TABLE OF CONTENTS In selling, as in medicine, prescription before diagnosis is malpractice.
Relationship Selling, Jim Cathcart
Appreciate why the "dash to demo" occurs.
Learn the planning and logistics of demonstrations.
Learn how to entertain the audience.
Discuss the segmenting of an audience.
The eager rush to demonstrate your product, which we'll refer to in this chapter as the "dash to demo," often sounds the death knell for any sales opportunity, whether you are selling a $99 piece of software or a $3 million item of medical equipment. In essence, it is the abandonment of any disciplined sales strategy in the haste to show the prospect "the product." Inexperienced salespeople, or even experienced ones in a hurry to close the deal, become fixated in the belief that a world-class demo of "the product" is key to progressing rapidly through the sales cycle. In fact, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the exact opposite is true.
Before discussing the demo itself or the preparation required beforehand, step back and apply some logic to the situation. In the life cycle of any product or service, the period of time when a product is deemed "hot" is very short. Using Geoffrey Moore's crossing the chasm analogy (Figure 8.1), this is usually either as you are accelerating to jump the chasm or just after you have safely landed. At this point, the market believes you are "hot," the world is beating down your doors, the sales force is overly confident, and orders are...
