From the category archives:

Sales Presentation Skills and Tips

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Internet Based Sales Demonstrations

Remote web demos are great.

You don’t need to travel or tote around heavy equipment. You can work from your office with all the resources and support you need at your fingertips. Some lucky people can even do them from the comfort of their own home.

With all this Internet demo goodness, what are some of the shortcomings of remote demonstrations and what can we do about them?

Remote demos have a hazy kind of  feel to them

You show the money shot–the software dashboard! Lots of great information, great organization… Audience Response: silence and a blinking cursor. You can’t tell if they’re watching your demo or checking their twitter account.

Worse yet, what if your internet connection cuts out and they lose the visual.

Remote demos stifle your ability to see, hear and “read” your audience. Anyone who has done face-to-face demos knows that being able to see, hear and relate to your audience is a big advantage. So what can you do to make up for the lack of feedback in an internet based demo?

Coming back to your senses

Here are several things that I have suggested to students in our Demonstration Training Classes:

Fly-on-the-wall – Have your sales person on-site with your prospect during your demo. They can act as your eyes and ears, providing valuable feedback to keep you on track. You still save 50% on travel and reap the benefits of being in your office.

Ask Questions – Open the phone line or use the built-in chat function in your web conferencing software to ask them if this screen is relevant to the way they do things. (With hope, you will already know this from your pre-demo discovery questions.)

Watch your own demo – A second system logged in to watch your demo is an excellent way to be sure that your audience sees what you want them to see. Be sure to watch with the sound off to avoid feedback issues. Some companies use a partner to watch the demo, allowing you to focus on the demo itself.

If you’re interested in learning more about improving your web demos, please check out our Software Demo Skills Training page.

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Software Demos

February 6, 2010
Software Demo Training

“Get some toothpicks for your eyes and a case of Red Bull, were gonna do a software demo!”

Software demos are the cornerstone of technology sales. Here’s 4 tips to make your next software demo better:

Keep Software Demos Short
Use the  Right Approach for the Medium
Encourage Questions
Don’t Pounce

Short Software Demos are Best
Our demos are too [...]

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Sales Presentations 5 Creative Powerpoint Tips

May 20, 2009
Thumbnail image for Sales Presentations 5 Creative Powerpoint Tips

PowerPoint has become the poster child for bad sales presentations; so, how about some ways that PowerPoint can enhance your next sales presentation? Here are  5 that I use in my sales presentation training seminars.
Make a Joke

Humor can be very effective, but be sure your that you have the right audience when you use it.
How [...]

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Sales Presentations How to Avoid Filler Words, Ums and Ahs

May 18, 2009

Filler words are killer words that can overshadow an otherwise great sales presentation by driving the audience to distraction.

Filler words are those verbal pauses and missteps like Um and Ah, or thrown in words such as Ya Know or Like.
For an example of the negative effects of filler words we need look no further than [...]

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Five Tips to Spice Up Your Next Sales Presentation or Demo

May 10, 2009
Thumbnail image for Five Tips to Spice Up Your Next Sales Presentation or Demo

High-Tech demos and presentations are often dry and boring. To make your sales call more interesting and effective–try these simple tips
1) Use quotations. Here is an example of how to use a quotation to establish the expertise of your companies’ engineers. This would be a great lead-in to a presentation on professional services and consulting:

Niles [...]

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Tiny Projector for Sales Presentations From 3M Very Cool

May 22, 2008

I just saw the 3M-MPRO 110 projector from 3M and it is very interesting. It looks like the perfect package for road warriors who do sales presentations and demos and is priced well under many portable projectors. Here is a link to the 3M demo site: http://www.3mmpro.com/demo.aspx
It looks to me like the big issue will [...]

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