Great Demo!: How to Create and Execute Stunning Software Demonstrations

This is one of the most amazing books I ever read. It really puts it all in perspective. It shows me all the mistakes I ever made that now they make sense. I highly recommend it, but not to my competitors.

"Great Demo" is not just a book. It is an essential strategy. Last year we implemented this strategy at our January sales meeting, both by requiring everyone read the book and by hosting the author for a 2 day seminar...revenues were up significantly in 2005. Coincidence? I think not. It helped us transform our lackluster presentations and demonstrations into dynamic, meaningful sales events and has helped our sales and applications groups act as a cohesive team. Almost forgot...our customers thank us as well for not putting them to sleep anymore! It is a must read.

If you're looking for a way to shake up your salesforce , shake loose their love of doing things the traditional way and eventually shake down your competition - look no further. Demonstrating software is an art-form , at its best a careful balance and ballet between a salesperson and a sales consultant/engineer. All too often it turns into a long 2 hour monologue after a boring 30 slide powerpoint presentation introducing your company ('the corporate pitch'). Peter Cohan presents an alternative technique to the mind and butt-numbing methodology we've all had drilled into us in sales training. Its not so much finding the unique solution to your prospects business problem - but in how you present it and grab their attention. As the leader of an 40+ size organization tasked with giving software demos I found this book to be exciting , invigorating and a catalyst for change. After the presentation of the big idea (Do the last thing first) the book slows down for a few chapters covering the basics, but then picks up again around a third of the way through and hits high gear around managing time, questions and expectations. There is also a great section on remote (web) demos and then some advanced chapters on style and appearance. The content-free buzzword-compliant list of phrases should be pasted on the cover of every laptop.

In Great Demo, Peter Cohan applies his own methodology for how to give a demo in how he writes a business book. Even though the book is nearly 300 pages, it gets directly to the main premise. Show your prospect the best part, the most valuable aspect, of your product right at the front of your demo. Cohan does this with the book as well by giving us the "punch line" on page 5, not page 205. Just after the Introduction, the author gives us the "answer" to effective software demonstrations - "Do The Last Thing First." Show them that part of the killer demo that's meant to knock their socks off; that part traditionally following the grand build up like a symphony musical. Just skip the prelude, build up and all that other stuff and show the customer what they really want to see. Then you have their attention to fill in the details because you've proven (hopefully) up front that you are relevant and worth their time. It is interesting to observe how many proven advertising schemes already have this grab `em-up-front tactic built in. This can be seen in some television and magazine ads, most trade show tables, and yes even SPAM. Great Demo addresses this human need for immediate resolution - why is this worth my time at all? - in the board room during demos. With 250 more pages of regular content (not counting the Appendices, glossary, etc.) Great Demo has a lot more to say about knowing what the most relevant part of your system might be to show each individual client and how to deal with the inevitable questions, etc. But, the core of Great Demo is simple, memorable and effective. I have had the opportunity to give several demonstrations since reading Great Demo and I have found this up front approach really changes the dynamic with the prospect in a healthy way. I think it helps differentiate our company/products since competitors may not be leading off with their best foot forward so intentionally. There are also practical benefits since executive level prospects/audience members may be present only in the beginning of a demo but not the end. If the opposite is true you can always show the best stuff again (and may be asked to do so), but if that exec leaves the presentation early and you haven't shown your best stuff, they may never see it at all. Of course, the book is well aware of this and many other practical benefits. Cohan has a web site called DemoGurus so he has a good base of info in addition to his own extensive experience to build the Great Demo method upon. Interestingly, the book develops as if it is following its own method by unfolding more and more answers about the method itself as the chapters progress (as if it were the product being demo'd). In the early going this can be a little slow to develop, but by the middle of the book, there is a wealth of knowledge being presented. The presentation of the entire book also has business appeal. The pages are short and most follow a checklist type format. This make

An excellent "how to" book that could radically change the way you sell your ideas to people. Reading through it I was constantly visualizing the good, the bad and the plain ugly demos and presentations I have sat through or been part of over the past few years. Now if Peter's book could be used by fellow scientists to present their ideas to non-scientists in the same way, the world would be a better place or at least we would have more understanding and respect!!