Product walkthrough demos generally suck (I've seen a lot of them). I think doing a good one is easy. Here's how I like to think about it - 1/13
Customers come to the first sales meeting with one big question in their minds - Why pick you over the alternatives? Most product walkthroughs don’t answer that question 2/
Most walkthroughs are focused on features and not why the features matter. What is the value those features can deliver for the prospect? Why should a customer care? Walkthroughs generally leave that up to the customer to figure out. Why pick you? 3/
Worse than being too feature-focused, walkthroughs waste a crazy amount of time on features that aren’t the tiniest bit differentiated. I’ve seen dozens of them that start with “Here’s how you log on, set up, and do super basic things…” Everyone does that stuff. Why pick you? 4/
Some product walkthroughs will address the value they deliver - but then don't go far enough. “Hey, you want to save time? This will help you save time!” But your competitors also help prospects save time. How are you different? How much time? A minute? A year? Why pick you? 5/
Product walkthroughs rarely address competition or attempt to position the product in the context of other approaches to solving the problem. Which is exactly what prospects are trying to figure out. We aren't giving prospects any insight into the market. Why pick you? 6/
We can do better. I’ve seen companies do it. Here are 5 things that make a product walkthrough great - great for sales reps, great for customers, and great for your revenue. 7/
A/ Before the walkthrough - set the stage. What’s the real problem here? What are the approaches to solving it and the tradeoffs for each? Where do we fit? This is a conversation, not a lecture. This positioning sets the context for why your value matters. 8/
B/ Give customers the context to understand the product and what makes it unique. “We built X because nobody else delivers Y value, and we know Z type of customer needs it.” Stop making the customer do this work - spell it out for them. 9/
C/ Organize the walkthrough around the product’s differentiated value (and how it's delivered). Example - “We're the only solution that cuts your dev time in half - let me show you how we do that.” Cut down (or eliminate) time spent on undifferentiated capabilities. 10/
D/ The walkthrough needs to include proof that you can deliver the value you say you can deliver. That can be in the form of statistics, customer references, or quotes - in the script or on a slide. (Yes, we can use slides) 11/
E/ The walkthrough should end with an agreement on what comes next. We would be happy to go deeper - should we have a second meeting with a broader group? Let's do a POC - who needs to be involved? Can we give you a quote? /12
Product walkthroughs are your opportunity to position your product as clearly differentiated from the alternatives your prospect is looking at. Set the context, address the alternatives, stay focused on your differentiated value -> close more business. /end
Loading suggestions...