Module 11
The demo
Fifteen minutes, told as a story, ending on their own data.
After this module: You can run a demo end to end, know which two moments do the persuading, and handle a mid-demo request without losing the thread.
What has to happen first
The most common failure is demoing too early. You cannot know what to show until you know what is broken.
- 1"What question can you not answer today with what you have?" — surfaces the actual gap rather than a tool complaint.
- 2"When a good-fit company visits and does not fill in a form, what happens?" — usually a pause, because the answer is nothing.
- 3"How does a lead reach a human, and how long does it take?" — exposes the handoff, which is where most value hides.
Check yourself
Seven beats, in order
Tell it as a story: here is what is happening on your site, here is who those people are, here is what to do about it.
Roughly fifteen minutes. If you are running long, cut beats 5 and 6 rather than rushing all seven.
| Beat | What to do | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Ask the analyst | Ask something open and narrate the tool timeline as it runs | They watch it check rather than invent — that is what earns trust |
| Switch the attribution model | Go from last-click to u-shaped while they watch | Channels they were about to cut show real credit; the movement makes the argument |
When someone asks "can you show me X" mid-demo, that is a buying signal, not an interruption. Show it, then say "let me come back to where we were" and rejoin the thread deliberately — the story only works if it arrives somewhere.
Check yourself
Worth remembering
- Discovery first. A demo without discovery is a feature tour, and feature tours do not close.
- Seven beats, in narrative order — not a menu of features.
- The two moments that persuade are the tool timeline running live and the attribution model switching.
- Install the script on their site first where you can. Their own data beats any sample.
- A mid-demo request is a buying signal. Answer it, then return to the thread deliberately.
Words that came up
- Run of show
- The planned order of a demo. Having one is what stops it becoming a tour of the navigation.
- Discovery
- The questions before the demo that decide what is worth showing at all.
Do this before moving on
Reading about a demo is not the same as having given one.
- 1Run the full demo to a colleague in fifteen minutes. Have them stop you the moment they are bored.
- 2Write your three discovery questions and use them on the next real call.
- 3Practise handling "can you show me X" without abandoning the thread.