Gwabbit – Capturing Email Contact Information Automatically

Ever found yourself cutting and pasting email signature information, line-by-line-by-line-by-line, into an Outlook contact record? Technicopia has produced a nifty little utility that makes this a one-click process.

Gwabbit (www.Gwabbit.com) is an Outlook Add-in that provides this capability. $19.95 purchase price; free trial available as well. Nice tool!

Webinar Links: Make Your Numbers over the Web: Compelling Presentations and Demos for Inside Sales

[Warning: Shameless semi-self promotion!]

Here are links to my two most recent webinars, both entitled "Make Your Numbers over the Web: Compelling Presentations and Demos for Inside Sales". The first was targeted for U.S. audiences; the second for UK and European folks. Enjoy!

http://learn.gotomeeting.com/forms/060309-NA-G2MC-WBRARC?ID=701000000005DBC

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/519679179

In each webinar, a Citrix inside sales manager shared experiences to set the stage; I then presented ideas on how to engage a prospect, gather key pieces of information conversationally, and provide a brief demo in accord with the prospects' interest.

While the ideas are generally applicable to a range of sales situations, the content of this webinar was focused primarily on those working with highly "transactional" sales processes (many small orders).

Photo Clip Art Tips 2 of 3: Sources and Rights to Use

While great photos abound around the web, a few sources are set up specifically for presentations and similar uses. There are two main issues to be aware of:

1. Copyrights
2. Costs

Generally speaking, we should not simply copy images from company websites or the “image” areas of Google and Yahoo – these images are generally marked directly or indirectly with “Copyright xxx – All rights reserved”, meaning these images are not being offered for use. Using them, in fact, puts your organization at risk of copyright infringement. [The same is true for copying comic strips or “Dilbert”...]

Here are a few sources that I’d recommend, along with comments on copyright and cost (caveat: based on my understanding – you should check on your own to be sure!):

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx

This is Microsoft’s clip art website, specifically created to support users of PowerPoint and other MS applications. A subset of these images is typically installed on computers with Office. The online listing is more “evergreen” and tends to include old and new images.

The great news about all of these images is that they are (1) able to be used freely (no copyright restrictions) and (2) can be used free of charge.

Searching is simple – in both meanings of the phrase. You may have to browse through piles of thumbnails to find images that work best for you.

http://www.istockphoto.com and www.fotolia.com

iStockphoto and fotalia each have a large range of images – some of which are really terrific – for sale. Searching is more effective than with the Microsoft website, in my opinion, and there are capabilities to rapidly expand each image to get a better view than in a thumbnail.

Pricing is based on buying “credits” which then are used to purchase images. Usage rights start at one-person-one-computer and can extend to larger, corporate-use arrangements. Images are typically prices in accord with resolution – higher resolution images require more credits. Images are also typically available in a range of sizes.

Cost for a typical image suitable for a PowerPoint presentation by projector (or the web) runs from ~$1-4. You generally have the right to use that image as many times as you like, without time or geographic restriction.

Other sources you’d recommend? Please let me know!

Photo Clip Art Tips – 1 of 3

Using photos in presentations can be a much stronger method of communicating ideas than using bulleted text. (After all, if “one picture is worth a thousand words” then you’d need a pile of PowerPoint bullets to achieve the equivalent…!)

For Great Demo! Illustrations, photos showing frustration, piles of paperwork, stacks of files and related photos can be terrific “before” images.

A number of presentation skills books recommend the same idea including:

- Beyond Bullet Points – Cliff Atkinson – available on Amazon.com
- Presentation Zen – Garr Reynolds – available on Amazon.com

In a live presentation or demo, an evocative photo enables and supports the verbal message you are delivering. Contrariwise, a long list of bulleted sentences on a slide forces the audience to read – and ignore the presenter’s words.

Interestingly, “real” photos have proven to be much more effective than drawn clip art. Consider reviewing your “in-use” presentations and overhaul them:

- Remove old drawn clip art and replace, as appropriate, with real photos
- Explore where you can condense text – shorten sentences to phrases
- Seek to replace slides of text with one or two strong photo images

I’ll explore a few sources for good photos and guidelines for use (size, orientation) in the next few tips.

Great Demo! Webinars

[Warning – shameless self-promotion alert!] Our next webinar is scheduled for June 3rd at 11:00 AM Pacific Time, on Surprisingly Compelling Demos for Inside Sales – Making Your Numbers Over the Web. Citrix will be hosting this event – you can register here for the event.

Another Citrix webinar is scheduled for June 23rd for European audiences on a related topic, at 3:00 PM London time. Please contact me for registration information at PCohan@SecondDerivative.com.

www.salesengineer.com

Looking for new position? Looking to hire presales staff?

www.salesengineer.com appears to be a bulletin-board service to enable job-seekers and companies to connect. You need to register – I’m not sure whether a fee is involved either direction. Feedback solicited!

Why Structure Your Demos Like News Articles?

Pick up this morning’s newspaper or scan today’s web news and consider two things:

1. How you select which articles to read
2. How the articles are written

News organizations have been presenting information for several hundreds of years, in print and now via the web, and they have learned some highly effective practices that we can employ in demonstrating software.

Consider organizing your demonstrations like a news article. Here’s why:

Imagine you’ve just picked up today’s newspaper. What section do you turn to first? In many cases, people immediately select the sports section, or finance, or entertainment. Readers explore that section is as much depth as desired, then turn to the next section of interest.

Newspapers (and news websites) organize information in a hierarchy of consumable components – components that can be accessed rapidly, explored as deeply as desired, and the exited at any point to move to the next component. The top level of the news hierarchy is the section – sports, finance, international, entertainment, comics…

Next, how do you choose which article you want to read? Typically, you scan for headlines that catch your interest. For many articles, you may only read the headline and move on rapidly – you’re not interested in the topic. Other articles engage your attention sufficiently to review the first few paragraphs, after which you stop and move on. Some articles you read all the way through, because they address a topic of real interest to you.

Each individual article is cleverly organized to enable readers to make rapid decisions about their depth of interest. The headline presents the topic – providing a binary opportunity for readers to pursue it or move on. The first one or two paragraphs of the article summarize the story, concisely. Many readers are completely satisfied with this level of information and read no further, returning to scan other headlines.

The subsequent paragraphs drill deeper and explore the story in more detail. Readers who are truly interested in the topic are the typical consumers of this level of information.

This organization and presentation of information is sometimes referred to as the “inverted pyramid” style of writing. It presents the most important information right at the beginning, in the first few paragraphs. Material in subsequent paragraphs is more and more detailed and of less importance.

In the bad old days of paper and ink, newspaper editors were able to cut articles to fit the space available – by cutting from the bottom of the article upwards. That way they knew they’d be removing the least important information.

News organizations have evolved this “inverted pyramid” method of presenting information over literally hundreds of years. Why not take advantage of this learning?

Consider organizing your demonstrations like a news article. Present a “headline” succinctly and rapidly. In Great Demo! methodology we call this an Illustration.

Assuming your audience is interested, present the key capabilities using a minimum of mouse clicks – like reading the first one or two paragraphs in a news article. The audience just wants a summary at this point – not all of the details! This corresponds to the Great Demo! “Do It” pathway.

Finally, for audiences that are really interested, you can dig deeper and explore the breadth and depth of the relevant capabilities – similar to those who wish to read more of the article. In Great Demo! we call this “Do It Again” or “Peel Back the Layers”.

Interestingly, also note that there are very few readers of the news who read everything in a newspaper or news website – similarly, you are not obligated to present everything that your software can do...!

News organizations present information in a hierarchy of consumable components – why not apply the same ideas to your demos?

Demo Builder – Tool for Preparing Recorded Demos

A Great Demo! Workshop participant noted another tool for creating recorded demos: Demo Builder, from Tanida Inc. Here is their contact information and more about the tool itself:

Sales@demo-builder.com
http://www.demo-builder.com/
+1 (914) 410-6429
2313 Lakeshore Blvd. W #914
Toronto
M8V 1A8, Canada

From their website:

“Demo Builder is the experts authoring tool of choice for creating professional and fully interactive application simulations, presentations and tutorials. The best part is that Demo Builder is so easy to use! Unlike some other tools, with Demo Builder there is no complex interface and no previous programming knowledge is required. You'll be up and running and creating superior presentations in no time. Your audience will love it and you'll get the results you deserve.

Demo Builder version 7 further extends and expands on the features available in previous versions to enable you to create audio-visual Flash movies that show how software, systems and processes work. It offers the ability to capture all actions taken in a running application, which can then be edited and annotated to produce interactive demonstrations and simulations.”

A free trial version is available for download.

Pricing is currently as follows:

Professional Version: $249 for 1 user; $559 for 3 users; $869 for 5 users.
Standard Version: $199 for 1 user; $449 for 3 users; $699 for 5 users.

Feedback solicited…!

Dyyno - Video and Application Sharing Tool

I note the launch of a new web collaboration and sharing tool called Dyyno Personal Channel (http://www.dyyno.com/) and related tools.

It looks like Dyyno is working to address one of the weaknesses of the “WebEx” flock of offerings: the inability by the current vendors’ tools to rapidly render graphics-intensive applications.

They do not yet support Macintosh, which may be important if your audience is not entirely PC-based. In any case, they are offering a 1-month free trial period, so you can explore for yourself…

Feedback welcomed…!

Nice “Adaptive” Touch…

In a recent Great Demo! Workshop, held in a company’s training room, I noted a box full of various power-plug adapters for the use of the participants who may have arrived from out of the country. This was welcomed and several of the adapters were used during the Workshop. Nice touch!

Loss of Trust and Credibility

In a recent Great Demo! Workshop, an audience member suggested adding an item to the list of “What bad things happen when the demo goes poorly”: Loss of trust and credibility between sales and presales.

Very good point – this can be extremely damaging on a personal level in addition to a team or organizational level.

What Do Cookbooks Have to Do with Demos?

You are paging through a new cookbook, trying to get ideas for an upcoming important meal. Which recipes do you tend to explore – those that are simply text descriptions or those that also include a photo of the finished dish?

Cookbook publishers know that most readers prefer cookbooks with photos of the finished product. The pictures help readers gain a rapid understanding of what the completed recipe should look like – if it looks appetizing, it has a higher likelihood of being pursued.

The Great Demo! concept of Illustrations works the same way: the prospect is presented with an image of what the final deliverable looks like, right at the beginning of the demo. If the end deliverable looks interesting, the prospect will be more likely to pursue exploring the offering further.

This suggests that we should work to make our Illustrations and end deliverables appear to be as appetizing as possible!

Customer’s Perspective: The Impact of the Initial Screen in a Demo

I met a CFO on a plane flight recently who commented on the importance of the first screen he sees in a software demo. He noted that the more complicated that first screen appears to be, the less likely he will be to purchase the product.

He also commented that a key point here is “appearance”:

- He said that some screens that could have been perceived as complicated were made simple and clear by equally simple and clear descriptions by the demo presenter;

- Conversely, he also said that other screens started off appearing to be easy to understand, but became complicated and confusing by the too detailed and lengthy verbal descriptions.

Albert Einstein summed this up nicely when he observed, “Everything should be a simple as possible, but not simpler…”

What Does a Jigsaw Puzzle Have to Do with Demos?

Imagine that someone has just dumped a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle on a table in front of you – a large pile of unintelligible puzzle pieces – but you cannot see the box cover.

(And for those who are experienced at working jigsaw puzzles, to make things even tougher imagine that the puzzle appears to have no distinct edges…)

Where do you begin? Without a clear understanding of what the puzzle is supposed to look like, it will be very tough to complete it.

Imagine being presented a demo delivered the same way – lots of individual pieces but no clear picture of the end result…

On the other hand, if you are shown a picture of the completed puzzle up-front, then you have a reasonable possibility of working the puzzle. Similarly, it you are shown the end result of a demo at the beginning, then you have an understanding of how the various pieces contribute to the end deliverable.

A jigsaw puzzle is a wonderful example of a Great Demo! before-and-after Illustration in practice. The “before” is the image of the pile of confusing puzzle pieces; the “after” is the picture of the completed puzzle.

Great Quote

“Sure, I can show you a day-in-the-life demo, but it will take a week…!”

- Great quote from a Great Demo! Workshop participant.

Another Reason to Arrive 15 Minutes Early for Web Meetings…

This sadly funny video shows why you may want to consider setting the time for your web meeting to start 15 minutes before the formal meeting is scheduled to begin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5bduokoNN8.

The folks at Glance (http://www.glance.net/) offer an alternative, “instant on” web meeting tool that also helps to address the problem so wonderfully articulated in the video.

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