by twieberneit | Sep 7, 2019 | Blog |
Being a consultant being called into or asked to do a product demo is inevitable. A demo is one of the most powerful tools that product/solution vendors and their partners have in their arsenal to convince prospects. The demo is a key part of the customer journey that the buyer of enterprise software takes. A good experience in this step will establish the trust that is necessary to go any further with a vendor and/or implementation partner. A great demo can make an underdog a winner while a poor demo can make the frontrunner an outright loser. Well, and sometimes the underdog’s killer demo scores them only the second place in a winner-takes-it-all world. I have seen and done that on both sides of the table, given good and bad demos, sat as a customer or trusted adviser, attending bad to great demos. And it is always amazing to see and participate. One thing is for sure: If you get into the make or break position of a competitive demo in a short list, you better remember The 7 P of Planning Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Know thy customer; and know her well. Who is part of the buying center? Who decides? Who influences who? Who has the money? What are their likes and dislikes? What are their interests? What do they want to achieve? What do they expect to see? How can I surprise/wow them? Who is my friend? These are only some of the more important questions that you need to get answers for before the demo. Other ones include answering how important this...
