It is much easier to sell a product to a customer (or an idea to an investor) if you can get them to fall in love with it. So how do you get people to fall in love with your product?
Things that MIGHT make me fall in love with your product:
- Touching it, holding it, using it
- Seeing it demonstrated in a way that explains how it will fit in with my life/business
- Understanding the benefits it will bring to my life/business
Things that WON’T make me fall in love with your product:
- A deeply technical description of how it works
- A demonstration that I can’t relate to my life/business
- A list of features
- Anything that takes more than a minute to explain
Not all products are amenable to being tried by customers on the spot, and for start-ups there may not even be a product to demo yet, but it is still important to get the customer to engage with the product to whatever extent is possible. There are many different ways that you can try to create an emotional connection even without a real live product, from “artists impressions” and PowerPoint mock-ups to prototypes, demo videos and even compelling stories told from a user perspective.
If you’ve ever wanted practical tips on demonstrating products then it’s worth taking a look at the Great Demo! blog which is focused on software, but much of the advice is widely applicable. Stunningly Awful SaaS Demos – Lost in the Clouds is a good introduction to how many demonstrators fail to think like customers!
