Recap and Audio From “Lessons Learned Implementing Great Demo! Methodology”

We offered a Book Club for Business Impact webinar on Sep-4-2012 that addressed  “Lessons Learned Implementing The Great Demo Methodology” based on the Great Demo! book by Peter Cohan. We had two change agents join us on the panel: Barry Nelson and Jolie Rollins and our intent, consistent with the Book Club’s promise, elicit actionable insights from the panel informed by the book’s content.

Here is the audio track

Or download directly from  Implementing  Great Demo Methodology 9-4-12 (MP3)

Here is all of the relevant text from the slides with the addition of questions asked by the audience as they were posed to the panel.

Today’s Panel

• Barry Nelson, CEO, FactorLab, Inc.
  • CEO, FactorLab, Inc. FactorLab helps teams engage in the good practices that give them a competitive advantage. Helped over 100 organizations- bridge the gap between good processes, good people and good execution
• Jolie Rollins,, Consultant Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) and Change Management Leader.
  • Prior management roles at gloStream,  Allscripts, Misys, and Medic; BA Accounting, North Carolina State University
• Organizer: Sean Murphy, SKMurphy, Inc.
  • CEO SKMurphy, Inc.  Consults on technology market creation and new technology product introduction. Earlier at Cisco, 3Com, AMD has BS Mathematical Sciences, MS Engineering-Economic Systems, Stanford University
• Moderator: Peter Cohan, The Second Derivative
  • Founder, The Second Derivative. Provides sales training with a focus on “Great Demo!” method. Prior executive roles at Symyx Discovery Tools, Elsevier, and MDL Information Systems. BS Chemistry University of California at San Diego

Overview of Great Demo! Method

• A Great Demo: Do the Last Thing First!
• 2 Types of Demos
  • Technical Proof
  • Vision Generation
• Key Steps in Great Demo
  • Introduce – Summarize Situation
  • Illustrate
  • Do It – Do The Last Thing First
  • Q&A: Peel Back the Layers
  • Summarize
• Preparing For a Demo: Agree on Customer Situation (“Situation Slide”)
  • Job Title and Industry
  • Critical Business Issue
  • Problems/Reason
  • Specific Capabilities Sought
  • Delta over Status Quo
  • Time Frame / Impending Event

Questions that panel addressed:

• Q: You mention win, loss, and “no decision.” What is your definition of “no decision” and why is the “no decision” rate important?
• Q: What is a critical business issue?
• Q: What are good questions that uncover specific capabilities sought and time frame for decision?
• Q: What was a key challenge you had to overcome to implement the Great Demo! methodology at your company?
• Q: Is it easier for startups before they have customers?
• Q: How do you convince startup engineers to discuss only a few cool new features?
• Q: How do you get entrepreneurs to focus on the customer in a demo and not the product?
• Q: What bad demo habits are the hardest to get rid off?
• Q: What good demo habits are the most important to develop?
• Q: How do you handle it when someone says “I’ve been selling/doing demos for a decade, you can’t tell ME how to do them!” ?
• Q: What’s the best way to respond to “I already know this, I don’t need training!” ?
• Q: How do you change someone’s mind when they say ““This demo is too critical to try out something new…” ?
• Q: Final take away from each panel member
• Q: We see other startups creating short 60-90s animations to explain their product, any thoughts on this?
• Q: How do you use this method at a trade show when many demos are blind dates? You have to be assessing prospect’s situation in parallel with giving the demo?

See also

• Great Demo! offers a lean approach to sales and presentations
• “Worry About Scaling After You Find Your Niche” covers the “Situation Slide” formulation to guide pre-demo discovery of customer needs.

Peter Cohan’s next Great Demo Workshop in Silicon Valley is October 10-11, 2012.