities end as No Decision outcomes. That’s nearly half of all of the opportunities you work. What could you do with the time you would recover by not having to pursue these No Decision prospects?


That 55-minute meeting could have accomplished at least 45 minutes of actual discovery, including exploring more deeply, uncovering impact and related pains, examining tangible value, identification of the specific capabilities of interest, and assessing the prospect’s buying status, level of interest, and timing. In addition, there was time for a crisp Vision Generation Demo to satisfy the prospect’s desire to “get a sense of what’s possible in a solution”.


The results?

  • Accurate determination of active buying process vs “just browsing” status
  • Ability to prepare and deliver a focused Technical Proof Demo – which could be the only proof needed for the prospect
  • Possible avoidance of an unnecessary deep dive demo
  • Possible avoidance of an unnecessary POC
  • Possible avoidance of a No Decision outcome
  • Dramatic reduction of “Buying It Back” discounting
  • Increased likelihood that a “just browsing” prospect returns when in an active buying mode in the future (avoiding the horrors of Lead Churn)

Learn more about these skills in the new book, Doing Discovery or (even better) learn how to apply these skills in a Great Demo! Doing Discovery Workshop.