S&MM SoundOff

‘Twas the Night Before The Big Demo

(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

By Peter E. Cohan, The Second Derivative, www.SecondDerivative.com

‘Twas the night ‘fore the demo and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, ‘cept my SC and his mouse;
I’d proposed a big licensing deal with great care
In hopes a big order soon would be there;

Management was restless and not in their beds
As visions of bonuses danced in their heads;
And my VP with his forecast and me with my own,
Had just started a long EOQ roam,

When out from my mobile there came a great ring-tone,
I sprang from my chair to answer my phone,
What could it be?  Was it good news or no?
A last-minute order?  A contract?  PO?

Greetings, said my assistant, who spoke on the line,
It was someone to see me, offering help at this time!
Who could it be at this late eleventh-hour,
To make the deal sweet and avoid something sour?

Away to the door I flew in a flash,
And swept it open in my quest for fast cash,
When who to my wondering eyes should appear,
The DemoGuru! And standing so near!

He came in my office and, while dusting off snow,
Said, “I have some news that you’ll want to know.”
He drew up a chair and asked for some tea,
And said to my VP, SC and to me:

“Your deal is in trouble and I’ll tell you now,
Your demo’s confusing, complex and lacks ‘Wow!’
It’s riddled with features and functions and more,
And too many cool things, mouse clicks galore,

Don’t flog them with features and other neat stuff,
Stick with the substance, stay away from the fluff,
The more that you show is not always nice,
Customers may say, ‘Please lower the price!’

The Buzzword-Compliant Vocabulary list,
Are words, I’m afraid, that are better-off missed,
Not Flexible, nor Powerful, nor Easy-to-Use,
Not Robust, nor Seamlessly Integrated abuse,

And no corporate overview, please don’t do that,
After ten minutes they’re grabbing their hats,
Present as a team, so if things get hairy,
Sales folks aren’t lost in the back with Blackberry.

Your customer’s queued and ready to go,
They love the vision you’ve built with them so
They want Technical Proof in the demo you’ve planned,
Just the key capabilities, everything else banned.”

“But how can we do this?” I heard myself cry,
“We’re victims of momentum, we’re nervous to try,
Another approach, a new way to go,
We have to admit we’re just a bit slow!”

“Do the Last Thing First!” he said with a smile,
“Then peel back the layers, and Do It with style,
Peel it back in accord with their interest,
Stay focused and execute, and you’ll find it best,

Your customer’s Situation is a great way to intro,
Their Reasons and needs, from CBI flow,
Review these and check – is this still the case?
Are we aligned or are we off-base?

Start with the end, that big pay-off piece,
Illustrate and describe, those are the keys!
Capture their interest, compel their attention,
Make sure it aligns with their mode of consumption.

When it clicks and they’re hooked, they’ll then ask for more,
There’s absolutely no way that they’ll head for the door,
They’ll say, “Please show us, prove that it’s so,
Show us the rest, please do demo.”

Then Do It, just Do It, with no extra clicks,
To return to that Illustrative image that sticks,
Make it simple, make it fast, make it easy and clear,
Then they will realize they’ve nothing to fear,

Encourage their questions, most are not new,
Good ones and Great ones and Stupid ones too,
Treat Hostiles with courtesy, use your Not Now List so
Those mean, nasty folks can’t damage your flow,

Peel back the layers, Do It Again,
Show only what’s needed, put nothing else in,
Let them drive the demo, let them think they’re in charge,
While their Vision Solution you work to enlarge!

Summarize, summarize, tell them again,
‘Cause adults do learn by repetition,
And when you show a key take-away screen,
Leave it up, let it linger, so they’ll know what they’ve seen!

“I get it – I’ll do it!” exclaimed my SC,
“This is all so obvious, it’s way clear to me!”
And he sprang into action, his mouse flew like lightening,
(Frankly, his speed was a little bit frightening!)

And with that the DemoGuru smiled and he said,
“Your way is now clear, put that baby to bed,
Your deal’s now on track, your order secure,
You’ll make your numbers at the end of the year,

Then he strode from my office in a blink of a pun,
Turned ‘round and he said, “My job here is done,”
Ere he drove out of sight, I did hear him say,
“Great Demo! to all and to all a Great Day!”

Copyright © 2005-2007 The Second Derivative – All Rights Reserved.

For a PDF copy of this article or more articles on demonstration effectiveness skills and methods, visit our website at www.SecondDerivative.com.  For demo tips, best practices, tools and techniques, join the DemoGurus Community Website at www.DemoGurus.com or explore our blog at http://greatdemo.blogspot.com/.

Are You A Chicken Little?

A few weeks ago I received a newsletter from another sales trainer titled, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling” and her topic focused on the challenges of selling in today’s economy.

 

In the current economic situation, you cannot allow yourself to have a Chicken Little mentality. Chicken Little made assumptions. Inaccurate assumptions. Assumptions that allowed her to be mislead.

 

Too many sales people focus on the problems instead of looking at the potential sales opportunities. I’m not suggesting that you look at the world through rose-colored glasses, but directing your attention to the negative aspect of the current economy is not effective.

 

Yes, things are tough. Companies and buyers are more demanding. The decision making process is taking longer. But if you focus on these issues, you will find it almost impossible to reach your sales targets.

 

An extremely sensitive issue right now is price. People with a Chicken Little mentality will quickly drop their price to match a competitor’s crazy deal. But successful sales reps know how to demonstrate the value of their products/service and don’t succumb to price wars.

 

Don’t be a Chicken Little and instead focus on the possibilities.

 

Kelley Robertson helps sales professionals and businesses discover new techniques to improve their sales and profits. Receive a FREE copy of 100 Ways to Increase Your Sales by subscribing to his free newsletter available at www.kelleyrobertson.com. For information on his programs contact him at 905-633-7750 or by email.

Give Business to Your Competitor

From time-to-time you may encounter a situation when your product, service or solution does not fit a prospects specific situation. Some people try to force a solution in order to get a sale but this does not generate positive long-term relationships.

Sometimes it makes good business sense to suggest a competitor because their product or service is more appropriate for that particular customer. You may shudder at the thought of ‘giving’ revenue to your competition but if you can’t provide the best solution there’s no point trying to keep the sale. It does not make good business sense.

Here’s an example of how this works. I have alliances with several other sales trainers, and indirectly, we all compete against each other. But, at the same time, we each specialize in different areas. So, if an engineering company contacts me about sales training, even though I can probably deliver a good program, I know someone who is more qualified so I put the prospect in touch with that person.

As Zig Ziglar once said, “You can get anything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want.” Sometimes, it makes sense to give business to your competition. Competitive alliances can work in your favour.

Kelley Robertson helps sales professionals and businesses discover new techniques to improve their sales and profits. Receive a FREE copy of 100 Ways to Increase Your Sales by subscribing to his free newsletter available at www.kelleyrobertson.com. For information on his programs contact him at 905-633-7750 or by email.

Make Your Case

At an industry conference this past week, I saw and heard several different sales presentations as sponsors of the conference presented their products and services. Unfortunately, most of them missed the mark. Yet, delivering an effective sales presentation is critical if you want to succeed. Here are few key points to consider.

 

Start with impact. Don’t waste valuable time talking about your company or its products, services or solutions. Instead, demonstrate that you understand your prospect’s pain, problem, concern or issue. This will capture their attention.

 

Show, don’t tell. Whenever possible, use props in your presentation. Instead of telling your prospect the results you can help them achieve, show them a testimonial letter or video that outlines a key outcome.

 

Focus on your prospect. Most sales people fail to make the presentation about the other person and use a lot of “I” or “me” or “we” language. But your customer doesn’t care about you. They want you to talk about them.

 

Show the ROI. Also known as the WII-FM theory—What’s In It For Me? Every sales presentation MUST focus on how your customer will benefit from using your product, service, solution or company.

 

Modify your approach, use these steps and you will notice an improvement in your results.

 

Kelley Robertson helps sales professionals and businesses discover new techniques to improve their sales and profits. Receive a FREE copy of 100 Ways to Increase Your Sales by subscribing to his free newsletter available at www.kelleyrobertson.com. For information on his programs contact him at 905-633-7750 or by email.

The Closer

By Margery Weinstein, Training, www.trainingmag.com

Now that we’re in an 'official' recession, your sales reps may have reconciled themselves to failure. Many of them figure they’re probably out the door at the end of the year, anyway, so why bother trying?  Some of them may simply be pathetic (that’s always a possibility, though, as trainers and learning professionals, you try to be nice about it and think of euphemisms for that characteristic), but others might be reflecting the attitude of their managers back to them. Or, another way to think of it is they’re living up (or down to) their managers’ expectations.

So if your sales reps are under-performing even by the standards of a recessionary economy, you may have to start with their bosses to unravel the problem. Have their supervisors given up hope of a turnaround or improvement in sales this year?  Granted, it’s unlikely given what economists are saying, but not impossible. If you’re significantly down in sales at this last-few-seconds-before-midnight point in the year, you obviously aren’t going to be able to end the year with a bang. But your reps could rally just enough to pick things up a little so it’s not quite so dismal. Couldn’t they?  If you don’t honestly believe any improvement is possible, and the managers coaching the reps don’t either, that’s when a successful fourth quarter push becomes all but impossible. Why should they try to do something you’ve tacitly told them through your attitude isn’t realistic?

Then, too, maybe many of your sales reps take for granted your company is going to let them go at the end of the year because they didn’t “make their numbers.”  They know, mathematically speaking, they could try as hard as they can, but there’s no way to meet the numerical goals set for them back at the beginning of the year, or at least months ago, before the economy began its bumpy plummet. It might be time to broach the topic with executives and managers of easing or “readjusting” satisfactory sales markers in light of the officially pronounced recession. In addition to enabling you to retain workers who may be suffering from a temporary slump due to extenuating circumstances, telling reps the old markers have been recalculated to take into consideration current financial conditions may spark fresh enthusiasm for selling. “Oh, it’s not a hopeless case after all,” they’ll say to themselves.

Along with changing your own attitude, and that of your managers, about the sales prospects of your reps, emphasize the importance of celebrating small wins. A new account that’s no big deal when the economy is healthy, is major now, so be sure to give the rep who won it proper recognition even if you can’t promise him or her a bonus as a reward. Training sessions that include role-play exercises about selling to prospects in a recession are a good idea. Along with readjusting your sales performance benchmarks, you also need to readjust ongoing sales training to reflect the changed sales environment. A capable trainer, with the help of sales managers, can probably do this him or herself with a little creativity, so don’t worry if you can’t afford an outside sales consultant right now.

What you have at the moment is the depressed person’s version of “resting on laurels.” In high times, a rep coming off a big winning streak is liable to take a break for a few months to admire his or her achievement and bask in the glory of self-greatness. Now, there’s inaction for the opposite reason—they’re resting on the recession. Coming off a big losing streak, they’re content to take the rest of the quarter off to bask in the glow of their self-bleakness. It’s a darkly humorous spectacle (like a comic strip about a consistently down-and-out character), but you should probably be hoping for something more than gallows humor—even if we are in an “official” recession.

What are you doing to buoy the spirits of your sales team?  Do you and your managers share in the sense of hopelessness, or is there a plan in place to cheer up and (successfully) move on?

It’s Going to be December for Awhile

By Steven M. Stroum

The veteran salesman once told me, “You can’t make sales during December, it’s the holidays: nobody’s in the mood to do business.” And the rookie, a fresh young lady who had never sold anything before, listened and did exactly what I told her--“Make more sales calls in December then during any other month, make unscheduled calls on folks and wish them ‘happy holidays.’ They will be nice to you and receptive because it’s the holidays.”

The rookie outsold the veteran by a factor of four to one! And she scheduled several appointments for January and created a lot of goodwill. Why?  Because she identified the opportunities during this challenging month.  Moreover, she positioned herself well for the New Year. In selling, it is all about your point-of-view.

The same applies to marketing. During tough economic times, smaller companies, especially industrial and technical, have a tendency to retract and stop spending. It seems as though they look at marketing as black and white, but there are shades of grey in marketing, particularly for smaller companies.  Unless you are a market leader, the opportunities to gain market share during tough economic times are fabulous. Yes, there will be a cost, in terms of profit margin, and the payback may not be immediate. But in the long run, your company will be better off gaining new accounts.

Marketing is all about your point-of-view. Being creative, solving problems and identifying opportunities. So, here we are in very tough economic times. Our choice is to retract and accept our lemons or to make lemonade. As Abby Robey, sales and marketing manager of Xuron Corp., a maker of hand tools, wrote to me after a previous recession, "By continuing our regular schedule of publicity releases during the down times, I think we planted a lot of seeds that are now bearing fruit--our sales are up and, best of all, we continue to reach new markets, helping to diversify our customer base.”

Industrial marketers have a fabulous opportunity during these tough economic times if they can be creative and maintain market presence within their budgets. Because, like December, when folks are in a “receptive mood,” prospects are more likely to entertain offers from new vendors who might save them money or provide greater value during these tough times. They’re willing to take another look at you, even if they claim to be familiar with your product or service offerings.  People resist change because there is an emotional and practical cost associated with change that is often too great during ordinary times. However, these aren’t ordinary economic times and the cost of change has come down with stock prices. 

It is going to be December for awhile; take advantage of it.

Steven M. Stroum is the founder and president of Venmark International, an industrial and technical product publicity firm located in Wellesley, Massachusetts.  He was appointed one of 18 Small Business Advisors to the Governor of Massachusetts, toured South Korea as an Ambassador for the International Rotary Foundation, was a member of the Norbert Weiner Forum at Tufts University to study the impact of technology on society, and was listed in "Who's Who in the East."  www.venmarkinternational.com