Why I Don't Like Demo Scripts, But Still Use a Demo Script Template
Demo scripts often push SEs toward generic demos. Here is why I still use a demo script template for the opening and closing, but leave the middle unscripted.
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Presales
20 articles
Product Demo Checklist: How to Prepare a Demo That Actually Moves the Deal Forward
A demo is not the next step. It is an activity. Here is the product demo checklist I use to make sure a demo earns its place in the deal.
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Why I Think "Limbic Opener" Is a Bad Name for a Good Idea
The idea behind a Limbic Opener is solid: start your demo in a way that gets attention and makes the buyer care. But the name itself creates the same cognitive load we tell Solution Engineers to remove.
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Why Demo Training Beats Generic Presales Training
Presales is broad, but demos are deep enough to deserve their own specialization. Here is why I go deep on demo training instead of offering a broad presales menu.
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The Demo That Made Me Stop Watching
I had to stop watching a demo recording the other day because I got too frustrated with what I was seeing.It takes a lot for me to pause a recording, but this one pushed me close to the limit. As part of my workshop preparation, I usually watch ten to twenty hours of demo footage
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10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Demo Yourself
In my demo workshops, I hear the same frustration again and again.Many SEs say they cannot improve their demos because their AEs do not give them enough customer context. Some complain that demos are scheduled too early.Others struggle because there is no clear direction or share
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Create Peace of Mind in Your Demos
Most demos focus on showing what a product can do. Many solution engineers try to impress with features, shortcuts, automations, and deep configuration. It all looks good on paper. But it often does not give the customer what they need most. They want peace of mind. Peace of mind
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5 Presales Lessons From Gartner's Buying Survey
Gartner’s 2024 Global Software Buying Trends report provides invaluable insights for presales professionals. With data gathered from 2,499 software buyers, this survey highlights key factors that influence purchasing decisions. Here are five actionable learnings presales teams ca
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𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀
Aka the ‚Hot #Potatoe‚ of the software enterprise sales 🥔 In enterprise sales, it is becoming increasingly challenging to close deals due to the rising number of stakeholders involved in the purchasing decision on the customer side. To overcome this challenge, a critical success
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The Need for Approval in B2B Sales
Are you looking for love in Presales and Solution Engineering? Then this is the right post for you! In this article, we are looking at how your passion for creating relationships and being likeable influences your presales performance. And how your need for approval affects your
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Digital Body Language: Active Listening
Actively listening to your clients is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to build trust and empathy with your clients. But in remote demo scenarios, it is significantly harder to replicate the interpersonal connection of any face-to-face meeting. And as a result, we are of
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The Yes-Man – Software Demo Mistakes
If you ask me about one of the most decisive turning points of my presales and sales career, it is the moment I realized that you can actually disagree with your clients! And that they don’t walk away from you if you challenge their point of view! But when I started in software s
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Objection Handling in Software Demos
Feel – Felt – Found – The best way to handle objections during your software demonstration In this article, I would like to share with you my favourite technique to handle objections and shift your mindset towards acknowledging them as a positive buying signal rather than a threa
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Leading the Witness: Discovery Mistakes
Presales Discovery Call gone Wrong The discovery call is undoubtedly one of the single most important steps in our sales cycle and can easily make or break our deals. I’ve been through hundreds of discovery sessions in my sales career and read through a dozen frameworks to improv
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Does it make sense to ask „Does it make sense“?
Have you ever used this question yourself? You want to be compassionate and affirm your prospect understands what you are saying. But in reality, you are making things worse. It’s a dumb question. Don’t ever ask that question during your demo! You put yourself in a position of we
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10 Ways to Reset Attention in Your Demo
Selling B2B-software is not just a battle against your competitors. In our modern society, it is also a battle for your audience’s attention. The likes of Netflix, Youtube, Spotify and constant smartphone notifications have reduced the average attention span to less than five min
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How Sales Engineers Help Overwhelmed Buyers
Today, buyers are armed with more high-quality information than ever before. The abundance of online resources has changed the whole landscape of buying and selling complex B2B-software. A Shift In B2B-Buying Behaviour What has been a sales-dominated approach has turned into a bu
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Solution Consultants and the Buying Journey
Buying complex enterprise software has become more difficult than ever before. What has been a linear process in the past (and is still illustrated this way) has become a tedious back and forth. Rather than following a clear structure, it is a concurrent process of searching for
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Presales – Your Unfair Advantage
With changing market dynamics and a shift in buyer behaviour, organisations need to understand the importance of leveraging and empowering their presales resources. Buying complex enterprise/B2B-software has become more complex than ever before. As a result, facilitating the buye
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What Is Presales? A Definition Beyond Tech Sales
Presales isn't technical sales support. Here's what presales actually means, what a presales person does day to day, and why buyers need it more than sellers do.
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