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Guest: Peter Cohan, Author of Doing DiscoveryMost sales teams think they're great at discovery. The reality? About 80% are getting it wrong—and it's the single biggest reason why deals stall, go to a competitor, or die with “no decision.”Peter Cohan, author of Doing Discovery, breaks down why traditional discovery methods are failing and what SaaS sales teams must do differently to uncover real customer value, build compelling business cases, and stop losing winnable deals.The biggest mistake sellers make? Rushing to the demo before fully quantifying business pain. If you can't pin down the numbers behind a buyer's problem and desired outcome, you're making it nearly impossible for them to justify the purchase—let alone get buy-in from their team.Peter shares practical strategies to flip the script on outdated discovery calls, avoid the “interrogation” trap, and use discovery to drive urgency, not just collect pain points.Key Takeaways:✅ Uncover the Value Gap: The secret to avoiding “no decision” isn't just probing for pain—it's quantifying the gap between today's reality and the desired future state.✅ Vision Reengineering: Most buyers don't know what they don't know. Learn how to introduce new ideas without losing control of the deal or giving away discounts.✅ Turn Discovery Into a Two-Way Conversation: Stop making prospects feel like they're on trial—use quid pro quo techniques to make discovery a collaborative process.Get ready to rethink how you approach discovery—or risk losing more deals than you should.---Not Getting Enough Demos? Your messaging could be turning buyers away before you even get a chance to pitch.
Guest: Peter Cohan, Author of “Great Demo!”Have you ever walked into a software demo, hoping to learn something new, only to sit through a “Harbor Tour” of irrelevant features? You're not alone – and neither are your prospects.Peter Cohan, author of Great Demo!, joined us on the SaaS Backwards Podcast to unpack the biggest demo mistakes SaaS teams make:❌ Starting with the how instead of the why❌ Overloading prospects with unnecessary features❌ Failing to tailor demos to decision-makersHis solution? Flip your demos upside down. Start with the results your prospects crave, not the laundry list of features.Peter also shared:✅ How to identify wasted demos (hint: 30% of them are)✅ Why "vision generation demos" are the key to nurturing leads✅ The metrics that show if your demos are working---Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.---Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.We'll look at your website's messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today's buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos. And the best part? It's absolutely free. Get started today!
On the latest episode of The Retail Tea Break podcast I'm joined by a guest who really understands how AI can impact and support retail. Peter Cohan is a strategy consultant, startup investor, author, and columnist. He is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at Babson College, he is faculty lead for the core undergraduate strategy course and has created popular electives on Startup Cities and Scaling Strategy.His strategy consulting firm has completed over 150 projects to help companies identify, evaluate, and profit from growth opportunities created by changing technology. Peter is author of 17 books including the latest one, Brain Rush. RETHINK Retail named him a Top Retail Expert every year between 2021 and 2024 and chose him as a Top AI Leader in 2024. Sit back and listen to a fantastic episode.Topics:The new book ‘Brain Rush, how to invest and compete in the real world of Generative AI'The Value PyramidThe payoffs for retailGetting the CEO onboard, using AI across the business?People in retail can “AI proof their careers”AI that adds value for customersFuture plansFor more information:Babson College Associate Professor of Management PracticePeter S. Cohan & AssociatesBooksForbes and Inc. columnsTranscription and show notes available at: https://theretailadvisor.ie/
S4:E6 Unlocking Generative AI for the Retail C-Suite with Peter CohanIn this episode of The Retail Razor Show, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden explore the transformative potential of generative AI in retail, featuring insights from Peter Cohan, an associate professor, strategy consultant, startup investor, book author, columnist and AI expert. The discussion covers AI's evolution compared to the dot-com era, the influence of large tech companies, and the substantial growth opportunities AI presents for retailers. Key topics include the contrast between the relay vs. rugby approaches to AI transformation, the crucial role of CEOs in AI adoption, and the importance of a quality data foundation for AI inputs. The episode highlights strategic investment, customer-centric innovations, and practical examples of successful AI implementations, guiding C-suite listeners on how to embrace AI as a long-term investment for unlocking new revenue streams versus a short-term quick fix.About Peter Cohan:Peter is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at Babson College, he is the faculty lead for the core undergraduate strategy course and has created popular electives on Startup Cities and Scaling Strategy. His strategy consulting firm has completed over 150 projects to help companies identify, evaluate, and profit from growth opportunities created by changing technology. He has invested in seven startups, three of which were sold for over $2 billion and one of which, SoFi, went public in 2021 at an $18 billion valuation. He is the author of 17 books, most recently "Brain Rush: How to Invest and Compete in the Real World of Generative AI" and he is a senior contributor at Forbes and a contributor at Inc. RETHINK Retail named him a Top Retail Expert every year between 2021 and 2024 and chose him as a Top AI Leader for 2024 this year.Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube00:00 Show Intro02:49 Meet Our Guest: Peter Cohan04:21 Unlocking Generative AI for the Retail C-Suite05:40 Peter Cohan's Background and Journey10:25 Impact of Generative AI in Retail12:48 Challenges and Risks of AI in Customer Service16:34 Strategies for Embracing AI in Retail17:21 Relay Race vs. Rugby Approach in Product Development28:48 Best Practices for AI Implementation32:43 Driving Company Growth: The CEO's Role35:15 The Value Pyramid Framework39:36 AI's Role in Retail Innovation47:49 Challenges and Opportunities with AI Data53:19 Entrepreneurial Insights and Cognitive Hunger57:18 Concluding Thoughts and Future Directions58:56 Show CloseMeet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:Ricardo Belmar is a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2021 – 2024, and a Thinkers 360 Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2023 and 2024, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno.
Brain Rush! Gen AI, AI Hallucinations and Retailers with Peter Cohan, an Associate Professor of Management Practice at Babson CollegeMeet Peter Cohan, an Associate Professor of Management Practice at Babson College, the founding principal of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm, and has completed over 150 growth-strategy consulting projects for global technology companies and invested in seven startups, three of which were sold for about $2 billion and one of which went public in 2021 at an $18 billion valuation. Impressive numbers.Peter tells us about his 17th book, another impressive number, Brain Rush, and we get deep into GenAI, whether the current concentration of AI development amongst the most prominent tech players will help or hurt the development of valuable and safe AI, AI hallucinations and how retailers should think about their impact on customer service, AI flyers for the masses and much more!About PeterPeter Cohan is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at Babson College. He teaches strategy, leadership, and entrepreneurship to students in the college's undergraduate, Master of Science in Entrepreneurial Leadership (MSEL), MBA, and Executive Education programs. He is coordinator of Babson's required undergraduate strategy course and the creator and teacher of advanced strategy courses for undergraduate and MSEL students. Cohan is the founding principal of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He has completed over 150 growth-strategy consulting projects for global technology companies and invested in seven startups, three of which were sold for about $2 billion and one of which went public in 2021 at an $18 billion valuation. He has written 17 books, includingBrain Rush: How to Invest and Compete in the Real World of Generative AI andNet Profit: How to Invest and Compete in the Wild World of Internet Business. He is a senior contributor to Forbes and an Inc. contributor. He is a frequent media commentator who has appeared on ABC's Good Morning America, Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC, Fox Business News, American Public Media's MarketPlace, WBUR, WGBH, New England Cable News, and the Boston ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates. He has been quoted in the Associated Press, the Christian Science Monitor, the London Evening Standard, the Times of London, the New York Times, Nikkei, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Portugal's Expresso, the Economist, Time, BusinessWeek, and Fortune. He also appeared in the 2016 documentary film We the People: The Market Basket Effect. Prior to starting his firm, he worked as a case team leader for Monitor Company, Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter's consulting firm. He has taught at MIT, Stanford, Columbia, Tel Aviv University, New York University, and Bentley University.About Brain RushMy most recent book (the 17th I have authored) Brain Rush: How to Invest and Compete in the Real World of Generative AI, discusses both the benefits and challenges of implementing AI in the retail and eCommerce markets and some of the specific topics I could discuss on your podcast include:How can retailers distinguish the few high payoff generative AI applications from the many losing ones?Which generative AI applications are creating the most value for retailers?What are the most significant risks retailers could face if they introduce generative AI to customers and partners?How should retailers capture the benefits and minimize the risks of these high payoff generative AI applications?Peer pressure forces CEOs to tell Wall Street how generative AI will transform their business but at the same time, CEOs fear generative AI hallucinations could threaten their company's reputation. This fear is based in reality. For instance, Google's AI advised people to add glue to pizza,Forbes careers contributor Jack Kelly noted. And Air Canada's AI chatbot made up a refund policy for a customer — and a Canadian tribunal forced the airline to issue a real refund based on its AI-invented policy, Wired reported.This inconsistent battle has significant implications for business. Of 200 to 300 generative AI experiments the typical large company is undertaking, a mere 10 to 15 have been rolled out internally, and perhaps one or two have been released to customers. Babson College Associate Professor of Management PracticePeter S. Cohan & AssociatesLinkedIn PageBooksForbes and Inc. columns About MichaelMichael is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Secure conference with leaders from The Gap and Kroger talking about violence in retail stores, keynotes on the state & future of retail in Orlando and Halifax, and at the 2023 Canadian GroceryConnex conference, hosting the CEOs of Walmart Canada, Longo's and Save-On-Foods Canada. Michael brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael also produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in North America, Remarkable Retail, Canada's top retail industry podcast; the Voice of Retail; Canada's top food industry and the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor, with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail influencers for the fourth year in a row, Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer, and you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state of the retail industry in Canada and the U.S., and the future of retail.
Peter Cohan, an associate professor of management practice at Babson College, discusses his career in academia and his passion for teaching, writing, and researching. He also talks about his book on generative AI and its impact on various industries. Cohan highlights the similarities and differences between the internet boom of the 90s and the current AI boom, emphasizing the importance of creating value and being adaptable in the face of technological advancements. He explores the positive and negative implications of AI in education and business, and shares insights on how businesses can leverage AI to improve efficiency and overcome creative blocks. In this conversation, Peter and host Ed Hart discuss the potential applications of generative AI and its impact on various industries. They explain how generative AI can be used to overcome creative block, increase productivity in sales and customer service, and accelerate sales growth. Cohan also shares insights on how private investors can use AI in their investment strategies. Throughout the conversation, they emphasize the importance of curiosity and learning in embracing AI and adapting to its advancements. You can reach Peter at https://www.babson.edu/about/our-leaders-and-scholars/faculty-and-academic-divisions/faculty-profiles/peter-cohan.php Academia offers opportunities for teaching, writing, and researching, and provides a platform to interact with and educate younger generations. The internet boom of the 90s and the current AI boom share similarities in terms of job replacement and the creation of new jobs. Creating value is crucial in the adoption and success of new technologies like AI. AI can be used to improve efficiency and overcome creative blocks in various industries, including education and business. Generative AI can be used to overcome creative block and increase productivity in various industries. Small businesses can use generative AI to train salespeople and improve their performance. Generative AI has the potential to accelerate sales growth and create new services that customers want to use. Private investors can use AI to evaluate companies and make informed investment decisions. Curiosity and a willingness to learn are essential in embracing AI and adapting to its advancements.
Join your cohosts Jack Cochran and Adam DiTomasso as we talk about everything related to presales and our lives as demo jockeys.This month's book is Doing Discovery by Peter Cohan, who joins us for this episode!Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative and the author of the Great Demo! and Doing Discovery methodologies, focused on helping software organizations improve their presales, sales and marketing results – primarily through improving organizations' demonstrations and discovery skills. He has experience as an individual contributor, manager and senior management in marketing, sales, business development, and as a member of the C-suite. He has also been and continues to be a prospect and a customer. Mentioned during the episode: Blog post on how to read Great Demo! and Doing Discovery togetherWe have a community: Demo Jockey Slack Community! We will soon be opening up the backstage for you to listen and engage LIVE with us during our recording sessions. Check the Slack for more details.Be sure to check out https://demojockeys.com/ for our full list of past and upcoming books, previous episodes, and more. Next month's book is Stories that Stick by Kindra Hall.Music: Iron Pan and The Wu Town Shuffle by Mr. Lincoln
Join your cohosts Jack Cochran and Adam DiTomasso as we talk about everything related to presales and our lives as demo jockeys.This month's book is Doing Discovery by Peter Cohan, who joins us for this episode!Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative and the author of the Great Demo! and Doing Discovery methodologies, focused on helping software organizations improve their presales, sales and marketing results – primarily through improving organizations' demonstrations and discovery skills. He has experience as an individual contributor, manager and senior management in marketing, sales, business development, and as a member of the C-suite. He has also been and continues to be a prospect and a customer. We have a community: Demo Jockey Slack Community! We will soon be opening up the backstage for you to listen and engage LIVE with us during our recording sessions. Check the Slack for more details.Be sure to check out https://demojockeys.com/ for our full list of past and upcoming books, previous episodes, and more. Next month's book is Stories that Stick by Kindra Hall.Music: Iron Pan and The Wu Town Shuffle by Mr. Lincoln
Join your cohosts Jack Cochran and Adam DiTomasso as we talk about everything related to presales and our lives as demo jockeys.This month's book is Doing Discovery by Peter Cohan.We have a community: Demo Jockey Slack Community! We will soon be opening up the backstage for you to listen and engage LIVE with us during our recording sessions. Check the Slack for more details.Be sure to check out https://demojockeys.com/ for our full list of past and upcoming books, previous episodes, and more. Next month's book is Stories that Stick by Kindra Hall.Music: Iron Pan and The Wu Town Shuffle by Mr. Lincoln
This month's book is Six Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers by Chris White. Join your cohosts Jack Cochran and Adam DiTomasso as we talk about everything related to presales and our lives as demo jockeys.This week we are joined by Chris!Follow Chris White on LinkedInCheck out his weekly LinkedIn Live show: Tech Sales AdviceBecome Six Habits CertifiedBe sure to check out https://demojockeys.com/ for our full list of past and upcoming books, previous episodes, and more. Join the discussion in our Slack community (link available on our website)Next month's book is Doing Discovery by Peter Cohan.Music: The Wu Town Shuffle by Mr. Lincoln
This month's book is Six Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers by Chris White. Join your cohosts Jack Cochran and Adam DiTomasso as we talk about everything related to presales and our lives as demo jockeys.This week we are joined by Chris!Follow Chris White on LinkedInCheck out his weekly LinkedIn Live show: Tech Sales AdviceBe sure to check out https://demojockeys.com/ for our full list of past and upcoming books, previous episodes, and more. Join the discussion in our Slack community (link available on our website)Next month's book is Doing Discovery by Peter Cohan.Music: The Wu Town Shuffle by Mr. Lincoln
This month's book is Six Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers by Chris White.Join your cohosts Jack Cochran and Adam DiTomasso as we talk about everything related to presales and our lives as demo jockeys.Be sure to check out https://demojockeys.com/ for our full list of past and upcoming books, previous episodes, and more.Next month's book is Doing Discovery by Peter Cohan.Music: The Wu Town Shuffle by Mr. Lincoln
This month's book is Six Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers by Chris White.Join your cohosts Jack Cochran and Adam DiTomasso as we talk about everything related to presales and our lives as demo jockeys.Be sure to check out https://demojockeys.com/ for our full list of past and upcoming books, previous episodes, and more.Next month's book is Doing Discovery by Peter Cohan.Music: The Wu Town Shuffle by Mr. Lincoln
Hey - do you even do discovery right, and is it really enough? Peter Cohan joins Adam to 'discover' How much discovery is enough?, and is a disco demo a good thing or bad thing? We're all ace at doing discovery (or at least we think we are), but what if you doubt the quality of discovery by someone else? Come join us on LinkedIn and add Peter, here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petercohan/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/presalesinapod/message
Taylor Swift's Eras tour is predicted to earn over $1 billion, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time. Such success is worthy of study. In this week's episode, Merrill refers to a recent article by Peter Cohan ("Four Lessons from Taylor Swift's $700 Million Success") and adds his own perspective on how Taylor Swift can teach us about business. View a transcript of this podcast. Transcripts are powered by FFTranscription - Delivering fast, accurate marketing research transcripts in 48 hours or less.
Episode #010 - Are you ready to stand out from the competition and thrive in PreSales? Then join us for this insightful conversation with Peter Cohan, the founder and renowned author of Great Demo! and Doing Discovery, two industry leading books on best practices within PreSales. In this episode, Peter shares how absorbing and practicing the lessons from his books can give you an edge as a candidate. Additionally, Peter provides valuable advice on collaborating effectively with your Account Executives, understanding what PreSales hiring managers truly seek, and navigating the delicate balance between passion and pragmatism. Don't miss out on Peter's wisdom on embracing Imposter Syndrome, avoiding the "peak of Mount Stupid," and the seven words that will make you a better SE when faced with challenging questions. Tune in now to take your PreSales career to the next level!Additional show notes, resource links, and more: https://pathtopresales.com/session10
This episode Adam Freeman and Don Carmichael welcomes a very special guest, Peter Cohan. We talk about how to identify a Champion within a Buyer, what might be motivating them, and how their previous experience of buying Tech changes their approach. We look at whether it's even a Sales Engineer/PreSales Consultants job to enable a Buyer champion or whether that's just some Sales Execs do. We talk about how the definition of a Champion and where you find them in an organisation has changed in recent years. Focusing on the Enablement topic, we also discuss what a Champion might want from us, what we would want from them and how much we should be anticipating their needs. Join us on LinkedIn to chat more! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/presalesinapod/message
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
Before you can build a stellar product and launch it to the masses, you need to have a thorough understanding of what the product is. In this episode, I talk with Dan Hellerman of Saleo to find out why he chose to be in charge of Product, why he and his co-founder and CEO still do demos to this day, and why the role of Sales Engineers is so important in the sales cycle. Dan Hellerman is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Saleo, which is a demo environment platform that helps software companies create great software demos to win and retain more customers. Saleo is the only platform in the market that allows you to control your actual live software demo in its live native environment. They have worked with companies like Drift and Clary and SalesLoft, and Terminus to help them power their live demos. https://wethesalesengineers.com/show241
We're back with another of your favourite topics: How buyers are treated at the start of their journey with you (which is NOT, the start of their journey). Peter Cohan and Rob Dean join hosts Adam Freeman, Mark Green and Tom Edwards to discuss this hot topic. Now presales have the tools to scale further up the funnel - what's wrong with providing what these buyers need at that point rather than scaring them away with BANT? There's plus and minus points to both approaches so come hear our conclusions. Come join us on LinkedIn - we're always happy to chat! #buyerenablement #2piap #presales --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/presalesinapod/message
Welcome Back to Bill Murphy's 10x Podcast. Our guest in this episode is Peter Cohan, founder and principal of The Second Derivative, author of “Great Demo!” and a savant in the sales world. Additionally, Peter serves on the Board of Directors for Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc., is an advisor to IN2SV, Inc., holds a degree in chemistry, and is a mentor to StartX, the Stanford University start-up accelerator. Peter has vast experience working with senior management in marketing, sales, and business development. and has learned to discover and understand the needs of a customer. Peter's mission is to advise organizations on the ways they can better improve their sales and marketing results through creating and executing compelling demonstrations. In this episode, he shares with listeners his best-known method, the “Last Thing First,” which teaches you to “turn the demo upside down” and start with the end-result first. You do not have to be in sales to benefit from Peter's methods, his principles prove valuable to many parts of an organization Peter hopes to inspire you to constantly seek ways to improve upon your skills and practices. Show your customers the possibilities that will benefit the future of their business and an end- result that cannot be refused. Tune in to learn more. As a Chief Information Officer and Business IT Leader here are some wins you will get by listening: 4:00 There are two roles of an IT Leader: offense and defense. The defense protects the kingdom, keeps the lights on, and ensures the users are happy. The offense helps put points on the board and supports sales. 5:00 Modern IT leaders can support sales in the future by providing subject matter expertise to the sales team, enabling a demo environment, and seeking to understand where the organization needs to go and what can be done to help by providing tools and services. 6:30 The key success factor in the pre-sales process is having a structured way of communicating information. 6:40 “The Great Demo” introduces a structure called the situation slide, which is used to recommunicate key pieces of information to deliver a credible demo. 8:00 Before you call a prospect, have a conversation with the vendor and ask: What is our objective for this demo? What do we know about this prospect? What do you want me to present in this demo? What do you not want me to present in this demo? 10:00 The key element in creating any demo is understanding what specific capabilities a prospect needs to see versus everything else that is in your offering. 11:30 Find sales representatives who are highly respected and use those people as your models to learn their best practices. 12:00 Successful sales reps execute the most important part of the sales process: sufficient discovery of the customer's needs followed by communicating those discoveries with the team. 18:30 Vision generation demos spark interest and highlight what is possible. 20:30 Lead with pictures of graphs, reports, and dashboards to present complex ideas in a straightforward way. Do not bury people in complexity. 23:30 The goal of a demo is to show your customer a “menu” of your offerings. If you are offering several different modules, utilize vision generation. 27:00 In a demo, do not show a prospect a boring boat. Show them that it is a battleship driving through the heavy seas. This is the result a prospect is looking for. 28:00 The higher you go in an organization, the less they care about the process and more just the end-result. Turn the demo upside down and do that last thing first. 32:30 A successful salesperson is interested in continually improving his or her process. Resources: Great Demo Book GreatDemo.com LessIsMore.com (For PowerPoint Presentations) Information is Beautiful _____________________________________________________________________ Love this episode? Leave a Review Share it on your LinkedIn feed. If you have not already, please leave us a review on iTunes. ______________________________________________________________________ About Bill Murphy Bill Murphy is a world-renowned IT Security Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader. Follow Bill on LinkedIn. If you are interested in learning more about RedZone Technologies, and its security expertise, email us at info@redzonetech.ne
The second episode from my second round with Peter Cohan, who is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative and author of The Great Demo!. Legend, myth, the OG Presales thought leader and everything in between.
Back for round 2, Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative and author of The Great Demo!. He's basically a legend. The OG thought leader for Presales.
In Conversation with Peter Cohan. He speaks to Subhanjan Sarkar in this episode on his book, "Great Demo". The post Bizcast: Bits about books – In Conversation with Peter Cohan, Author of the book “Great Demo”. appeared first on Business Podcast Network.
Join Don, Adam, Mark, Tom and friend of the show Peter Cohan as we dust off the crystal ball and make some predictions for 2022! In this episode we'll discuss; What was the over used word of 2021, and what's the next over used word?! Key trends moving into 2022 An outstanding individual recital of a poem crafted by Peter a motivational talk from Adam All of the above and more in this episode. Thank you all for your support and listening through 2021, Here's to a healthy, happy and successful 2022. Take care, stay safe and join us next year to see if the predictions come true! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/presalesinapod/message
Hybrid meetings are becoming more normalised as the world unlocks at various paces across different geographies. Join us in episode 42 as we discuss this and other topics with Peter Cohan to really understand the advantages and pitfalls of a hybrid demo. What is a hybrid meeting? Are there advantages of fully remote meetings? Is been on site with a prospect a competitive advantage? Will remote meetings be the default as we exit the pandemic? Huge thanks to Peter for joining us on the show. Please do give our LinkedIn page a follow and reach out to us with your feedback. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/presalesinapod/message
Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative and the author of the Great Demo! Methodology and the book by the same name. He's thrilled to answer this question.
Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative and the author of the Great Demo! Methodology and the book by the same name. Peter is ecstatic to be answering this question!
Entrepreneur and author Peter Cohan uses the word “lucky” often in this interview with Published Author host Josh Steimle. But looking at what he describes as his “very confused career”, a sense of curiosity and willingness to try new things are two qualities that stand out. Peter could have easily embarked on his original quest to be a poet and given up, instead perhaps taking a job in a factory or maybe even a mid-level white collar role. But the author of 15 books possesses an entrepreneurial spirit far beyond average. His ability to see emerging trends and adaptability, along with his skill at maximizing opportunities, have led Peter to phenomenal success. Seeing Patterns, Connecting Ideas An Important Part of Nonfiction Books Peter is a big picture thinker. His most recent book, Goliath Strikes Back: How Traditional Retailers Are Winning Back Customers from Ecommerce Startups, exemplifies this. It explores the mindset of leaders of successful and growing companies. Says Peter: “One of the things that makes the biggest difference between companies and regions that have a lot of success in startups is the number of people who are what I call marathoners. “They are people who can take an idea, turn it into a startup, develop a product that people want to buy, and then get a lot of people to buy that product.” A Winning Entrepreneurial Mindset Marathoners then take that company public, and keep running and growing rapidly as a public company. He gives the example of Jim McNerney, who took over at Boeing when it had a lot of problems. Jim turned it around. Another example is Best Buy. Its CEO left after a $1.2 billion loss, and in came McKinsey consultant Hubert Joly to rebuild. Both had what Peter calls a fast follower mindset, similar to the marathoner mindset. The third mindset Peter has identified is the head-in-the-sand mindset. “With this, you run the company looking in the rearview mirror. You run it with the mindset of somebody who may have been successful doing something 20 years ago, and they think the world is still that way, or they want the world to be that way, because that's what they're comfortable with. “So they keep making decisions as if the world is still the way it was 20 years ago, but it's not. And then they run the company into the ground. Essentially, that's what Goliath Strikes Back is about. You Really Don't Know What You're Good At Until You Try His view is that entrepreneurs have to try things out and see how the market responds. “You have to see whether you're producing anything valuable, he says. “You just try to do it and see what works. That was my experience. “If I had been really lucky, I would have been born with some exceptionally great skills, like understanding microbiology. Imagine how much value I could create in the world,” he continues. “But I don't have those skills. So you just don't know what the world is going to see as being good. So you try different things, and hopefully, if you're lucky, something connects.” Carving Out a Niche In Tech And Startups Peter's first book deal back in 1997 was unplanned. He'd been working for a telecom company in Japan and focused on the question of why some technology companies are able to surf through new ways of technology, while others fail. The work resulted in a white paper, and then a book deal for The Technology Leaders: How America's Most Profitable High-Tech Companies Innovate Their Way to Success. Timing is everything! And for Peter the moment couldn't be better for this and his second book, Net Profit, Both were published at the start of the Internet age and the Dot Com boom. Peter naturally fell into a tech-startup specialist role and became a sought-after guest on major TV networks. Peter went on to write about e-commerce and investment in e-commerce. These grew from his original book and opened the door to further exploration into startups and leadership. Of all Peter's early books, one is timeless and still used a lot today: Value Leadership, written in 2002. He and others still use it when teaching about corporate social responsibility. A Book Proposal Is a Great Tool For Writing a Book Peter readily admits that although he has written 15 books, writing a book is not easy. He uses a couple of tools to make it easier and make the whole experience flow as smoothly as possible. “A book proposal is a great place to start when you're writing a book,” he says. “In fact, it's incredibly helpful.” Peter's process looks like this: Begin a proposal by outlining everything that he wants to include in each chapter. Simultaneously, do research and gather case studies, articles, content from other books or anything else that he might want to quote from or include in his own book. When each chapter outline is complete, he begins interviewing experts he wants to include in his book. Chapter deadlines given to his publisher. He begins writing his book. Importance Of Setting And Meeting Book Writing Deadlines “When I set a deadline, I tell the publisher when I'm going to get you these chapters. I feel like I cannot let anything stop me from actually doing it. I have to do what I say I'm going to do. It's deeply, deeply ingrained in me. So I do it. He adds that working on a first chapter is always a bit stressful, because you don't really know what the book is about. “I'm always wondering, when I read the first chapter, whether it's gonna be anything like what I thought it was gonna be like, but usually it is!” Write When Your Mind Is At Its Best Peter recommends that entrepreneur-authors find out what part of the day their mind works at its best. For him, it's right after breakfast. He writes for several hours and then, after a run, he doesn't feel like his writing focus is at its best. So he gears down a notch and focuses on research. Learn more: If you got a lot from this episode, listen to: Bestselling Author Tells How His Books Built His Career And this interview with Paul Epstein, who highly recommends working with a book coach: Entrepreneurs, The World Needs Your Book. Don't Let Anyone Talk You Out of It LINKS LinkedIn Twitter PeterCohan.com SUBSCRIBE TO THE PUBLISHED AUTHOR PODCAST If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or anywhere else you listen to podcasts. You can also watch episodes of the podcast on YouTube. And if you want to spread the word, please give us a five-star review (we read every single one!) and share this page with your friends. We also share valuable snippets from podcast episodes on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. ABOUT THE HOST The Published Author Podcast is hosted by Josh Steimle, founder of Published Author. Josh is a book author himself and his article writing has been featured in over two dozen publications including Time, Forbes, Fortune, Mashable, and TechCrunch. He's a TEDx speaker, the founder of the global marketing agency MWI, a skater, father, and husband, and lives on a horse farm in Boston. Learn more at JoshSteimle.com.
This week we are joined by the oracle of PreSales, Peter Cohan! Peter joins Adam, Don and Mark to talk vision generation demos. This is a topic that is hot in PreSales right now. It's also got huge benefits if you embrace this topic and can drastically improve your results. How do you avoid average repetitive demos? How does discovery fit with vision generation demos? What is Peter's favourite thing about UK restaurants?! The answers to this and more in this weeks show. As always, share with your friends and colleagues, follow the LinkedIn page, and give us a review on your favourite podcast platform. We really do appreciate your support. Show links; Peter Cohan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/petercohan/ Great Demo - https://greatdemo.com/ Newsletter - https://greatdemo.com/great-demo-blog/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/presalesinapod/message
Are you ready for the Roaring Twenties? On today's episode, we discuss Best Buy's digital transformation, retail's new physical estate and the post-pandemic retail landscape. Featuring guests Peter Cohan and Andrew Smith. Peter Cohan is the president of Peter S. Cohan and Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He is also a Forbes contributor and columnist at Inc. Magazine. You can find his new book, "Goliath Strikes Back" on Amazon. Andrew Smith is the co-founder of Think Uncommon, a retail consultancy helping retailers innovate. He is the co-author of the book, "Retail Innovation Reframed," a how-to guide to implementing innovative capability in a retail business. - - - - - - Hosted by Julia Raymond Written and produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Trenton Waller
Chad Burmeister, the AI for Sales Expert on the Sales Experts Channel, will talk with Peter Cohan about the Art & Science of a Great Demo.In this episode, you will learn:1) The top 3-4 things you should do to deliver a world-class demo2) The top things to avoid (hint: don't hold the best for last)3) Lessons learned from coaching hundreds of sales professionals on the art and science of delivering a great demo
Peter Cohan's world is real life Shark Tank. He is a high level investor, who has a brilliant way of viewing companies and finding value. He is also an avid writer, who has published 15 books and writes columns for Forbes magazine on a weekly basis. A truly brilliant business mind, who has dedicated his career to studying and teaching the art of business.
In today's episode, management consultant, professor, angel investor, columnist, and book author Peter Cohan joins Mark to discuss a range of interesting topics, including: How he developed his dual interests in art and engineering and whether he sees them as disparate or complementary interests Whether the experience of having a business in his family contributed to his interest in business and ultimately his career choice As a longtime advisor to business leaders - and a lecturer in business strategy - some of the key leadership traits Peter sees in his clients who are effective leaders and also teaches to his students, as well as common leadership blindspots Keys to resilience that listeners should keep in mind these days, which also were featured in Peter's column in Inc. Magazine. As a highly-visible writer, commentator, and communicator for many years while also having academic training in technical fields - engineering and computer science - what advice Peter has for engineers who want to strengthen their ability to communicate with non-engineers, particularly when it comes to writing for general audiences Peter's recommendations for books, training, or conferences that could provide useful information or insights for listeners wanting to learn more about the start-up ecosystem - Note: Peter is the author of the just-released book, "Goliath Strikes Back - How Traditional Retailers Are Winning Back Customers From E-Commerce Startups", http://bit.ly/PeterCohanGoliathStrikesBackBook 7. How has COVID-19 has impacted his teaching and how it could affect it in the future.
We brought the Demo Guru, Peter Cohan, back for another session. Last time Peter blew our minds and completely changed our approach to speaker switches (76 seconds, come on!). We talked about how in this session. What about discovery though? We go deep into discovery and how to do it. Yet again, Peter shows that most of us simply aren't doing enough. We also got Peter's opinion on virtual technologies, sorry Microsoft. The post So You Think You Are Doing Discovery with Peter Cohan on Tripping Over the Barrel appeared first on Digital Wildcatters.
We brought the Demo Guru, Peter Cohan, back for another session. Last time Peter blew our minds and completely changed our approach to speaker switches (76 seconds, come on!). We talked about how in this session. What about discovery though? We go deep into discovery and how to do it. Yet again, Peter shows that most of us simply aren't doing enough. We also got Peter's opinion on virtual technologies, sorry Microsoft. The post So You Think You Are Doing Discovery with Peter Cohan on Tripping Over the Barrel appeared first on Digital Wildcatters.
On this episode of Sales Burrito, we are going to talk about demo and yes: WHEN and WHEN NOT to do them and HOW MUCH to show. As sales engineers time is one of the most important valuable possessions we all have. This is why we have our special guest, Peter Cohan the author Great Demo joining us.
A good or bad demonstration can sell or destroy whatever you are selling. You can spend all your money on research to make the best possible product, but everything goes to waste if you have a sloppy demo. Learn how to make a good demonstration with your host, Chad Burmeister, and his guest, Peter Cohan. Peter is the Founder of The Second Derivative, which provides coaching for demonstration skills. Learn some important key factors that play a role in a good demo and some things that you should avoid. Learn how to focus on the customer and start with what they're looking for with Peter in this episode.
On the PreSales Podcast, James Kaikis and Peter Cohan connect on the topic "Analogies and Metaphors in PreSales”. Peter, founder and principal of The Second Derivative and the Great Demo methodology, talks about how using analogies and metaphors in your sales cycles can be extremely impactful and allow for customers to connect the dots more so than seeing your product.
As discussed in past TOTB episodes – Tim and Jeremy have had some spectacular failures in demonstrations. In this episode, Peter Cohan, a guy who The post Congrats, You Just Gave A Horrible Demo! with Peter Cohan | Tripping Over the Barrel Podcast appeared first on Digital Wildcatters.
As discussed in past TOTB episodes – Tim and Jeremy have had some spectacular failures in demonstrations. In this episode, Peter Cohan, a guy who literally wrote the book on giving a “Great Demo!” joins the guys to discuss some of the WORST Demos he has ever seen, and how to avoid common pitfalls of … The post Congrats, You Just Gave A Horrible Demo! with Peter Cohan | Tripping Over the Barrel Podcast appeared first on Digital Wildcatters.
In this episode we were joined by Peter Cohan, author of the book, Great Demo! Peter founded Great Demo! in 2003 to address the challenge of bringing a method for consistent success to the process of creating and delivering software demonstrations. Prior to this Peter enjoyed over 20 years in senior management, business development, sales and marketing roles. This episode is one not to be missed if you want to gain practical advice on how to deliver better product demonstrations to your customers.
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
Lots of demos are useless due to the fact that a proper discovery was not conducted. That is why Peter Cohan and I dig deep on that subject and you get to see a brief role play as I try to discover Peter's pain!
We The Sales Engineers: A Resource for Sales Engineers, by Sales Engineers
I spent some time with Peter Cohan where I performed a short discovery for X.AI followed by a demonstration. In this episode, you will hear Peter critique my demo, provide tips and tricks, and discuss common mistakes he witnesses. Podcast show notes available here: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show49
The Moneywise Guys Wednesday, July 26th www.MoneywiseGuys.com Guest: Peter Cohan, President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, Contributor to Forbes
Peter Cohan is Founder of The Second Derivative, author of Great Demo! How To Create And Execute Stunning Software Demonstrations, and expert in giving online software presentations and software demonstrations.
This episode is brought to you by SalesQualia. If you’re a startup looking to Find Customers, Grow Revenue and Build Your Sales Process, check out the Startup Selling Program. In this episode, I interview Peter Cohan, most known for his “GREAT DEMO!” system and training – teaching software companies the RIGHT way to demo their products. Key areas we cover are: The importance of “teaching demos.” Why you only have once chance at a product demo, and how to do it right the first time. That’s there no such thing as standard demos, and how to discover the “Critical Business Issue” of your target accounts in preparing for your product demos. “The the curse of knowledge” and how answering your prospect’s questions before they ask can KILL your demo. How to demo your software product in three slides or less. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes! We hope you enjoy the podcast and would greatly appreciate feedback! Any suggestions on future topics you would like to hear covered and/or podcast guests you’d like to hear would be great! Enjoy! Podcast Notes 01:55 – How did Peter get into teaching demos. 04:30 – How to assemble data on a when a sale happens. 07:35 – Doing it right the first time your demo’s going to be much shorter and you might only have to do one of those and get you to the finish line. 09:00 – No such thing as a standard customer/demo. 15:00 – Doing discovery, ask sufficient questions to be able to design a demo that fits the customer’s need. 23:18 – The curse of knowledge, when you have seen it all before and you forget that every customer is unique. Put the knowledge you think you have behind your back and ask the right questions. 26:05 – Pre answering questions before they are asked takes away the role of the audience. Takes away the ability to interact. 28:47 – How to address having new people in the meeting that you haven’t had a chance to do needs assessment with. 33:46 – Always start a demo that has people you haven’t interacted with before with three questions; what’s your name, job title and what would they like to take away from the demo. 41:18 – Turning the demo from being all about the vendor, to being all about the customer. 46:33 – Have the fewest number of steps to complete any particular task. 50:27 – Manage your infrastructure. Expect your hard disk will crash! Be ready for anything. 57:17 – Do the last thing first, don’t teach people how things work but show them what good things you’re offering to help them solve their problems. Resources mentioned or related to this podcast The Second Derivative helps software organizations achieve their sales and marketing objectives. Great Demo the Book, by Peter Cohan The Great Demo Group Key words: startup selling, sales, product demos, scott sambucci, salesqualia, startups, enterprise sales
The Moneywise Guys Podcast Tuesday, July 14th www.Moneywiseguys.com Moneywise Hosts: David Anderson & Garro Ellis Guests: John Duffield, C.P.A. Peter Cohan, President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates & Author of "Hungry Start-up Strategy: Creating New Ventures with Limited Resources and Unlimited Vision"
The Moneywise Guys Podcast Tuesday, February 10th www.MoneywiseGuys.com Moneywise Hosts: Sherod Waite & Garro Ellis Guests: John Duffield, Local C.P.A. Peter Cohan, President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates
John Nemo former Associated Press Reporter, Author, Award-Winning PR Director and Social Media Consultant. He is the creator of LinkedIn Riches, an online training program that helps individuals, brands and businesses leverage LinkedIn to instantly generate more leads, clients and revenue. John has generated more than $135,000 of revenue in just 90 days using LinkedIn, all of it within a tiny niche and all of it without meeting any of his clients in person Mike Song CEO Get Control! Seminar series. Mike is responsible for managing the strategic growth of the company and developing new, ground breaking productivity solutions. Mike Song CEO, GetControl.net Mike is lead co-author of the best-selling Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You and The Hamster Revolution for Meetings Peter Cohan management consultant, angel investor, author of 11 books, and Babson College teacher of strategy and entrepreneurship Catherine Cook co-founder of MeetMe, Inc, the public market leader in social discovery. She co-founded the company as a way to make new friends in her high school, and now 1 million people log in to MeetMe every day on the web and mobile apps. Check out MeetMe in the App Store or Google Play store or on the web at meetme.com Bill Coscarelli Professor Emeritus from Southern Illinois University where he spent most of his 30 some years teaching teachers how to teach. His consulting in human performance assessment has been recognized globally. He joins us as the principle author of the The Decision-Making Styles Inventory which is published by John Wiley
The Moneywise Guys Full Program Wednesday, May 7th Moneywise Hosts: Kris Pelster Local Attorney, Kyle Jones Local CPA, John Duffield Guests Include: Peter Cohan - President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates & Author of "Hungry Start-up Strategy: Creating New Ventures with Limited Resources and Unlimited Vision"
Peter S. Cohan, president of Peter S. Cohan and Associates and contributor for Forbes.com, discusses the cause of high commodity prices that are hurting consumers at the gas pump and the supermarket.
Senator Harry Reid re-writes the Constitution. So does Senator Harkin. Then, Peter Cohan says "You Can't Order Change."