Peter Cohan
Seven Validated Habits for Stunningly Successful Demos
Here are seven validated demo success factors that lead to closed business. These approaches map delightfully to Great Demo! and Doing Discovery principles while differing markedly from traditional demos. How do your demos compare? Seven Valid...
Overcoming Sales Objections – Why Many Sales Objections Shouldn’t NEED to Be Overcome
“Help me understand how to handle customer sales objections…” “My team needs to learn how to handle objections…” “We get lots of sales objections in our demos and need to manage them better…” Sound familiar? Many sales and presales training p...
Great Demo! Virtual Demos Best Practices
Want a Horror Story? I’ll give you a teaser: The punchline is, “Nope, I’m good…” I watch dozens of recorded virtual demos from my prospects and customers. Sadly, most of these demos are traditional show-up-and-throw-up Harbor Tours. Occasionally, s...
A Terrible Tabs Demo Death March
I was watching a demo recently where the presenter executed one of the longest Terrible Tabs Demo Death Marches I’ve seen (and SADest examples, where SAD = Stunningly Awful Demo). No fewer than 11 (eleven!) tabs were explored, one after another after ...
Stunningly Awful Discovery and Demos Viewed as an Appalling Dining Experience
As you read this story, contemplate how it maps to traditional ineffective and inadequate discovery and demos. [There will be a self-quiz at the end, referencing the [Numbers] in the story – see how you do!] Imagine that you and four colleagues are...
A Demo Horror Story – Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory
A few years ago, while teaching a Great Demo! Workshop I presented a slide that listed outcomes of showing too many features in a demo. As I revealed a bullet that read, “Too Complicated” I heard a gentleman in the back of the room…
Discovery on the Fly? Some Plane Thinking
[A slightly edited excerpt from the new book Doing Discovery] “On the fly” is generally defined as doing something rapidly, without preparation, and on the spur of the moment. Most software organizations would refine this to combining a demo with di...
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” button on a vendor’s website – and never saw a demo? How did you feel? What is the likelihood that…
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 our best-of-breed world-class offering.” How many times have you heard these...
Rescue – From the Tyranny of Traditional Demos
Ask yourself: Have you ever felt like you have far too much to show in a demo – and insufficient time to show it? Have you ever said, “I’d like this to be interactive…” but you don’t get many questions? And when you ask,…
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. This is not comprehensive! The market is developing rapidly, with new tools appearing every month (it seems) ...
Stunningly Awful Demos – Buying It Back
Are you 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 – and we don’t want to pay for capabilities that we won’t use, so either…
Assessing Demonstration Skill Levels – How Does Your Team Rate?
Many presales and sales practitioners say they are skilled at doing demos – but are they? Organizations that achieve Level 12 enjoy remarkable scaling and amplification results and establish substantial competitive advantages vs. their peers. ...
Stunningly Awful Demos: Insufficient Customization
Many vendors say that their demos are “customized” – but are they sufficiently customized? I recently saw demos from a vendor that all followed exactly the same script – the “customization” consisted of questions from the presenter about the degree ...
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? As you begin planning for your party, you realize that it’s a big job and you want to make sure the party is a success –…
Solutioning?
Intriguingly, in spite of job titles that include Solutions Consultant, Solutions Architect, and Solutions Engineer, there is little discussion of the associated skill of solutioning and its impact on a broad range of other presales activities. [Note ...
Presales Metrics – What to Measure and Why
With the appearance of presales-focused tools and products, presales managers and leadership now have the opportunity to track activities and establish metrics. But what should be tracked? What should be the measures? Contemplate the foll...
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? Treat the entire session as if it is a virtual demo! Background In the (ever-changing) New Nor...
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? Some (Important) Perspective Traditionally, different departments within a vendor often want to “own” their organiz...
Discovery and Demos for Transactional Sales Cycles – When More Must Be Less (And...
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 execute a soft close in a 45- or 60-minute call? Yes! Let’s explore the strategy and mec...