Epic Sales Presentations

July 25th, 2010

Thought I would share some slides from a recent training workshop. This time of year means national sales meetings for many industries, which of course means preparing product presentations for the sales teams. This is part of the slide deck I used to accompany training for a client whose marketing and product group wanted to amp up their sales meeting presentations.

Without narration, some of these slides may not be very meaningful. Who cares? Slides full of bullets, sub-bullets, and sub-sub-bullets can certainly stand on their own — but they are also boring. What’s more, they tempt the presenter to simply read from them, with his or her back to the audience. Ouch.

I’m interested to hear your feedback. Feel free to add comments here or at slideshare.

Epic Sales Presentations

View more presentations from Matt Gambino.

Posted in Demo Delivery | No Comments »

Audience Alignment

April 30th, 2010

by Matt Gambino

One of the best ways to align with your audience during a demo is to mingle with them beforehand. Make it a goal to introduce yourself to at least three attendees as they get settled. You’ll get a better sense of personality types (lighthearted? good-natured? painfully serious?), and you’ll be able to identify particular hot buttons. If appropriate during your demo, raise a hot button and address it to the attendee. For example: 

“Mike, I think you mentioned earlier that you’re in desperate need of a way to synthesize quarterly reports into a graphical format, is that correct? You’re not the only one. We created the new charting tool you just saw to help clients present numerical data visually without fussing with spreadsheets and PowerPoint. How do you see yourself using this tool?”

Now you’ve got an engaged audience who sees you not as a presenter — but as a real person who cares about their real problems.

And since people buy from people, you just might get a real sale.

Posted in Demo Delivery | 1 Comment »

How to Demo at Tradeshows

March 5th, 2010

by Matt Gambino

The best software salespeople know the importance of customizing each demo so that it aligns with their clients’ particular business needs. And determining these needs plays a significant role in the pre-selling process.

But suppose you attend a tradeshow and have the opportunity to demo your product to hundreds or even thousands of booth visitors — many of whom you’ve never met? While you can’t pre-sell, you can still prepare to spend your time wisely, distinguish potential customers from simple tourist traffic, and win more business.

Put yourself in problem-solving mode. What are the primary business problems solved by your software? Promise yourself you won’t show anything until your booth visitor admits to having one or more of these problems. Otherwise, you’re at risk of squandering your visitor’s and your own valuable time. Your visitor will put on a nice face while he patiently waits to grab his free stress ball and run. Bottom line: if you’re giving the same dog-and-pony show a hundred times over three days, you’re wasting your breath.

Have real conversations. Does this business issue affect your visitor only — or are other people impacted? Who are those people — what are their roles? Not only are you establishing a relationship and collecting valuable information — you’re allowing for more time for other folks to mill about so you can involve them in the conversation. “Hi, what’s your name? Did you have a chance to catch Jason’s dilemma here? Sound familiar to you? Tell me more” (and so on). Now you have an audience. And at a tradeshow, there are few things more valuable (if you don’t count the extra-thick booth carpeting). Transition to your demo. With a small audience looking on, you’ll most likely attract even more curious visitors.

Bring along physical end results. Remember that epic demos begin with your program’s problem-solving output, such as a report or other diagnostic. Bring a stack of printed reports with you. At the appropriate time in your pre-demo conversation, pull out a report. “If you had the ability to track each student’s time on task, would that help you solve the attrition problem you told me you have? What if this tracking report could be run on a daily basis?”

Work smart. Keep an offline version of Outlook or another email client running in the background. If you can send a quick answer or a link to more information, ask for an email address and send it immediately. Include the name of the event in the email so you can search on it later.

Invite friends. Identify some of your happiest customers from a conference attendee list. Reach out them before the event and ask if they would be willing to send you a few nice words about your product. Include the quotes in the booth display, and keep an eye out for these customers at the event. Introduce them to your booth visitors when they stop by.

Posted in Demo Delivery | 1 Comment »

Login Liftoff

February 21st, 2010

by Matt Gambino

A comedian opens his set with a stale joke. A racehorse bucks, rears and drags out of the gate. An American Idol hopeful delivers a pitchy first verse to the wooden Simon Cowell.

It’s tough to recover after a bad start.

Demonstrating how a user will log in to our product is often the opening act in our technical presentations.* For many of us, sticking that username-password combination means shaking off early demo jitters and finding our stride. On the flip side, messing up a login builds tension: someone coughs into his fist and checks his Blackberry as we helplessly click “Try Again” and retype.

Paradoxically, those early jitters are often the culprit; our hands tremble slightly and we fat-finger a key. Many products also require that usernames be entered in email syntax, which can be tricky to type — especially on an unfamiliar keyboard. Skip the whole thing and log in beforehand? Maybe. But some clients will want to see that login process, especially for educational software that will be used by children.

With a few shortcuts and a little practice, you can nail the login nine times out of ten and start things off on the right foot. Here’s how:

  1. Create sample user accounts named after your work colleagues. Not only will these names be easy to recall, they’ll appear more credible on screen than “spongebob@ilookridiculous.com.” Plus, the sheer volume of names will enable you to plug in certain accounts solely for the purpose of mocking up a production environment.
  2. Choose a universal password — every account gets the same one. It should be short and easy to key in (i.e. “pencil”).
  3. Choose  a “go-to” username from your sample account reservoir. This is the one you’ll always demo in your live presentations. Practice keying this username until your fingers develop some muscle memory for it.
  4. Just before your demo begins, enter your go-to username and copy it to your clipboard. Log in to make sure everything works, then log out.
  5. Now you’re ready to log in live using less than ten keystrokes. While the audience watches…
  • Paste your username using the Ctrl-V shortcut.
  • Hit Tab to jump to the password field.
  • Enter the super-easy “p-e-n-c-i-l”.
  • Hit the Enter key, and you’re in!

Don’t forget to reset your go-to account after you wrap up, so you can be ready to pull the trigger for the next presentation.

*Even before logging in, the best demonstrators captivate the audience’s attention by revealing the software’s problem-solving End Result, such as a jazzy report or other output. Learn more.

Matt Gambino is the author of “50 Minutes to Better Software Demos,” part of the best-selling Crisp Fifty-Minute Series of business books.

Posted in Demo Delivery | 1 Comment »

What To Do When It All Goes Wrong

February 15th, 2010

by Eric Shotwell, DemoFish Contributing Editor

Despite your best-laid plans, sometimes something goes wrong on the technical or logistic side of things, and you find yourself stuck without the tools or capabilities to do your demo. If this happens (or when it does) you might be able to recover, if you’ve built in contingency plans. These require advance planning, but in many cases will allow you to move forward with a demo.

Problem 1: You can’t get online, can’t get a wi-fi connection, and can’t connect to the customer’s network.
Solution: Have an “offline” version of your demo on your laptop. Ideally, this would be a demo that doesn’t require Internet access. If you don’t have an offline version, spend some time well before your demo and capture screen shots of key areas of the software. I once did a “demo” with nothing but screen shots, and no one was the wiser.

Problem 2: You can’t use your laptop because the battery is dead, the customer’s IT department won’t allow it, or you spilled coffee and fried your machine.
Solution: Have a version of your demo, a PowerPoint file, or at least screen shots on a USB stick or CD that can be opened on another computer.

Problem 3: You can’t project, because the projector didn’t arrive, won’t connect to your laptop, or has a burned-out lamp.
Solution: Huddle around your laptop, or better yet, use an external monitor if one is available and hook it up to give yourself two monitors. Most computers have a presentation mode that will allow you to display on two monitors simultaneously. Be sure you know how to toggle between display settings.

Problem 4: Something isn’t right about the setup. Maybe that key feature you were going to show isn’t working properly. Or the customer’s firewall is preventing access to the site.
Solution: Know who to call when it’s gone haywire. Do you know the number to the developer or your tech support guru, and are they going to answer? Be sure you’ve notified them that you might be calling.  Take a break and tell your audience to plan to re-convene in 5 minutes or so, then get on the phone. You might be able to do something simple to get back on track before it’s too late.

Problem 5: Nothing is going right. Your web site’s down. Your battery died. You forgot your power cord and USB stick, and there’s no other PC available anyway. The room is locked and no one has the key.
Solution: Apologize, explain your technical quandary, and bail. Reschedule at the customer’s absolute convenience, even if it means doing a WebEx/GoToMeeting session because the group can’t get together again, or doing one-off demos individually to the stakeholders. Sometimes the best solution is to try another day entirely.

Problem 6: Something embarrassing threatens to derail your demo. You spilled coffee on your shirt. Your Instant Messenger popped up during your demo with a crass comment from a college buddy. A lewd spam message showed up in your in-box at exactly the wrong time. Your phone rings, and the ringtone is set to the theme from ‘Caddyshack.’
Solution: You can’t go back in time, but you can prevent these things. Don’t drink or eat something before your demo that could spill or leave you with spinach in your teeth. Close non-essential apps. Turn off IM programs, turn off Outlook connections to your mail server. Set your phone to silent or turn it off.

Hopefully, you’ll never need to think about these things during a demo. If you present frequently, though, odds are that you’ll run into one of these scenarios eventually. With some preparation you can minimize technical glitches and keep your demo on track.

Eric Shotwell has more than 20 years in the higher education publishing industry, where he has held roles in technology sales, sales training, and product development. Eric is currently a senior sales representative with Cengage Learning, a leading provider of technology- and print-based learning solutions. He is a member of the Society for Applied Learning Technology and the American Society for Training and Development, and holds various Microsoft certifications.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Demo Delivery | 2 Comments »

Following Up the Demo: 6 Tips

February 9th, 2010

by Matt Gambino

Follow-up items pile up quickly for those of us who demonstrate on a regular basis. This is a good thing. Following up keeps the client in arm’s reach, and it gives us the opportunity to show up our competitors. And looking better than the competition is cool. Here are 6 suggestions to keep in mind when following up your technical presentations:

  1. Promise to send follow-up material within 24 hours. And really promise. When I say “I promise to (take an action),” I’m more inclined to do it.
  2. Think mafia.* Ask for something in return. You just promised something, so there’s no shame in asking for something back. For example, “I promise to send you the answer to each question within 24 hours. In return, I’d appreciate having the opportunity to go over my pre-proposal with you — in person — next Tuesday or Wednesday. Is that fair?”
  3. Get to the point. After thanking them, start your follow-up email to the group with the words, “The purpose of this message is…,” and you will be forced to cut to the chase.
  4. Square away your document. Write well, spell perfectly. Include screen shots that are expertly placed and consistently sized. There’s no excuse for sending correspondence that looks like a 5th grader texted it. Leave that to the competition. Include the client’s logo and PDF the attachment.
  5. Dale Carnegie loved to say that everyone’s favorite word is his or her own name. Include them in your follow-up report. “Marjorie, you asked about future plans to add an import/export wizard. Here’s what I found out.”
  6. Hand off to the experts. I used to believe I had to know and do everything in order to give great service. Not so. You’ve got an entire tech support department whose sole reason for being is to respond to technical questions. If a follow-up item calls for an answer to a technical query, make the hand-off. Ask to be copied on subsequent tech support questions if it makes you (and the customer) feel better.

What am I forgetting? Feel free to add your own suggestions!

*For more on Tip 2, watch The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II. Do yourself a favor: skip Part III.

Posted in Demo Follow Up | 2 Comments »

Is Your Software Demo a Work of Art?

February 6th, 2010

by Eric Shotwell, DemoFish Contributing Editor

A few days ago, I caught an NPR story about an exhibit of Rembrandt’s art, called Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils.

The exhibit includes works by Rembrandt van Rijn and his students. In the years since his death, there have been disputes over which sketches are Rembrandt’s, and which are done by his students. However, Rembrandt’s art has several telltale characteristics:

  • The master’s work is quick and sure, but loose and often impressionistic. The students’ work is often overly “finished,” and some pieces almost appear “too perfect.”
  • His lines, though confident and deft, are often disconnected, conveying meaning without being purely literal. His students’ lines, in contrast, are usually connected, leaving little to the imagination.
  • Rembrandt was significantly more prolific than any of his students, yet only a relatively small percentage of his works are what we’d consider “masterpieces.”

As I listened to the story, I realized that some of what made Rembrandt great could apply to those of us who give software demos for a living as well.

The work should speak for itself.
Are you saying too much, or letting the work speak for itself? If a feature is self-explanatory, don’t waste your prospect’s time or attention explaining it.

Some things can be overly “finished.”
Are you trying to cover it all just to make it “finished?” Avoid showing all the features if some don’t add to the conversation. Sometimes just the “broad strokes” will do.

Confidence is important. Perspective is crucial.
Do you use a few bold lines and points, or are you hesitant and uncertain? Have you considered the point of view of your audience?

Use broad strokes.
Are you covering minutiae or going into needless detail? Or are you filling your time with major features and benefits?

Derivative works can be art too.
Did you “make it your own?” If someone else developed the demo, use your own words and style. If you give an example, make sure it connects with your audience. Your work may be derivative but you can still employ some artistic license.

Sketch first.
If you’ve never drawn the human figure before, you’d likely try a few pencil sketches before you set brush to canvas in a studio. If you haven’t tried a certain feature of your software before, don’t try to demo it live for the first time.

Paint on canvas later.
It can be helpful to write notes or create a rough storyboard before you start putting together your demo. A little “analog thinking” can organize your thoughts and make the demo coherent. You might be one of those rare people who can pull together a perfect presentation without hand-writing notes or an outline… but chances are you’re not.

Be prolific.
Being prolific made Rembrandt a better artist. To be a better presenter, present often. Some of Rembrandt’s best work was modeled on earlier sketches, so don’t be afraid to present the same demo again and again.

While your PowerPoint about version 5.1 of your software will probably never be found hanging in a museum, up for public auction, or studied and emulated by aspiring young sales reps in centuries to come, with a bit of practice and some creativity you can still do a demo that won’t be forgotten by your customers the moment you finish.

Further reading:
Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/rembrandt_drawings/
NPR, Drawing Distinctions Between Rembrandt, His Pupils http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122954481

Eric Shotwell has more than 20 years in the higher education publishing industry, where he has held roles in technology sales, sales training, and product development. Eric is currently a senior sales representative with Cengage Learning, a leading provider of technology- and print-based learning solutions. He is a member of the Society for Applied Learning Technology and the American Society for Training and Development, and holds various Microsoft certifications.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Demo Delivery | 1 Comment »

Half as Long

January 31st, 2010

In A River Runs Through It, Tom Skerritt plays the Reverend Maclean, a 1920’s Presbyterian minister who home-schools his two sons in Montana, and only manages to smile when he’s fly fishing.

A River Runs Through It is not a comedy.

There’s a particular scene in the film, however, that we can all learn from when preparing a software demo. In the scene, the Skerritt character’s elder son, Norman, is struggling to write an English paper for the old man. Each time he submits a draft, the reverend considers the paper, scratches at it briefly with his pen, then thrusts it back at the boy.

“Half as long,” he says, dismissing him.

Roll of the eyes from Norman. He gives it another go. Repeat. And again. Jeez, let the kid go bag a trout with Brad Pitt already.

But have you ever suffered through an unnecessarily long product demo? One in which the presenter feels compelled to go into exhaustive detail about each and every new button, menu, and dialog box? Wait a minute, who’s this demo for, anyway? Me? Or the guy showing it to me?

When we get invited to demo our product, we sometimes feel as if we have to fill up every minute of time we’re given with content. We gotta show ‘em the new styles menu. We gotta throw in the macro-enabled template, because the competitor’s macro-enabled template is buggy. We should include this. We have to cover that. Before too long, you’re trying to cram 90 minutes of content into a one-hour slot.

Try looking at your opportunity another way. Use the bulk of your prep time investigating your prospect’s specific business needs. Chances are she has two or three primary objectives tops. Focus only on demonstrating the capabilities that address those primary objectives. And keep the presentation and description of these features concise. Your demo may last only half as long, but your audience will appreciate the brevity.

Here’s how to give a half-as-long demo:

  1. Determine your client’s primary needs.
  2. Prepare to demonstrate only your product capabilities that address these needs.
  3. Practice your demo. A lot. Be obsessive about keeping your narration and description concise.
  4. Distribute a customized one- or two-page document that goes into more detail.
  5. Remind your audience of the primary needs they told you they had. Ask if you missed anything. Give them some good news: there will be plenty of time for questions. The meeting may even break early!
  6. Deliver your demo.
  7. Review the primary needs in your summary. Ask if you missed anything.

Nervous about not having covered capabilities that your competition will dredge up? Nonsense. You can always say something like, “Clearly, there are a lot of features we didn’t cover today. But we wanted to be respectful of your time. In fact, we have plenty of time now to discuss other business issues you might have. Or I can email you some general marketing material. Which would you prefer?”

Here’s the beauty of keeping it half as long: your audience knows you did your homework and they know you cared about their time (because you told them). They also know your product has the other “stuff” that the competitor sprayed at them (because you asked how they wanted to see it).

And there may even be some time left over for fly fishing.

Tags: ,
Posted in Demo Delivery | 1 Comment »

Great-Tasting Demos

January 23rd, 2010

I have no plans to see Julie & Julia, but I’ve always thought the late Julia Child was fascinating. How could you not? She started her career in advertising, worked in the Secret Intelligence division during World War II where she was posted to Sri Lanka and later China, and didn’t even attend cooking school until she was almost forty.

Years ago, a colleague watched me demo an educational software product to a group of college instructors. “Nice job,” he said on the walk back to car. “You used The French Chef method… showed them the finished product first.” I had no idea what he was talking about at the time — but I do now.

Is there some connection? Did the affable Julia Child unwittingly hold the key to giving a great software demo? Let’s take a look…

  1. She presented the fully prepared meal in the first few minutes. Julia Child was smart enough to know that viewers would most likely stick around to watch each show if they weren’t forced to wait until the end to see how delicious a fully prepared Quiche Lorraine or Beef Wellington looked. Likewise, it’s best not keep your audience in suspense. Show them the output of your product (a report, for example) right at the beginning so they can easily visualize how that end result will help them in their business. Then, demonstrate how to get to that end result.
  2. She had plenty of counter space. Having enough real estate to work in was a necessity for the six-foot-tall Julia Child, so she used an oversized counter that was always free of clutter. And every piece of equipment — whether it was an giant pot or a blowtorch for searing tomatoes — was neatly placed for easy access. The same goes for your computer. Keep your desktop free of folders, files, and shortcuts, and place only necessary files in easy reach. Not only will your demo run more smoothly, your audience won’t be distracted.
  3. She kept it simple. Even though she attended one of the greatest culinary schools in the world, Julia Child believed that anyone could prepare fine cuisine. She proved it by checking her ego at the door and keeping each show simple. Take the same approach in your own demos. Resist the temptation to show off. Focus only on the features that your audience told you they needed to solve their business challenges.
  4. She was passionate. One of the things that made Julia Child so watchable was her unabashed love affair with good food. ”Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it,” she said. Now, I happen to have given plenty of demos that fell flat over the years. The common element in most of the snoozers was that I was showing something I didn’t really know — or care — a whole lot about. Conversely, you and your demos will fly high if you truly believe in your product’s ability to solve problems.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Demo Delivery | 3 Comments »

Offline Demos Made Easy

January 19th, 2010

Planning to demo a website, but are unsure whether you will have a reliable Internet connection? In the past, I might have manually saved some pages to an offline folder (time-consuming), or captured relevant pages using Snagit or similar screen capture software.

Recently I discovered a better way. WinHTTrack Website Copier is a free offline browser utility that enables you to download an entire website to your local directory. The end result is a link-by-link copy of the site that you can browse from your hard drive without the need for a live connection. Beginners like me should probably stick to the default settings and ignore the myriad of advanced features (Get too fancy and you risk copying the entire Internet. That’s a bad thing, right?).

All in all, a great way to demo a website without fear of losing a connection-or having to rely on lame remarks like “Well, let’s hope the Internet cooperates with us today!”

Posted in Demo Tools | 1 Comment »