When I was in ERP software sales, I knew exactly where my product shined.
In early demos, I led with the most advanced and polished features, often contorting the narrative to make my best tools and features fit the prospect’s workflow. I knew that if decision-makers left believing that my software was sophisticated and user-friendly, I’d already won half the battle. They would influence their team to think of my offering favorably, which would give me a leg up when I finally had to show end users the less attractive elements of the system during days-long, marathon demonstrations.
It’s hard for an ERP to do it all, and even harder to do it all well. Even niche, industry-specific solutions need to make trade-offs. Vendors decide where to invest, either modernizing core functions or capitalizing on new technologies or trends, and when they demo, they try to highlight those investments. Once they have your attention, and without a script, they will try to get the fruit of those investments in front of you as quickly and frequently as possible.
I know too well how impactful those first few screens can be in defining the buying journey. Now that I help companies select the right ERPs for their businesses, I can’t overstate the importance of taking control of the demo, which starts with having vendors follow a script.
Following a script lets you know from day one where there are gaps between vendors’ offerings and your requirements, before those gaps become expensive. It also enables you to score vendors against each other for every critical workflow, making sure you are truly comparing apples to apples across the breadth of your business needs. But maybe most importantly, it lets you focus on business fit instead of software features.
Hopefully, the features vendors invested in over the past few quarters align with your priorities and help you solve today’s key challenges while positioning you to take advantage of tomorrow’s opportunities. But to know that for sure, it pays to be in the driver’s seat, which is why friends don’t let vendors drive demos.