Articles
Debilitating Demo Diseases – Additional Afflictions
We continue the compendium of debilitating demo diseases that commonly afflict sales, presales and
marketing teams when preparing for and presenting demos. We identify the major symptoms for each
disorder, provide one or more examples to aid in diagnosis, and suggest steps to a cure for each.
Harbor Tour Delusion – Living in the Land of Hope
Symptoms: Presenting a long, tortured demo that attempts to cover all of the possible customer needs
and problems before any reasonable discussion of the customer’s situation.
Aka: Harbor Tour Demo, Show-up-and-Throw-up, Spray and Pray, the Spaghetti Demo, Doin’ the Demo
Dash.
Examples: “To give you an idea of what we do, let me show you a demo…”
“Stop me if anything looks interesting…”
[Trade-show booth] “Hi – would you like a demo?”
Cure: Collect a handful of Informal Success Stories. Distill and carefully extract the key Situation
information, based on:
• Job Title and Industry
• Critical Business Issue
• Reason
• Specific Capabilities
• Delta
Match customer Job Title/Industry, present appropriate Success Stories to generate interest, follow with
questions… Apply the Menu Approach for crusty customers or larger groups. Hold back from delivering
demo until customer situation is well understood.
Staff Infection – Victims of Momentum
Symptoms: Doing the same demo(s) over and over, regardless of customer needs or desires.
Examples: “We’ve always done it this way…”
“New hire, are you? Great – here’s the script for our demo. Memorize it by next Monday…”
Cure: Rapid, deep application of Great Demo! methodology. Reframe and customize demos for each key
audience members’ situation. Turn traditional demos upside down and start with the pay-off, the “Wow!”
factor:
1. Review customer’s Situation
2. Present the Illustration of the end result
3. Do It – show how to get there in the fewest number of steps
4. Peel Back the Layers in accord with customer interest
5. Manage Questions along the way
6. Summarize so customer retains the key points
Logorrhea – Excessive Talkativeness
Symptoms: Customer is unable to break-in to ask a question; presenter feels obligated to keep on talking
if he/she hears nothing from customer. Condition is often exacerbated when working over certain
conference room speaker phone systems. Audience often lapses into disgruntled silence for the balance
of the demo. Demo fails; sales person does not get order; customer goes with the competition.
Examples: “But, what if…”
“Um, excuse me but…”
“Can I ask…?”
“Never mind.”
Cure: Remove Starbucks coffee cups from victim’s immediate area. Have victim slow down delivery and
put pauses in place. Encourage victim to summarize at the end of each section. Ask questions more often
and give audience time to respond. Check telephone connection and speakerphone for bisynchronicity
before launching into demo.
Stunted Pain Development – Solution Abruption
Symptoms: Precipitous presentation of product-oriented solutions to problems prior to plumbing customer
pain adequately; victim jumps directly to presenting a solution the moment “pain” is uncovered.
Examples: “Ah ha – so you are having a hard time doing your forecasting? We’ve got a great solution for
you…! Here’s what it looks like…”
Cure: Discipline. Hold back on the solution, for the present. Ask more questions – perform Workflow
Analysis to uncover the depth and value of solving the customer’s problem:
1. What is the customer doing today – what is their current process or workflow?
2. What is the output, the deliverable, for which the workflow is executed?
[Hint: this is a prime candidate for a terrific Illustration!]
3. What parts of the process are problematic – what needs to change?
4. What is the value of making the change, in specific terms of Time, People or Money?
[This is the “Delta”]
Pointer Palsy
Symptoms: Presenter waves pointer vaguely at screen; pointer moves around constantly; use of broad
sweeping movements with a laser pointer. In severe cases, the victim circles mouse or pointer constantly
around and around and around. When compounded with aggressive tendencies, presenter may use stick
or telescoping pointer like a sword, causing audience members nearby to shrink back in fear.
Examples: “As you can see…” wave – wave – swish – swish…
“If you look over here” swish – wave – swish – wave…
Cure: Guide presenter to move right up to the screen and point carefully and deliberately at the item or
area of specific interest. Presenter needs to remember that while presenter has seen that part of the
software hundreds of times, it is mostly likely the first time the audience has seen it. In severe cases,
presenter may need to be tackled, pinned-down, and pointer carefully removed from his/her grasp.
Content-Free Pestilence – Buzzword Plague
Symptoms: Constant use of meaningless buzzwords and phrases. Lack of substance.
Examples: “Our powerful software is flexible, intuitive, easy-to-use and integrates seamlessly with your
other tools. Robust and scalable, your organization can enjoy the benefits of our best-of-breed world-class
offering.”
[Customer] “Bingo! I win – I’ve got five buzzwords in a row…!”
Cure: Rapid, repeated applications of Buzzword-Be-Gone®. Replace with substantive, fact-rich
statements that communicate the desired concept, with metrics. In extreme cases, buzzword exorcism
may be necessary (contact your local behavioral presentation skills witchdoctor).
Architecturitis- – Death by Rectangles
Symptoms: Presentation of architectural slides and diagrams early in the demo, well before any
discussion of business solutions (or needs). Far too many rectangles with lines and arrows, often
presented via one or more elaborate, highly colored PowerPoint slides. May cause severe drowsiness
when delivered after lunch.
Examples: “We have a three-tier architecture, allowing us to use several different modules and
components. I’ll describe each of these in turn…”
Cure: Ascertain audience interest prior to presenting architecture information. Ensure that all high-ranking
customer representatives, other than IT, have been given the opportunity to leave the room. When
presenting, contemplate developing the diagram(s) using a whiteboard rather than via PowerPoint, so that
the audience has the opportunity to participate.
Acronymophilia
Symptoms: Fits of sentences filled with vendor-specific acronyms, used both as nouns and verbs.
Assumption that audience has already been exposed to these dozens of acronyms and has a comfortable,
working understanding of them. Looks of confusion in the audience, followed by doodling and furtive
glances at wristwatches.
Examples: “So, the ABT triggers each PTD, resulting in as many SHRP’s as needed.”
“Next, every SHRP will be JY’ed in accordance with the specific WVM settings, which is then picked-up by
the TMT module and FRP’ed. Questions?”
Cure: A prescription of Acro-rid™ is recommended for mild and moderate cases; have the afflicted take
two pills before presenting to help loosen and remove acronyms. Encourage patient to either verbalize the
full word-sets or replace with customer-meaningful phrases. In severe cases, a radical acronectomy may
be necessary to remove all untreated acronyms.
Deadendedness – Death by Cul-de-Sac
Symptoms: Presenter pursues non-productive pathways, perusing pointless possibilities and dead-ends.
Elongates a demo segment from what could have been accomplished in 5 mouse-clicks to 24 minutes of
detailed explanation, covering all possible options and settings. Presenter may also suffer delusions that
the audience is earnestly interested in seeing all of this.
Examples: “And another way to do this is to ....”
“…But for this example we won’t do that and instead we’ll go back to where we were a moment ago…”
[Customer] “Oh my friggin’ God! – Will he never stop?”
Cure: Guide the afflicted presenter to choose the highest probability pathway for the customer at hand and
execute that pathway with the fewest number of steps needed to complete the task. Apply Occam’s Razor,
topically (“entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem”).
We hope this compendium helps you to diagnose and treat your own team. If this is an emergency or you
feel you need a specialist, please contact us right away.
We continue the compendium of debilitating demo diseases that commonly afflict sales, presales and
marketing teams when preparing for and presenting demos. We identify the major symptoms for each
disorder, provide one or more examples to aid in diagnosis, and suggest steps to a cure for each.
Harbor Tour Delusion – Living in the Land of Hope
Symptoms: Presenting a long, tortured demo that attempts to cover all of the possible customer needs
and problems before any reasonable discussion of the customer’s situation.
Aka: Harbor Tour Demo, Show-up-and-Throw-up, Spray and Pray, the Spaghetti Demo, Doin’ the Demo
Dash.
Examples: “To give you an idea of what we do, let me show you a demo…”
“Stop me if anything looks interesting…”
[Trade-show booth] “Hi – would you like a demo?”
Cure: Collect a handful of Informal Success Stories. Distill and carefully extract the key Situation
information, based on:
• Job Title and Industry
• Critical Business Issue
• Reason
• Specific Capabilities
• Delta
Match customer Job Title/Industry, present appropriate Success Stories to generate interest, follow with
questions… Apply the Menu Approach for crusty customers or larger groups. Hold back from delivering
demo until customer situation is well understood.
Staff Infection – Victims of Momentum
Symptoms: Doing the same demo(s) over and over, regardless of customer needs or desires.
Examples: “We’ve always done it this way…”
“New hire, are you? Great – here’s the script for our demo. Memorize it by next Monday…”
Cure: Rapid, deep application of Great Demo! methodology. Reframe and customize demos for each key
audience members’ situation. Turn traditional demos upside down and start with the pay-off, the “Wow!”
factor:
1. Review customer’s Situation
2. Present the Illustration of the end result
3. Do It – show how to get there in the fewest number of steps
4. Peel Back the Layers in accord with customer interest
5. Manage Questions along the way
6. Summarize so customer retains the key points
Logorrhea – Excessive Talkativeness
Symptoms: Customer is unable to break-in to ask a question; presenter feels obligated to keep on talking
if he/she hears nothing from customer. Condition is often exacerbated when working over certain
conference room speaker phone systems. Audience often lapses into disgruntled silence for the balance
of the demo. Demo fails; sales person does not get order; customer goes with the competition.
Examples: “But, what if…”
“Um, excuse me but…”
“Can I ask…?”
“Never mind.”
Cure: Remove Starbucks coffee cups from victim’s immediate area. Have victim slow down delivery and
put pauses in place. Encourage victim to summarize at the end of each section. Ask questions more often
and give audience time to respond. Check telephone connection and speakerphone for bisynchronicity
before launching into demo.
Stunted Pain Development – Solution Abruption
Symptoms: Precipitous presentation of product-oriented solutions to problems prior to plumbing customer
pain adequately; victim jumps directly to presenting a solution the moment “pain” is uncovered.
Examples: “Ah ha – so you are having a hard time doing your forecasting? We’ve got a great solution for
you…! Here’s what it looks like…”
Cure: Discipline. Hold back on the solution, for the present. Ask more questions – perform Workflow
Analysis to uncover the depth and value of solving the customer’s problem:
1. What is the customer doing today – what is their current process or workflow?
2. What is the output, the deliverable, for which the workflow is executed?
[Hint: this is a prime candidate for a terrific Illustration!]
3. What parts of the process are problematic – what needs to change?
4. What is the value of making the change, in specific terms of Time, People or Money?
[This is the “Delta”]
Pointer Palsy
Symptoms: Presenter waves pointer vaguely at screen; pointer moves around constantly; use of broad
sweeping movements with a laser pointer. In severe cases, the victim circles mouse or pointer constantly
around and around and around. When compounded with aggressive tendencies, presenter may use stick
or telescoping pointer like a sword, causing audience members nearby to shrink back in fear.
Examples: “As you can see…” wave – wave – swish – swish…
“If you look over here” swish – wave – swish – wave…
Cure: Guide presenter to move right up to the screen and point carefully and deliberately at the item or
area of specific interest. Presenter needs to remember that while presenter has seen that part of the
software hundreds of times, it is mostly likely the first time the audience has seen it. In severe cases,
presenter may need to be tackled, pinned-down, and pointer carefully removed from his/her grasp.
Content-Free Pestilence – Buzzword Plague
Symptoms: Constant use of meaningless buzzwords and phrases. Lack of substance.
Examples: “Our powerful software is flexible, intuitive, easy-to-use and integrates seamlessly with your
other tools. Robust and scalable, your organization can enjoy the benefits of our best-of-breed world-class
offering.”
[Customer] “Bingo! I win – I’ve got five buzzwords in a row…!”
Cure: Rapid, repeated applications of Buzzword-Be-Gone®. Replace with substantive, fact-rich
statements that communicate the desired concept, with metrics. In extreme cases, buzzword exorcism
may be necessary (contact your local behavioral presentation skills witchdoctor).
Architecturitis- – Death by Rectangles
Symptoms: Presentation of architectural slides and diagrams early in the demo, well before any
discussion of business solutions (or needs). Far too many rectangles with lines and arrows, often
presented via one or more elaborate, highly colored PowerPoint slides. May cause severe drowsiness
when delivered after lunch.
Examples: “We have a three-tier architecture, allowing us to use several different modules and
components. I’ll describe each of these in turn…”
Cure: Ascertain audience interest prior to presenting architecture information. Ensure that all high-ranking
customer representatives, other than IT, have been given the opportunity to leave the room. When
presenting, contemplate developing the diagram(s) using a whiteboard rather than via PowerPoint, so that
the audience has the opportunity to participate.
Acronymophilia
Symptoms: Fits of sentences filled with vendor-specific acronyms, used both as nouns and verbs.
Assumption that audience has already been exposed to these dozens of acronyms and has a comfortable,
working understanding of them. Looks of confusion in the audience, followed by doodling and furtive
glances at wristwatches.
Examples: “So, the ABT triggers each PTD, resulting in as many SHRP’s as needed.”
“Next, every SHRP will be JY’ed in accordance with the specific WVM settings, which is then picked-up by
the TMT module and FRP’ed. Questions?”
Cure: A prescription of Acro-rid™ is recommended for mild and moderate cases; have the afflicted take
two pills before presenting to help loosen and remove acronyms. Encourage patient to either verbalize the
full word-sets or replace with customer-meaningful phrases. In severe cases, a radical acronectomy may
be necessary to remove all untreated acronyms.
Deadendedness – Death by Cul-de-Sac
Symptoms: Presenter pursues non-productive pathways, perusing pointless possibilities and dead-ends.
Elongates a demo segment from what could have been accomplished in 5 mouse-clicks to 24 minutes of
detailed explanation, covering all possible options and settings. Presenter may also suffer delusions that
the audience is earnestly interested in seeing all of this.
Examples: “And another way to do this is to ....”
“…But for this example we won’t do that and instead we’ll go back to where we were a moment ago…”
[Customer] “Oh my friggin’ God! – Will he never stop?”
Cure: Guide the afflicted presenter to choose the highest probability pathway for the customer at hand and
execute that pathway with the fewest number of steps needed to complete the task. Apply Occam’s Razor,
topically (“entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem”).
We hope this compendium helps you to diagnose and treat your own team. If this is an emergency or you
feel you need a specialist, please contact us right away.
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