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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 ...
“I Get Paid to Point, Click and Talk…”
Recently, I heard a presales colleague jokingly say to a prospect, “I get paid to point, click and talk…” I just realized that a ...
Discovery Don’t #6 Do Five Minutes of Discovery and Then Present Your Corporate or Product Overview
I’ve watched and listened to hundreds of discovery calls and a very large percent suffer from this serious malady! It seems to be a ...
Face-to-Face Discovery Online? Consider a FaceTime or WhatsApp Walk-Through!
Many vendors know that visiting your prospects face-to-face facilitates superior discovery, particularly for industries like manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, retail, etc. In my own ...
Discovery Don’t #5 READ Questions from a Long List
This is bad enough when inflicted over the web; it’s even worse when done face-to-face! The real issue isn’t the questions themselves, but rather ...
Learn by Digging Deeper: Golden Knowledge Dust, Nuggets, Veins, and the Mother Lode!
People often hunt for “nuggets” of wisdom. Sadly, people typically don’t uncover real nuggets, but find mere dust and flakes of golden knowledge in ...
Discovery Don’t #4 Make It an Inquisition
This is a valid concern! Too many one-way questions can feel like an interrogation or inquisition. Hospital Analogy: Imagine being handed a ten-page questionnaire ...
Are Your Automated Demos Hurting You? Bad News!
If you automate garbage demos, you’re just sending out lots of garbage! Over the past several months I’ve reviewed dozens of automated demos and ...
Discovery Don’t #3 Use a “Disco Demo”
(This one will be contentious!) “Disco Demos” or “Discovery on the Fly” are simply other terms for Harbor Tour demos, but where the vendor ...
Advanced Guidance: Discovery and Demos for Renewals and Expansion
NOTE: This is advanced material, suitable for senior presales, sales, and customer success individual contributors and leaders! What’s in this article for you? Guidance ...
Discovery Don’t #2 Don’t Do Enough
This is the most common Don’t! Far too many vendors simply identify “pain” and then launch immediately into proposing “solutions.” This is amusingly known ...
Establishing Rapport vs Developing Relationships Online
I’ve been experimenting with how to build relationships when limited to online meetings. I find that reserving a few minutes at the end of ...
Discovery and Demos for Renewals and Expansion
Discovery and Demos for Renewals and Expansion A Never Stop Learning! Article What’s in this article for you? Guidance for doing discovery and ...
Discovery Don’t #1 Don’t Do Discovery at All!
Assume that all prospects are completely alike and have exactly the same needs, interests, and situations. While parts of this may be true (that’s ...
Diary of a Sales Engineer: Engaging Conversation!
From the diarists: “This week on Diary of a Sales Engineer, Ryan Krueger and I had the honor and privilege to sit down with ...
Some Thoughts About Learning and Change
You can: Not learn and not change Learn and not change Change and not learn Learn and change Change and learn Most of us ...
How Is “Doing Discovery” Like Bacon?
Because bacon complements almost everything! Doing Discovery similarly complements and improves all sales and presales methodologies: MEDDIC? Oh, absolutely! MEDDPICC? You betcha! Challenger? Uh ...
Demo Don’t #10 Avoid Summarizing: “And the next really cool thing I want to show you is…”
“I get paid to talk and click,” commented a presales practitioner. So, just talk and click from section to section, segment after segment, in ...
(If you only read ONE article this year, this is the ONE!) The Incredible Value of Value Realization Events
“Every diagnosis and treatment need a corresponding prognosis…!” – Me Wouldn’t it be a delight to dramatically differentiate in discovery? It’s easy! Once your ...