Michael Cooney’s Post

Discovery is king Demos are secondary ^ the mentality all over this platform They’re wrong 💀 Discovery and demos are equally important. Good discovery tees up an effective demo. Solid demos sets up a deeper evaluation. The discovery you ran tells you ✨exactly✨ what to demo. Don’t throw your hard work in the trash. THAT is what matters to them. Nothing more. Nothing less. Gong can do 39,517 different things. But as long as I focus on the 1-2 things that matter to them… We’re in a good spot 🤝 Here are my fave demo questions: - how does this compare to what you’re doing currently? - how do you see yourself and the team using something like this? - can you see the value in a tool like Gong? What else makes a successful demo? P.S. drop some questions you ask on demos 👀

"Why your demo is failing: 3 mistakes you can fix today." I recently had a client who, after sitting through six other demos, was almost in tears when she told me, “You’re the first person who actually listened to me.” That stuck with me. She didn’t care about the fancy features—she just wanted to feel understood. Here’s what I’ve learned about making demos actually work: *** Solve the problem, don’t showcase features: The best demo doesn’t highlight everything—it zeroes in on solving the client’s unique pain points. *** Tailor the experience: Show you’ve done your homework by making the demo relevant to their challenges and industry. *** Engage, don’t lecture: Turn the demo into a conversation. Ask questions, involve the client, and focus on their feedback. 👉 Takeaway: A successful demo isn’t about impressing with features—it’s about showing how your solution fits them. What’s your biggest demo win recently?

During a Conquest demo, we received the best compliment on something we didn’t expect at all. It’s been two weeks since we started Conquest demos. In fact, it was by showing it that we realized our MVP was ready. We receive plenty of feedback. People challenge our use cases and help us improve the product. But we’re always wondering: What’s the one feature that will create the "wow" effect? So far, we’ve noticed it varies from person to person. Maybe we haven’t yet built the one feature that will change everything (Something to think about.) During one demo, we unexpectedly triggered that "wow" effect on a feature we saw as essential but not exactly revolutionary. → The tooltip of our Pulse Score. Basically, it’s a detailed breakdown of the activities a member has completed to reach this score. This person told us something interesting: When you can’t explain something, in this case, the engagement score for each member, you don’t want to use it. Assigning a score is great, but how do you actually use it? So, I showed him our tooltip. And suddenly, we got the best reaction: 🌟 "This is the best tooltip I’ve ever seen." 🌟 I was surprised by his enthusiasm, almost embarrassed, because I hadn’t even planned to show it during the demo. Now? You can bet I’ll be showing it every time. Who knows, maybe this is our "wow" feature 🧐

Demos are easy All you have to do is: 1. Skip any real prep—your product is amazing, and they’ll get it. 2. Talking about your company’s origin for 10 minutes. They’ll love that. 3. Show every single feature, whether it’s relevant or not. 4. Skip questions—who needs to understand their needs? 5. Ignore any signs of boredom. Power through, they’ll come around. 6. Ask for the close 5 minutes in. Done deal, right? 7. Leave them with a pile of PDFs to “review.” These are exactly the things that drive prospects away. For most, this is a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many businesses still run demos this way. A successful demo isn’t about showing off everything—it’s about listening, solving problems, and creating a connection. If your deals aren’t closing, it’s time to rethink your approach.

3 Questions I started asking at the end of my demos before we talk about price 💸 1. If you were to rate our solution on a scale from 1-10. What would it be? This will give you a pulse check on how things went. 2. Curious, what made you score it that? Ask this to learn what they value in your solution 3. And what would it take to score higher? (Assuming they didn’t give you a 10/10 😉) You’ll learn what gaps they see and where your risks could be. What questions do you ask at the end of your demo?

Recording: Seven VALIDATED Habits for Stunningly Successful Demos We explored seven validated demo success factors that lead to closed business. These approaches map delightfully to Great Demo! and Doing Discovery principles while differing markedly from traditional demos. Thousands millions of demos were analyzed to uncover these seven success factors: 1.    Pre-Demo Discovery 2.    A Crisp Review of the Prospect’s Situation 3.    Do the Last Thing First 4.    Inverted Pyramid 5.    Peel Back the Layers 6.    Peel Back the Layers (reprised) 7.    Transition Vision We examined each of these, plus some bonus ideas. How do your demos compare? You can find the recording here (you may need to register for Demofest or confirm (“Create”) your Demofest profile to access it, if you’ve not done so already!). The actual session starts about 80 seconds in and my presentation begins at the four minute mark. Enjoy! Presentation Link: https://lnkd.in/g-kP7N9E Event Registration: https://lnkd.in/ghCrtMtc

👀 Are your product walkthroughs a clear path or a confusing maze? If your demos feel like an escape room, it’s time to rethink the approach. No offence to escape rooms. (We ❤️ escape rooms... and we're pretty good at them as a team.) Instead of listing features, show real value by connecting each feature to an actual benefit teachers will appreciate. Swipe through the carousel to learn how to make your walkthroughs engaging, clear, and impactful. 👆 📲 #edtech #marketingtoschools #marketingtips #productwalkthroughs #demos

Pro tip: 𝑨𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆-𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒔. Why? Because live demos love to betray you at the worst possible time. 😅 Here’s the typical scenario: You’re all set, audience watching, confidence level 100... then, boom! The product decides it’s 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘥.. Errors pop up out of nowhere, and suddenly, your smooth presentation becomes an impromptu debugging session. Solution? Pre-record, add some notes, and time-box it. That way, even if the tech isn’t cooperating, you can still look like a demo wizard. ✨ Because let’s face it—no one wants to be that person desperately trying to fix last-minute bugs while everyone watches. #DemoFails #TechLife #BePrepared #TechTrendsWithDivya

Sometimes it’s important to know when to pause, especially when the main branch is working & you have 100% of what you wanted to do for this phase & it’s just you coding & you just have another idea that would be icing 🧁 on top! #techcon365 workshop demos with ⁦‪Doug Ware in 2 weeks, let’s go work on the presentation deck now and put this behind me!

THE #1 WAY TO BOOST YOUR TOP-OF-FUNNEL STRATEGY IS… To embed interactive demos throughout your website! And our VP of Product, Oren Blank, is sharing tried and true strategies to help you get the most out of your demo embeds. To see all the best practices, click the link in the comments👇