#226 Scripting Your Way to Closing More Opportunities

Notes:

Do you often wonder why your software isn’t converting a lot of sales? You’re confident that your software has the features which solve all your target customers’ problems, help them save a lot of time, and is the most user-friendly. But have you given a thought that the problem might be you? In this episode, we will speak with Brian Geery, a demo master who believes that a 90-minute demo is cruel and torture. He said that in order to identify if you’re doing the demo right, you have to answer four questions.

Brian Geery is a Badass Software Demo consultant who has helped countless companies, including well-known brands up-level their demo game. He is the managing partner of SalesNv for over 30 years now. SalesNv is a demo coaching company to improves a team’s win rate by turning good software demos into blockbusters. This is the third time that he will be interviewed by Ramzi, and he said he is willing to do a demo audit free of charge.

Key Takeaways:

Why you can’t expect SEs to be copywriters
How did he decide to quit his job during a beach trip
What do clients give to new hire training SEs
The situation where Brian agreed that demos are too dynamic to script
Why is having a 90-minute demo unusual punishment and cruel
How to cut the 90-minute demo to 45-minute with only 4 questions
What to do and questions to answer before writing a script
What Ramzi did before performing demos and how he used to demo
How to create a script with a better copy
The single question Brian asked to help SEs re-evaluate how they demo

Quotes:

“I just found that the software demonstration itself is such a pinnacle moment in the sales process, it’s the Make It or Break it moment. So if you deliver a persuasive and compelling software demo, then people continue with their purchasing process, and you maintain velocity in your pipeline. But if you deliver an average or mediocre demo, maybe they don’t continue worse, they go dark, or worse, they buy from a competitor and do nothing. So that demonstration just has such an impact on the overall selling motion.” ––Brian Geery

“The demo wizard is a cool new online software tool. And it enables everyone to demonstrate like your top performers. And it continually improves your demonstration because it leverages lessons learned during every demo.” ––Brian Geery

“It’s ironic to me that at software companies, we expect our SES and AES to be screenwriters or copywriters. They’re not. So I just feel that it’s incumbent on the sales leadership, to give SES an AES a script for the demos, and a bulleted version because more tenured people will not need scripts.” ––Brian Geery

“Well, from my experience is that they are not taught how to demo. They’re taught what the product does. They’re taught about technology. And some companies have a little portion, a small portion of pre-canned demos or demos that they can just use with scripts. But most companies that I’ve seen, every SE has to create their own flow.” –Ramzi Marjaba

“ I think there’s a slight misunderstanding. If you practice in the manner that you were describing, like, basically, you go live on a demo, and you try stuff, and it works, or it doesn’t work, and then you change it. That’s not perfect practice. Perfect practice would be recording your demo in advance, playing it back with you and a team member brainstorming saying, “Hey, how about we change this to that? Or why don’t we move that section up there?” So now you’re practicing perfectly.” ––Brian Geery

“Once you get past 45 minutes, I consider that That’s cruel and unusual punishment. That’s just boring. You are definitely if you’re going 90 minutes you’re teaching to use you’re not persuading to purchase. People are not showing up to see a long demo. They’re not showing up to be taught how to use the software. Sometimes they’ll ask questions like the question pelting that takes place. Well, can you tell me how to do it? No, we can’t let that happen in our demos, that’s training. When they show up to demo. They’re there because they want to know for things. How does your software solve my business challenge? Why is your software a better option than remaining status quo or purchasing from a competitor? Why is your software worth it? Like what’s the business case? How do I get an ROI? And how do I get from not using your software to up and running using it seamlessly?” ––Brian Geery

“I want each sentence to cause the reader to want to read the next sentence. That’s what we do when we write demo scripts. I do literally contract with screenwriters and copywriters to help us out.” ––Brian Geery

“If you don’t have a scripted demo, try it out. If you have one, go back to it and really think through Are you teaching to use or persuading to purchase? And then anyone can send me a recording of their live demo. Just record a live demo, and I’ll listen to it. And I’ll tell you what I think. Because the way I look at it here at sales envy, we cannot listen, or we cannot watch too many demos, because we just keep getting better by watching demos.” –Brian Geery