Avoiding No Decision Outcomes – The Surprisingly Large Opportunity for Improvement

 

Avoiding No Decision Outcomes – The Surprisingly Large Opportunity for Improvement

(A Never Stop Learning! Article)

What’s in this article for you?

• A Sadly Surprising Discovery
• A Painful Analysis
• Surviving BANT
• Surviving MEDDIC, MEDDPIC, Etc.
• Presales Input
• Senior Sales Staff Observations
• Three Reasons for No Decision Outcomes
• Re-Analysis and Illumination

A Sadly Surprising Discovery

A Head of Sales was reviewing his quarterly forecast and noted that a large number of opportunities had been “rolled-over” from the previous quarter. Curious, he examined several prior quarters and found a distressing trend: These opportunities had been rolling-over from quarter to quarter for several quarters and, in many cases, for years!

He said, “These will clearly never close…!” and removed them from the current quarter’s forecast.

He thought for a moment, and then asked a staff member to perform an analysis of all of the opportunities that had been forecasted to close in previous quarters but had not closed. A short time later, the results were presented…

https://greatdemo.com/avoiding-no-decision-outcomes/

Upcoming Webinar: How Much Discovery Is Enough – Or Too Much?

Join us on Wednesday November 8 at 11:00 Pacific Time as we explore a number of intriguing and surprisingly important discovery parameters, based on Peter Cohan’s Doing Discovery book and methodology. How do you get what you need without overwhelming your prospect? How much is enough? What do you need to capture, and how? We’ll examine:

• Qualification vs Discovery
• “Just Browsing” vs “Active Buying Process”
• Simple Tools vs Complex Offerings
• Other Impactful Prospect Parameters
• Executives vs Everybody Else
• A Medical Analogy
• Full Discovery Methodology
• Seven Levels of Skills
• So How Much Discovery Is Enough?

The live webinar is free for all, but please note that the recording will only be available to NAASE and EASE members! To attend this event, email info@sales-engineering.org to receive the proper link for invitation.

Old vs New – Why Upgrade to Great Demo! Third Edition?

Great Demo! first appeared in 2003 – twenty years ago – and represented a major change in the process of preparing and delivering software demos, based on the revelation of “Do the Last Thing First!”

The second edition was published in 2005 and included additional chapters and enhancements to the methodology. It’s a great book presenting a highly effective and validated demonstration methodology.

The 2005 edition is still terrific, if outdated regarding some of its technology references. I don’t believe any organization still uses “overhead projectors” and we are highly unlikely to need a standalone modem for a demo at a customer site anymore. I hope.

Great Demo! practices have evolved, and new methods have emerged, been tested, and hardened through day-to-day use. The Third Edition of Great Demo! brings these new skills and techniques to all customer-facing vendor staff, including presales, sales, customer success, professional services, and marketing: It’s for everyone who touches a mouse or taps a screen in front of a customer!

What’s new?

Great Demo! is now two books in one! Part 1 focuses on the core Great Demo! methodology while Part 2 offers skills, tips, and truly best practices for:

• Complex Demo Scenarios
• Vision Generation Demos
• Virtual Demos
• Storytelling
• Elements of Style
• Other Forms of Proof (e.g., POCs, POVs, etc.)
• Your Demo Environment
• Implementing the Methodology

If you are new to demos, this is the place to start!

If you are an existing Great Demo! practitioner, this Third Edition serves to update, refresh, and expand your skillset.

And if you’ve been exposed to other demo skills, this is the opportunity to advance to a methodology that has been validated in studies of tens of thousands of demos!

Great Demo! Third Edition is available in paperback, Kindle, and Audiobook versions. You can also contact me for volume purchases as well at PCohan@GreatDemo.com. Looking forward to your feedback on this new edition!

Just Do It in Demos!

Is there anything you do, at work, that you’d want to take any longer than necessary?

Nope.

Then why would we show anything but the shortest possible path to complete example tasks in our demos?

We shouldn’t!

How many times in demos do you hear vendors go on and on (and on and on!) showing multiple options and alternative pathways?

Choose the fewest number of steps to complete all demo pathways!

In Great Demo!, we say, just “Do It”!

No extra steps, no “if”, no “or”, no “also”. Just the shortest path. The fewest number of clicks.

Just Do It!

You’ll find details on this simple, effective, and validated approach in the Third Edition of Great Demo! and Great Demo! Workshops.

Pearls and Epiphanies: One Picture Is Worth 1000 Words; One Illustration Is Worth…?

 

One picture is worth 1000 words; one Great Demo! Illustration is worth 1000 mouse clicks!

A non-U.S. colleague recently asked me about “EZ Access” and similar uses of “EZ”.

They had been trying to sound it out, saying, “Ee-Zed…” and had made no progress. I reminded them that U.S. speakers pronounce the letter “Z” as “Zee”, and hence “EZ” would be interpreted as “Easy”.

“Ohhhh…!” was their response. They commented that all of the other English-speaking countries wouldn’t necessarily have that interpretation!

International English is certainly not EZ (and Bob is not your uncle)!

On one level, we have simple spelling differences, such as “Harbor Tour vs Harbour Tour”.

A bit more challenging are different names for things, such as “trunk vs boot” and “hood vs bonnet”.

And at an even higher level of confusion, ask someone in the U.S. and someone in the UK what it means to “table” something!

Any others to add? 

Webinar Recording – “Discovery Masterclass”

I joined Julien Emery of Superpanel for this delightful discussion:

• Why discovery?
• What is discovery?
• Common questions/challenges, including
• What if a prospect doesn’t want to answer your questions?
• What if someone just wants a demo?
• What if the person doesn’t know the answers?
• What if it is an existing customer – expansion opportunities?
• Discovery framework – with real-life brief examples!
• 5 secrets (which are now no longer secret!)

The actual webinar starts around 3.5 minutes in. You can find the recording here!

Bits About Books – Great Demo! Third Edition Conversation

 

From the host:

“Bits About Books episode #70 featuring Peter E. Cohan, is now live. We welcome him back to BAB and speak with him about the latest edition of his Best Seller ‘𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼! - 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗧𝗼 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 (Third Edition).’

Available in iTunes, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher and all major outlets. It is a Bizcast.in Original Production. Brought to you by Pitch.Link - The Buyer Seller Engagement Platform. 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺!

Most Demos of software fail miserably because they are not crafted with the viewer in mind. They start and end by demonstrating each feature of the software. Within 15 minutes it becomes boring and irrelevant, and the viewers have tuned out. What they should be, instead, is a demonstration of the problem solving ability for the viewer being presented to.

Each person in the buyer organization has a different objective, and a different problem to solve. For the CXO level it is about revenue and long-term growth. They are not interested in the details of how each function within the software functions. So, when presenting to this level, the seller must take into account this requirement, and craft the demo accordingly to address their needs and concerns.

The way to craft captivating demos that resonate with the audience is through focused, conversational storytelling that align with the customers’ problems and show how the software being demonstrated has solved similar problems for other customers in the same category. This helps to engage the audience and improve the effectiveness of demos, in turn, increasing close rates aiding go-to-market strategy.”

You can find this 1-hour recording here. Enjoy!

Two Presales in a Pod – Digging into Discovery

 

How much discovery is enough, and is a disco demo a good thing or bad thing? Peter Cohan joined legume-man Adam Freeman for this 38-minute exploration of:

• How do you know enough discovery is … enough?
• An illustrative story about visiting two doctors – and the answer to the “enough?” question
• Personality differences and “enough”
• Trust and relationship – and discovery
• Asking even when you already know the answers
• Prospects need to feel “heard”
• Culture-based discovery questions
• POCs vs discovery
• Vendor job perspective: salespeople vs presales vs implementation vs customer success
• The Curse of Knowledge revisited
• What to do if something is missing
• Going further than just uncovering pain
• Pain vs Critical Business Issues and risk avoidance
• Vision Generation – earning the right to discover
• “Just Browsing” vs “Active Buying Process” prospects – and No Decision outcomes
• Two great final questions
• Sharing the info during discovery (very effective!)
• “Disco Demos” defined – when should they be used?
• “Monday Morning” as a paradigm for Vision Generation Demos
• The Disco Demo sad reality
• Shameless self-promotion!

You can find the recording here. Enjoy!

Interview: The importance of Discovering Critical Business Issues

Listen to my recent interview with Tom Meerstadt of Cuvama where I share practical tips to avoid “No Decision” outcomes. We explored:

• 2023 sales (and buying) challenges 
• Changing our thinking for 2024
• No Decision outcomes – 45% in typical years
• Three discovery elements that yield No Decision results
• Critical Business Issues as the main reason for No Decision outcomes
• The difference between pain and Critical Business Issues – an automobile example
• Another example: A Head of Sales
• Tips for uncovering Critical Business Issues
• Using “why?” and other insightful questions
• The impact (and challenges!) of Job Title level on uncovering Critical Business Issues
• Why isn’t sufficient discovery done in most organizations?
• What about call recording tools?
• Learning takes place by doing!
• Three discovery elements reprised

You can watch this 25-minute interview here. Enjoy!