{"id":4886,"date":"2020-06-10T11:15:59","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T16:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/?p=4886"},"modified":"2020-12-04T18:44:57","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T00:44:57","slug":"story-based-demo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Run a Story-Based Demo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Once you\u2019ve booked a product demo call with a prospect, it\u2019s tempting to mentally chalk it up as a done deal.<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s still a lot that can go wrong.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s highly unlikely that you\u2019ll persuade your prospect to sign on the dotted line if your product demo is un-engaging, vague, or generic. That might sound obvious, but I\u2019ve seen a lot of terrible demos. Trust me, this is a widespread problem.<\/p>\n<p>So what can you do about it? I caught up with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startuphypeman.com\/\">Startup Hypeman<\/a> founder <a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rajivnathan\">Rajiv Nathan<\/a> (aka RajNATION), who explains how story-based demos can improve your conversion rate&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe class='youtube-player' width='700' height='394' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZpnAcBzrCyE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent' allowfullscreen='true' style='border:0;' sandbox='allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation'><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<h2>What Is a Story-Based Demo? [1:25]<\/h2>\n<p>Most brands treat demos as an opportunity to show off every possible aspect of their product. They\u2019ve built it from the ground up, they\u2019re proud of it, and they\u2019re damn well going to tell you about it!<\/p>\n<p>A story-based demo takes the opposite approach. Rather than being centered on the product, it focuses on a consistent narrative anchored on the customer\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n<p>Raj has developed the Superhero Strategy to explain the value of a story-based demo: \u201cThe idea is that you have to think of your brand as a superhero. Your company, your brand helps to save your target audience from something.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut in order for a superhero to exist, there has to be three things in place first. Most companies try to be Batman and save Gotham on a sunny day when there\u2019s nothing wrong. But for Batman to exist, you must first have:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A damsel or a dude in distress;<\/li>\n<li>A village on fire; and then<\/li>\n<li>A superpower that can be activated<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cAnd then your superhero can swoop in and save the day.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>What Are the Common Mistakes Salespeople Make on Their Demos? [3:37]<\/h2>\n<p>For a lot of salespeople, the product demo is a \u201c40-minute highlight reel of all of their product features, going into the inner working of the admin dashboard, into every possible use case, and just over-explaining the product\u201d, Raj explains.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not a product <em>ad. <\/em>Your prospect wants to know how the product will benefit them <em>specifically. <\/em>Make it simple for them to understand the value you add.<\/p>\n<p>According to Raj, the biggest failing here is asking the wrong questions during the discovery phase.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany companies, many salespeople only ask a couple quick questions, mainly about their own solution: \u2018How did you find us? What are you looking for in a [whatever product]? Great, awesome, let me show you the product now.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat takes up 5-7 minutes, then 33 minutes is spent after that just poring through the actual screenshare platform product demonstration.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>What Sort of Questions Should You Be Asking? [5:20]<\/h2>\n<p>So questions are important. But which are the right questions to be asking?<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, it\u2019ll depend whether you\u2019re speaking to an inbound or outbound lead. From an outbound perspective, Raj recommends replacing your <a href=\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/sales-qualifying-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">qualifying questions<\/a> with <em>disqualifying <\/em>ones.<\/p>\n<p>As an example, he notes that many sales teams use the BANT method:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>B<\/strong>udget<\/li>\n<li><strong>A<\/strong>uthority<\/li>\n<li><strong>N<\/strong>eed<\/li>\n<li><strong>T<\/strong>iming<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On the question of timing, most reps will ask a question like: \u201cWhat\u2019s your timeline for something like this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s all well and good, but it often doesn\u2019t produce a completely honest response. \u201cNot because they\u2019re intentionally lying; more because they don\u2019t know what their real timeline is,\u201d Raj says.<\/p>\n<p>This works much better when it\u2019s flipped to a <em>disqualifying <\/em>question, he explains: \u201cWhat you could ask at the start is: \u2018Hey, how come we\u2019re having this conversation right now, and not two months from now?\u2019 That\u2019s how you figure out the state of today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you get toward the end and you have to figure out when they want to launch, you can say: \u2018So from what you\u2019ve told me, it sounds like about two months or so, is that accurate?\u2019&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Can You Tell a Story Using a Sales Deck? [8:10]<\/h2>\n<p>When product demos are poor, the <a href=\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/building-rapport-remote-sales-presentations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sales deck<\/a> is often at least partly to blame.<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s not to say you <em>can\u2019t <\/em>tell an engaging story with a sales deck. You absolutely can. It just needs to be \u201cinfused with narrative,\u201d Raj explains.<\/p>\n<p>That means taking your prospect on a journey by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Defining the current state of events (and getting them to agree that it\u2019s accurate);<\/li>\n<li>Introducing a breakage or friction point;<\/li>\n<li>Explaining what will happen if nothing is done about it;<\/li>\n<li>Discussing the potential impact and results of finding a solution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Then, and only then, you can introduce your company, explain how your product overcomes the challenge they\u2019re facing and provide some examples of customer success.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first 60-70% of it, you haven\u2019t even introduced your brand yet,\u201d Raj points out. \u201cYou\u2019re just building up the situation and the idea of doing something, so that when you do introduce your brand, it becomes the logical conclusion to this narrative that was built up.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>What Does a Story-Based Demo Look Like in the Wild? [13:16]<\/h2>\n<p>Raj has helped lots of brands build story-based product demos.<\/p>\n<p>One of his favorite examples is Blueboard, an employee rewards and recognition platform. They\u2019d been relying on an outdated demo process that was heavy on \u201cthis is us, this is what we do,\u201d but light on \u201cthis is what it actually means to <em>you<\/em>, our prospect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With Raj\u2019s support, they created a scenario-based buildup followed by a maximum 10-minute demonstration of the product.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe took [prospects] through the mock user flow of an employee getting an email about something that\u2019s cool and interesting, clicking on it, being surprised, and then picking the experience that would work for them,\u201d Raj explains.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only thing we said after that was: \u2018All of this you just do from a single admin portal in the back end, here\u2019s the page, it\u2019s really simple.\u2019 That completely changed the perspective of the product, making it easier for that person to sell it internally to their stakeholders, the decision-makers, which made it easier for them to loop back in and want to advance the opportunity forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you use story-based product demos? How do you do it and what benefits have you seen? Let me know in the comments:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once you\u2019ve booked a product demo call with a prospect, it\u2019s tempting to mentally chalk it up as a done deal. But there\u2019s still a lot that can go wrong. It\u2019s highly unlikely that you\u2019ll persuade your prospect to sign on the dotted line if your product demo is un-engaging, vague, or generic. That might &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/how_to_run_a_story-based_demo.jpg?fit=3840%2C2160&ssl=1","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v15.5 - http:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>How to Run a Story-Based Demo<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Run a Story-Based Demo\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Once you\u2019ve booked a product demo call with a prospect, it\u2019s tempting to mentally chalk it up as a done deal. 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That might ...\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mailshake Sales &amp; Marketing Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-10T16:15:59+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-05T00:44:57+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/how_to_run_a_story-based_demo.jpg?fit=3840%2C2160&#038;ssl=1\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3840\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2160\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\">\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"http:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Mailshake\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Mailshake-Logo-small.png?fit=325%2C59&ssl=1\",\"width\":325,\"height\":59,\"caption\":\"Mailshake\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Mailshake Sales &amp; Marketing Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/how_to_run_a_story-based_demo.jpg?fit=3840%2C2160&ssl=1\",\"width\":3840,\"height\":2160},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/\",\"name\":\"How to Run a Story-Based Demo\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-10T16:15:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-05T00:44:57+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/fadba0629a6997a15e7b77e335c110d8\"},\"headline\":\"How to Run a Story-Based Demo\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-10T16:15:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-05T00:44:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/#webpage\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/story-based-demo\/#primaryimage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Interviews\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/fadba0629a6997a15e7b77e335c110d8\",\"name\":\"Sujan Patel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/071c63b926025330e9468435427b9f37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sujan Patel\"},\"description\":\"Sujan Patel is the founder of Mailshake, a sales engagement software used by 38,000 sales and marketing professionals. 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What Is B2B\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;sales&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"what is b2b sales","src":"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/What-is-B2B-Sales-header-2.jpg?fit=1138%2C493&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4886"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6395,"href":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886\/revisions\/6395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"http:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}