EN 
ES Great Demo!
Blog
Intriguing Insights into RFPs and Scripted Demos
“There are two winners in every deal: the person who wins the deal and the first person out of it.” – Patrick McLoughlin What’s ...
AI Is Changing PROSPECT Expectations!
AI isn’t just impacting vendors; it’s also driving changes on the buyers’ side of the equation. For example, prospects today expect that vendors will ...
What is Situational Fluency?
“Situational fluency is the ability to accurately read and adapt to a specific situation, including understanding and responding to the needs and preferences of those ...
What Did You Learn…?
What did you learn yesterday? What are you learning today? What will you learn tomorrow? Want some tasty bitesize learning morsels? Sample our Blog ...
Type Two Fun and Storytelling
Of course, everyone knows the three types of fun: Type One Fun: It was fun while it was happening, and it is fun to ...
Whose Value Numbers Are Most Believable?
Whose value numbers are most believable? The vendor’s numbers? Hardly! Industry numbers? Believable, but generally not sufficiently specific. Other similar customers? Much better… Your ...
Using Storytelling in New and Unexpected Ways!
Storytelling is used today in many customer-facing interactions including introductory calls, discovery, demos, and in some tactical portions of those conversations, such as handling ...
An Abbreviated Cultural Translation Table
When shown a new software feature… An American will say, “Wow, that’s awesome!” A German will say, “Ja, well, it is adequate.” And ...
“Walk You Through Our Demo?”
Why do people always offer to “walk” me through a demo of their software? Frankly, I’d prefer to run! “Walking” implies a long, detailed, ...
Demonstration or Demolition?
There are only a few letters difference between a demonstration and demolition! Traditional approaches demolish demos by: Saving the best for last Showing how ...
What Is the DIKW Pyramid – Why Is It Important and Where Do You Sit?
Data Information Knowledge Wisdom “The DIKW pyramid is a framework for transforming raw data into actionable wisdom through four progressive stages: Data, the raw ...
What’s a Story? What’s a Good Story? What’s a Great Story?
Articulating pain, followed by a few features, and then a value statement is not a compelling story: it is simply an advantage or benefit ...
“I Got the Job!”
“I got the job!” she reported, triumphantly. She said, “I used the stories in ‘Suspending Disbelief’ to answer the interviewer’s questions – and after ...
The Important Difference Between Symptoms vs a Correct Diagnosis When Doing Discovery
Pain is often a symptom of a bigger issue: a Critical Business Issue. Here’s a true story related to me recently: A friend complained ...
Three Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning
I rarely learn while I’m talking… Knowledge is finite, ignorance infinite! Some people are wise, but not decisive; some people are decisive, ...
The First Demo Takes Advantage of the Anchoring Effect!
The anchoring effect applies to images as well as written or spoken content. The first version of a solution that a prospect sees biases ...
Signed Copies for SKO? Book Club? Quarterly Gathering? Rewards for Great Performance? Volume Discounts?
Volume discounts? Yes! Book club support? Yes! Signed copies? Yes, again! For those who want to provide Great Demo!, Doing Discovery, and Suspending Disbelief ...
More Premature Elaboration: A Competitive Oops!
I was the prospect listening to a vendor present their offering. The salesperson was working his way through their product presentation and entered a ...
Delight in Being Surprised!
Delight in being surprised – embrace it – because it means you just learned something! And if you’re curious, here are a few wonderful ...
“We Tell Great Stories but We Lose the Business…!”
This lament came from a head of sales. He noted that they had invested in storytelling training, thinking that storytelling skills would give his ...
“Doing Discovery” SE Book Club – What’s YOUR Discovery Skills Level?
I joined Kintan Brahmbhatt, Co-Founder and CEO of Olto Labs, for this intriguing and enlightening discussion of discovery skills, methods, tips, and examples. We ...
Diary of a Sales Engineer – Storytelling Episode!
From the fabulous Hosts: “Stories are what make us human. They’ve helped us pass down knowledge and values for generations. Take the tortoise and ...
Ass-u-me – A Short-cut Discovery Tragedy!
Not long ago, I was working with a high-level champion who had purchased and enjoyed our product at his previous company and wanted to ...
In a “Bake Off?” Demo First!
When in a competitive “bake off” or similar situation where multiple competitors will deliver demos to a prospect, be first. Why? Two reasons! Being ...
A Late Majority Story: No Compelling Reason to Change
Buck’s Restaurant in Woodside, California was renowned as a place where many Silicon Valley startups were founded. Stories of cocktail-napkin drawings sketched at Buck’s ...
Next Tuesday August 5 – The SE Book Club – Live!
“In discovery, people and organizations want you to understand their perceived uniqueness; with solutions, they want to be part of a group.” Join us ...
Suspending Disbelief: 5 Minutes Can Save You 5 Years (or More! )
“Ugh – I learned it the hard way. This would have saved me five years!” “I didn’t realize what I was doing was a ...