Comparing ‘Great Demo!’ and ‘Demo2Win’ for Impactful Sales Demos

In the competitive world of sales, delivering an impactful and memorable product demonstration is crucial. Two renowned methodologies carved their names in space: ‘Great Demo!’ and ‘Demo2Win’. While both strategies are designed to enhance the effectiveness of sales demos, they diverge in their approach, philosophy, and execution. This article delves into the core of these methodologies, spotlighting their differences more than their similarities, to provide a nuanced understanding for sales professionals aiming to refine their demo skills.

Before starting my company, I delivered over 30 Demo2Win workshops to SAP partners. At The DemoScene, we decided to use the Great Demo! method in demo skills training and have trained over 2000 people since then.

Let’s first highlight the commonalities. Both ‘Great Demo!’ and ‘Demo2Win’ share the same goal: transforming mundane, feature-focused demonstrations into persuasive, customer-centric and value-oriented demonstrations that resonate with the audience. They both emphasize the importance of understanding the audience and their pain points, highlighting relevant value, and making a compelling case for the solution being presented. Both methods and training improve demo skills dramatically.

The approach to achieving this common goal is very different.  

At the heart of ‘Great Demo!’ is the principle of “Do the Last Thing First.” This methodology advocates for starting the sales demonstration with the end in mind – showcasing the solution’s most compelling aspect or the key outcome that the audience cares about, right from the beginning. This approach is grounded in the understanding that attention spans are limited, and it’s crucial to capture the audience’s interest from the get-go. ‘Great Demo!’ emphasizes the importance of addressing the critical business issues early on and demonstrating how the solution can resolve these pain points effectively and efficiently. 

On the other hand, ‘Demo2Win’ adopts a more sequential approach. It emphasizes understanding the audience, crafting a resonating narrative, and building a logical flow that leads the audience through a process journey, gradually unveiling the solution’s value. This method ensures that the demonstration is aligned with the audience’s interests and needs, building momentum throughout the session.

While both methodologies aim to make product demos more impactful and resonate with the audience, ‘Great Demo!’ is more about inverting the traditional demo narrative to start with the climax, whereas ‘Demo2Win’ focuses on building up to the climax in a more traditional way, which might take too long for some audiences. This fundamental difference in approach shapes how sales presentations are crafted, delivered, and perceived by the audience. 

In today’s fast-paced world, grabbing attention from the start is vital, and ‘Great Demo!’ ensures your audience is engaged and intrigued from the get-go. 

Another significant advantage of ‘Great Demo!’ is its emphasis on flexibility and adaptability. Unlike the more rigid structure of ‘Demo2Win’, ‘Great Demo!’ encourages presenters to tailor their product demos in real-time, responding to the audience’s reactions and interests. This dynamic approach allows you to address questions on the spot and adjust your focus to what resonates most with your listeners, making your sales demo more interactive and personalized.

Moreover, ‘Great Demo!’ prioritizes problem-solving, aiming to demonstrate clearly how your product can address specific challenges faced by your audience. By directly linking your product’s features to the audience’s needs, ‘Great Demo!’ maintains their interest and strengthens the case for your solution. While ‘Demo2Win’ also highlights benefits, ‘Great Demo!’ ensures these benefits are front and centre, enhancing the persuasiveness of your presentation.

In addition to these core differences, ‘Great Demo!’ fosters more interactivity with the audience. The much shorter demo leaves more room for audience questions. The demo method helps presenters focus on the essence and not pre-answer potential prospects’ questions. Prospects feel they are leading the conversation and are not bored, and presenters appear more trustworthy. Furthermore, Gong.io’s research highlighted the importance of maintaining a specific talk-to-listen ratio during demos, suggesting that successful demos feature a balanced interaction between the presenter and the audience, fostering an environment where buyers are more inclined to engage and ask questions. This is a testament to the ‘Great Demo!’ strategy’s effectiveness in creating a dynamic and responsive demo experience that adapts to the audience’s cues and interests.

Another key distinction lies in the customization and adaptability of the methodologies. ‘Great Demo!’ is highly flexible, encouraging sales teams to quickly adapt their demos based on the immediate reactions and feedback from the audience. It is less prescriptive and more interactive, providing a framework that can be tailored on the fly. In contrast, ‘Demo2Win’ requires thorough preparation and planning, advocating for a well-structured demo that is meticulously tailored to the audience’s profile and needs before the presentation takes place. This requires an extensive time investment for each demo. 

Sales Demos in 2024 have different requirements

The shift toward digital platforms and virtual interactions has accelerated, and buyers now expect more streamlined, impactful, and flexible engagement experiences. This is where ‘Demo2Win’ falls short compared to ‘Great Demo!’.

‘Demo2Win’ traditionally relies on a structured, linear approach to demonstrations, which may not align well with the current fast-paced, digital-first buying environment. Today’s buyers are accustomed to quickly accessing information and making decisions at their own pace. They value concise, directly relevant demonstrations adapted to their unique needs and circumstances. The ‘Demo2Win’ methodology, with its more rigid and sequential flow, may fail to capture and maintain the interest of modern buyers, who are likely to disengage if they do not see immediate value or relevance.

The ability of ‘Great Demo!’ to instantly grab and retain attention by highlighting the most compelling aspect of a product upfront is particularly advantageous in this context. It caters to the decreased attention spans and increased expectation for efficiency and personalization among today’s buyers.

Finally, a few words on the adoption of the methodology. Both demo methods are trained in 2-day demo skills workshops. One can’t expect participants to apply any of the methods overnight. My experience is Great Demo! workshops push presenters to become customer-centric and show the best solution at the start. This mindset shift changes their approach immediately. The main goal, as described above, is achieved. 

However, after the Demo2Win workshops, presenters still used extended demos to show the entire process. The customer context often gets lost because they don’t have enough preparation time. The primary goal of the workshop has not been achieved. 

In conclusion, while both ‘Great Demo!’ and ‘Demo2Win’ aim to improve the quality of sales demonstrations, ‘Great Demo!’ offers a more engaging, flexible, and audience-focused approach. Its emphasis on starting strong, adapting to audience feedback, and clearly addressing problems makes it the superior choice for sales professionals who want to make a lasting impact. By choosing ‘Great Demo!’, you embrace a method that values the audience’s time and intelligence, ensuring your presentations are heard and remembered. Whether you’re presenting to a small group or a large audience across various cultures and languages, ‘Great Demo!’ equips you with the tools to deliver powerful, persuasive demos that drive results. 

Let us know if you need to improve your demo skills. We are here to help.