Annotating over Live Meeting Shared Applications

Can you recommend any third-party annotation tools - tools that can be used to annotate over a Live Meeting session, for example, since Live Meeting does not currently provide capabilities for annotating over a shared application.

Out-of-the-office Email Messages

Out-of-the-office email (automated) reponse messages range from non-existent to full-blown advertising. As a customer, it is good to know:

- The dates when the person is unavailable
- Whether or not the person will be checking voicemail/email
- Who are alternative people that can be contacted

Here is an example of a nicely executed out-of-the-office message:


**This is an Automatically Generated Message**

Thank you for your e-mail. I will be out of the office on vacation from Monday March 16 through Friday March 20, and will be back on Monday March 23rd. I will not have access to e-mail or voicemail during this time, but will respond as soon as I return.For any immediate concerns please contact:

Customer Service:
Toll-Free phone number: 1-800-555-5555
Email: service@OurCo.com
Hours: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm PST Mon-Fri

For Technical Support:
Toll-Free phone number: 1-800-555-5553
Email: techsupport@OurCo.com
Hours: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm PST Mon-Fri

Best Regards,
Bob

*******************************************************************
Bob Sanchez
OurCo Inc.
1538 Windblown Blvd.
Centerville, CA 94555
Telephone: +1 800 555 5525
Email: BSanchez@OurCo.com
Website: www.OurCo.com
*******************************************************************

Buyer’s Perspective – “That was very helpful…”

A colleague who often assists customers in selecting software relates a true-life story regarding the impact of poorly-constructed and poorly-delivered demos:

At the close of a demo from one of several candidate vendors, the key player at the prospect said, “That was very helpful….” The vendor went away happy.

However, after the vendor had left the room, the key player turned to the other meeting participants and elaborated. He said, “That was very helpful – they just helped us eliminate a candidate – them!”

A Tool to Capture Discovery Information

A very nice tool is now available to capture and communicate prospect discovery/qualification information, internally within your organization.

At a high level, the tool from pebble Discovery (www.pebblediscovery.com) helps to avoid your prospect asking,

“Didn’t I just answer all of these questions from your sales person last week?” – told to the presales person…

“Didn’t I just answer all of these questions from your presales person, before we signed the contact?” – told to the implementation team…

Here’s more from pebble Discovery’s 1-pager overview:

We provide a software system to support presales discovery efforts for software vendors and VARs.
· Get more done in less time.
o Leverage resources.
o Produce the one document prospects say will speed up the buying process.
· Optimize the investment for your prospect and you.
o Provide continuity between presales and implementation.

This system helps you establish:
· Why do they need a new system now
· Who’s involved in the buying process
· What are their hot buttons
· What are the functional requirements
· Limitations of the current system
· How your system can help the prospect
· What’s needed for a winning demo.

How It Works

Pebble Discovery is a client-server system. Discovery templates are maintained, by industry, on the server. Your presales people can enter information into their laptops offline and then sync with the server database. If you have multiple people working on a prospect, everyone can sync with the database to keep up-to-date. The information is then available to the implementation team who can also work offline on their laptops reviewing and analyzing the information they need.

20,000 Words Per Day…

The author, Joseph Sommerville, notes:

"Effective communication skills are essential to successful business development. Yet they're often under-emphasized and sometimes completely ignored. Why? Because we communicate so much and so often (approximately 20,000 words per day) we often take it for granted. But regardless of how good your product or service is and how much expertise you have in your area, it all goes to waste unless you can communicate it to others."

Remote Demos – and Screen Savers

I’ve now seen this happen several times…

You are watching a vendor present a demo remotely and, after about 10 minutes, the “audience” computer switches to its screen-saver. There are a few moments of thrashing as someone leaps to move the mouse – and anything that was said or presented by the vendor during that time was lost.

This repeats, of course, every 10 minutes for the balance of the session…!

Instruct your key audience member(s) to turn off their screen-saver(s) or change the setting to longer than the expected event!

(Interestingly, the presenter will most likely be unaware that the screen-saver is kicking-in on the remote computer(s)…)

"SE Whisperer"

Here is a great article/blog entry from a sales person’s perspective about interactions with their presales counterparts: http://www.salesgrok.com/grok/2008/11/se-whisperer.html.

The Buyer’s Perspective: “Questioning Software’s Usability”

An article by Harold Hambrose in Baseline Magazine entitled “Questioning Software’s Usability” raises a number of buyer-perspective issues well worth noting:

· “How do they know the tool will be effective in the hands of your employees?” – this is, in essence, a direct recommendation for a POC or Evaluation. They author notes,

“Ask if the software vendor will allow your users to sit with the application and perform a familiar task… A vendor demo isn’t good enough, because these demos are basically infomercials.”

I often recommend “letting your customer drive” in demos – to prove ease-of-use for themselves and to help avoid the need for a POC or Evaluation. This is another strong reason to do so!

· “Show me the metrics!” – the author continues,

“Ask for performance numbers. Find out how many minutes, hours, days or weeks it will take for your employees to become comfortable with the system, and how long it will take for them to really get rolling.”

This is where the concept of building a Transition Vision with the customer is so important. The customer may like the ultimate vision, but is concerned about how they will get there from where they are today. A Transition Vision is a solution to this challenge (see my article here for more on how to accomplish this).

· “Does the application make sense to you?” – a long, complex, multiple-personality demo is a certain way to fail this criteria!

Performing your demo in small, consumable components – with a summary at the end of each section – will help address the question the author poses. Presenting each key segment via a “Do It” pathway, with no extraneous steps, helps even more!


The complete article is from the November 2008 issue of Baseline Magazine, page 14 (www.baselinemag.com); the author is Harold Hambrose of Electronic Ink (www.electronicink.com).

“All Truth Pass Through Three Stages…”

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

- Arthur Schopenhauer

What Makes a Demo Truly Remarkable?

What makes customers say, “Remember the time that vendor did that really amazing demo?” What is the difference between a good demo and a Truly Great Demo!?

They’re remarkable. They’re memorable. They stand out from all of the other demos and presentations – because they were really different...

“…Remember the time that the SC brought in that huge stack of papers and books to search through one-by-one – it reached from his chin all the way down to his knees!”

“…It was so great when they had our VP of sales drive a portion of the demo – our VP could barely type. He used to do everything in all CAPS because he didn’t want to have to shift...!”

“… Remember when that salesperson showed receiving an article via the web – on a ship at sea on his Blackberry – that was truly amazing!”

“…I loved it when they let me search their database – I found answers that I didn’t know were possible, emailed them to myself and had my project done on-time and much better than I’d expected!”

These demos were so remarkable that they got the business and stayed in customers’ minds long afterward. Let’s explore what makes certain demos truly great – and how to increase the proportion in your own organization.


Good vs. Better

Presentation skills classes help presenters improve their level of practice. Sales methodology courses provide processes to help sales people progress and secure business faster. Demonstration skills training enable sales teams to achieve improved demos.

All of these help people get better at what they do. For some of us, the starting point is low (e.g., “Our demos suck…”) – for others, they want to go from good to better (“Our team of seasoned veterans is good, but we can all improve…”).

Most training enables a step-change – a new way of doing things that goes beyond the status-quo. In the world of software demos, helping people to eliminate unneeded features and functions from their demos is good – but it is not going to result is a demo that is perceived as particularly remarkable.

[Warning – shameless self-promotion paragraph alert!] Great Demo! methodology, on the other hand, is an example of doing things really differently – a major change. The “Do the Last Thing First” concepts help sales, presales and marketing people change from good to great; from linear, boring, traditional demos to crisp, compelling and effective deliveries.


Stand-up Comedy – and Demos?

Stand-up comedians constantly test their material. They introduce new ideas, explore audience reaction, and add or delete accordingly. Their expectation is that each subsequent performance will be better than the previous – evolution at its best: survival of the fittest jokes…!

Comedians need to have material that is consistently remarkable. Should demos be any different?

- When you use a prop in a demo that really engages the audience and makes them light up, repeat it for the next group (that has the same or similar Situation).

- When you present a terrific pay-off screen or key report (an Illustration) that really resonates with the key player, do it again the next time you demo to someone with the same job title.

- When you tell a story that has the audience on the edge of their seats, keep it in the act.

- When you see the key member of your audience making notes about the Informal Success Story you just related, plan to do it again.

Demo elements that were memorable – that were particularly remarkable – are the elements to harvest, refine, and reuse. Demos should evolve to incorporate the best material for each customer’s Situation.


Share, Plagiarize, Leverage…

You have your personal stock of remarkable demo ideas; consider tapping into ideas from your colleagues, competitors and third parties as well.

- In your own team, organize a “Demo Day” where team members present demo components and ideas that worked extraordinarily well.

- Watch demos from other companies – on the web, at conferences, or as a customer when vendors present at your company – and collect ideas to incorporate into your own demos.

- Watch presentations (www.TED.com, for example) to harvest novel and remarkable ideas for your own use.


Quid Pro Quo

Here’s an offer: send me a remarkable demo story (sanitized, as necessary); I’ll collect them and send back the aggregated set to everyone that contributes, so that you can take “pre-competitive” advantage of the ideas. The remarkable demo stories you share don’t necessarily have to come from your own organization…

To sweeten the deal, I’ll ship a highly coveted Great Demo! Telescoping-Laser-Pen Pointer (the ultimate demo presentation tool…) to those who provide the best, most remarkable ideas.


Good to Great to Truly Remarkable

A good demo is typically what you were taught when you first came aboard – “Here’s the demo for product X…”

A Great Demo! results from aligning to customer needs and turning a traditional demo upside down – “Do the Last Thing First”.

Truly Remarkable Demos harvest the best, most memorable elements of a Great Demo! – and replay them on a consistently-improving, ongoing basis.

Truly Remarkable Demos have the highest success rates of all in securing the business!

Copyright © 2009 The Second Derivative – All Rights Reserved.

The Recent CSO Insights Report Is … Insightful

The authors report that those organizations that train their sales teams in presentation and demonstration skills enjoy marked increases in close rates. Here’s more detail…

The CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization 2009 Survey Results and Analysis notes that:

· Selling is getting harder. (1)

· The top objective for Sales Management in 2009 is to “Increase Revenues”. (2)

· The second highest objective for Sales Management in 2009 is to “Increase Sales Effectiveness”. (3)

Happily, the authors do offer a solution: they suggest that “2009 needs to be about investing your way to sales effectiveness.” Here are a few pearls extracted from their report for your consideration…

1. Organizations are finding that they can deliver presentations and demos via web-based meetings.

The report specifically recommends exploring training for sales teams to operate effectively in web-based demos and presentations – this may have a large pay-off in reduced cost-of-sales.

2. Fewer leads are converting to first conversations, and fewer of these initial conversations are leading to demos.

This suggests that demo success is more important than ever. The demos delivered to those prospects that do mature to the “see a demo” stage need to have the highest probability of success. Demos cannot be left to chance – there need to be clear processes for executing pre-demo discovery, demo preparation and delivery.

It is becoming unacceptable to lose a sale because “the demo didn’t go well…”

3. [OK, you gotta love this…]

“One trend that is worth exploring is: What exactly are we trying to accomplish during a presentation or demonstration? In the 90‘s we saw a lot of emphasis on making sure salespeople clearly articulated the capabilities/features of their offerings and also the benefits the prospect could expect to achieve.

Today however, with the vast amount of product information already in the hands of potential clients via the Internet, the focus of the presentation/demonstration needs to go beyond features and benefits. We are seeing more demand from clients for a clear understanding of their problems and potential solutions. And when a sales team is able to effectively present how their solution matches a prospect‘s need, the rewards are significant…”

What a wonderful argument for a Great Demo! Workshop…!

There’s more: according to the report, the ability to align a solution to customer needs impacts

a. the subsequent conversion rates for sales opportunities (pipeline progress)
b. forecast accuracy

The authors note:

“This insight may make it worth the time and effort to review exactly what your sales teams are trying to accomplish... Is the sales messaging they are using product-centric or customer/solution-centric? At the end of a meeting, can your prospects repeat back how they could work with you to achieve gain or remove pain? Are your reps not only helping prospects see what can be accomplished, but also providing a clear path as to how this improvement can be achieved?”

4. Strangely enough, (he offered with gentle cynicism…), the authors report that those organizations that trained their sales teams in presentation and demonstration skills enjoyed marked increases in close rates.

The moral? Many organizations today are saying that they can’t afford the budget to train their sales and presales teams; successful organizations are saying they can’t afford not to train their teams!

CSO Insights’ full report is available for purchase can be found here.


(1) It was pointed out this was rather obvious…
(2) Ditto.
(3) Ditto ditto.

Miller Heiman 2009 Sales Best Practices Study - Thoughts

Miller Heiman just released the results of their October 2008 study, which defines “World-class” sales organizations as being much more likely to achieve their targets.

The study shows that in World-class sales organizations:

- Sales and marketing are much more aligned to customer needs
- Consistently follow standardized processes to qualify opportunities
- Have a formalized, compelling value proposition
- Clearly understand customers’ issues before proposing solutions

In my experience, these same attributes apply to demos:

- Sales and marketing are much more aligned to customer needs:

Product roll-out and other marketing demos match well with real-life customer situations and are customer problem/solution oriented, as opposed to product/feature focused.

- Consistently follow standardized processes to qualify opportunities:

Software demos are viewed specifically in terms of (1) Vision Generation and (2) Technical Proof, as opposed to Harbor Tour Demos; demo need and preparation are carefully reviewed prior to presentation.

- Have a formalized, compelling value proposition:

Specific, tangible “Delta” measurements, based on customer specifics, are much more compelling than “This will save you time and money…” platitudes.

- Clearly understand customers’ issues before proposing solutions:

Thank you thank you thank you…! How can you possibly demonstrate a “solution” if you lack a sufficient understanding of the customer’s problem?

Buyer’s Perspective Regarding SaaS Offerings

A recent article in eWeek gives us insights into our customers’ perspective when they are contemplating purchasing SaaS offerings (“Taking Measure of SAAS Reliability”, eWeek, January 19, 2009).

Specifically, the article includes a section sub-headed “Questions for the provider”, which include:

- “Make sure the SAAS vendor you’re evaluating provides information about the uptime and performance state of each of the discrete services it offers...”

- “When it is time to discuss reliability with the SAAS provider, SLAs (service-level agreements) … are a natural starting point.”

- “You should discuss with the SAAS provider how its architecture deals with surges in load, and how it is prepared to scale to additional customers without affecting your application reliability.”

- “…You should find out about software update schedules…”

- “…Find out to what extent the vendor’s application takes advantage of client-side execution…”

- “…Make sure to ask the SAAS vendor whether its application makes any provisions for offline data access.”

An additional sub-head entitled “Testing for yourself” suggests tactics for buyers to see proof:

- “…It’s important to test the SAAS services for yourself, beginning with demo accounts…”

- “Beyond the anecdotal accounts of application performance and availability from the pilot group, some SAAS services … include page render time counters.”

- “There are also some services, such as TrustSaaS.com and Pingdom.com, that keep tabs on SAAS services and offer reports on the uptime…”

eWeek is targeted at IT management. It is always interesting to see what buyers are reading…!

DemoWorks – Recording Tool

I note a (potentially new) demo recording tool is available: DemoWorks, by ComponentOne. It appears to offer a reasonable range of recording and delivery functions – including the availability of a free “Community” version.

The Community version limits recordings to 30 seconds but is otherwise the same as the “Professional” version. Current U.S. pricing for the Professional version is $200.

You can find more information here: http://www.componentone.com/SuperProducts/DemoWorks/

Great Demo! – For Development?

No, not necessarily for teaching developers how to demo to others in their organization and to customers (although that is a good idea…!), but rather more interestingly, I’ve had several reports from Great Demo! Workshop customers of how Development teams use Great Demo! tools and methods to help direct the creation of capabilities and features.

Specifically, they report that they are now working backwards from customer-facing demos (or expected demos) to implement or improve capabilities. For example:

- Development groups are using Situation Slides to ensure that they understand customer situations, prior to coding features. Situation Slides are then often broadened into more detailed Use Cases.

- Understanding that the Do It pathway (the fewest number of steps required to complete a task) is typically the desired pathway from the customer’s perspective – has lead to removing extraneous steps and reducing the complexity of tasks and workflows.

- The need to be able to clearly communicate the key take-away deliverables – Illustrations – has resulted in improvements in formatting, default settings, and layout of key screens and reports.

You gotta love it when sales and development are in alignment!

Brief, Good Article on Demos Done by John Chambers

Here is an article by Carmine Gallo about John Chambers’ demos, as prepared and supported by Jim Grubb (Cisco’s Chief Demo Officer…):

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/feb2009/sb20090210_425196.htm?campaign_id=yhoo.

A few good ideas and an easy read.

Demos to Mixed Local and Remote Audiences – Tips to Handle Combination Situations

What is the strategy for handling situations where you are face-to-face with one group of customers and other participants are connecting remotely? Treat the entire session as if it is a Remote Demo.

Yes, this will force you, as the presenter, to remain at your laptop computer – but it also means that you’ll remember to use the mouse for all of your movements (to point, annotate, highlight, etc.), as opposed to hand motions or using a stick or laser pointer. We have to bear in mind that anything done outside of the collaboration software won’t be seen by the remote audience.

Here are some additional tactics to consider in these “mixed” situations:

- During your introduction, be sure to have everyone at each location introduce themselves (if the total audience is less than ~20 participants) – ask:
= What is your name?
= What is your job title?
= What one thing do you want to make sure we accomplish today?

- If possible, ask a remote participant to be an active “host” to serve as a conduit of information to you:
= Are there delays – latency – with the collaboration tool displaying your software or presentation?
= Can they hear your voice adequately (can you hear theirs, as well)?
= Can they see the full screen?
= Does anyone have a question or are confused, based on their expression?

- All “pointing” needs to be done via the collaboration software – so that both the face-to-face and remote audiences can see what you are pointing at…

- Don’t use physical props, unless you can use the sound the prop generates to communicate the idea effectively over the microphone/phone system.

- Repeat questions that are asked from audience members – for both groups. It will likely be difficult for every audience member to hear all of the other audience members…

- Remember to continually engage the remote audience, in addition to those who are face-to-face with you. Causatively ask the remote folks specific questions, to keep their attention.

- If you choose to engage in a mock “role-play” scenario, choose a remote audience member as the first participant. Add a local participant to the role-play, in addition, if the scenario supports it.

- Similarly, invite a remote audience member to “drive”, if appropriate – this will serve to engage both local and remote participants.

- For ad hoc work, use the collaboration tool’s whiteboard capabilities – or use a blank PowerPoint slide, if the collaboration tool lacks whiteboard functionality.

- Capture “Good Questions” in a Microsoft Word document as a “Not Now List” or “Parking Lot”, so that both face-to-face and remote audiences can see and participate in the process.

- Put more verbal dynamics into your delivery than you might normally do when operating face-to-face – and especially include more pauses of longer duration. This gives the opportunity for the remote people to ask questions, particularly if they need to un-mute their phone system(s).

- Don’t be afraid to call a break, if the session is expected to last beyond 90 minutes. It is harder to remain engaged as a remote audience than when face-to-face. Consider making the break a non-standard length – such as “13 minutes” – to help people remember to all return at the appropriate time.

- Keep in mind that different time-zones may be involved for the various sets of audiences – and respect accordingly. It may be likely to have people in the session from California, Chicago, Frankfurt, and Sydney…

- Remember to summarize at the end of each demo segment – if you see your local audience nodding their heads, it is likely that the remote people are doing so as well!

In summary, treat situations with mixes of face-to-face and remote audiences as if the entire session is being run over the web. You’ll add clarity to the overall event and increase your demo success rates (and you may even be nodding your head now…!).

Remote Demos - Audience Computer Mouse

Here's a simple, but important tip, when delivering Remote Demos to an audience of mulitple people in one location: Ask your host or Champion to move the mouse on the "participant's" (audience) computer out of the way!

I recently watched a number of Remote Demos presented where the mouse on the "participant" machine was left in the middle of the screen. A number audience members were confused by this, since they weren't sure which mouse cursor to watch. Solution? Have a team member (if present) or a Champion (or someone else at the customer site) move their mouse out of the way - for example, to the bottom-right corner of the screen - once the remote session has started.

Crossing the Chasm Neatly Summarized

I recently saw a crisp explanation of Geoffrey Moore’s “Crossing the Chasm” key groups, with each group’s perspective summarized in a few words:


Techies – Try it!

Visionaries – Get ahead of the herd…

[The Chasm follows this group…]

Pragmatists – Stick with the herd…

Conservatives – Hold on…!

Skeptics – No way!


Nicely stated – the book itself is still highly relevant and makes an excellent read, although the company examples are dated. It is available on Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-Geoffrey-Moore/dp/0060517123/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233248095&sr=1-1.

Technology, Entertainment, Design – Terrific Talks and Presentations

The team at TED (www.ted.com) has been providing a platform to showcase some of the most stimulating, interesting and entertaining presentations for years. Exploring the publically-available presentations (as videos) on their website offers a wonderful opportunity to see some of the best presenters in action. Check it out!

International Cultural Differences and Guidelines - Website

I just ran across an excellent website (http://www.executiveplanet.com/index.php?title=Main_Page) that lists information on a range of countries and cultural norms for each, including (using Australia as an example):

Australia: About Australia About Australia
Australia: Appointment Alert! Making appointments
Australia: Business Dress Guidelines for business dress
Australia: Conversation Welcome topics of conversation
Australia: First Name or Title? Addressing others with respect
Australia: Gift Giving Selecting and presenting an appropriate business gift
Australia: Let's Make a Deal! What you should know before negotiating
Australia: Prosperous Entertaining Entertaining for business success
Australia: Public Behaviour Acceptable public conduct

Well worth exploring before your next international trip…

Debilitating Demo Diseases – Deadendedness

Deadendedness – Death by Cul-de-Sac

Symptoms: Presenter pursues non-productive pathways, perusing pointless possibilities and dead-ends. Elongates a demo segment from what could have been accomplished in 5 mouse-clicks to 24 minutes of detailed explanation, covering all possible options and settings. Presenter may also suffer delusions that the audience is earnestly interested in seeing all of this.

Examples: “And another way to do this is to ....”

“…But for this example we won’t do that and instead we’ll go back to where we were a moment ago…”

[Customer] “Oh my friggin’ God! – Will he never stop?”

Cure: Guide the afflicted presenter to choose the highest probability pathway for the customer at hand and execute that pathway with the fewest number of steps needed to complete the task. Apply Occam’s Razor, topically (“entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem”).

‘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 SC and his 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 his 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 assistant, 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 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, SC 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 away from the fluff,
The more that you show is not always nice,
Customers may 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,
Present as a team, so if things get hairy,
Sales folks aren’t lost in the back with Blackberry.

Your customer’s 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 customer’s Situation is a great way to intro,
Their Reasons and needs, 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, make it 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 Not Now List so
Those mean, nasty folks can’t damage your flow,

Peel back the layers, Do It Again,
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 SC,
“This is all so obvious, it’s way clear to me!”
And he sprang into action, his mouse flew like lightening,
(Frankly, his 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 a blink 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!”


Copyright © 2005-2007 The Second Derivative – All Rights Reserved.

Debilitating Demo Diseases – Acronymophilia

Acronymophilia

Symptoms: Fits of sentences filled with vendor-specific acronyms, used both as nouns and verbs. Assumption that audience has already been exposed to these dozens of acronyms and has a comfortable, working understanding of them. Looks of confusion in the audience, followed by doodling and furtive glances at wristwatches.

Examples: “So, the ABT triggers each PTD, resulting in as many SHRP’s as needed.”

“Next, every SHRP will be JY’ed in accordance with the specific WVM settings, which is then picked-up by the TMT module and FRP’ed. Questions?”

Cure: A prescription of Acro-rid™ is recommended for mild and moderate cases; have the afflicted take two pills before presenting to help loosen and remove acronyms. Encourage patient to either verbalize the full word-sets or replace with customer-meaningful phrases. In severe cases, a radical acronectomy may be necessary to remove all untreated acronyms.

Great Demo! Example: Digital Camera Packaging and Instructions

We recently purchased a “point-and-shoot” digital camera – and I was struck by how well the camera packaging and instructions map to Great Demo! ideas…

- The box and instructions had multiple images as examples of what kinds of photos could be taken using the camera. These are wonderful (and effective!) Illustrations, as they included “normal” views, a “telephoto” example, a “macro” view, and even a “smile-finding” sample.

- Next, I was struck by how my better-half proceeded to learn how to use the camera. She didn’t dive into the detailed instructions but, instead, found the “Quick Guide” to follow the direct pathway to get the camera set up and to take her first few pictures. This is a wonderful example of a “Do It” pathway.

- Later on, after she had experimented with the camera at a family event, she was curious about how to access and operate certain features (low lighting; flash “on”/flash “off”, “Movie Mode”, etc.). She looked these items up in the detailed instruction book, going directly to the pages of interest (and not looking for other features…). This is a terrific example of “Peeling Back the Layers” – exploring only those capabilities of interest. Later on, I expect she may revisit the instruction book as she wants to learn about other camera modes and functions.

What a wonderful, real-life example of method mimicking life…!