Anyone who has attended a great product demonstration knows how powerful they can be in creating demand. When you see a product at its best (or more importantly, see yourself using the product at its best) you can't wait to get your hands on it. Apple knows that, Adobe knows that, Microsoft used to know that.

Now I know at this point, I expect some of you are shaking their heads and saying "well of course that's true for a sexy product like the iPad, but no-one is going to get excited seeing my accounting system or my firewall or my  storage device".

And here's where I disagree. Because the iPad isn't sexy - Apple make it sexy. If you don't believe me, have a look at other tablets that can't get anywhere near the same level of excitement. Because demonstrating a product is not about showing all the features to prove that the advertising is correct. A product demo is about creating desire and showing the customer how their life will be better with your product. It's about creating an emotional connection to the point that they want it, not just need it.

And if I'm an IT Manager who has my boss breathing down my neck that staff are complaining about not getting access to information they need, or performance is slow, or they want to use their own devices, then absolutely, if you can demonstrate a solution that solves my problem, I want to see it.

I've seen some dud presentations, and I have seen some killer ones, and this article from Geoffrey James beautifully summarises the attributes of the latter.

6 Steps to Giving a Killer Product Demonstration  Read More

Author: Moheb Moses
It is a constant source of surprise to me how often Channel Managers (and I'm talking about intelligent, professional, and experienced individuals) inflict product presentations on their partners that they would never want to sit through themselves.

Ask someone what they hate about PowerPoint, and you nearly always get the same answers (too many slides, too much text, hard to read, slides too busy) and yet Vendors still continue to present 40-slide decks with 12 point fonts and convoluted animations.

However, the purpose of this article is not so much about the format of the presentation (we’ll leave that for another time) but rather about the content. Because the other surprising thing about Vendor presentations is that the message is not always tailored for partners. Again, these are intelligent individuals who know what partners want. If I ask them a question like “Why do partners buy product?” they answer correctly:  Read More

The term "self promotion" often carries a negative connotation - and with good reason. No one enjoys associating with someone whose solution to every problem starts - and ends - with the letter "I". At the same time, unless others know what you do - and can do - chances are they will never realize they need your services.

Instead of approaching this topic as "Me: 101," Richard Zeoli suggests a different approach on how to communicate your value to those with whom you come in contact.

In many of our workshops, we talk about the importance of building trust with partners. If your partners don't trust you or feel that you believe in what you're saying, then your message will be relegated to the big file of unmemorable sales presentations.

"Trust is established through congruence -- that perfect alignment between what is being said and the body language that accompanies it". In the attached article, Dr Carol Goman explains that if a speaker's gestures are not in full agreement with the spoken words, the audience consciously or subconsciously perceives duplicity, uncertainty or (at the very least) internal conflict.

But to use gestures effectively, we need to be aware of how those movements will most likely be perceived. Here are some common hand gestures and the messages behind them.

www.connectitnews.com/usa/story.cfm?item=4612

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Most people would consider Apple to be one of the world's best marketing companies. From the market domination of the iPod, to the runaway success of the iPhone, to the ever-increasing hype surrounding the iPad, Apple is certainly never far from the limelight. 

But despite Apple's phenomenal success, Apple’s marketing has always been mediocre (at best), and at worst has been a complete disaster, according to BNET's Geoffrey James.

http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=10031&tag=nl.e808

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