I was selling a product a while back that had some issues: it was in use around the world, but other companies had newer products. I had worked on a few deals and lost all of them. As we did the post-mortem on the losses, a lot of feedback was that the software just looked kinda bad.
One issue was about our demo person….he used to do 3-hour demos. I changed that by doing the demos myself and drastically shortening them. I got pretty good at it, and I build a nice script for myself.
I still kept losing. People would see the demos – we had great conversations – they liked me – I still lost a bunch of deals.
So, I went to a new deal, and I wanted to try something new. I was working on trying to be a lot more upfront in all my selling – less “technique” and “moves” – more direct interaction and finding out quickly if I was going to win or not. It was a waste of time to put all this effort into losing deals.
So, I went onsite to this prospect and did the whole demo thing. We set up in a meeting; I went through my PPT quickly; I got them to see we were a real, experienced, profitable company.
Then, I got to the demo. Before I started, I said to them, “OK, I am going to show you some of the product now. I just want to caution you that it looks a little ugly. We spent a lot of time on the speed of the product here, and this product does not always look so great. This is the first time you’ve seen it, so I want to caution you about your reaction.” I then went into my carefully practiced and rehearsed presentation.
I went through the demo in about 30 minutes and asked for some feedback. One guy immediately said, “Wow, that did not look so bad. And, I loved the speed of it. It really was fast.”
We finished up the discussion – I left. That customer signed a deal next month for a trial of our software. It was the first new customer we had in over 1 year – we were making money selling more to our current customers, not winning new ones.
I think the difference in this deal was how we sold it. We actually discussed a weakness upfront – they would see it anyway, and I wanted them to be aware of it. It really was a weakness (but the software was really fast).
I learned a ton from this deal:
- Demos are not an examination – you are not providing information so that you can be grade by a professor
- Demos are like first dates – the client wants to get a sense of what you are really like.
- The client will come out of your demo and conclude one of 2 things: I can use that or I cannot use that. Are you doing everything to make sure they feel they can use you?
- Your prospects are smart – talk to them like they are.
- Negatives are a fact of life – you will not lose by admitting that your product is not perfect
This is scary stuff for a lot of people in selling – we are always taught to present everything in the best light at all times. That’s one of the reasons nobody believes us when we speak to them….
