Demo Like Salesforce: The Implementation (Part 2)
Why does Nike have such an intricate custom shoe design system? It’s not just because they can charge more, it’s also because Nike knows how delighted customers will be when they get to make a pair of shoes their own.
If you’re using the same demo over and over with no customizations, you’ll win some deals. But the moment you start moving upstream, your competitors will be waiting for you with fully integrated demos.
A typical mid-market/commercial sales engineer at Salesforce will spend hours making customizations to their demos before a sales presentation. Are you investing the right amount of time into your own sales demos?
Step 1: Data Loading
The most painful part of creating a demo is often the part where you need to fill it with lots of fake data. Without data, list views look empty, detail views look sparse, and charts look flat.
Many SaaS companies have built their own internal tools for loading data. They will use what they consider their “golden dataset” to seed a demo and create a great starting point for additional customizations.
Regardless of where you get the data, making sure you have lots of it is the first step to creating a believable demo environment. Other resources for creating fake data include Mockaroo or generatedata.com.
As you walk through the demo you’ll probably be landing on a few key records. This is where you want to focus your attention to make sure names and places match your prospect’s industry.
Step 2: Users
By this point you should be familiar with all the people involved in the buying process. Go to LinkedIn and grab their profile pictures if they are available. Use their real names in the demo.
If other employees will be present during your demo presentation, use their photos and names as well. Give them the same titles they have in real life. Try to make the demo as real as possible.
People love to see their own faces and if you make them look like heroes on the big screen they will feel good too.
If your app allows you to upload a prospect’s company logo, don’t forget to do this. It’s the easiest way to add a touch of personalization.
Step 3: Integrations
Oftentimes you’ll need to show how your application integrates with a third party application such as a quoting module or an ERP system. To do this for real might be beyond the scope of your demo.
If you can provide documentation to prove that your company has done successful integrations in the past, it will be less necessary to show a live integration.
As you build out your demo make it seem as if these integrations have been in place for months.
Step 4: Workflows
Every prospect you meet will have their own way of running their business. They have an existing process that they like to follow. During your discovery phase it’s important to figure out what these processes are so you can replicate them in your demo.
If a prospect uses certain words to describe each phase of their workflow, try to incorporate those words into the demo. This shows the prospect that you’ve thought about their business and care about making any transition as smooth as possible.
Step 5: Other Small Details
Dates — It’s no good if all the dates in your demo are from three or four months ago. Prospects will see these dates on the big screen and subconsciously ding you for using an old demo.
Fully Reset — If you ran through the demo before the meeting and certain records are being re-created over and over it’s a good idea to clean these out. Reset the demo after every dry run to make sure it gets back to its designated starting place.
Resolution — Check to make sure your demo looks good at a smaller resolution (1280 x 800 is a good one to test). Chances are you’re building this on a high resolution screen but your prospect might have a very old projector.
Stock Photos — If you end up needing stock photos in your demo I would ask Facebook friends if you can use their profile photos first. Stock photos usually look very fake and impersonal. Real profile photos give demos a touch of authenticity. (Don’t use real names of course.)
Social Accounts — If your application interfaces with a social network account, make sure these accounts look good as well. You can probably reuse them for other demos.
Step 6: Mobile or Custom Apps (optional)
Many business people are mobile and need to access your app on the go. Can you incorporate a mobile component into your demo story?
Always remember to bring your own demo devices. Don’t go into a demo with a device that you haven’t fully tested and have control over (more in Part 3 later).
If your application integrates into a prospect’s website, why not create a fake, static version of their website to use in your demo? You might be able to ask for help from a developer to get this working for you on your local machine.
Step 7: Click path and talk track
Finally the last step after you finish building your demo is building out a click path and a talk track. You can use a spreadsheet for this and create at least three columns: Screen, Click Path, Talk Track
Screen — What screen you are currently viewing in the demo
Click Path — Where to click next to advance the demo.
Talk Track — Key points to mention verbally on this screen.
By creating a click path, you’ll be making it easier to navigate your own demo and allow others to run through your demo later on. The click path might come in handy down the road.
Other stories in this series
The Most Exciting Two Minutes in the World of SaaS
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