Re:Product Demo Sucks Because It's Focused on Your Product
by sgt101 on Sunday October 11, 2020 @03:20AM
(#24744261)
There is some truth in this, but there is a flip side that kills a lot of projects, careers and companies. Sales people don't like to talk about it, it clashes badly with the "fake it till you make it", "always be closing" and "I want to get my commission" ethos that drives sales people and teams. But it is very real and very important.
If you get the wrong customers unnaturally far up your filter you will burn your budget trying to do conversions that can never, ever really happen.
Everyone is happy - you have interested new big customers. They may even buy a taste.
They want what you have sold them.
They think you understand their needs - and you do.
But your product won't meet them.
Eventually they realise this, they are then gone and they won't come back because now not only do they know your stuff doesn't really help, but they don't trust a word that comes out of your mouths.
As far as sales are concerned this is somewhere between a natural disaster and the engineering teams fault. There may even be some truth in the later but - perhaps the product could have been pivoted and focused on what the customer really wanted - but while ppt decks can be changed and honed every 3 hours software products have a hellva more inertia, and it's all too late now.
Meanwhile the clock is ticking.
Your sales must cleave true to the reality of what you can deliver, you must feed information back into engineering and delivery, but if the customers aren't buying what you can deliver find new customers.
The exception is obviously if you are looking to convince investors that you are for real and getting some interest will open you for more funding - but that's also fraught with problems too as every ful kno.
If you get the wrong customers unnaturally far up your filter you will burn your budget trying to do conversions that can never, ever really happen.
Everyone is happy - you have interested new big customers. They may even buy a taste.
They want what you have sold them.
They think you understand their needs - and you do.
But your product won't meet them.
Eventually they realise this, they are then gone and they won't come back because now not only do they know your stuff doesn't really help, but they don't trust a word that comes out of your mouths.
As far as sales are concerned this is somewhere between a natural disaster and the engineering teams fault. There may even be some truth in the later but - perhaps the product could have been pivoted and focused on what the customer really wanted - but while ppt decks can be changed and honed every 3 hours software products have a hellva more inertia, and it's all too late now.
Meanwhile the clock is ticking.
Your sales must cleave true to the reality of what you can deliver, you must feed information back into engineering and delivery, but if the customers aren't buying what you can deliver find new customers.
The exception is obviously if you are looking to convince investors that you are for real and getting some interest will open you for more funding - but that's also fraught with problems too as every ful kno.