How the iPhone has changed how people see your product

The way your customers see your products has changed. Popular products such as the iPhone have raised the bar with customers now demanding more sophisticated, or at least more visually appealing user interfaces.

This became very clear to a client of ours recently previewing its new web site with two members of its board. Both liked the content but wanted it to look sexier. After some discussion of what that meant, the iPod was identified as the benchmark.

For a long time we have known that most screenshots of IT systems, although popular additions to marketing brochures and sales presentations, do little to increase the attractiveness of most solutions. There are three reasons;

• Screen shots do more to communicate features rather than benefits
  
• Most UI screenshots are not visually attractive and sometimes not even userfriendly
  
• Most screen shots are not legible when they are reduced to fit onto a brochure, website or sales presenter
  

Something similar applies to demos. With so many expectations created in advance of the solution being demonstrated, displaying simplistic, or crude system user interfaces can be a letdown.

One of our clients recently demonstrated its new set top box entertainment system on a large plasma screen television recently. Impressive? Well not quite so. The icons used were more a kin to a BBC Micro, or Amstrad computer, than the iPod. So too was the on screen text and the layout. The client, disappointed by the lack of a wow reaction, explained that while the system’s functionality was rich, the graphics were limited by the hardware’s capacity. Again those watching pointed out that users would view the system on its appearance, long before being able to judge its functionality. Again, the iPod was identified as the standard to be achieved.

Who knows if the iPod is the best product on the market, but one thing is for sure it is both easy to use and nice to look at. In short it is sexy. It has set the standard for user interfaces, with intuitive and stylish, yet understated, icons and buttons.

You Can't Recover From A Failed Pilot

Pilots play an increasingly important role in the sales process. It is not the fastest way to secure a sale, but sometimes it is the only way. In a high-risk business climate they provide an ideal vehicle to tangibilise product benefits and thereby secure buyer commitment.

The reality however is that while pilots reduce the risk for the buyer, they can have the opposite effect for the seller. Indeed, the experiences of our clients suggest that only one third of pilots agreed will lead to a purchase, with many pilots agreed never even getting 'off-the-ground'.

Pilots can be expensive, they can elongate the sales cycle and, if problematic, they can be very difficult to recover from. These are just some of the reason why pilots require careful management.

For early stage companies this is all the more important, where successful pilots are important in providing 3^rd party product validation and customer reference sites for future marketing.

Top 5 reasons why pilots fail

So, why do many pilots fail? Here are the top five reasons:

1. The pilot is entered into too readily, by the buyer or the salesperson. This in particular can happen with complex pilots that require a significant commitment of time and resources on either part.

2. The Pilot showcases the technology, but fails to prove the business case. While IT managers for example are delighted with the technology, that enthusiasm does not translate into a valid business case at C Level.

3. Clear and realistic success criteria not agreed, resulting in a mismatch of expectations, and the lack of a process for moving the buying decision forward post-trial. In too many cases customer criteria for evaluating pilot success are not written down and reviewed against results. For the selling organization there is often limited contact with end users and consequently the lack of a real feedback from the ‘coal face’.

4. Poor implementation on either side:

o Poor client side implementation- often stemming from a ‘not invented here’ mentality on the part of whoever has been delegated to manage the pilot. Show me who is managing the pilot client-side and I will tell you how successful your pilot is going to be.

o Failure by the selling organization to manage the pilot and in particular how the solution is used and surprises, or problems, that arise during implementation. An important factor here is a hands-off approach to supporting the pilot, poor users training and a lack of effective co-ordination between the sales and technical.

5. Priorities in the company change, or perhaps people, or politics change – the longer the pilot the greater the risk here.

The TOP 10 Demo Mistakes

An effective demo can play an important role in clinching the deal, however if it goes wrong you may never recover. 

So here is a checklist of the Top 10 Demo Mistakes and how to avoid them:

 1. Doing the demo remotely when it should be face to face.
Remote demos or leaving the customer to demo by him/herself mean you don't have control of how your solution is being experienced.

2. Failure to agree success criteria
Agree in advance what the prospect considers to be a 'success'.

 3. Not qualifying the audience
It is essential to find out in advance; the audience's level of experience, their particular interests/priorities/needs, available budget and timing.

 4. Leaving it to chance
Too many presenters do not adequately structure and script their demos.

 5. Not enough interaction
A good demo requires good interaction between the presenter and the audience.

6. Not focusing on what is relevant
To avoid your audience asking 'so what?' pick a demonstration scenario that is interesting and relevant to the audience in question.  Too often demos demonstrate the technology, but not the underlying business case/application.

 7. Focusing on features not benefits
If a demo focuses on technology features and not benefits the viewer won't really get to understand the advantages for their business.

8. A poorly prepared presenter
A good demo in the hands of the wrong person can spell disaster.

9. Assuming that the audience knows more than they do
Presenters often jump straight into the detail of a demo without setting the context.

10. Going too fast and trying to show too much
This is another reason why scripting, storyboarding and practicing demos is so important.