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Articles
Discovery on the Fly? Some Plane Thinking
The temptation can be strong to try Discovery on the Fly, particularly when the prospect initiates an inbound lead by clicking the “Book a Demo” ...
What is Lead Churn?
Have you ever reached out to a vendor to learn about an offering – and been refused? Have you ever clicked the “Book a Demo” ...
The Content-Free Buzzword-Compliant Vocabulary List
“Our powerful software is flexible, intuitive, easy-to-use and integrates seamlessly with your other tools. Robust and scalable, your organization can enjoy the benefits of ...
Rescue – From the Tyranny of Traditional Demos
Throw off the shackles of the old traditional approach. Embrace this new, delightfully effective approach to creating and delivering demos.
Presales Tools Summary – April 2022
Here is a listing of presales tools that we’ve explored, including a paragraph from the vendor and our comments for many of these offerings.
Stunningly Awful Demos – Buying It Back
Have you ever been in a situation where your prospect said, “In your demo, you showed us a bunch of stuff that we’ll never use ...
Assessing Demonstration Skill Levels – How Does Your Team Rate?
Many presales and sales practitioners say they are skilled at doing demos – but are they? Here’s a simple method to assess where you and ...
Stunningly Awful Demos: Insufficient Customization
Are your current demos sufficiently customized, from your prospects’ perspective? What more customization could you do to improve your demo effectiveness?
A Dinner Party as an Analogy for Discovery
You’ve invited a large number of friends and colleagues over for a dinner party – how do you prepare? The process the Party Planner follows ...
How to Rake Your Way into the Future of Presales
Keeping up with the rollercoaster of changes, or ‘new normals’ if you will, is something we’re all facing in the middle of this COVID-19 commotion. ...
Presales Metrics – What to Measure and Why
Presales has entered a renaissance, enjoying increased visibility, emerging tools and communities, and cataloging of know-how and best practices. This is the perfect time to ...
People Buy From People They Trust
B2B buyers expect sales reps to understand their business, but the reality is that buyers perceive that less than 50% of reps actually do. They ...
Hybrid Demo Meetings – The Challenges of Mixed Face-to-Face and Remote Audiences
What is the strategy for handling situations where you are face-to-face with one group of prospects and other participants are connecting remotely?
Automated Demo Content – Getting It Right
You’ve been asked to put together the content for an automated or recorded demo – where do you start? What should be included?
Assessing Discovery Skill Levels – How Does Your Team Rate? (Updated and Expanded…)
Many sales and presales practitioners say they are skilled at doing Discovery – but are they? Here’s a simple method to assess, based on seven ...
Discovery and Demos for Transactional Sales Cycles – When More Must Be Less (And Less More)
Is it possible to complete an introduction, engage with a Vision Generation Demo, segue into a Discovery conversation, deliver a brief Technical Proof Demo, and ...
Expansion Questions – An Essential Discovery Skill
Expansion Questions are a series of interrelated questions designed to span five of the Discovery skills levels, from uncovering pain to reengineering vision. They are ...
Your Persona Demo is Failing!
The breakdown with persona-based demos is the lack of ability to fully connect the challenges your audience is having with the value your solution provides.
Success-Ready Leads: A Provocative Definition of “Qualified Lead” Based on Customer Success Parameters – and Its Impact on Presales, Sales and Customer Success
Here’s a novel idea: Front-load your pipeline with prospects that are most likely to succeed!
Expansion and Renewal Demos
“Land and Expand” is the major sales strategy for many software companies and great attention is focused on customer acquisition and on corresponding demos. But ...
Lunch and Learn Demos
Lunch and Learn demo meetings are terrific vehicles for securing renewals and driving expansion.
Why DID They Buy? – Fabulous Fuel for Sales, Presales and Customer Success
Here’s a novel idea: Go visit your new customers a few months after they purchased your software and well after they have deployed it into ...
Demo “Storylines”: The Journey, The Destination, or Both
Many software vendors talk about “The Journey” or “The Customer’s Journey” as a storyline for their demos. We need to ask ourselves, however, what is ...
The Zoom Scan – What It Is, Why It Is Important, and How to Do It
We now need to translate our Face-to-Face Scan to web meetings…! So, here are some simple guidelines for developing your personal Zoom Scan (or WebEx ...
Ignition Demos – A Rather Huge Unmet Need and Opportunity
Prospects that are “Just Browsing” are underserved in traditional sales approaches yet consume valuable and expensive presales resources.
Stunningly Awful Web “Overview” Demos – The Gruesome Anatomy of a Traditional 1-Hour Web Overview Demonstration – And Some Solutions
In which we identify a number of common challenges with “overview” demos – and offer solutions. [Warning – graphic and potentially painful content ahead…!]
The Surprising Road(s) to Demo and Presales Mastery
This article explores the road(s) towards demo and presales mastery – and may change your perceptions whether you are experienced or new to the discipline.
Discovery on the Fly? Some Plane Thinking
The temptation can be strong to try Discovery on the Fly, particularly when the prospect initiates an inbound lead by clicking the “Book a Demo” ...
What is Lead Churn?
Have you ever reached out to a vendor to learn about an offering – and been refused? Have you ever clicked the “Book a Demo” ...
The Content-Free Buzzword-Compliant Vocabulary List
“Our powerful software is flexible, intuitive, easy-to-use and integrates seamlessly with your other tools. Robust and scalable, your organization can enjoy the benefits of ...
Rescue – From the Tyranny of Traditional Demos
Throw off the shackles of the old traditional approach. Embrace this new, delightfully effective approach to creating and delivering demos.
Presales Tools Summary – April 2022
Here is a listing of presales tools that we’ve explored, including a paragraph from the vendor and our comments for many of these offerings.
Stunningly Awful Demos – Buying It Back
Have you ever been in a situation where your prospect said, “In your demo, you showed us a bunch of stuff that we’ll never use ...
Assessing Demonstration Skill Levels – How Does Your Team Rate?
Many presales and sales practitioners say they are skilled at doing demos – but are they? Here’s a simple method to assess where you and ...
Stunningly Awful Demos: Insufficient Customization
Are your current demos sufficiently customized, from your prospects’ perspective? What more customization could you do to improve your demo effectiveness?
A Dinner Party as an Analogy for Discovery
You’ve invited a large number of friends and colleagues over for a dinner party – how do you prepare? The process the Party Planner follows ...
How to Rake Your Way into the Future of Presales
Keeping up with the rollercoaster of changes, or ‘new normals’ if you will, is something we’re all facing in the middle of this COVID-19 commotion. ...
Presales Metrics – What to Measure and Why
Presales has entered a renaissance, enjoying increased visibility, emerging tools and communities, and cataloging of know-how and best practices. This is the perfect time to ...
People Buy From People They Trust
B2B buyers expect sales reps to understand their business, but the reality is that buyers perceive that less than 50% of reps actually do. They ...
Hybrid Demo Meetings – The Challenges of Mixed Face-to-Face and Remote Audiences
What is the strategy for handling situations where you are face-to-face with one group of prospects and other participants are connecting remotely?
Automated Demo Content – Getting It Right
You’ve been asked to put together the content for an automated or recorded demo – where do you start? What should be included?
Assessing Discovery Skill Levels – How Does Your Team Rate? (Updated and Expanded…)
Many sales and presales practitioners say they are skilled at doing Discovery – but are they? Here’s a simple method to assess, based on seven ...
Discovery and Demos for Transactional Sales Cycles – When More Must Be Less (And Less More)
Is it possible to complete an introduction, engage with a Vision Generation Demo, segue into a Discovery conversation, deliver a brief Technical Proof Demo, and ...
Expansion Questions – An Essential Discovery Skill
Expansion Questions are a series of interrelated questions designed to span five of the Discovery skills levels, from uncovering pain to reengineering vision. They are ...
Your Persona Demo is Failing!
The breakdown with persona-based demos is the lack of ability to fully connect the challenges your audience is having with the value your solution provides.
Success-Ready Leads: A Provocative Definition of “Qualified Lead” Based on Customer Success Parameters – and Its Impact on Presales, Sales and Customer Success
Here’s a novel idea: Front-load your pipeline with prospects that are most likely to succeed!
Expansion and Renewal Demos
“Land and Expand” is the major sales strategy for many software companies and great attention is focused on customer acquisition and on corresponding demos. But ...
Lunch and Learn Demos
Lunch and Learn demo meetings are terrific vehicles for securing renewals and driving expansion.
Why DID They Buy? – Fabulous Fuel for Sales, Presales and Customer Success
Here’s a novel idea: Go visit your new customers a few months after they purchased your software and well after they have deployed it into ...
Demo “Storylines”: The Journey, The Destination, or Both
Many software vendors talk about “The Journey” or “The Customer’s Journey” as a storyline for their demos. We need to ask ourselves, however, what is ...
The Zoom Scan – What It Is, Why It Is Important, and How to Do It
We now need to translate our Face-to-Face Scan to web meetings…! So, here are some simple guidelines for developing your personal Zoom Scan (or WebEx ...
Ignition Demos – A Rather Huge Unmet Need and Opportunity
Prospects that are “Just Browsing” are underserved in traditional sales approaches yet consume valuable and expensive presales resources.
Stunningly Awful Web “Overview” Demos – The Gruesome Anatomy of a Traditional 1-Hour Web Overview Demonstration – And Some Solutions
In which we identify a number of common challenges with “overview” demos – and offer solutions. [Warning – graphic and potentially painful content ahead…!]
The Surprising Road(s) to Demo and Presales Mastery
This article explores the road(s) towards demo and presales mastery – and may change your perceptions whether you are experienced or new to the discipline.