“Wait! Don’t go away, we haven’t gotten to the best stuff yet!”

– Vendor rep watching people leave the room…

It was an important opportunity, and the vendor organized a two-hour face-to-face demo with the prospect’s team of twenty to make sure there was sufficient time to cover everything. Sadly, discovery had been limited to the confirmation of the prospect’s general “pain,” some demographics about the number of users, and tech stack requirements.

With this limited information, the vendor began the meeting with fifteen minutes of corporate overview presentation, followed by their standard demo, starting with system configuration, then general navigation, followed by function after function in a long, linear flow.

It was a perfect example of a stunningly awful Harbor Tour!

A few minutes into the demo portion, one person excused themself and left the room. And since the vendor never asked for introductions of the prospect’s team, the vendor had no clue that they’d just seen the key executive leave the room!

Ten minutes later two more prospect players quietly headed for the door. As the meeting reached one hour, several additional people mumbled something about “having another meeting…” and slipped away.

It was at this point that the presenter begged, “Wait! Don’t go away, we haven’t gotten to the best stuff yet!”

Now only eight of the original twenty remained, one of whom commented to their neighbor, “I’ll stay as long as the donuts hold out!”

Important opportunity squandered, with no sale resulting.

Additionally, because it fue an important opportunity, the vendor had sent a team of four folks to the meeting (including a salesperson, solution consultant, product specialist, and professional services rep) incurring the costs of airfare, lodging, rental car, and food to the tune of ~$5,000, not to mention the associated opportunity cost (pun intended)!

Moral: Do the Last Thing First!

Resources:

Ilustraciones: Hacer primero lo último

https://greatdemo.com/illustrations-doing-the-last-thing-first/

Why Structure Demos Like a News Article?

https://greatdemo.com/why-structure-demos-like-a-news-article/

El enfoque del menú - Una técnica de auto-rescate de demostración realmente estupenda

https://greatdemo.com/the-menu-approach-a-truly-terrific-demo-self-rescue-technique-3/

And see the stories in “Suspender la incredulidad" for more engaging lessons learned!

https://tinyurl.com/yc7rsrmy