Apologizing for a demo that does not fit a business case or having none can be a predicament with potential damage to business reputation. So, to show off your data, reports, findings, and capabilities, you need a perfect demo environment.
However, there are certain do’s and don’ts that you must comply with to ensure any last-minute embarrassments.
Best Practices for Creating a Demo Environment
A crisp and compelling demo has to be up-to-date and free of errors. Simply avoid the following mistakes to create a successful demo environment.
Avoiding the word “Demo” in a Demo
Most businesses make the mistake of literally naming the demo environment as “Demo.” In reality, a customer or client perceives the word demo as a “fake” or “Make-do” scenario. Therefore, you must avoid using the word ‘demo’ at all costs.
The best approach is to give your demo a realistic name. For instance, if you are to provide a demo for a customer experience then give it a name of a real customer, such as “Mark’s experience.” Also, avoid using fictional names of the movie characters because that also shouts out “FAKE” if not hilarious.
Using Realistic Data from Your QC Team
Create dummy data based on data sources and databases used by your company’s QC team. This will help create a convincing and unique demo. You will also explore broad testing scenarios that fit each customer’s needs.
Don’t Just Show Best Case Scenarios
Avoid the classic mistake of showing a demo of how good your product or service is in a perfect scenario. The client would appreciate it if you could demonstrate how you can help solve their issues and overcome the challenges they face.
Therefore, include problems and demonstrate visually how your solution can solve the worst-case scenarios.
Showing Respect to Cultures and Regions
Businesses often create generic demos and use them for international clients as well. The client may have difficulty understanding it (especially in non-English speaking countries). A client may also feel insulted that you are using a generic demo when it does not resonate with their culture or business model.
For instance, if you are a US-based company and want to use a demo environment in Europe, then avoid using US addresses, states, telephone numbers, or even US currency.
You want to sell in a European country such as the UK, then use addresses, names of the cities, and the telephone numbers in their format. Using miles instead of kilometers and pounds instead of dollars are some examples that will be a better approach. Create a demo that can adapt to various regions to which you wish to serve or sell your services.
Use their metric system, data, spellings, and vocabulary to connect instantly. Or the client will spend more time converting dollars to their local currencies, kilometers to miles, and liters to gallons. While modern technology adopters may forgive such issues, others may prefer to see data they understand.
Keep it Real and Current
Think like a customer to create the best demo environment. Create a demo that shows treating the customer as you would treat a real customer. Furthermore, your demo must always be up-to-date. Showing a demo with data and examples from a couple of years ago will infuriate the customer and feel like they have been taken for a ride.
A demo that can easily reset or refresh from time to time is the best practice. You can even assign someone to review and upgrade the demo environment with fresh dates and scenarios to keep it current.
Reserve Demos in Advance
Always book a date to present demo environments in advance of short notices. You may have to spin up a demo to a customer’s requirement, which will need time. If you are a SaaS company, this approach can prevent any last-minute errors, such as the demo link being down or unavailable.
Carrying Backups
A SaaS-based demo environment has to work flawlessly when presenting to the customers. If you apologize to a customer for the demo being slow for whatever reason, they will only remember the word “slow.”
It may be the customers’ internet connection slowing down your online demo, but they will expect you to overcome this issue. Therefore carrying your own Mi-Fi device is always a good backup plan.
While your demo and system is the best solution in the market, sometimes customers’ offices do not have the latest equipment. You will see some of the most obnoxious versions of your demo environment. Therefore, carrying a personal projector in your bag would be a real savior and show the customers the level of care and attention to detail your company has.
Create a checklist of the entire IT infrastructure you will need for the demo to go smoothly and take it with you.
DemoBlox Perfect Demo Environment
If you are a business looking to create a perfect, adaptable, and refreshable demo environment, we at DemoBlox can help. Visit our website or speak to our team and learn how our demo environments can help improve your profitability.
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The topics for this article was abstracted from Peter Cohan’s A Perfect Demo Environment with permission.
