Sales Engineers need to give demos for almost all products or solutions that are technical to any level.  The problem is that there is no standard to define what constitutes a demo.  A naive VP might be satisfied with seeing a single integration as proof that you can do a demo.  At the same time the Director of Sales Engineering with real hands-on experience knows that a true proper demo in some scenarios could take weeks just to set up the environment when combined with normal onboarding and training.  As Sales Engineers we need some way to define levels or capabilities of the SE has as it relates to demos.

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Elevator Pitch? Demo? POC?

When I worked at Compuware we had 6 different solutions to help sell.  Our manager kept a simple spreadsheet when it came to those solutions.  Each SE had a row, and the columns covered 3 variations of the 6 solutions.  It was scored 0 or 1 (no or yes) and for three different levels.

1. Could the SE do an elevator pitch?
2. Could they demo it?
3. Lastly could they do a Proof of Concept/Value of it?

This gave him a quick view as to which resources could be promised to which opportunities.  It also made it easier to track which SEs needed which level of training to be sure that he had proper coverage.  If an SE left he knew what skills were most relevant to look for in a new candidate.  This was because some products were very “programmer” oriented while others needed more network packet level knowledge.

Demos

For the typical Sales Engineer the “demo” can start out as simple as a slide deck with some screen shots.  This can evolve into a recording with an application like InVision.  Perhaps even an html based one.  All of these have a single path with no way to vary or show other features/value.

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Eventually they learn a demo or two that are with the real application.  These allow for some freedom to vary the path and show other features to demonstrate specific business value.  Also to be able to adapt their message to the audience and the pain-points in the room.

Own the Demo Environment

The last stage is when the SE has a demo environment at their disposal where they can show any of a dozen or more scenarios without any preparation.  This is the point where they can fully adapt to the audience and the needs/pain points.

In my opinion these abilities can be expressed as a number from 1 to 10.  We can standardize on what each level means.

Here is where I need your input.  If SEs were to standardize on a rating system as to what constitutes a demo – how should those levels be named?  Is this something where there are just levels starting at 1?  Or does it need to have belts like Six Sigma does?  Or grades from C- to A+?