When Was the Last Time YOU Were a Customer?

Great Demo! is all about the customer’s perspective – what is it the customer is looking for in the demo, what do they want out of the interaction. 

This suggests two recommendations:

Recommendation Number 1:  Go be a customer.

Many presales folks that were hired fresh out of school (or a few years out of school) have never interacted with a vendor as a customer –and have never seen any other vendors’ demos.  This makes it very hard for them to understand what it is like to be a customer.

So, give them homework.  Tell them, “Go find a software product you are potentially interested in and request a demo from that vendor’s website – and see what happens.  Go through their process:  how long before someone calls you, what do they ask about you, what does the demo seem like, etc.  Go be a customer…!  (No obligation to purchase, of course). 

People often report how surprised they were at what happened and how they were treated – it can be eye-opening!

Recommendation Number 2:  Go be a customer.

Many seasoned presales veterans have forgotten what it is like to be on the customer side of the table.  Regain that lost perspective by executing the exact same homework, as above – sign-up for a demo of a product you have some interest in – and see how you are treated as a customer.  Some things to note:

- How long before you are contacted by the vendor?

- What amount of Discovery do they do (or is it simply a few quick “qualification” questions)?

- Do they inflict a corporate overview presentation – and/or a product overview?

- Do they present a standard “overview” demo or really try to customize it to your specific situation?

- If they are presenting over the web, how much interactivity do they drive?

Now, contemplate your own organization’s demos – how different are they from what you just experienced?

Remote Demos: What Are THEY Seeing?

WebEx, GoToMeeeting, Zoom, Join.Me – there are a large and growing number of web collaboration tools used for presenting demos.  Each tool has its own idiosyncrasies, strengths and weaknesses – and each new release often brings surprises.  Additionally, some customers prefer that you use a tool of their choosing, with which you may be unfamiliar.

Accordingly, here’s a new tip to apply when you are first starting your web session with your customer:  ask them what they are seeing on their end, after you’ve started sharing your screen.  Here’s a quick checklist of items to explore:

- Ask if there are any grayed-out or hashed-out areas (may happen with WebEx). 

- Ask if they have gone full screen or need help to do so. 

- Use “Can you see my mouse in the upper left corner; can you see my mouse in the bottom right corner…” to confirm that they are seeing the same screen real-estate that you want them to see.

- Do a latency check – time how long it takes them to see a new slide or change to your screen.

- “Pause” check – what do they see when you click on “Pause” with your collaboration tool?  Do they see the screen that you were last showing, or a blank screen, or something else?

- Color check:  confirm that what is red/green/blue on your screen is red/green/blue on theirs.

- Font-size check:  confirm that they can see and read your smallest font (or you may have to tell them what it says…).

- Audio check:  can they hear you clearly?  If you are using VOIP (not recommended, generally) confirm that your voice is not breaking up.

- Audio check:  can you hear them clearly?  You may need to have them move microphones around, turn up the volume, or have someone repeat questions and comments.

Any others to add?

[Warning: Shameless Self-Promotion Alert!] Great Demo! Public Workshop – October 12-13

There just a few seats remaining available for our next Great Demo! Public Workshop scheduled for October 12-13 in Sunnyvale, CA (Silicon Valley).  Registration and additional information can be found at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-demo-workshop-on-oct-12-13-2016-registration-22273349187.

Public Workshops are excellent opportunities for individuals, small groups or for teams that have new hires.  They are 1.75-Day Workshops, with the first day focusing largely on core Great Demo! material and the second ¾ day addressing more advanced topics and techniques. 

We’ve found that these sessions are most productive when there are two or more participants from each organization – and best when a combination of sales and presales participants are present (singletons are also fine). This helps to mimic real-life interactions as much as possible, both when preparing demos and delivering them in the role-play sessions.

And Now for Something Completely Different…

A number of Great Demo! practitioners report that customers expect to see traditional, boring, save-the-best-for-last show-up-and-throw-up Harbor Tour demos – and that the Great Demo! approach of getting to the point right away may sometimes cause some confusion.  Here’s a simple solution:  let them know that your demo is going to be different, right from the start!

In other words, set expectations.  Outline the plan for your non-traditional demo right up front, at the beginning of the meeting.  You might say something like, “I’d like to try a new approach to the demo today, with your agreement.  Rather than do the traditional ’45-minute-harbor-tour-overview-of-most-everything’, I’d propose that we start with something rather crisp – we can then expand and go as deep as you’d like.  What do you think?”

This has proven to work very well – other suggestions are welcome!

“Your Current Solution…”

I’ve noted that when vendors describe customer “pain” in terms of “Your current solution…” the apparent pain may be reduced – and can contribute, unintentionally, to “No Decision” outcomes. 

Using “Your current solution” suggests that the customer’s current situation, while perhaps unpleasant, is still a solution – offering a potentially reasonable alternative to making a change.  This is one reason why I recommend using terms such as “Problem”, “Issue”, or “Problems/Reasons” on Situation Slides at the beginning of a demo. 

[For those needing a refresher, Situation Slides crisply describe the customer’s situation and are presented at the very beginning of a demo.  They include key elements of Discovery – and are a leading indicator for successful demos and demo outcomes.]

Managing Questions in Demos – Avoiding the Weeds

Far too often in demos, we get questions that either drive us into the weeds (too much detail) or we jump into the weeds ourselves…  Here are some guidelines for managing questions in Great Demos:

Regarding when and what questions to “Park”:

Great Questions (that don’t need to be parked):

-          Questions from high-ranking people are all “Great Questions” and should be addressed right away (crisply).

-          Questions from most middle-managers should also be addressed right away, unless they are really detailed…

-          Questions that lead to what you wanted to show next or in a few moments.

Good Questions (that should be parked until the appropriate time):

-          Questions early in the demo, particularly when high-ranking people are still present, that will require too much detail or demo pathway to address.

-          Questions that require major shifts in your plan.

-          Questions that are specific to an individual (and not of interest to the balance of the group).

It is often reasonable to ask the group as a whole, “Should we park this for now – or would you like me to address it right away?” when you are not sure…  Note that high-ranking people’s desires override others!

“Can I?” vs. “How do I?”:  Listen carefully to the way questions are asked.  When someone asks, “Can it do xxx?” you may only need to answer “Yes” or “No” (if “Yes”, I generally recommend following with, “Is that sufficient or would you like to see it?” when you are early in the demo…  This is particularly true for high-ranking folks – they often don’t need to see the answer, just hear it.

When some asks, “How do you do xxx?” you are more likely going to have to show a pathway.

Musicians, Improv and Demos

What can we learn and apply to delivering demos from musical performance and improv comedy?  A lot!  Here’s a short set of ideas to get started…

Dynamics – louds and softs.  Musicians and comedians know that the interplay between loud and quiet sections of music and speech set up and release tension, as well as to help “refresh” the audience.  A mono-level delivery is boring…  Using the “B” key in PowerPoint followed by lowering your voice (loudness-wise) causes your audience to lean-in to hear what you are saying. 

The Power of the Pause.  Pauses are terrific – they give time for ideas to sink in, they give the audience an opportunity to ask a question or offer comments, and they help to break your delivery into “chunks”.  They can also be used theatrically to set up and release tension as well, and often well beyond what simple dynamics provide.

“Yes, and…”  One of the cardinal rules in comedic improvisation is to always say “yes” and agree, then extend or develop the idea further (no matter how silly it may be!).  It is also an excellent tool to use when working with customers in demos.  Note that, “Yes, but…” translates to mean “No”.  Conversely, “Yes, and…” enables you to redirect, extend, and drive the conversation as needed. 

Timing.  Comedians and musicians understand the importance of timing.  Timing goes far beyond simply starting, ending and staying in sync – the skilled practitioner in presenting demos uses timing to organize the overall delivery, help define chunks, manage (and park) questions and keep audiences fresh. 

Awareness of surroundings.  Great musicians and improv comedians feed off of their audiences – and we should be doing the same thing in demos.  (And especially when presenting over the web, where it is likely the audience may be tempted to check email, browse the web, leave the room, etc....)

Execution of the performance.  Of course, musicians need to play the music – and play it well.  Delivering a demo requires a similar performance – executing the pathways and specific steps (and following the Great Demo! process, of course!).

Listening carefully and responding thoughtfully.  Great musicians and improv comedians are particularly skilled in listening and responding, listening and responding, listening and responding…  And it is the listening portion that is (clearly!) the most important.  You cannot respond well to what you haven’t heard!

Other ideas to suggest?

[Warning: Shameless Self-Promotion Alert!] Great Demo! Public Workshop – October 12-13

Our next Great Demo! Public Workshop is scheduled for October 12-13 in Sunnyvale, CA (Silicon Valley).  Registration and additional information can be found here.

Public Workshops are excellent opportunities for individuals, small groups or for teams that have new hires.  They are 1.75-Day Workshops, with the first day focusing largely on core Great Demo! material and the second ¾ day addressing more advanced topics and techniques. 

We’ve found that these sessions are most productive when there are two or more participants from each organization – and best when a combination of sales and presales participants are present (singletons are also fine). This helps to mimic real-life interactions as much as possible, both when preparing demos and delivering them in the role-play sessions.

Danger Signs in Remote Demos…

I was listening to a recording of a web-delivered demo today and found myself shaking my head in disbelief as it unfolded:

After the ubiquitous “Can you see my screen…?” the first check-in by the presenter was at minute 17:

Presenter, “Any questions so far?”

Audience Key Person, after a pause, “Nope.”

Next at minute 33:

Presenter, “Any questions on this?”

Audience Key Person, after a slightly longer pause, “Nope.”

And at minute 42:

Presenter, “What do you think so far?”

Audience Key Person, “It’s fine…”

OMG and KMN at minute 46:

Presenter asked about interest in a “really cool” feature…

Audience Key Person responded, “Whatever…”

Frighteningly, the Presenter said, “Awesome!” and plunged ahead with that feature (and more).  Wow…

For solutions to avoid DBRD (Death By Remote Demos), see my several articles on the website at www.SecondDerivative.com/articles.html, including (but not limited to):

Remote Demos - The Role of the Active Conduit

Remote Demonstrations - What Can We Do Better?

Stunningly Awful Remote Demos - The Top Ten List of Inflicting Pain at a Distance

Crisper Great Demos - Leave More Time for Vision Expansion

A recent Great Demo! Workshop participant noted that after he had put the method into day-to-day practice, he experienced an unanticipated advantage to using the Great Demo! methodology – there was more time for relevant vision generation conversations…  This is interesting at two levels:

First, in the demo itself, Great Demo! guides presenters to focus on the Specific Capabilities uncovered and discussed in Discovery – typically resulting in surprisingly crisp demos.  Practitioners report demos being shortened or “encrispened” by 50-60% on average…  Demos that used to consume 60 minutes were comfortably completed in 30-35, for example, with both the vendor and the customer being fully satisfied with the outcome.  Which means that…

Second, because the full meeting time wasn’t consumed with a standard or traditional demo, there was time (often initiated by the customer) to discuss additional needs and other opportunities – resulting in seeding for future sales.  A delightful example of vision expansion in action…!

Stunningly Awful Demos - The Relative Irrelevance of Set-Up Mode

It’s Monday morning and you’ve just arrived in your office – what is the first thing you do? 

• Build a brand new dashboard or report
• Set up your user account and preferences for software you already use everyday
• Configure the options for another software tool you use everyday
• Browse your web favorites and bookmarks
• Check your email…

 For most people, the answers are as follows:

• Nope
• Nope
• Nope
• Likely
• Highly likely

 What do you do when you start your business day on Monday morning?

In Great Demo! Workshops, I often introduce the idea of “Daily-Use Mode” vs. “Set-Up Mode” – where Daily-Use Mode is what most users do frequently in their day-to-day work and Set-Up Mode is what people (administrators, in many cases) do once, rarely or infrequently. 

An example of Set-Up Mode is creating a dashboard or report – something that is typically done only once for that specific dashboard or report.  Daily-Use Mode is when users consume the previously-created dashboard or report in their day-to-day work – which might happen daily, weekly, monthly or on some other cadence.

Sadly, many traditional demos squander far too much time (and audience attention) in Set-Up Mode showing how to build these dashboards and reports, versus showing how these deliverables can be easily consumed. 

Monday Morning Revisited

A terrific way to think about Daily-Use Mode is to contemplate “Monday morning”. 

What do most people do when they arrive at their desks on Monday morning?  They check email.  (Yes, and some browse their favorites/bookmarked websites – and then they check email…!) 

So, consider starting the Daily-Use Mode portion of your demos in email, if possible.  For example, start by saying, “It’s Monday morning and you’ve just arrived in your office…”  You then show an “unopened” message, open it to reveal a link, then click the link to launch a browser that takes the user to the dashboard or report.  The user then consumes the dashboard or report, looking for problems, trends, or opportunities in accord with what your software enables. 

That’s the way most people start their day – why not map to it? 

For Great Demo! practitioners, the above pathway of starting in email and proceeding to the dashboard or report is a truly terrific “Do It” pathway, leading crisply back to a compelling “Illustration”.  Delightful!

“Let me show you how to set this up…”

I was recently watching a series of recorded demos presented by a vendor to their customers and noted two rather astonishing things:

Astonishing Thing Number 1: 

Approximately 50% of the elapsed time of the demo was done showing Set-Up Mode items (setting up the environment, configuring the application, creating and editing templates, forms, reports and dashboards, etc.).  [These demos ranged 60-90 minutes long overall.]

Astonishing Thing Number 2: 

At the end of all this Set-Up Mode activity, the vendor noted, ”Of course, you won’t have to do any of this – we take care of it during implementation, done by our Professional Services team…”

Wait… What did you say?  You just spent 35 minutes showing stuff the customer will never need to use?  [Enter appropriate exclamation of surprise and astonishment here ______.]

Rhetorical Question Number 1: 

Why did they show the Set-Up Mode items at all? 

Rhetorical Answer Number 1: 

Because they (and we) are Victims of Momentum – we tend to do the same things the same way over and over, unless someone gives us a serious shove in a new direction.

Rhetorical Question Number 2: 

What is the impact on the customer of seeing all of the that Set-Up Mode stuff?  

Rhetorical Answer Number 2: 

It makes the software look waaaaaay too complicated.

Cynical Rhetorical Question: 

I’ll bet you’ve never heard that phrase before, from a customer…!

Recommendation:  Put the Set-Up Mode portions of your demos “behind your back” – have the answers ready, but only bring them out in response to specific questions from your customer.  Focus first on Daily-Use Mode interactions, presenting the key deliverables and the business value those deliverables provide your customer (“Illustrations” and “Do It” pathways, in Great Demo! vocabulary).  Intriguingly, it is likely that you can answer most Set-Up Mode questions verbally, without ever moving your mouse, for most audience members.

Question For You:

How much of your current demos are spent showing Set-Up Mode?

“It’s all configuration…”

Many vendors tout how their software can be easily configured vs. requiring extensive (and likely expensive) customization.  This is wonderful and can be an enormous advantage.  However, many vendors also show all the nuances of their extensive configuration capabilities early in a demo – which is typically entirely out of alignment with audience interests at that point in time.

First show Daily-Use Mode; then show Set-Up Mode, if desired by the customer. 

For vendors where configuration capabilities are critical strengths, introduce those ideas during Discovery with your customer so that those capabilities become part of the list of Specific Capabilities your customer wants to see in the demo (but shown at the appropriate time). 

Consider the following four constituencies:

• Senior Management
• Middle Management
• End Users
• IT and/or Administrators

 Which of these groups cares about and needs to see configuration capabilities (or other Set-Up Mode items)?

• Senior Management – does care about, but does not want to see
• Middle Management – may care about, but likely does not need to see much
• End Users – does not care about and does not want to see
• IT or Administrators – does care about and does want to see

 Who will likely be making the decision whether or not to buy – and how important is their opinion?

• Senior Management – extremely high and has the authority to buy
• Middle Management – may make the decision to recommend (but often does not have the authority to buy)
• End Users – may be asked for an opinion that is taken into account
• IT or Administrators – ditto

 Based on this, I recommend satisfying these constituencies in that same corresponding order:

• Senior Management – show relevant Daily-Use Mode items; be prepared to answer questions about Set-Up Mode items (likely verbally, only).
• Middle Management – ditto; may need to show small amounts of Set-Up Mode.
• End Users – likely only interested in Daily-Use Mode as it applies to them.
• IT or Administrators – be prepared to show relevant Set-Up Mode items.

Turn Your Demo Upside Down

For many software vendors, their perception of a “logical progression” for their demos is to start by showing how to configure their system, followed by setting up forms, reports, dashboards, templates, workflows and alerts, followed by running those workflows and – if they don’t run out of time – showing the reports and dashboards.  End result?  Long, complicated, and confusing.

Recommendation?  Turn your demos upside down.

Start with a Daily-Use Mode example that is relevant and desired for the specific constituency you are presenting to – and represents a high-probability Daily-Use Mode scenario – then follow with answers to Set-Up Mode questions, but only if your audience asks them…!

The result will be crisper, more aligned, surprisingly compelling demos that map delightfully to audience interests, delivered in a logical order in accord with audience authority.

Copyright © 2016 The Second Derivative – All Rights Reserved.

Good to Very Good to Great – Coaching Progress With Great Demo!

This is a “two-fer” – two blog ideas in one! 

First, many of you have asked for an example of what a Great Demo looks like – we are well on our way towards that goal.  A few months back, I used the demo coaching tool from Enable.Refract.tv to provide feedback to a good, but fairly traditional demo (delivered by Richard Smith of Refract) as an example of using Refract.  He took the feedback and put it into practice in a second effort – the link below shows excellent improvement and progress towards Great – we’d class this effort as “Very Good” along the continuum. 

https://app.refract.ai/Public/Link/11efa779-bdaf-40d1-be7e-7a7cde83c999?ts=&d=

This second example is about 35 minutes long overall; screen sharing begins at the 1 minute 30 second mark.  In this demo (as in the first example), I am playing the role of a manager of an inside sales team at a software company; Richard is essentially playing himself.  This is a Technical Proof demo, being delivered after Discovery was completed by Richard.

After the recording was completed, Richard sent me the Refract link so that I could next play the role of his manager, offering guidance and suggestions to improve.  My tags and comments are found below the window showing the recording; clicking on a specific tag (with a text icon on the far right) shows my specific notes to Richard, displayed at the top of the list of tags and below the recording window.  You can Pause and Resume the recording as desired.

What’s the “two-fer”?  This is also a wonderful example of using Refract as a method to deliver demo coaching asynchronously.  Richard recorded the demo and simply sent me the recording.  I then used the Refract capabilities to play back the recording, adding my notes and comments at my convenience, then sent the coaching annotations back to Richard (which is what you see in the link above).  Nice!

By the way, for completeness, if you want to compare this “Very Good” job with the first recording, you can find the original in my post of February 2, 2016.

[Warning: Shameless Self-Promotion Alert!] Great Demo! Public Workshops – Next One is October 12-13

Our next Great Demo! Public Workshop is scheduled for October 12-13 in Sunnyvale, CA (Silicon Valley).  Registration and additional information can be found here.

Public Workshops are excellent opportunities for individuals, small groups or for teams that have new hires.  They are 1.75-Day Workshops, with the first day focusing largely on core Great Demo! material and the second ¾ day addressing more advanced topics and techniques. 

We’ve found that these sessions are most productive when there are two or more participants from each organization – and best when a combination of sales and presales participants are present (singletons are also fine). This helps to mimic real-life interactions as much as possible, both when preparing demos and delivering them in the role-play sessions.

Monday Morning – Terrific Daily-Use Mode Example

What do you do when you start your business day on Monday morning?

In Great Demo! Workshops, I often introduce the idea of “Daily-Use Mode” vs. “Set-up Mode” – where Daily-Use Mode is what most users do frequently in their day-to-day work and Set-Up Mode is what people (administrators, in many cases) do once or rarely. 

An example of Set-Up Mode is creating a dashboard or report – something that is typically done only once for that specific dashboard or report.  Daily-Use Mode is when users consume the previously-created dashboard or report in their day-to-day work – which might happen daily, weekly, monthly or other cadence.

Sadly, many traditional demos squander far too much time (and audience attention) in Set-Up Mode showing how to build these dashboards and reports, versus showing how these deliverables can be easily consumed.  A terrific way to think about Daily-Use Mode is to contemplate “Monday morning”. 

What do most people do when they arrive at their desks on Monday morning?  They check email.  (Yes, and some browse their favorites/bookmarked websites – and then they check email…!) 

So, consider starting the Daily-Use Mode portion of your demos in email, if possible.  For example, start by saying, “it’s Monday morning and you’ve just arrived in your office…”  You then show an “unopened” message, open it to reveal a link, then click the link to launch a browser that takes the user to the dashboard or report.  The user then consumes the dashboard or report, looking for problems, trends, or opportunities in accord with what your software enables. 

That’s the way most people start their day – why not map to it? 

For Great Demo! practitioners, the above pathway of starting in email and proceeding to the dashboard or report is a truly terrific “Do It” pathway, leading crisply back to a compelling Illustration.  Delightful!

Another (Very Good) Tool for Remote Demos - Zoom

I recently had a chance to explore using Zoom (www.Zoom.us) and find it to be a very good alternative to WebEx, GoToMeeting and join.me.  The Zoom tool for web conferencing is fast to load, has an excellent selection of annotation tools (a must for presenting demos over the web), nice white-boarding capabilities, plus some very nice video capabilities. 

Zoom offers a range of other communication tools (for webinars, private collaboration rooms, video conferencing, etc.) as well.  I don’t know how pricing compares with other tools.

Any additional comments or feedback on your experiences with Zoom would be appreciated!

A Demo Tragedy (In 2 Acts) – And That Tragedy Could Have Been Averted

I was recently listening to a recording of a truly painful, stunningly awful demo from one of my prospects – and the more I heard, the worse it got…! 

It began poorly with a traditional corporate overview presentation that consumed the first 12 minutes, referencing and listing (among other things) that the vendor serves a broad range of markets – note that the customer operated in a single vertical and had no care about the others…

It deteriorated as the product overview began and detailed a range of options and non-relevant capabilities – including most of the words listed in (but not limited to!) the Content-Free-Buzzword-Compliant Vocabulary List – “flexible, comprehensive, seamless, integrated, robust, best-of-breed…”  Sigh.

The demo went stunningly awful when, after 35 minutes of actual demo, the customer interrupted and said, “You’re showing stuff that is all associated with XXX; we already have tools to deal with that.  We had asked to see how you handle YYY – would you mind moving to that?”

Ouch! 

The demo presenter apparently had not received this information from whoever did Discovery.  Gosh – could this possibly happen?

But wait, there’s more…  The presenter could have rescued the demo at this point by (1) apologizing and then (2) asking a few Discovery questions about the YYY topic, before moving the mouse any further…  However, what do you think happened?

Sadly, the presenter simply changed scripts and commenced his “standard” demo for YYY…  Stunningly awful!  Needless to say, they didn’t get the business!

Bonus observation:  Numerous times the presenter asked, during the demo, “Any questions so far?”  After the first few times the customer simply answered, rather tersely, “Nope.”  That should have been an indication that things were not going well – and an opportunity to change!

Bonus observation #2:  For Great Demo! practitioners, the use of a Situation Slide to facilitate communications between sales and presales would have averted this tragedy...

Being "Qualified" Puts Me On the Defensive...

Want to put a prospect on the defensive?  Ask the following questions too early in an initial call:

“Is this a concrete project?”

“Do you have a budget for this?”

“What is your buying time-frame?”

“Do you have the authority to make the decision?”

I don’t know about you, but when I’m asked these questions in the first few minutes of a call with a prospective vendor (where I am the customer), I’m put off – and put on the defensive.  I grow unwilling to share information, which often forces the vendor into “show-up-and-throw-up” mode.  End result?  I don’t get qualified, Discovery isn’t done, and although I may continue to show some interest, a sale is unlikely to occur.  I’m another candidate for “No Decision”.

Try easing me into the process – ask me what I’d like to accomplish in the call (very rarely do I hear this from a vendor, amazingly enough).  As me a bit about my general situation to get a conversation started.  Ask me a bit about myself, for example (people love to talk about themselves).  Ease into asking me about my challenges and problems – why did I ask to see a demo, for example?  What specific problems am I dealing with?  Ask me some ranging questions to begin to build an understanding of the value of making a change, for me. 

In return, you might tell me how some other customers, in similar situations to what I’ve described so far, have addressed their challenges – and what gains they’ve enjoyed as a result.  Now you might ask me if we should set up a second conversation to explore my situation more fully.  If I respond, “Yes, that’s sounds good…”, then now you can explore some of the qualification questions you’ve been dying to ask:

“Is this a concrete project?”

“Do you have a budget for this?”

“What is your buying time-frame?”

“Do you have the authority to make the decision?”

Why now?  Because since you’ve invested enough time with me asking intelligent questions, listening carefully, and offering intriguing insights, now I’ll be comfortable to answer your qualification questions honestly and without guile.  You’ve earned enough of my trust that I’m willing to share this information with you.

We Just Need a Prius, Not a Tesla...!

Just heard this nice revision of the old expression regarding “Buying it back”.  It used to be (in the U.S.), “We just need a Chevy, not a Cadillac…!” – now, you can hear the same idea communicated in a more up-to-date manner:  “We just need a Prius, not a Tesla…!”  Fabulous…

FYI – for those unfamiliar with the term, “Buying it back”:  this is where you have presented capabilities in a demo that the customer doesn’t perceive they need – and they say, “Either take those capabilities out, or give us a discount…”  That’s “Buying it back”!

Other contributions of the same idea are welcome (what do people say in the UK, on the Continent, in Australia, Japan, etc.?).

SkyTap – Consistent (Working!) Demo Environments…

I recently came across SkyTap, (www.SkyTap.com) an organization that provides cloud-based environments for development, testing, training – and yes, demos and POC’s.  I’ve had the chance to have a couple of conversations with the folks at SkyTap and to see a demo of the environment in action – it looks like an excellent solution to many of the demo environment challenges that we face.  

Very simply, it provides a consistent, stable copy of your demo environment (some might call it their “Gold” environment), accessible 24/7/365 from a web browser.  My understanding is that it is particularly useful for non-SaaS offerings (the more complex the environment, the more valuable it should be).   More information can be found here:  https://www.skytap.com/solutions/enterprise-sales-demos/. 

Any comments or experiences to share using SkyTap?  It seems like a really good thing!

“I’ll Call You At 3:00…” – Time Zone Cluelessness

Not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES last week I received email messages from vendors’ sales and presales folks that presented dates and times for a phone call – but without a time zone indicated…!  Here’s the first example, from a vendor trying to sell me software:

“I’m available at the following times:

·         Tue:  9, 10, 1, 3

·         Wed after 10

·         Fri: 2

…”

Please please please (please) list a time zone when proposing times for a call…!  Sheesh.

By the way, in all three cases the email “signatures” also lacked any indication of location, which would have at least given me (the recipient) a clue… 

[Extra credit quiz question:  how many time zones are there in the U.S.?}

[Warning: Shameless Self-Promotion Alert!] May 18-19 Great Demo! Public Workshop – Last Chance

We have just a few seats remaining available for our upcoming Great Demo! Public Workshop, scheduled for May 18-19 in Sunnyvale, CA (Silicon Valley).  Registration and additional information can be found here.

Public Workshops are excellent opportunities for individuals, small groups or for teams that have new hires.  The May session will be a 1.75-Day Workshop, with the first day focusing largely on core Great Demo! material and the second ¾ day addressing more advanced topics and techniques.  

“Let Me Show You What’s Going On ‘Behind the Scenes’…” More Demo Ineptitude

How many times have you heard someone say, in a demo, “Let me explain what is happening behind the scenes…”?  As an audience member, do you typically care about these details?  (Nope).  Do high-ranking managers typically want to see or learn these details?  Nope.

And yet, the more technical the offering, and the more technical the presenter, the more often we hear these frightening words spoken.

Contemplate the following two examples:

You are considering purchasing a hybrid car.  What is the most important thing you care about, with respect to that car?  The answers are typically “gas mileage” or “the environment”.  For those of you who have considered a hybrid, have you looked at the batteries?  (Possibly).  Did you care that “the battery pack of the second generation Toyota Prius consists of 28 Panasonic prismatic nickel metal hydride modules—each containing six 1.2 volt cells—connected in series to produce a nominal voltage of 201.6 volts. The total number of cells is 168, compared with 228 cells packaged in 38 modules in the first generation Prius….”  (http://www.hybridcars.com/hybrid-car-battery/).  (Nope).  Similarly, did you care how the car decides when to change from full electric to gas engine?  (Nope).

Have you ever purchased a book on Amazon using the “Buy now with 1-Click” button?  Do you care what happens “behind the scenes” when you click that button?  (Nope).  All you really care about is getting your copy of your book delivered to your tablet or mailbox.  (You are welcome to run this experiment yourself by purchasing a copy of “Great Demo!”).  Do you care how many separate vendors and steps are involved (Amazon, credit card company, merchant bank, database tracking your history, printer, packager, shipper, etc. etc. etc.)?  Nope.

Yes, there are certainly some people who are interested in “what goes on behind the scenes”, but they are fewer in number –and are typically lower-ranking.

Recommendations?

Before you (or your team) dives into a detailed show-and-tell of “what’s happening behind the scenes” ask yourself is this important (to the customer) or necessary to learn?  Or, at least, ask the customer if he/she/they would like to know these details before plunging in…!

Curious Thoughts On Coaching, Demos, Life, the Universe and Everything… But Mostly on Coaching

I recently completed an interview with the fine folks at Refract (http://enable.refract.tv/enable-blog/musings-from-a-software-demo-guru-an-interview-with-peter-cohan/) that explores a range of topics, then settles down and explores coaching for presales (and demos, in particular) – and a curious thought struck me:

Very few presales managers have ever been taught how to coach…! 

This is intriguing and gently frightening…  Think about it:  most front-line presales managers are promoted from their previous individual contributor positions into their new manager roles because they excel at presales.  In many cases, they are given their new roles without any training on how to manage.  In nearly all cases, they are expected to coach their new team, but are never provided with training on how to coach.

The result is a negative feedback loop: 

VP:  “You need to coach your team…” 

Presales Manager:  “I try to tell them what to do…” 

VP:  “Well, do it better…”

Presales Manager (inwardly):  “Arrrrrrgh….!”

Interestingly, many arenas outside of the business world require coaches to learn how to coach.  Example?  Some years ago I volunteered as assistant coach for my daughter’s soccer team.  I’d played soccer for years (reasonably good goalie at one point) and knew the game – and figured I should be able to coach the girls.  However, I was surprised to learn that the league required all prospective coaches to learn how to coach – and I had to take a 2-day course on coaching.  I was even more surprised to find how useful (and ultimately important) it was to have learned those coaching skills (partly to help develop the team and partly to manage the parents on game day…!).

Brief segue:  What is the difference between training and coaching?  You can train someone to follow a process; coaching explores how well that process is being executed and makes improvements in performance.  Training introduces process; coaching improves the performance of that process. 

For example, you can teach someone how to run a 5 kilometer race:  you start, pace yourself over the first 4.5 kilometers, and then “kick” the last half a kilometer to finish.  The runner listens to the instructions, then runs the course as best he/she understands or interprets the plan.  That’s training.

Coaching is what happens next.  A Coach, who has watched and timed our athlete during the run, reviews what happened with him/her – and offers corrections and changes.  “Start a bit faster; remember to focus on smooth, steady breathing, and when you see the final half kilometer distance sign you can start your ‘kick’ – increase steadily over that half a km so that you are at top speed in the last 100m before the finish line.”  That’s coaching – working to improve the performance of the process.

Our athlete (after a bit of a rest), runs the course again, focusing on the guidance from the coach – and sees some significant improvement.  Importantly, that’s the positive feedback loop that coaching enables.

So, for you new (and experienced) presales managers, Is there hope on the horizon for you who wish to coach (or coach better)?  Why, yes!  For Great Demo! practitioners and their managers, I can provide coaching tools and guidance on how to coach – simply send me an email if you’d like to start the conversation at PCohan@SecondDerivative.com. 

Are there any additional sources for learning coaching skills you've come across?

Podcast: An Interview with Peter Cohan

Scott Sambucci, who leads SalesQualia, drives a discussion with me on demos, life, the universe and everything (OK, mostly on demos).

LISTEN NOW: http://traffic.libsyn.com/salesqualia/Peter_Cohan.mp3

Here’s Scott’s description of what we covered and more detailed notes:

• Why you only have once chance at a product demo and how to do it right the first time.

• There no such thing as standard demos and how to discover the “Critical Business Issues” of your target accounts in preparing your demos.

• “The Curse of Knowledge” and how answering your prospect’s questions before they ask can KILL your demo.

• How to demo your software crisply…!

Notes:

• How did Peter get into demo skills training.

• Do the Last Thing First – don’t teach people how things work, rather show them what good things will help them solve their problems.

• Assembling and using data from demos, delivery and sales results.

• Doing it right the first time – your demos will be much shorter and you’ll likely do fewer demos to get the business.

• No such thing as a standard customer/demo.

• Doing Discovery, ask sufficient questions to be able to design a demo that fits the customer’s need.

• The “Curse of knowledge”, when you have seen it all before and you forget that every customer is unique. 

• Pre-answering questions before they are asked takes away the role of the audience.

• How to address having new people in the meeting that you haven’t had a chance to do needs assessment with.

• Always start a demo with three questions:  What’s your name, job title and what would you like to accomplish?

• Turning the demo from being all about the vendor to all about the customer.

• Use the fewest number of steps to complete any particular task.

• Manage your infrastructure. Expect your hard disk will crash! Be ready for anything.

• Do the Last Thing First reprised. 

The entire podcast runs just about 1 hour in length – that should be just about perfect for 1 or 2 commutes…!

Go BE A Customer… Why?

I am often surprised at how many participants in Great Demo! Workshops have never been a customer – or have never seen another vendor’s demos.  This lack of experience – and perspective – makes it hard for these participants to understand what a “Bad” demo looks like (and hence, what “Good” or “Great” might look like).  For these “newbies”, I have a strong recommendation:  go out and BE a customer.  For the seasoned veterans, see my “Additional Note” below…

Here’s the assignment:

Find a software package you are earnestly interested in and become a prospect for that vendor.  Experience, first-hand, what if feels like to be a lead.  You’ll likely get a call in response to signing-up for information or a demo; you’ll likely see a “standard” demo.  Make notes on how the vendor treats you, how you feel about the experience along the way, what kinds of questions they ask before talking about their product or plunging into a demo.  Make notes about the demo itself:  what did you like; what did you find boring or pointless?  How interactive was it vs. a firehose delivery?  How much of the demo were capabilities you were interested in seeing?

If you choose to buy the product, great!  Continue to note the post-purchase experience, as well.  Installation, implementation, initial use, help as needed… Did they reach out to you later on to “upsell”?  Was this a “Land and Expand” experience?

If you don’t purchase the product, no worries – you are under no obligation!  However, continue to note how the vendor continues to pursue you and your reactions.

Overall, this experience is critical to gaining a sufficient understanding of how YOU want to be treated as a prospect and customer.  Use this when reflecting on your own sales processes and demos…!

[Additional Note:  This is a great idea even if you have had previous experience on the customer side of the table.  It helps to stay current on how vendors are operating today…!]

[Additional Additional Note:  This is a great idea for on-boarding new presales (and sales) hires)]