Demo Crimes for Modern Times: 2Win Demo Detectives Uncover Fresh Insights on Old Crimes
In a sales and presales function, certain demo crimes are considered especially heinous. At 2Win! Global, the dedicated demo detectives who investigate these presentation felonies are an elite squad of facilitators, executives, and presales leaders.
These are their stories.
2Win Demo Detectives are cracking another cold case. Today we’re decoding "technobabble", a particularly heinous crime. Presenters can overwhelm their audience with jargon, technical terms, and complex explanations that leave their prospects feeling at best, confused, at worst, disinterested. Every organization has their own language. But speaking your internal language without explaining it or without context inevitably leads to misunderstanding. Sure, you sound smart...but did they understand any of the value you delivered about your solution?
SaaS software nomenclature is about as complicated as Klingon. Industries with complex products name features in complex ways. This can actually be a big advantage to sellers when they are comfortable with industry naming conventions, but when you are using your OWN language, it might be a different technical dialect.
A presales rep is presenting a marketing automation tool, explaining “Our platform’s deep learning algorithm applies stochastic gradient descent for hyperparameter optimization, enhancing NLP processing accuracy by 27%.” The client is focused on generating and retaining higher quality leads, and is now left totally behind. Stochastic-what? Like other crimes like So, What, or I love that feature, you have failed to connect a feature to a benefit, but this time, it’s a communication failure due to speaking another language.
Whether you have decades of experience or a few months, everyone gets nervous presenting, and often presenters can fall back into confusing sounding technical with sounding credible. Establishing credibility is not about using the same language it is about showing features with clarity and attaching business value to it. It can also be a common mistake by SEs who are just learning solutions themselves.
Correcting this is all about translating technobabble into plain, value-driven language. Using plain language speaks to the benefits and relevance of the features and functions. Tie them to your audience's business objectives. Plain and simple. Instead of saying, “Our deep learning algorithm applies stochastic gradient descent,” try, “Our AI tool helps you automatically identify your most valuable leads so you can refocus your marketing efforts.” Understandable and directly tied to prospect goals.
Bonus Tip: Ask yourself, “Could I explain this to a smart friend outside the industry?”
“Technobabble” crime recidivism boils down to communication and value being lost in translation. It is your job as an SE to translate your product’s capabilities into your audience’s language to meet their needs. Eliminate the jargon to close more deals and gain more trust. If you are looking to tight up your demos and accelerate sales through presentations, let’s talk about Demo2Win.