Tuesday, April 15, 2008
How to Create a Software Demo Presentation That Wows Prospects
Whether you’re creating a demo to teach your sales force about a new product, or for their use in the field, most marketers fall into the pit of five worst practices that leave viewers snoring:
1. Presenting a linear demo from beginning to end
2. Failing to focus on customer needs
3. Showing feature after feature
4. The one-demo-fits-all practice
5. Death by corporate overview
So, how do you put together a demo that works? Here are some presentation notes from Peter Cohan, Founder and Principal of The Second Derivative, a company that helps organizations improve the success of their business software demos.
Move your corporate overview to the very end - the demo should begin with the sales situation, not the corporate overview. Save that for the end as icing on the cake. Once you have shown that you have capabilities that can help the customer address their business issues, then the customers will begin to ask questions about your company and the corporate overview slide will be relevant.
Start with a five-point intro slide by persona - Cohan recommends you research the end demographic (your most likely buyer) carefully, and then create a powerful slide that addresses that persona directly. The point of this slide is to quickly say, “We understand the specific pain you are in, and we can help you solve it.”
Show an actual result - Now that you’ve gained some interest in the demo, show the viewer what they stand to gain if they continue.
Keep clicks to a minimum - Once you’ve shown the end-deliverable, use the software to show, in as few clicks as possible, how you got there. Critical — with every single extra click you will lose some of your audience’s interest. So, once you’ve honed your demo to the minimum clicks, count them and rethink. Is there a click you could lose? Often you’ll find you can cut even more of them.
Make detailed Q&A 75-80% of your demo time - Now is the opportunity to show off all the features. If you’ve gotten to the key deliverable of the software within a short amount of time (five to 10 minutes), you will have excited your audience and they will be ready to ask questions.
1. Presenting a linear demo from beginning to end
2. Failing to focus on customer needs
3. Showing feature after feature
4. The one-demo-fits-all practice
5. Death by corporate overview
So, how do you put together a demo that works? Here are some presentation notes from Peter Cohan, Founder and Principal of The Second Derivative, a company that helps organizations improve the success of their business software demos.
Move your corporate overview to the very end - the demo should begin with the sales situation, not the corporate overview. Save that for the end as icing on the cake. Once you have shown that you have capabilities that can help the customer address their business issues, then the customers will begin to ask questions about your company and the corporate overview slide will be relevant.
Start with a five-point intro slide by persona - Cohan recommends you research the end demographic (your most likely buyer) carefully, and then create a powerful slide that addresses that persona directly. The point of this slide is to quickly say, “We understand the specific pain you are in, and we can help you solve it.”
Show an actual result - Now that you’ve gained some interest in the demo, show the viewer what they stand to gain if they continue.
Keep clicks to a minimum - Once you’ve shown the end-deliverable, use the software to show, in as few clicks as possible, how you got there. Critical — with every single extra click you will lose some of your audience’s interest. So, once you’ve honed your demo to the minimum clicks, count them and rethink. Is there a click you could lose? Often you’ll find you can cut even more of them.
Make detailed Q&A 75-80% of your demo time - Now is the opportunity to show off all the features. If you’ve gotten to the key deliverable of the software within a short amount of time (five to 10 minutes), you will have excited your audience and they will be ready to ask questions.
