{"id":29075,"date":"2018-02-20T10:56:49","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T10:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/?p=376"},"modified":"2023-01-26T15:32:26","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T15:32:26","slug":"sales-kickoff-demos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/es\/sales-kickoff-demos\/","title":{"rendered":"Demostraciones de inicio de ventas asombrosamente terribles Vender a su fuerza de ventas: \u00a1el cliente m\u00e1s dif\u00edcil de todos!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stunningly Awful Sales Kickoff Demos
\nSelling to Your Sales Force \u2013 The Toughest Customer of All!<\/h2>\n

Cries of \u201cWho cares?\u201d, \u201cSo what?\u201d and \u201cWhat\u2019s this\u00a0good<\/em>\u00a0for?\u201d issue from the more vocal members of the audience \u2013 and everyone else appears to be apathetic.\u00a0 Bad news!<\/span><\/p>\n

The situation? \u00a0You are demonstrating your new, earth-shattering, game-changing product at the annual sales kickoff meeting \u2013 but it is\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0going well.\u00a0 This is your big opportunity to \u201csell to sales\u201d and put your new product foremost in the minds of the sales team \u2013 and they\u2019re not responding as you\u2019d hoped.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most demos to the sales force of new products, and new releases of existing products, are uncompelling, unconvincing and fail to generate the desired excitement.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s going wrong and what can you do?<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a rapid answer:\u00a0 capture and communicate\u00a0Customer Success Stories<\/u>\u00a0or\u00a0Use Cases<\/u>\u00a0to generate a vision of how your customers will benefit from using your new offering.\u00a0 Start with your customers\u2019 business issues, present these up-front and then map the balance of the demo to the specific capabilities customers need to solve their business problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

The result?\u00a0 You gain sales force \u201cShare-of-mind\u201d \u2013 and achieve your roll-out objectives!<\/span><\/p>\n

The Problem \u2013 A Lack of Vision<\/span><\/h4>\n

Most demos of new products\u00a0are all about certain\u00a0key<\/em>\u00a0features \u2013 key features, that is, from the perspective of marketing.\u00a0 Most demos of new releases\u00a0are all about the\u00a0new<\/em>\u00a0features.<\/span><\/p>\n

Product Managers live and breathe their new products over a period of months or years.\u00a0 They know their new offerings intimately \u2013 every new feature, every bug, every blemish \u2013 and, of course, the missing major feature or two they couldn\u2019t get into the release (sadly, these are often important dashboards or reports, the very deliverables most desired by customers!).<\/span><\/p>\n

Marketing generally has a strong vision of how customers\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0use the new offering in their minds.\u00a0 The question is: does this vision coincide with reality?<\/span><\/p>\n

When marketing folks demo their new products, they tend to focus on the key and new features, describe the underlying technology, show how they work and all the cool options available.\u00a0 However, they often fail to build a vision with their salespeople of\u00a0what good things<\/em>\u00a0these new features will enable for the\u00a0customers<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 and that is the critical element missing in their demos.<\/span><\/p>\n

The key to a successful product launch or new release demo is\u00a0Vision Generation<\/em>\u00a0for the sales team.\u00a0 You must build a vision in your salespeople\u2019s minds of how your offering will help your customers solve their business problems.\u00a0 The new offering needs to be perceived by the team as \u201cEasy to sell, easy to buy\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Vision Clearing\u2026<\/span><\/h4>\n

Why do you build and sell software?\u00a0 Two answers:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. To make a profit.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. To help your customers solve their business problems.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    When you \u201csell\u201d to the sales force you need to keep both of these in mind.\u00a0 Your sales people will preferentially sell the products that are easiest to sell and easiest for their customers to buy.\u00a0 Most typically, new products are\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0the easiest to sell, in comparison with existing offerings.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Salespeople know that new products will often have bugs and may lack important functionality.\u00a0 New products also often suffer from the challenges of \u201cCrossing the Chasm\u201d \u2013 they may have a limited initial audience of interest in the customer base.\u00a0 Salespeople may choose to keep on selling existing, proven products, in order to make their quotas comfortably and predictably as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Put yourself in their shoes:\u00a0 you are in the audience and another product manager is demoing his new product.\u00a0 Over a period of 50 minutes he shows a pile of \u201creally cool\u201d features and options.\u00a0 He used a set of fictional characters, \u201cSusan, the Manager\u201d, \u201cJohn, the user\u201d and \u201cBob, the IT guy\u201d to tell a story.\u00a0 By the end of the 50 minutes you\u2019ve seen a lot of screens, options and dialog boxes, but you are more confused (or bored!)than anything else. You certainly don\u2019t have a strong vision of what the new product can do for you or your customers\u2026!<\/span><\/p>\n

    The new offering looks complicated and confusing \u2013 and you are not sure which customers to approach or how to present the product.\u00a0 \u201cLet someone\u00a0else<\/em>\u00a0waste time with this,\u201d you think.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Vision Clarified<\/span><\/h4>\n

    Now contemplate the following scenario:\u00a0 move the clock forward one year.\u00a0 You are listening to a sales success story for your recently released \u201cTurboForecasterPro\u201d product at the next year\u2019s sales kickoff meeting.\u00a0 The successful sales person is relating why the customer made the purchase and presents a slide with the following information:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Job Title and Industry:<\/span><\/td>\nVP of Sales, Acme Software<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Critical Business Issue:<\/span><\/td>\nConcerned about achieving forecasted revenues<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Problems\/Reasons:<\/span><\/td>\nForecast data sits in local, regional spreadsheets, requiring hours of manual \u201croll-up\u201d work from reps, regional heads, and admin staff each time the forecast is updated.\u00a0 Lots of errors, takes too long, always late.\u00a0 Unable to see which projects need attention, which are likely end as \u201cno decision\u201d, difficult to assign resources wisely.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Specific Capabilities:<\/span><\/td>\nA way to aggregate the data from the sales offices around the world and generate real-time reports showing forecast and pipeline, on-demand, right from the VP of Sales\u2019 laptop computer; identify key \u00a0opportunities to address and coach; deploy appropriate resources effectively.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Delta:<\/span><\/td>\n$30M in incremental revenue; redeploy 4 sales operations FTE to more productive tasks.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Critical Date:<\/span><\/td>\nIn place to roll-out at sales kickoff meeting January 20, 2014.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    We Sold:<\/span><\/td>\n200 licenses of TurboForcasterPro, plus services, totaling $575,000.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    The other salespeople in the room get excited and start asking for more details.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because they have similar customers with similar situations and rapidly realize that your product can provide the capabilities these customers need.\u00a0 They realize that the slide is a terrific Customer Success Story, a compelling and successful way to introduce the new product to\u00a0their<\/em>\u00a0customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The discussion continues and the other reps ask for the presales Sales Consultant to demo the<\/span>
    \n capabilities that were provided, so that the reps can see them in the context of the Customer Success<\/span>
    \n Story. The Sales Consultant does so \u2013 and takes about eight minutes to show what is needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The reps are now excited and ready to go sell your new product. They have a clear vision of:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Who are the target customers \u2013 by job title and industry<\/span><\/li>\n
    • What overarching goals or objectives are at risk (Critical Business Issues)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The underlying problems and reasons that are keeping these goals and objectives from being achieved \u2013 what is getting in the way (Problems\/Reasons)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The specific capabilities provided by your new product to solve the problems (Specific Capabilities)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • The value of the solution, in your customers\u2019 minds (Delta)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Critical dates or events that drove customers\u2019 implementation timelines (Critical Date)<\/span><\/li>\n
    • And:\u00a0 The size of the sale, for the sales people (very important!)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Good stuff!\u00a0 Now, contemplate how you might have\u00a0accelerated<\/em>\u00a0the sales of your new product if you\u2019d provided this information at the\u00a0first<\/em>\u00a0sales kick-off meeting\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

      Capturing Customer Success Stories<\/span><\/h4>\n

      When presenting and demonstrating to your sales people, you need to make your new product as attractive, as easy to communicate and as easy to sell as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

      For existing products, Customer Success Stories are often the best way for salespeople to engage and begin a sales process with a customer.\u00a0 However, new products often don\u2019t have the benefit of Customer Success Stories \u2013 so what do you do?<\/span><\/p>\n

      First, if you have any pre-release customers who used your product, interview them to generate reasonable Success Stories.\u00a0 Ask them:<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      • [List their job title and industry]<\/span><\/li>\n
      • What goals or objectives are now being achieved as a result of using your new software?<\/span><\/li>\n
      • What were the underlying problems or reasons that made it hard to achieve the desired objectives \u2013 what was getting in the way, previously?<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Which specific capabilities are they now using address these problems, from your product?<\/span><\/li>\n
      • What is the value of the solution, from their perspective (in terms of people, time or money saved \u2013 tangible real numbers, not platitudes!)?<\/span><\/li>\n
      • Was there a critical date or event that drove a timeline to implement (did they need to have the new solution in place before a specific date \u2013 and why)?<\/span><\/li>\n
      • [Then, list the size of the sale or expected sale, based on the scenario]<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        \u201cSanitize\u201d as necessary and you have a terrific Customer Success Story for your new product launch.<\/span><\/p>\n

        If you don\u2019t have any customer experiences that you can harvest, then you need to create fictional or \u201csuppositional\u201d Success Stories.\u00a0 These should be based on your expected customer situations or Use Cases.\u00a0 Create these fictional Success Stories from the following questions:<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        • What are the target job titles and industries?<\/span><\/li>\n
        • What major business problems do you expect your new product will address?<\/span><\/li>\n
        • What do you expect are the underlying reasons for these problems?<\/span><\/li>\n
        • Which specific capabilities from your product do you expect will enable the customer to address the problems?<\/span><\/li>\n
        • What is the expected value of the solution (in terms of people, time or money saved)?<\/span><\/li>\n
        • What is the expected size of the sale, including product and services?<\/span><\/li>\n
        • [List the size of the expected sale]<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          This is an effective and compelling starting point to help your salespeople sell.<\/span><\/p>\n

          Vision Clearly Communicated<\/span><\/h4>\n

          Now, back to our sales kickoff meeting\u2026\u00a0 Instead of flogging your sales team with a long, detailed demo of the new product, start with building a crisp vision of likely customer success scenarios.<\/span><\/p>\n

          Begin your presentation with a set of existing or fictional Customer Success Stories.\u00a0 These will clearly illustrate the opportunities represented and provide the top-level information to target and qualify customers.\u00a0 You\u2019ll want to provide a series of Success Stories like a menu, so that the sales team can see the depth and breadth of the customers the new offering can help.<\/span><\/p>\n

          You then follow with a demo that shows example outcomes for each Customer Success Story, from the customer\u2019s perspective.\u00a0 For example, in our VP of Sales case above, you would start your demo by showing the completed forecast and pipeline reports, to prove that they can be done and to generate a vision of the solution right up-front.\u00a0 You then show the specific capabilities needed to roll-up that forecast and pipeline, using the\u00a0fewest<\/em>\u00a0number of steps or mouse clicks.<\/span><\/p>\n

          Keep it short, simple, and to the point.\u00a0 In most cases, you can easily relate a complete Customer Success Story and show its accompanying demo in less than\u00a0eight minutes<\/em>!<\/span><\/p>\n

          Vision Achieved and Amplified<\/span><\/h4>\n

          By presenting your new offering in the context of Customer Success Stories, your sales organization can begin to sell your product right away.\u00a0 You\u2019ve succeeded in communicating how customers can use and get value from your product \u2013 via real-life usage situations.<\/span><\/p>\n

          You\u2019ve amplified your message as well:\u00a0 you\u2019ve transferred the knowledge of how to communicate your product\u2019s key uses from a single person (you) to the entire sales force in a way that is compelling and resonates with the sales people.\u00a0 You\u2019ve also built a vision of what good things selling your offering will do for the sales folks, themselves!<\/span><\/p>\n

          The result?\u00a0 You\u2019ve equipped your sales team with the three most important concepts possible:<\/span><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Your new product will be compelling and easy to introduce to their target customers.<\/span><\/li>\n
          2. It will be easy to prove and demonstrate \u2013 to move the sales process forward.<\/span><\/li>\n
          3. The sales team sees your new offering as a terrific way to achieve quota.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Easy to sell, easy to buy.<\/span><\/p>\n

            Assess Your Own Demos<\/span><\/h4>\n

            To see how you are doing and compare with your peers, perform an assessment of your own demos at<\/span>
            \n https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/online-assessment-form\/.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Gritos de \"\u00bfA qui\u00e9n le importa?\", \"\u00bfY qu\u00e9?\" y \"\u00bfPara qu\u00e9 sirve esto?\" surgen de los miembros m\u00e1s ruidosos del p\u00fablico, y todos los dem\u00e1s parecen ap\u00e1ticos. Malas noticias.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14,11,8,17,12,10,13,21],"tags":[6,7],"class_list":["post-29075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aweful_demos","category-advanced_topics","category-beyond_demos","category-great-demo-blog","category-justifying_training","category-marketing_topics","category-methodology_basics","category-mostly_for_managers","category-vision_generation","tag-articles","tag-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}