New Year, Refreshed Perspective: When Was the Last Time YOU Were a Customer?

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

For the Seasoned Presales Veterans:  Go be a customer.

Many presales practitioners have forgotten what it is like to be on the customer side of the table.  Regain that lost perspective by signing-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 was it simply a few quick “qualification” questions)?
• Do they inflict a corporate overview presentation on you – 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?

For Those New to Presales:  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 on the customer side of the table.

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, and what does the resulting demo seem like to you?”  

Summary:  People often report how surprised they are at what happens and how they are treated – it can be eye-opening.  Go be a customer…!  

Software Toolkit Companies: Take a Lesson From Home Meal Kits

Software toolkit companies often struggle to build a vision of what outcomes are possible using their tools.  Customers are often confused by statements from toolkit vendors such as:

Vendor Says:  “You can build anything you want…!”

Customer Thinks:  “I’m not sure what I need…”

Vendor Says:  “You can monitor nearly everything…!”

Customer Thinks:  “I don’t really know what to monitor – or why…”

Vendor Says:  “You can glue all these things together…!”

Customer Thinks:  “Why would I want to do that…?”

While Early Adopters “get it” – they have the ability to generate their own vision of how these toolkits can be used – sadly, nearly everyone else (roughly 85% of the population) don’t “get it” – they need to see examples of the end result.

Consider home-delivered meal kit companies – they have a similar challenge, but solve it readily – and what they do provides a great example for software toolkit folks…!

What home meal kit companies don’t do is to show a list of ingredients and invite consumers to decide what specific ingredients they want – and how to put them together.  That’s exactly one of the challenges that the home meal kit firms have addressed.  “I could go to the market and get a bunch of stuff, but I have no idea what to make…”

Instead, home meal kits engage by showing a weekly menu of completed, plated, delicious-looking meals – photos of steaming, mouth-watering dishes, carefully plated and often displayed on tablecloths with napkin, fork, and a glass of wine…  A complete vision of the end result.  No guesswork.

What does the customer receive?  The kit to make that specific meal – with exactly the right ingredients, in the correct amounts, with step-by-step instructions.

Software toolkit companies can apply these same ideas:

1. Generate Vision by showing the completed entity that was built from the toolkit – with a clear description of what the end-result is, how it would be used, that the value gained through its use.
2. Provide the “kit” that enables that end-result to be created, along with clear instructions on how to execute.

In Great Demo! methodology, these end-results are Illustrations – and showing a crisp example of a few steps in the creation process might be a typical “Do It” pathway. 

Bon appétit…!

Recent Webinar on Remote Demos - Recording Available

I joined the fine folks at Zoom for a crisp, delightful session on delivering Remote Demos…

The name of the game in Remote Demos is interactivity…!  We shared how to take your vibrant personality, push it through the internet, reach out to your audience, grab them, and bring them back with you.  We introduced the latest success practices for delivering crisp, compelling and effective demonstrations to audiences that you can’t see – and keep them engaged throughout.

The resulting Remote Demos are as close to being in-person as today’s technology allows.

You can view the webinar recording here.