Remote Demos – Don't Forget to Disconnect!

Posted by Peter Cohan on January 6, 2010

1 comments | 1074 reads

While this is certainly obvious, I’m occasionally amused – and sometimes astonished – by vendors who forget to close their Remote Demo meetings (e.g., via WebEx, GoToMeeting, Adobe Connect, etc.) and corresponding phone connections.

Amused – when a vendor forgets to close the session(s) and the collaboration tool window remains open/active.

Astonished – when a vendor forgets and, still sharing his desktop, starts to write email messages about the results of the web meeting! As a customer, it can be very interesting to see how the sales rep describes what a “great” meeting it was and how the “business is in the bag…!” I’ve heard the same with conference calls that remain open and active after the meeting has completed.

For more tips and articles on demonstration effectiveness skills and methods, email me at PCohan@SecondDerivative.com or visit our website at www.SecondDerivative.com. For demo tips, best practices, tools and techniques, join the DemoGurus Community Website at www.DemoGurus.com, or the Great Demo! LinkedIn Group, or explore our blog at http://greatdemo.blogspot.com/.

Peter Cohan

Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative, focused on helping software organizations improve the success rates of their demos. In 24, he enabled and began moderating DemoGurus®, a community web exchange on software demonstrations. He is the author of the book Great Demo! - how to prepare and deliver surprisingly compelling software demonstrations.

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Andrew Rudin

January 6, 2010

True that!

Peter--I'm laughing, since I remember a notable failure-to-disconnect glitch. The moderator of a technical demo referred to me as a "short whiner." Unbeknownst to him, I was still on the line. At that point, I chimed in and said "I am not short."

He didn't find the incident funny, but I did. I never forgot that experience, and always make sure to inform my colleagues that any post-meeting comments must be shared in a separate conversation, because one never knows exactly what's "post-meeting!"

Jocularity aside, the issue you've raised is important. Such mistakes can kill deals.

As the saying goes, "plan the end of the call before it begins."

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