The Basic Art of Demonstration

The Basic Art of Demonstration

This document was written on a plane in Nov/11/2007 following a series of unfortunate events where we were late for calls, had people scrambling for calls to start, where there were people that were inaudible, and many more… I know you have been there and I know you be in more of these. This document is an effort to continue from my previous article about being better prepared for presentation. Since some people benefited from that document I am going to attempt to put my learning in to this short document to help you all NOT make the same mistake and the best out of a conference call.

These findings and the recommendations are purely some practices that I have followed in the past. I have not listed out everything that we practiced in the past but just a few basic steps to get us started. I would like you to make this a living document to help enhance our understanding in this area.

Introduction

Like in a product demo a phone call also has to have a critical take away. Make a mental note of this before the call. Without this there is no point in getting into any call.

The purpose of the document is to list out the best practices to follow before, during and after the call. The document should help you make a better impact on prospects and customers.

Structure of the document

• Goal definition
• Before the demo
• During the demo
• After the demo

Well before the call:

Make sure that you send out a meeting invite to all the participants of the call. Make sure that the phone, the room, and the conference call numbers are all checked out. Make no assumption; in the invite spell out the correct names, date and time for the call.  Please indicate the time and time zone the meeting is scheduled for.

Here are some common things that can happen and that need to be checked.

• Make sure that the phone conference call is not double booked
• Make sure that the bridge does not have delay or problems when talking across the world.
• Make sure that the cost of the phone call is not very expensive.
• Make sure your room is not double booked and will not have a problem with noise levels.
• Send an invite over with MSoutlook or with any other tool to all the participants. Please make sure that you encourage a culture of giving positive acknowledgement for every meeting invite. Otherwise there is point in having these acknowledgements.
• If key players missing make sure that you move the meeting out. There is nothing worse than having with none of the stake holders. This will put you back further.

At least just before the call:

Like a golf swing or a cricket batting, most of what goes wrong in a conference call is because we did not prepare in advance and follow some basic discipline. Let us take a look at some key areas,

Agenda for the meeting: 

• Make sure that everyone comes prepared for the meeting
• If there is a need to access the computer please let them know in the meeting invite to make sure that the key stake holder is NOT outdoors doors in a public place when you need them to be focused on a computer.

Call in 10 minutes before the call:

• If you are the person organizing the meeting, please call in 10 minutes before the call. It is important that you are there and have sorted out the entire phone, network related issues before the call itself.
• Tendencies: If there are key people that have a tendency to forget or be absent minded about meetings please make sure that you remind them to call in (I fall squat in the middle in this category. Despite my best intention it seems that I am the last person to remember that there is a meeting or my phones goes out of sync or whatever. I am really ashamed that I am what I am and trying to improve but it seems more often than not that I miss meeting because I am just terribly absent minded. My team helps me out big time by calling me before the meeting).

Hardware, Software, Network:

Network:

• Make sure that you understand the network needs, firewall limitations when you go to customer locations, downloads that you might need.
• Make sure that you test out the demo machine from outside the office firewall if you are going to access  the application.
• Evaluate the speed of the application.
• Make sure that you carry a patch network cord with you

Phone

• Make sure you know how to operate the phone.
• Make sure you know the mute feature and the speaker features before the call
• Have the phone numbers handy in case the call drop

Software:

• Make sure that you have logged into the call demo software like goto  meeting or yugma etc well before the call.
•  In case you need to send the meeting invite to someone please have   the meeting number and the hyper link handy. This might need to be    sent out to people on the call over emails because some is at a   different machine than their own or downloaded the number onto their   phone and don’t have it hand.

Etiquette:

• Make sure that you and the entire team is in the room FIVE minutes before the call
• Repeat simple rules like one conversation, no noise, no sidebar conversation, no jokes during the call or before the call. It is important to make sure that everyone is attentive during the call.
• Feel free to assign different roles to different people, one to monitor the phone, one to make sure that they take notes, etc.,
• In case you want to get a point and someone is going on a demo have an   understanding with the other members about pressing a button like a number key to attract attention during the call to be paused. This works very well.
• When you are talking over the phone smile. Strange but true. People at the other end know when people smile across the phone. Notice this the next time. You will be amazed!
• Phone conversations are just as important as face-to-face talks. These are more personal than emails because not only your words but your tone of voice and demeanour need not be guessed! They are being transmitted over the phone and affecting those of your listeners as well!
• This brings us to the first tip: Smile! When answering a business phone, make sure you greet appropriately with a pleasant smiling tone. No matter how busy you are, the person on the phone is also a human being and deserves courtesy. Unfortunately 75% of Americans agree that we need courtesy training and rudeness has become a cancer for our society. The biggest problem is felt during telephone conversations. Think how common it has become to put the other person on hold without asking for their permission or even telling them that they will be put on hold. Business phone etiquettes clearly say that it’s a big no-no
• Other things that should be taken care of while answering a phone are:
• Do not handle a dejected caller’s concern openly get caught up in their anger. Remain calm.
• Be formal in all your dealing. Formal is classy and professional.
• Don’t make bad excuses like “That is not our policy” and “I was just about to call you”. Everyone can see through that! Try to facilitate the customer instead.
• Give constant feedback with “I see”, “That’s great” to show that you are listening. This is “good listening hygiene”

Calls:

• They must follow the same protocol
• Never abuse a relationship. Never make a call when you have 10 things going on at your end. If someone calls you when you are in the middle of something, pick up the phone tell them that you will call them back and call back without fail. Please do not continue to talking when you are distracted with background noise around you unless it is an EMERGENCY. It is just NOT worth it.   
• Remember, “DO ONE THING AND DO IT BETTER THAN ANYBODY ELSE IN THE WORLD"
• During the call: In most cases we are trying to “SOLVE A BUSINESS PROBLEM AND NOT standing meaningless meeting”.

1. Start:
     a. When you start any call, even with a person that you work with everyday, on a one on one call where you are talking to them five times a day   please make sure you start the call with a proper greeting with their name.

2. Communication:
     a. Make sure that only one person talks during the call at a time
You will have to make sure that you respond VERBALLY to a person that is talking more than what you would do when you are talking to the person in the same room.
When talking longer distance please make sure that you talk in long sentence when you respond. This is CRITICAL as the phones tend to eat up monosyllable responses.

     b. Make sure that one person is assigned to take note of the expression of   the customer and reaction in conversation.

      c. Make sure that you keep random noises like rustling of paper, dropping   of pens, chair squeaks to minimum. Most phones even to this day in countries like India and China are still simplex, meaning if you make a noise that is greater than the sound level on the phone the phone cuts off the sound at the other end and sends this noise back. This is a productivity killer.

       d. Pauses: In most international calls there is a delay for the voice to get   from one location to the other. You must be patient and give a pause before and after you speak.

       e. Please use professionalism when addressing a person: example Excuse Jeff, I have a question, instead of Hey Jeff.

3. Agenda:
      a. Make sure that you have all agenda items addressed and owners, action items, due dates fixed for each agenda item that was discussed. Without this all meetings are meaningless.
      b. Have a sense of time. If you feel you are running sort please tell the team 10 minutes before that you have a “Hard Stop”! You be amazed how things tend to close out when you are driving against a timeline. People tend to decide things pretty quickly.

4. Finish:
      a. When you finish please make sure that you finish in a proper manner by thanking everyone that is attending the call. Not just the customer. We have to respect everybody’s time. Please make sure that you also wish people as though you have plenty of time to spend for these final words. It means a lot to the people at the other end that you have time for them as humans. Don’t have up abruptly.

      b. If you are going to have a follow up call, please make sure that you disconnect EVERY TIME and then get into other calls. DO NOT make the mistake of continuing with the same call unless multiple parties are involved from the same group.

After the call, decide who is going to follow up after the call. This person should be taking notes. Some points to consider are:

• Agenda follow up
• New Agenda item
• Key decisions made business and otherwise.
• Follow up action items with dates.
• Maintain a dashboard to track the progress from one demo to the next. Make sure that the customer sees the progress on a weekly rhythm. That  will tell them that you are headed in the right direction and get a sense of progress.

Conclusion

There is no art to successful calls, it is a science. Just be prepared and focus on the signals that the participants give during the call. It will make a call more meaningful for everybody.

About the Author

As the founder of Vantage Agora (VA), Harsha has been instrumental in the growth of the company since its inception. Harsha has over 20+ years of experience in consulting, Enterprise Social Networking, Business Intelligence,  and Process improvement. His work with companies such as Fidelity, American Airlines, I2 Technologies, etc, has made him an Expert in Business intelligence and Process improvement. 

Harsha has developed a patent pending 'Enterprise Social Network – VA Club', Harsha also has 4 process improvement patents.

Harsha graduated MBA from southern Methodist University (SMU) Dallas, a masters in Computer Science from Louisiana State University (LSU) Baton Rouge, and a Bachelors in Engineering from Bangalore University (BU).

About Vantage Agora

Vantage Agora (VA) is a global provider of back-office solutions, custom IT services and consulting services for companies in the insurance, finance, and healthcare sectors. As a SSAE 16 Type II audited company, Vantage Agora utilizes advanced data processing and quality control systems on a secured network to ensure efficient, comprehensive management of back-office functions such as insurance, accounting, financial and administrative tasks. Founded in 2004, Vantage Agora has offices in Cleveland and Dallas.

Know more about Harsha and Vantage Agora.