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Rev Shots #38 – “What is the one topic you’re hearing that is not about AI?”
I joined the fabulous Dionne Mejer for this 30-minute Rev Shots session: “Join us as we talk with Peter Cohan, author of The Great ...
How Many Mouse Clicks Are in Your Demos? Beware the Horrors of Click Fatigue!
Perform and record your typical demo and count the mouse clicks. How many clicks were there? 10-25? Bravo for you! 50? OK… 100? Oh ...
Doing Discovery – The Importance of “Why” Questions
Prospect asks, “Can your software do X?” Vendor replies, “Yes, absolutely.” I can’t tell you how many times that brief conversation has occurred without ...
Consistency of Passion: A Unique Attribute?
I’ve encountered numerous presales folks who say they are deeply passionate about what they do. That’s both terrific and desirable. However, I’ve also heard ...
Demos and Cooking Shows Part 4: “We Eat with Our Eyes First”
Compare: a blob of stew plopped onto a plate vs that same preparation ladled carefully into a large, artistic bowl, sprinkled with snipped greens, ...
Are We Really Getting Better? A Sobering Analysis of Presales Practices!
“Learning never exhausts the mind.” – Leonardo da Vinci This article is for all of us who are experiencing the Dunning-Kruger effect, have experienced it, or will experience it. And if you ...
Demos and Cooking Shows Part 3: Time Warping!
How long does it take to roast a turkey? Can you imagine a cooking show that made you wait hours to see the completely ...
Demos and Cooking Shows Part 2: Nobody Wants to Watch You Chop Vegetables
Consider: You never see the chef chop onions on-screen! Instead, all the ingredients have been prepared ahead of time and made ready to use ...
Demos and Julia Child: What Can We Learn from Cooking Shows?
Julia Child brought French cooking dishes and methods into American households in the last century (1963-1973 or thereabouts) in her entertaining and educational cooking ...
Tell Your Prospects “It’s OK to say no…”
Most people, as prospects, don’t want to say “no” to sales teams. We are typically more comfortable to say “yes” to small steps than ...
“If you do not know how to ask the right question, you discover nothing.”
“If you do not know how to ask the right question, you discover nothing.” – W. Edwards Deming Here’s how to do discovery!
Discovery Effectiveness and Product “Fit”
Discovery is a simultaneous exploration of prospect “fit” on the part of the vendor and solution “fit” on the part of the prospect. Good ...
“Oh, good question…!”
When doing discovery, any time your prospect says, “Oh good question…!” it means you’re doing really well! Why? Because you’ve tapped a topic that ...
Demo Hack: New vs Save As
In demos, how many times have you seen someone build a new dashboard or process flow from scratch, step by step? I’m always amazed ...
Discovery Don’t BONUS! Don’t Encourage Your Prospect to Go Off Script
“Well,” said the salesperson, “We’ve covered all the questions on the list. Thanks for your time…” The prospect had been contemplating revealing another, very ...
Start Your Demo in Email?
Oh, yes! What do most people do when they arrive at their desks each morning? They check their email. (Yes, and some browse their ...
Coffee with Sales Engineers!
“Discovering the Journey and Wisdom of a Sales Engineering Legend: Peter Cohan In this insightful episode of Coffee with Sales Engineers, we sit down ...
Discovery Don’t #12 Ignore Poor Solution “Fit” and Proceed with the Sale
Have you ever purchased shoes or clothes that didn’t fit? Most likely they saw more closet time than their colleagues! Poor product or solution ...
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein Nothing crystalizes our understanding of an idea or topic ...
Discovery Don’t #11 Don’t Explore Cultural Attributes
Most vendors’ discovery questions focus on uncovering and understanding “pain,” and a few examine impact and tangible value. But it is the rare vendor ...
The Reverse Demo: A Fabulous Discovery Method!
If you are looking to displace an existing system (either a competitor or customer-built), a wonderful approach is to ask for a “Reverse Demo.” ...
Discovery Don’t #10 Don’t Align Discovery with Job Title
A salesperson colleague shared a sad story that offered a great lesson: Discovery questions and topics need to align with your prospect players’ job ...
Discovery Don’t #9 Ignore Key Elements to Avoid No Decision Outcomes
According to Gartner (and many others), No Decision outcomes (also known as “Do Nothing” or “Status Quo”) comprise forty-five percent of forecasted opportunities. For ...
The Fallacy of Baselines
In the past, I’ve recommended “establishing a baseline” as the starting point for tracking metrics. “Track a few quarters to establish a baseline,” I ...
Updating Automated Demos: What, When, How, and How Much?
“Another release? Oh, no!” Development just released new capabilities that need to be reflected in your automated demo(s). How often does this occur? What ...
Discovery Don’t #8 Don’t Communicate Discovery Info Throughout the Team
As a prospect, imagine investing several hours in discovery discussions with a vendor, only to have the vendor ignore the information you provided. Instead, ...
Discovery Don’t #7 Do Five Minutes of Discovery and Then Deliver Your Standard Overview Demo
Disturbingly, hundreds of vendors still plod unproductively down this pathway. It appears to be driven by vendors’ urge to show and tell rather than ...