Demo dysfunction syndrome is a serious sales and engineering condition. And it’s time for us to have yet another talk about this subject.
For starters, you continue to lose client opportunities at “Hello.” Have you noticed?
From your perspective, that initial greeting, that introductory “Hello”, becomes your cue to “perform.” So you launch, full tilt, into The Demo. As a result, the conversation becomes one-sided and impersonal.
Consequently, you fail to engage the audience because you are not paying attention to them. Perhaps you lose sight of the importance of keeping track of everyone’s body language and facial expressions during the demo.
Is there any eye contact between you and the audience? Are people pulling out their cell phones and checking messages instead of being focused on your riveting and enlightening demo?
Worse yet, if you are doing the demo virtually, you are at an even greater disadvantage. When you can’t “see” the audience or “feel” their energy (or lack thereof), you are demo-ing, essentially blind.
As a result, demo dysfunction syndrome causes you joyously continue to rattle on about product and software features and benefits.
Your inward focus puts blinders on you as your audience gradually tunes out and turns off.
Never mind. You are fully engaged in demo script mojo. Thus, you continue to sling around IT acronyms and manufacturing-speak like confetti at a New Year’s Eve party. Except everyone else in the room is not celebrating with you.
In your mind, demo dysfunction syndrome makes you think prospective customers love you!
Realistically, think about whether you are speaking to your own kind during demos. Initially, you may seek out friendly faces, other peer engineers and IT professionals. Gradually, you address all your remarks to them.
As a result, you marginalize the real decision makers in the room. You have lost site that prospective clients include more than peer engineering and software personnel.
Or perhaps you direct the demo to your sales team, who are standing in the back of the room. Keep in mind that sales folks may love you more than prospective clients do simply because sales folks are grateful they aren’t the ones doing the demo in the first place.
Consequently the only message demo dysfunction syndrome reinforces to potential clients becomes a collective “Huh?”
If you are not maintaining connection with your audience, you miss the subtleties of demo disconnect. Clients are wondering: “What did she just say?” or “So What? do these solutions even mean for my business, my employees, my own customers?”
You know, you can save yourself from demo dysfunction syndrome! Here are three course-corrective steps you can take today and incorporate into your next demo.
- First, stop making the demo the crowning moment of the sales process. You may be looking at only half of the pre-sales equation.
- Then, stop rushing the demo. Ignoring the context for the demo results in stalled sales cycles.
- Finally, start paying more attention to sales operations information and insights to set the stage for doing a bit more homework before you rush that demo.
Are you interested in recovering from demo dysfunction syndrome? Think about the impact of corrective action on your business outcomes. Contact me and let’s get a program together for your team. Today.
Babette Ten Haken is a catalyst, corporate strategist and facilitator. She writes, speaks, consults and coaches about how cross-functional team collaboration revolutionizes the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) value chain for customer loyalty, customer success and customer retention. Her One Millimeter Mindset™ programs draw from her background as a scientist, sales professional, enterprise-level facilitator, Six Sigma Green Belt and certified DFSS Voice of the Customer practitioner. Babette’s playbook of technical / non-technical collaboration hacks, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon. Visit the Free Resources section of her website for more tools.
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