Demand exceeds capacity
The important question is not whether a project is valuable, but whether the organisation can realistically do it now.
PPM DEMOS
Better demos forProject and portfolio management teams.
PPM buyers are trying to make trade-offs between demand, money, people and strategy. A colourful portfolio dashboard is easy to show. The hard part is proving how leaders decide what to start, what to stop and what happens when capacity or priorities change.
1,000+software demos reviewed
500+sellers trained
15+years in B2B software sales
I work with Project and portfolio management teams
01 / Buyer reality
What makes Project and portfolio management buyers different
Executives, PMO, Finance, resource managers and delivery teams all need a different level of detail from the same portfolio.
Priorities change
New executive requests, delays and budget changes can force the portfolio to be re-planned during the year.
Dependencies cross teams
A project can look green until another team, system or milestone it depends on slips.
Delivery methods differ
Traditional projects, product work and agile teams may all feed the same portfolio view.
More than skills.
Demo Ramp is a complete toolkit built around three areas with ongoing guidance and coaching for long-lasting, behavioral and organisational change.
Skills
Improve your teams communication, presentation and soft skills.
- Storytelling
- Discovery
- Audience Engagement
- Objection Handling
- Managing Questions
- Confidence in Demos
- Demo Language
- How to Establish Trust
Process & Governance
Build repeatable processes and clear governance around demos.
- Entry & Exit Criteria
- AE/SE Positioning Canvas
- AE/SE Alignment
- Handoff to Sales
- Feedback Loops
- Demo Standards
Checklists, Frameworks & Templates
Practical, ready-to-use tools ypur team can apply in their very next demo.
- Objection Handling
- Bad & Better Demo Questions
- Demo Language
- Useful Prompts
- MEDDICC for Solution Engineers
- Demo Planning Template
- Post-Demo Feedback Template
Ready to build skills, systems and habits?Book a Call with Max
02 / Demo challenges
Where Project and portfolio management demos usually go wrong
Where PPM demos usually go wrong. Here are the patterns that come up again and again.
Main challenge
Portfolio reporting without decision context
Showing a beautiful portfolio dashboard without showing the decision that created the portfolio in the first place.
Using data where every project has a current status, clean estimate and clear owner
Real portfolio data is often incomplete or late.
Treating capacity as a simple headcount
Treating capacity as a simple headcount number instead of showing skills, teams, existing work and competing demand.
Showing dependencies as lines on a
Showing dependencies as lines on a roadmap without showing how one delay changes another commitment.
Running scenario planning without clear decision
Running scenario planning without clear decision criteria such as strategic fit, cost, risk or resource capacity.
03 / What buyers need to see
Your demo has to prove the right things.
Not every workflow deserves equal time. These are the things that matter most to Project and portfolio management buyers.
Add a new demand item and
Add a new demand item and show what happens when current capacity cannot absorb it.
Compare two portfolio scenarios and make
Compare two portfolio scenarios and make the trade-offs in money, people and strategic value visible.
Move a milestone or dependency and
Move a milestone or dependency and show which other commitments are affected.
Connect the executive portfolio view to
Connect the executive portfolio view to real delivery data without pretending every team works the same way.
Show forecast, budget and actuals together
Show forecast, budget and actuals together so leaders can see the financial impact of a portfolio decision.
Getting started
is simple.
We’ll first grab a coffee, virtually or in person if you’re in Cologne, and talk about your team, your demos and where things could be better. If it makes sense, send me a few demo recordings — I’ll review them and share initial feedback at no cost. From there we decide together what’s most useful next.
1
Free discovery call
We get to know each other. You share a bit about your team, your demos and the challenges you’re seeing. You also get a feel for how I work.
2
Demo review
You send me 3–5 demo recordings or transcripts. Within three days, you get clear feedback on what’s already working, where the biggest gaps are and what I’d focus on first. NDA? Absolutely.
3
Build the workshop
We use the review to shape the workshop around what your team actually needs. No generic agenda, just the topics that will make the biggest difference.
4
Choose what’s next
You decide how far you want to go. Stop after the workshop, add a sales session, continue with self-paced learning, or keep improving through quarterly reviews and coaching.
04 / Proof
Relevant experience in Project and portfolio management
PMO and portfolio teams can get pulled into scoring models, fields, resource rules and reporting structures. The demo should first make the portfolio decision or capacity problem clear before showing every way the system can be configured.
“The demos that win are the ones that make the buyer’s real problem obvious first, and only then go deep into the detail.”Max LüpertzFounder, Presales Rockstars
1,000+demos reviewed
500+sellers trained
15+years in B2B software
Great Demo!certified coach
Grab your free resources.
Cheat sheets, checklists and guides for apply in your very next demo.
PDF · 1.3 MB10 Engaging Demo Questions
Meaningful and engaging demo questions beyond "Does that make sense?"
Download
PDF · 1.2 MBObjection Handling Cheat Sheet for SEs
The most common objections and how to handle them
Download
PDF · 246 KB54 Bad and Better Demo Questions
Detailed list of what questions (not) to ask during your demo
Download
PDF · 1.7 MB5 Quick Wins for Your Demo
5 ready to implement steps that will improve your demo and demo process right away
Download![[Mini Ebook] How to gain your customers trust](/__l5e/assets-v1/76fb52e1-085a-4249-b12f-bb2f5f6cdf05/resource-5.webp)
PDF · 1.7 MB[Mini Ebook] How to gain your customers trust
How to build real trust with your clients by taking a genuine interest in their unknown challenges
Download
PDF · 1.9 MBMEDDPICC Guide for SEs
Everything you need to know about MEDDPICC as a Solution Engineer
Download
PDF · 126 KBDemo Entry & Exit Criteria
How to make sure that every demo request you and your team receives is properly qualified
Download
PNG · 102 KBStages of Your Customer Buying Journey
Understand your customers buying journey and what kind of input they need from you at every stage
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PDF · 657 KBDemo Preparation & AE Alignment Checklist
How to better align internally on your demo objectives and narrative to make every demo count
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PDF · 118 KBHow to Establish Trust in your Demo
Behaviours that make your customers trust you; or break it.
DownloadWant to make your PPM demos about real decisions?Let’s move beyond portfolio dashboards and show how your product helps leaders make hard trade-offs with limited capacity.