Great Demo!: How to Create and Execute Stunning Software Demonstrations: Third Edition (Unabridged‪)‬

Many presales, sales, marketing, and customer success practitioners say they are skilled at doing demos—but are they?


A head of presales commented, “They don’t know what they don’t know…! Fifty percent of our sales opportunities end in ‘No Decision’ and thirty percent of our demos are just pure waste. We must move from our traditional approaches to a validated, proven methodology that succeeds…!”


Assess where you and your team stand on these 10 levels of increasing proficiency:


Level 1: Follows the standard demo script

Level 2: Customizes based on the prospect’s market/industry

Level 3: Customizes based on the discovery information uncovered

Level 4: Communicates tangible business value

Level 5: Differentiates Vision Generation from Technical Proof scenarios

Level 6: Manages and explores prospect questions

Level 7: Uses Biased Questions to outflank competition and reengineer vision

Level 8: Applies storytelling techniques to reinforce key ideas

Level 9: Applies these skills to the broad range of demo scenarios required, including demos for prospects occupying different portions of the Technology Adoption Curve, presenting new products, Executive Briefing Centers, transactional sales cycles, expansion opportunities, lunch and learn sessions, tradeshows, demos for analysts and third parties, channel partners, internal demos, and other scenarios

Level 10: Captures and reuses demo success scenarios, and integrates, aligns, and leverages the skills above into a cohesive demonstration methodology


Organizations that reach Level 4 enjoy substantial competitive advantages versus their peers, those at Level 7 gain critical differentiation, and teams at Level 10 experience remarkable scaling and amplification rewards.


Consuming and performing the exercises in this book can transform individuals, teams, and organizations from undifferentiated sellers into high-performing experts who truly enable buyers, resulting in mutually successful outcomes that endure.