Great Demo! Demonstration Effectiveness Workshop

OVERALL OBJECTIVES

Establish a framework, including skills and processes, to create and deliver improved software demonstrations to increase success in the sales and deployment of your organization’s offerings.

Sub-objectives:

• Improve demonstration quality and effectiveness, by implementing a standard process and tools for demonstrations.
• Establish and communicate clear objectives for each demo.
• Increase probability of success for demo outcomes for real-life situations.
• Improve communication, preparation and follow-up between sales and presales.
• Reduce the cost of sales by using demos more judiciously.
• Increase the average deal size and/or sell additional products and services.
• Increase existing subscription expansion and renewals.

WORKSHOP DELIVERABLES AND SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Participants will learn how to:

1. Determine the right content for a demonstration, based on the customer’s business needs and objectives.
2. Organize the content in a novel, logical progression that maps to audience needs and depth of interest – and engage and prove your capabilities within the first six minutes of the demonstration.
3. Prepare demonstrations using the new method.
4. Present demonstrations with the highest probability of success in achieving the desired objectives.
5. Manage a range of real-life situations and scenarios.

Participants complete the Workshop equipped with:

1. A newly constructed, highly compelling demonstration of your software, targeted specifically for a typical key scenario.
2. The ability to apply the method to develop equally targeted and compelling demonstrations for other scenarios, products, and situations.

The Great Demo! methodology delivers targeted “what’s in it for me?” benefits right up front, followed by rapid, targeted proof, and then further, more detailed exploration in accord with the audience’s level and depth of interest.  This proven, highly successful method maps extremely well to the specific needs and constraints of audiences that can include senior management, middle management, end users, and IT staff.

DESCRIPTION

1-Day and 1.5-Day Sessions:

The Workshop begins by introducing the method and typical results, generating interest in the participants to learn more.  An understanding of what constitutes demonstrations and the purposes for delivering demonstrations is developed, followed by exploring the reasons why demonstrations can fail and the resulting impact on the organization.

Next, a method is presented that provides the participants with the tools and processes to ensure that the qualification and discovery information necessary to create successful demonstrations is uncovered and communicated.  This segment introduces qualification and discovery steps and methods, and defines roles and expectations for Sales and Technical staff.  Customer-derived qualification and discovery information is then mapped to the specific capabilities to be demonstrated.

Role-play exercises are used to establish the concepts and skills in day-to-day practice for the participants.  The scenarios generated by the participants during role-play are developed further during the course of the Workshop.

The key components for a demonstration are then developed, including the Customer Situation, Illustrations, “Do It” and “Peel Back the Layers” demo pathways.  Components are created in exercises and presented by the participants to the Workshop attendees in role-play, cementing the concepts and establishing desired behavior.  The components are developed and added to the growing demo, with each subsequent role-play reinforcing the skills previously learned.

The method developed up to this point in the Workshop is designed for “ideal” situations, providing participants with a simple, effective process to follow and generating confidence.  The next segments of the Workshop expand the participants’ toolkit to enable improved success with “real-life” situations.

Proven methods for handling questions, changes in agendas, and other interruptions are introduced and practiced.  The use of Demonstration Roadmaps is presented in conjunction with multi-solution and multi-customer-role demonstrations.

Wrap-up for 1-Day Session Participants.

1.5-Day Session:

The second morning provides sufficient time to extend role-play to embrace more “real-life” situations.  Participants incorporate the skills developed on Day 1 and present their new demonstrations “top-to-bottom” during the final role-play exercises.

The additional time also enables exploration of additional demonstration challenges and topics.  Example topics include Remote Demonstrations (e.g., via WebEx), Managing and Out-flanking Competition, Uncovering and Leveraging Value, RFP’s and Scripted Demos, New Product Roll-out Scenarios, Team Tactics (sales/presales choreography),  Managing POC’s and others.