Peter Cohan
Peter Cohan
Have you ever seen a bad software demonstration? Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of Great Demo!, focused on helping software organizations improve the success rates of their demos. He authored Great Demo! - how to prepare and deliver surprisingly compelling software demonstrations. Peter has experience as an individual contributor, manager and senior management in marketing, sales, and business development. He has also been, and continues to be, a customer.
Very Interesting Demo – What Did You Like; What Could Have Been Done Better?
A colleague forwarded me this link to a recent video-recorded demo – it is about 10 minutes in length – and has some wonderful...
Methodology Workshop Trainees’ Three Typical Groups – Coaching Suggestions for Managers
Participants completing training workshops tend to cluster into three rather distinct groups (based on our experiences with Great Demo! Workshop and other workshop trainees): -...
Should Presales People Do Detailed Statement-of-Work Documents?
Question: "Our company does something I have never heard of: The SC does a deep and detailed Statement of Work (SOW) for each serous...
How Do We Write vs. Read Journal Papers? And What Does This Have To Do With Demos?
Consider: How do we write journal papers in comparison with how we consume what others write? Scientists are typically taught a process to draft...
Demo Skills Assessment – Do It Now
Some people suggest that delivering a terrific demo is an art. While there may be components of creating and presenting demonstrations that are intangible,...
Memory Embedding – And Its Impact on Demos
What are a few of your oldest memories? Interestingly, many people describe swimming at the beach or swimming lessons when they were very young...
Demo Expertise – and Demo “Experts”
I'm intrigued by the concept of an "expert" – particularly as it relates to creating and delivering software demos. How long does it take...
“Demo Day” for Remote Demo Practice
In nearly every Great Demo! Workshop, participants ask for a session on best practices, tips and methods for delivering demos and presentations remotely, over...
Demo “Capital” – An Undervalued Resource?
Consider the sum of an organization's knowledge, know-how, tools, techniques, tips and success stories related to demonstrating one's offerings. As with other types of...
Flip-Chart / Whiteboard Version of Situation Slide
In a recent Great Demo! Workshop, a participant did a terrific and rather novel job of developing the customer's Situation Slide dynamically on a...
GoToWebinar “Audience View”
The current version of Citrix' GoToWebinar offers a very useful new capability. The "Audience View" tab in the control panel provides a small view...
Stunningly Awful Sales Prevention Demos
Does your organization have a "Sales Prevention Team" – people or processes that lengthen sales cycles and lose deals? Sadly, those who present Stunningly...
PowerPoint Cheat-Sheet – Particularly Useful Items
A colleague recent sent me Cheat-Sheets for PowerPoint and other Microsoft Office products (actually called "Quick Reference Cards" – but Cheat-Sheet is much more...
Remote Demos – Enabling the Audience to Catch-up
Here's a simple tactic to enable an audience to "catch-up" with what you are showing on your screen, particularly when dealig with relatively slow...
Brain Rules – Absolutely Required Reading For Sales, Presales and Marketing People
This book doesn't appear to be about business, necessarily, but – it definitely is! Brain Rules provides both the explanation and, more important,...
The Demo Route That Shouldn’t Be Traveled
Imagine you want to drive to the store to pick up a few things for dinner – a trip that normally should take 10...
A Date Nit
Given that the purpose of software demonstrations is to (1) build a vision of a solution or (2) show proof, everything we do in...
Cognitive Dissonance in Demos
How does cognitive dissonance apply to delivering demos? Cognitive dissonance can be defined as an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory...
Avoiding Boring
I was learning about a software company's presales on-boarding process recently and noted a practice that reminded me of a Seth Godin blog post...
Customers’ Checklist for Purchasing Software
A recent article in the January 2010 edition of Purchasing offered a checklist for customers of contract management software – and is a good...