SE Sin #4: Failed Demos. During a product demo, managers hate it when an SE says “oops”. Demos should be rehearsed and bulletproof. Avoid ad hoc demos to the extent that you avoid features you’ve never tried at least once in a row. Only show the feature if you are 100% certain it will not fail.

When a customer asks, “Can it do X Y Z?”, the SE should first respond, “Why will you need that feature?” or “How will you be using that?”. Is the customer just asking out of curiousity or do they have a real need? Knowing the answer helps you determine how much time you give to the answer and to what extent you dive into the functionality, if at all.

Use demos as a closing tool, not an interest builder. Do not offer a demo until you completely understand the customer’s business problem and requirements. You can position it that you need to understand their requirements so you can provide a demo specific to their needs. Use the demo as a way to explain the quantified benefit for the customer. The pace of the demo is feature-function-quantified_value, feature-function-quantified_value. The demo is a sales tool, not a feature-blab (see sin #1).

Don’t be a demo daemon. Your job is to “sell while you teach”, so use demos as a tool of persuasion.