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In my opinion, this is the most important and valuable part of the sales performance management vendor selection process. The demos can take different forms; for a small on-demand project, these demos are often performed online. For a large implementation, the remaining competing vendors will usually send a team on-site to present. This is the first opportunity to really see the look and feel of the solution. The RFP scores of the invited vendors could be very close, so this is where they get the chance to distinguish themselves. A job candidate is rarely hired without a face-to-face interview; this is it!
How long should the demo last?
A small SaaS solution such as Xactly or Centive could be presented in a few hours, but it really depends on the complexity of the solution. The length of the demo also depends on how much time you have and how much time the vendor is willing to invest in trying to win the bid. My advice is that for a large implementation (Callidus, Varicent, Merced, etc) half a day could be enough for an overview of the application, and a full day is not too much to go a bit more in details.
What questions should be asked?
SPM Vendor should be given specific instructions on what they should be demonstrating, which could vary depending on the audience. Ask yourself what is of interest to the evaluators; the plan configuration and administration? Reports? Analytics? If the evaluators are managers / directors, showing how the configuration plan elements is done may not be necessary.
Demo Scripts
The best way to find out that an SPM solution can do what you would like it to do, is to ask the vendors to configure a few plans. Don’t only provide the plan details, also provide some sample data. The sample data only needs to be a few transactions, there is no point in providing hundreds of them. When the vendors walk you through their solution and results, it will provide a good overview of how their solution works. If you choose to ask the vendors to implement a few things for the demo, provide them with at least a week to work on them to ensure they have the time to complete the activity. It’s fair to ask them to create simple rules “on the spot”, or to modify some of their plans, but if you ask them to implement several plans during the demo, valuable time will be wasted. Also, keep in mind that the goal is to review the solution, and not the ability of the sales engineer to work under high pressure.
Demo Evaluation
Just like for the RFP, a scoring grid should be created ahead of time and distributed to all the evaluators. Another tip; leave a lot of space for comments. If the evaluators have laptops, they could even fill the evaluation in a spreadsheet. It’s never fun to do manual data entry if it can be avoided. A question I often get is how much should the demo evaluation be worth compared to the RFP. This is another “it depends” answer. Typically, I recommend that the evaluation be worth at least 50% of the total score; if it’s a full day demonstration, probably more… for a short online demonstration, probably less.
When evaluating the different demos, beware of evaluating the quality of the presentation rather than the quality of the solution. As we know, some people are very good at presenting, and some are not quite as good. You would think that sales engineers have all mastered the art of the presentation, but they are not all made equal and some can be better than others. Try to evaluate the actual solution and not how good the SE is (and that can be hard to do!).
One last note about the demo evaluation: if the vendor is now showing you what you want to see (even if this should have been made clear before the presentation begins), make sure to let them know, and they can probably adjust the focus of their presentation.
Logistics
If the vendors are coming for an on-site visit, find out of they need an Internet connection. Also make sure you have a working projector!
A Note for the Vendors Reading This
Don’t rely on the internet connection mentioned above. Bring your solution installed on a laptop, or even bring a server with you if you need it, but don’t count on this connection to work or to be stable!
Adding the Scores
We now have scores for the RFPs and the demos. Adding them should reflect who the winner should be. There are a few more steps before selecting this winner, but once the demos are completed, you should have a good idea of who the preferred vendor is. Just as with the RFP, I would recommend a debrief following the demos to discuss impressions, strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, etc. If you had more than 2 vendors presenting, I would recommend selecting the top two vendors for the next steps.
Next Steps
We’re almost there… we still have to do our due diligence and perform reference checks before we start contract negotiations. I will discuss this in my next post.
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