One of the first books that helped me become a better Sales Engineer and made me change the way I did my demos, it was Demonstrating to Win, and we’re very lucky to have the author of that book on our podcast today. Bob Riefstahl shares with us how we as Sales Engineers can give more impactful demo presentations, how much the selling landscape has changed and how we can adapt and thrive in it, and why he believes salespeople should be able to do demos. 

Robert (Bob) Reifstahl founded 2Win! Global after 20 years in the software business training over 150,000 people in the sales and pre-sales space in doing better discoveries, product demos, sales presentations, and client success/post-sales activities. He is passionate about building social connections, improving local communities, and improving human connections regardless of the medium of communication.

He wrote Demonstrating to Win and co-authored the book Rule of 24 with Daniel J. Conway to show anyone in the software industry how to not only survive but thrive and dominate selling software in the new digital landscape.

Key Takeaways:

Tune in to our conversation and learn:

• Why he started the firm 2Win! Global and where the inspiration for the book Demonstrating to Win came from?
• What has changed in the software and selling landscape since then
• What his co-authored book, Rule of 24, is all about
• The benefits of having salespeople give initial demos
• How to have more meaningful discovery calls and better demo presentations
• Why age-old sales processes don’t work anymore and what to do to change them
• Techniques and strategies on how to entice your prospects to watch your videos or demos
• Why saying a person’s name during a call or meeting can keep your audience engaged
• How many features or benefits can we talk about during a demo
• The Rule of Threes and the Value Pyramid
• How to work with salespeople during demos to drive more value for the clients and more success within the organization

Quotes:

On how we should adapt to a changing selling landscape: “The way stakeholders are behaving, the way people buy… we’ve all learned it from our personal experiences and how we shop for things and buy things personally, even big-ticket items. We do our own research. We watch videos of a product to kind of educate ourselves. And then when somebody wants to do a demo to us, we get pretty demanding on what we want to see. I just want you to address being able to respond to that type of stakeholders. Really important. I know that age-old sales processes are all about, well, no, you can’t do that. You need to grab control and you need to control the process. And, you know, I just I don’t agree with that anymore. I think it really frustrates people. I think you need to guide them.”  

On how we can better serve our clients and prospects: “One of the things we teach people to do is pause and ask a couple of discovery questions on the fly. To get some context and get some perspective so that before you do it, the demo of what they want to see, you can provide that context to them ahead of the demo segment, that little topic, and then show. And then you’ve got a benefit. You can relate to them.”

One takeaway that Bob would want people to get from the Rule of 24: “Open your mind up to the new reality to how we need to sell in demos. It’s changed. Be open-minded about how you approach things, it’s a different world now, it’s accelerated even more in the past months due to the COVID situation.”

Not So Fire Round

1. What do you love about training salespeople and sales engineers to do demos?

To be able to watch their transformation when they realize, “Oh, that’s why I do it, that’s what I need to do!”. The best compliments have come from those doing that job for 10-15 years.

2. What’s one thing you would change about the sales and pre-sales profession?

For the salespeople, to get them more engaged than they are now because that enhances the credibility of the whole team. It makes the solution that much more valuable.

And not presenting the context before going into the demo. People need to get the mindset of where you’re going next.

3. What resources would you recommend for sales engineers and salespeople?

Great Demo!: How To Create And Execute Stunning Software Demonstrations by Peter Cohan

Just F*ing Demo!: Tactics For Leading Kickass Product Demos by Rob Falcone

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

4. What differentiates the great Sales Engineers and Salespeople from the not so great or ordinary ones?

Great salespeople are listeners, they can find out the motivations of people because they ask questions, and they dig into it a little bit further. Good SEs as well, when you get an objection and question, the ability to not respond right away and just listen, what you think you heard might not be what they said at all, all of a sudden they clarify, it builds trust and credibility and it gives you more time to build the right answer.

Connect with Bob on Linkedin: 

Know more about the company on 2winglobal.com

Learn about Classroom 2.0: 

Check out his books:

Demonstrating To Win!: The Indispensable Guide for Demonstrating Complex Products by Robert Riefsthal

Rule of 24: The Future of B2B Client Engagement by Robert Riefsthal

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support the show by dropping a review or rating on iTunes. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-sales-engineers-resource-for-sales-engineers-by/id1378292171

And if you’ve been affected by COVID as an SE, please check out our Leave No SE Behind initiative so that we can help you. https://wethesalesengineers.com/no-se-left-behind-initiative/