(2024-04-14) Maurya The Art Of The Demo

Ash Maurya: The Art of the Demo. Thinking you need a working product (or prototype) to make a sale is a common myth in the product world.

This happens because we tend to over-emphasize our solution disproportionately

When you show too much during your demo, you potentially

• dilute your unique value proposition,
• confuse the customer, and
• expose yourself to more criticism and additional feature requests.

The art of the demo is showcasing the least (not most) about your product to cause a sale. (Demo, Sell, Build)

This starts with customer problem discovery, where you first seek to uncover your customer’s current situation (triggering event, desired outcomes),

If this discovery happened in a prior meeting, take 2-3 minutes to recap the customer’s current situation and get them to own their current reality before demo’ing your product

Why? Because getting the customer to own their current reality creates the gap for your demo to close (future reality).

All your demo needs to showcase is how you get the job done better

I convinced the team to use only a slide deck to showcase their product's before and after story using screenshots — no working prototype.

the best demo format from the options shown below ranked in order of preference:

Digital Products

• Verbal demo. (in person)
• Screenshots or mockups.
• Clickable prototype.
• Working prototype.

Services Products

• Verbal demo.
• Process diagram to demonstrate how it works.
• Sample deliverable, e.g., a report.