Toronto Product Management Association Killer Demos Feb. 22, 2011
A wise man once told me to remove the first 2 slides of your presentation because they are useless. Tweet me now: @caseymck & @tpmaca
Top 5 Don ts Say As you can see. Speak like a robot Take all of the pressure yourself Leave the demo to the last minute Work for a company that is prone to demo fail I am hiring a Senior Product Manager casey@freshbooks.com Tweet me now: @caseymck & @tpmaca
Top 5 Do s Tell a personal story Demo to anyone no matter the size Everyone should know how to demo Speak painfully slowly Build a product that demos itself I am hiring a Senior Product Manager casey@freshbooks.com Tweet me now: @caseymck & @tpmaca
Thank You! I am hiring a Senior Product Manager casey@freshbooks.com Tweet me now: @caseymck & @tpmaca
Killer Demos and How to Avoid Disaster For TPMA Meeting - By Daniel Kube
Company Profile A little about us Quick Facts Canadian software company Founded in 2008 Funded by the largest bank in Canada Jim Balsillie, CEO of RIM is chairman of the board A few of our awards: Our Solutions Offered in the cloud Powered by Web 2.0 technology Feature-rich suite Document Management Collaboration Social Networking Social yet secure Mobile Ready Configurable & Extensible Award-winning
What We Do- Demos are Important!!! Our blessing is our curse Develop & market online business communities Social Intranets For your employees Inside the firewall Improving productivity Workplace Solutions Enterprise intranets Departmental intranets Board rooms Committees Project spaces Deal rooms In the cloud Social Extranets For your customers Outside the firewall Building your brand Marketplace Solutions Websites Customer Portals Alumni networks Partner Portals Member-based communities
9 INDUSTRIE S ASSOCIATIONS ~ 2,000 Communities Worldwide Technology, healthcare, government ( Blessing is a curse) 7% ACADEMIC 11% HEALTHCARE 15% HI-TECH 16% GOVERNMENT 8%
Qualify, Qualify, Qualify: Before the meeting, at the meeting, and after to make sure you hit the What not to do! Great example Jim from Taxi how to kill a sale!!! Like in Jim s case, when your blessing is your curse you need to qualify and know what you are selling.
Why are you doing a killer demo? (my referent is Revenue) Know your referent, mine is revenue generation( MRR) you may have a different one like stake holder happiness Know your presenters referent if someone else is presenting for you they can be different. The first thing I always know before doing a killer DEMO is BANTSC.
Pre demo101, know your target Your sales teams and telemarketing need to have BANT clearly understood and have strategies to assess the correct approach. Way before the killer demo stage: Step one Validate the prospect (QA) what is the BANT Budget Authority Need Time line Size of org ( for bonus points) Competitor ( Validate urgency, could also be incumbent) If you don t know these; yell at your sales person if you want a killer demo you need to understand the landscape now you need a blue sheet to nail it.!!!
Sales Process (Funnel) Management- you will get two kicks at the can in a normal sale Stage Customer Commitment PROSPECTING-BY SEGMENT DEMO NEEDS ANALYSIS CONVERSATION EVALUATION CONVERSATION EVALUATION DELIVERED PROPOSAL/QUOTE DELIVERED CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS Accepts Sales Call,Tradeshow, Webinar Invitation Agrees to do Site Survey/Benchmark Schedules Trial, Allocates Resources Takes Delivery of Product, Training Signs off on Trial Results Begins Contract Negotiations Signs Contract WIN! Clearly defined, simple, process and tools with feedback loop 13
Seek to Understand Buying Influences beyond BANTSC Five Buying Influence types affect the purchase decision Economic Buyer Technical Buyer User Buyer Coach/Champion Dominant Influencer What are the demo messages for each? Good messages help prospects buy.
Know what pain killer is important to each person in the room, your killer is not the same!! ( lots of tools to help with this)- do your home work
Find Pain and Deal With it Difference between reality and expectations The more the better Buyer must admit pain Product features and benefits are only important to you!
Know Your Products Value proposition (elevator pitch) you might get ask on the way to the meeting. Use reference stories to build credibility Know how your products solve pains Provide proof to build credibility and reduce buyer s perceived risk Help calculate a return on investment
5. Understand Impact of the Pain, talk to their validated pain in the demo look for head nods validate with quesitons during the demo? Summarize your understanding of their pain at the beginning of the demo! If they correct you shift on the fly. Cover: How much does this cost per year? Whom does it impact? Who will be involved in fixing this pain? When does the pain need to be fixed? What happens if it doesn t get fixed? Re-confirm, a budget exist to pay for it?
Killer Demo s ( some house keeping infrastructure notes) 1. Know your Corporate ethnocentrism in context to the prospect, Deltas can be big. Prepare, prepare, practise translate techie to business speak and the terms from the target ( ask for the names of the system they use ) prepare for failure, things go wrong. 2. If using webex know what browsers your audience use in advance, you don t want webex s short comings to self implicate your product or solution. 3. If in person, if you need the internet have a rocket stick as a back up 4. Always know when your last release was always test your stock demo after a release 5. Visuals are everything, consider your projector tuned to your colours, sound silly? 6. It pays to localize to a point. 7. In summary know what is hurting your prospect
Demos How the demo fits into the sales process and how to make the sale Peter Dyer Systems Engineer - Canada
Veeam Customers Majority SMB, some Enterprise Low ADS High volume Technology purchase Sales cycle (lead to close) measured in weeks Competition Some direct Existing investment Download from our website
Sales process Lead qualification Demo POC Sale Analogy: Getting a job Lead qualification = finding job opportunities Demo = submitting resume POC = interview Sale = got the job
Demo goal 1. Get the POC Need the customer to understand and want to try the technology Key features Demystify technology Build excitement around features that will let the customer do things they can t do today Help the customer picture the software in their environment
Demo strategy Very small customer Group online webinar Average sized customer Personal demo (online or in person) Enterprise customer In person personal demo
The Demo Discovery (10 mins) Introduction (20 mins) Product Demonstration (30 mins) Close (0 mins)
Discovery Conversation Understanding the customer s environment so we can frame the demo in a meaningful way, pick out the key features to focus on Rapport Never trust your salespeople
Introduction Slides for online meetings, whiteboard for in person meetings Key features (a little feature/benefit, but not much) Architecture, helping the customer picture how they would deploy the software No selling (personal choice, Canadians don t like being sold)
Product Demonstration Demystify technology, show how easy it is to use Highlight how key features are implemented
Close Ask about next steps, at this point the answer should be POC, if not, push for POC
Disasters / Lessons Learned Prep, prep, prep Don t trust sales people Be honest (don t know is okay) Shared demo environment I now run everything locally from my laptop get to know VMware Workstation Internet connection (onsite) See previous point Customer projector I always bring my own projector as a backup (small, lightweight) I always bring whiteboard markers
Thank you!
The End - Thank You Killer Demos Feb. 22, 2011