Five Ways to RescueYour EdTech Sales Demo

Matt Gambino is an award-win-ning training specialist in the areas of sales presentations and product demonstrations. Early in his career in EdTech software sales, Matt faced a challenge that is shared by countless education profession-als today: How to cut to the chase and present complex technical of-ferings clearly—without all the jar-gon—so that people get it, see the value, and want to buy. Through his unique blend of practical ex-perience as a sales and marketing leader, college educator, and prod-uct champion (it’s true, he once held the title of ‘champion!’), Matt has cracked the code for making presentations that inform, inspire, and best of all—sell.

Matt is routinely praised for help-ing people enrich their ability to present and sell all kinds of educa-tion solutions, and technology in particular. His best-selling book, 50 Minutes to Better Software Demos, is based upon his direct, to-the-point, and intuitive approach to demon-strating even the most complex software products and services.

Today, Matt appreciates having the opportunity to grow his business, write articles, and speak at confer-ences. When he’s not on the road, Matt enjoys spending time with his wife and son in beautiful Duxbury, Massachusetts.

About the Author

It is an exciting time for the EdTech industry. New technology focused startup organizations seem to ma-terialize almost daily, while former-ly traditionally minded publishing houses are reinventing themselves with innovative and disruptive so-lutions that are supported by

adaptive learning, big data, and more. And the rate of pace is quick-ening: The EdTech market is esti-mated to grow at a CAGR of 13.9% from the year 2018 to 2022. The total market size is forecast to bal-loon to $59.9 billion in just three years.

Introduction

Winning share in the highly com-petitive EdTech marketplace will depend not only on the strength of a business’s technology solu-tions, but on its ability to position and sell them on a crowded play-ing field. And while the game is by no means won on the presentation

floor alone, one can not underesti-mate the importance of providing potential buyers with a strong, vi-sion-building demonstration. But demonstrating technology—par-ticularly to fickle educators—is a risky proposition. Usually, what can go wrong, does go wrong.

How do you deal with difficult au-diences? An unreliable technology environment? Competitive disad-vantages? This e-book attempts to answer some of these questions,

and provides tips and techniques that EdTech sales, marketing, and product people can use immedi-ately to develop their ‘Demo IQ.’

1. Finish it First

Unfortunately, most demonstra-tors trip themselves up right out of the gate. The reason? They con-duct a linear demo, from the first action to the last one. How many EdTech product presentations have you seen in which the demon-strator logs in to the product as a

student or instructor first, and fin-ishes the demo by showcasing the instructor or administrator report-ing features? Think about this tra-ditional approach from the buyer’s perspective. Your EdTech decision-maker most likely has one or more problems she is trying to solve, and

is looking to your solution for help. When you demonstrate the linear way, you force the buyer to take a tour through the entire package. It is squarely up to her to notice something in the product that ad-dresses her need.

For example, suppose the buyer is looking for a way to determine which types of learning assets she should most frequently incorpo-rate into her online course. Does the student login area address this issue? Of course not. Now, let’s assume your solution includes a

performance analysis report that displays learning modes accessed by each student. In this case, you could validate the buyer’s concern in your opening, then tee up this capability up right away. Take the opportunity to put the buyer in a mental state in which she can ac-

tually see herself running this re-port in her office. After you have helped her create this vision, you can demonstrate just how easy it is to use the product to get to this report.

2. Prep Relentlessly

Can you imagine how Steve Jobs would have reacted if the iPad crashed or the Keynote presenta-tion froze up during one of his leg-endary product presentations? You would have to imagine, because such events never occurred—or if they did, most of us didn’t notice.

The reality is that many EdTech demos fall victim to faulty net-works, unsightly screen resolu-tions, slow page loads, and count-less other glitches. Another reality is that most snafus can be avoided with relentless preparation. In Steve Jobs’ case, preparedness bordered

on religious obsession. In 1999, during a rehearsal for the introduc-tion of Apple’s new line of iMacs, Jobs was unhappy with a particu-lar lighting arrangement around the multi-colored machines. He insisted the timing and intensity of the lighting be tweaked and re-

tweaked until the iMacs were illu-minated perfectly.

Compare something as seemingly innocuous as stage lighting to all of the variables that come part and parcel with an EdTech demo, such as your PC or tablet (are the nec-

essary applications easy to find?), the conference room Wi-Fi connec-tion (is it password protected?), the projection device (was it manufac-tured in the 21st Century), and on and on. Have you prepared every detail that is directly—even indi-rectly—within your control?

3. Hold Back

During a software demo, many K12 teachers and higher-ed instructors like to ask what I call poetic ques-tions. Poetic questions are overly-prolonged, typically fraught with emotion, and are dotted with run-on stories. Some poetic questions take half a minute or longer to ask!

‘Does this have password recovery? Because we teach online courses and a lot of the kids do their home-work at night and on the weekends, and when they get locked out, no one can help them! I mean, I’ve had stu-dents text me on Saturday. Saturday! Because they forgot their password

and can’t do the homework that they procrastinated on and is all of the sudden due Monday and I can’t tell you how often that happened to us last year. Unless they can reset their password, this just won’t work…’

Too many demonstrators start nodding and even try to interrupt with an answer as soon as they hear the phrase ‘password recov-ery.’ Why? Because demonstra-tors develop an intimate familiar-ity with their product’s capabilities, because they have likely heard the

same concern in other demos, and because—in this case—the an-swer is ‘yes!’ In short, they become overly excited and want to please the asker and everyone else in the room. Instead, I urge you to take the following steps while a poetic question is asked. First, breathe.

Give your brain oxygen. Second, listen to all the poetry. There may be a second or even a third ques-tion embedded within. Third, write down the salient points. The act of writing forces you to hold back your response. During the course of taking these steps, another in-

structor in the room may even an-swer the question for you.

4. Stand Out

As a seller, marketer, or manag-er of EdTech solutions, you have most likely developed a decent un-derstanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your competitor’s products. Likewise, chances are very good that your product has been under the opposition’s micro-

scope. This one provides a detailed student-keystroke report. That one has hooks into the top three learn-ing management systems. This one crashes in Chrome and Firefox. That one is not mobile-adaptive. Such competitive hyper-awareness presents interesting challenges

for the demonstrator, particularly when all prospective vendors are invited to make presentations on the same day. How should you po-sition unique capabilities in a way that sticks? What about the gap-ing hole in functionality that was covered in the sales meeting? Will

they ask about it? Here are two tech-niques to consider:

Competitive strengthsI suggest shining a spotlight on unique differentiators by using what are known as list headlines. A list headline is exactly what it

sounds like: A capability headline that is presented in the form of a list. For example, ‘Our frequency analysis report saves valuable fac-ulty time in three distinct ways.’ Our minds wake up when we are presented with a list headline be-cause—when we hear one—we

hear a promise of sorts of what is to come. In addition, there is a good chance that your audience will take notes because you are presenting the capability in outline form.

Competitive weaknessesAssume your competitors are aware of the deficiency, and that they have shared it with your audi-ence. Under this likely scenario, it is best to air the dirty laundry early in the demo. Why? If you attempt to bury the bad news somewhere

in the middle or disregard it entire-ly, your listeners will feel you are deliberately hiding something. In-stead, maintain the trust you have worked so hard to establish. Cover the weak spot, explain the plan to address it, and promise tight communication in the interim.

5. Share Power

Imagine you are driving a car with another passenger. You are cruis-ing along a straight throughway at a comfortable clip. Suddenly and without warning, the passenger grabs the wheel and yanks the car hard to the right, careening you both down a residential side street.

How would you feel once your heart resumed beating? Scared? Confused? Furious? All three?

Most of us do not appreciate back-seat drivers, never mind the ex-treme scenario above. Yet many of us who present technology to ed-

ucators have grown accustomed to our demos being hijacked. An instructor interrupts, wanting to see the report export wizard. Of course! After all, he is on the com-mittee. The buying committee that has generously granted us its valuable time. When the commit-

tee says ‘jump,’ we ask ‘how high?’ Right?

The problem is that many demon-strators in selling mode fall into the trap of yielding all of their pow-er to the buyer, and blowing off the agenda at the buyer’s whim.

The fact is that an EdTech demo is most successful when it is sup-ported by a planned itinerary that has been previously agreed upon by the buyer and the seller. Power should be shared throughout the sale, including the product demon-stration.

When someone in the audience threatens to steer the demo off course, I suggest placing the re-quest in a parking lot. You will have plenty of time to cover the material later, assuming you have planned ahead and created a demo itinerary that only includes product capabili-

ties which address the critical is-sues of the buyer.

In order to develop a winning EdTech demo, one must have a crystal-clear understanding of the buyer’s issues and requirements well before the presentation it-self. The material covered in this e-book is just the beginning. Con-tact PROPEL to discuss how your organization deals with sales pre-sentations and technology demon-strations. We are excited to learn more about you so we can create your fully-formed and customized training program together and win more education business!

www.propelskills.com

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