Disrupt Your Demos
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Demo Environment #6: The Deep Dive Demo
Congratulations! You’re first demo went so well that you were awarded the dubious honor of presenting your solution all over again! Hooray! But seriously, chances are in your initial demo you hit all the high points, and on this follow up, you are expected to do a deeper dive. Here you really get to show off your depth (or lack) of knowledge. You get to show some of the more detailed features of your solution and really roll your sleeves up. But there are some unique features to a follow up demo that can be taken advantage of due to the nature behind a follow up demo. There are 3…
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Demo Environment #4: The Webinar Demo
As Solution Consultants, we are often the ones tapped to be the ‘talent’ on a marketing webinar, and I gotta say, this is probably the most polarizing type of demo for an SC. On the one hand, it’s very controlled so you can be sure that you will be able to stay on script (‘Scripters‘ love this kind of demo). On the other hand, it’s like speaking into the vacuum of outer space, because the audience is typically muted, so you don’t get any immediate feedback. It’s like sports during the pandemic of 2020; athletes are playing but you can’t hear the roar of the crowd. Webinars are great because…
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Demo Environment #3: The Trade Show Floor Demo
There’s really only one tip I need to give for when someone walks up to your booth and asks to see a demo. DON’T DO IT. It’s generally a big waste of time. 1. The people that ask to see demos at conferences are never the decision makers. 2. Your shooting in the dark. You really don’t know what their needs are and could hurt yourself by leading them down the wrong path. 3. The environment is noisy, awkward, and crowded. How effective can you really be? So avoid doing one on one demos on the trade show floor if possible. But in the rare situations where you decide it’s worth it,…
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Demo Environment #2: The Web Demo
Nowadays the remote demo is the bread and butter of most Pre-Sales Consultants. And understandably so. Tools like GotoMeeting, Webex, or Zoom give an SC the ability to connect to prospects with technology like never before. For me, over 90% of my demos are done over the web. Although you don’t get the same non verbal cues you would on an in person demo, you can leverage the features that the sharing technology offers when you remotely demo. Here are some things you can do in a web demo you can’t easily do live. Record the session: Sometimes I wish I had a DVR for life. I could rewind it…
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Demo Environment #1: The Live Demo
One of my favorite recent movies is The Greatest Showman. It’s just so much damn fun! For the uninitiated it’s a movie loosely based on the life of PT Barnum. Barnum famously said: “No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.” The live demo, where you are onsite, live and in person, presents the greatest opportunity to stand out from the crowded competition. Here are my top 5 tips for when you are live and in the flesh presenting to a single company. Give them a taste – There’s no faster way to bridge a prospect from where they are to what might be than letting them get behind…
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Blog Series: Adjusting to Different Demo Environments
If every demo was the same, i would have left this career a long time ago. As a matter of fact, I think that the fact that there are so many various arenas of combat is what makes it so interesting. Like gladiators, sometimes we find ourselves in a dust bowl on the edge of civilization and other times we are in the Coliseum. OK maybe I’m being overly dramatic. What I mean is that the demo you give in your PJ’s over Zoom should not be the one you give in front of a group of conference attendees (besides the wardrobe of course). Over the next several blog posts…
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Why I don’t take notes anymore in demos.
You know how it goes. Someone in the audience asks a question, or wants to see a specific feature. We do a little ‘discovery on the fly’ to confirm our understanding. Then we address the question with an answer and a quick demo of the feature. Straight forward so far. My problem comes in the follow up. Obviously if someone asked about a specific feature, it’s important to them. This should be used by your sales rep as they reiterate value and move to close. But here’s the rub. I suck at taking notes. So when it comes time to debrief with my rep, I have to rely on my…
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The Designated Driver Demo
Imagine you are shopping for a new car. You’ve done your homework. It has the right specs, looks great on the lot, and you’ve read all the reviews. Time for a test drive. The salesman pulls the car around and tells you from the drivers seat to hop in, so you jump into the passenger seat. He cruises around city streets and highways while yapping on about this feature and that. Before you know it your back at the dealer lot. But instead of giving you a turn behind the wheel, the salesman asks if your ready for paperwork. As ridiculous as this may sound, a lot of my demos…
