Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

[Greg Fong]

The blood drained out of my face when my client asked me to present my app to a meeting of 12 regional managers from all over the place. It seems that there is a lot of interest in what I am doing. I am quite frankly, terrified. From what my client tells me none of the other regions could come close to what they are doing. All the others have been running their ordertaking and inventory with AccPac for years and are really unhappy about it. My client is really happy and has been for the past year. My stomach is churning and I think I have been drinking too much after this call.

I just have so many worries. What if it doesn't work? What if I turn into a babbling idiot?

Any advice on how to approach the presentation? I must admit that I am not much of a businessman. I charged a flat fee to develop the app to this point and I think that I have been making about $5.25 an hour because I couldn't keep myself from tinkering with it. Am I just in the unfortunate position of really enjoying something that doesn't pay well?

Any advice?

[Ohlen Cartmell]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

I heard this somewhere:

"Do what you truly love to do; the money will follow."

Write out your presentation in outline form so you have an idea of the flow. Then practice, practice, practice. If you have someone who can play the devil's advocate, get them to listen and question you as if they were the audience.

Something will probably go wrong anyway; it's how you recover that really counts.

[Mike Reed]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

Ohlen you are right on...couldn't have said it better.

I've been in those situations and thing that always saved me was the practice and someone playing the devils advocate before hand (it gave me practice on recovery).

You'll do fine!

mike

[David Sander]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

Greg,

In the first place, don't worry about this because you know more than anyone about what has gone into the application. Second, prepare yourself by writing down a list of their business and human interests and then force yourself to do three or four trial runs speaking in a room from this outline by yourself. Don't stop for mistakes, just recover from them and continue. Practice will build confidence.

You obviously have impressed these people and done so over a period of time, so its going to be hard to wreck all that at once. You also have a chance to better serve all the users here, so think of this as your chance to make lots of people happy for the next few years! You also know their business well from working with the database and their requests for better ways to do business, perhaps better than some of them do. Its Ok to have some of these people a little in awe of your efforts, after all if it were easy someone would have done this before.

Be alert to any questions you may get about analysing data that you've not reviewed. You can always welcome these and get them to talk about what they need. You'll also be assured there is a future for your database app.

Dave

[John Hertzler]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

Greg,

I �d suggest that you target your presentation towards what it is that the others do not like about their current applications and that you focus your presentation to show how your application addresses these problems. Since it sounds like your pricing will not be an issue. $5.25 an hour is reasonable enough, if you show them that your program adds value or simplifies their operations, the sale will be yours.

Best of Luck
John

[Thomas Henkel]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

One more thing,

Speak to their issues. What I mean is that being a developer, you may tend to lean to the more technical aspects of the system instead of the practical. I know from experience that I tend to talk much more about how I did an app instead of what the app can do for my audience. I much prefer talking to "propheads" like myself who would appreciate the nuts and bolts stuff. Regional managers don't care HOW, they just want to know IF IT WILL DO THE JOB.

Finally,

R E L A X

You know this stuff better than anyone. You know what it can do and what it can't do. I have found that having someone who actually uses the software demo it really helps. They understand exactly what it can do for them and how it helped. Don't be afraid to recruit a user. Just be ready to jump in for any questions.


You'll do fine. Maybe you could get that rate up to $525.00 instead of $5.25.

Tom

[Richard Rabins]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

Good Luck!

Rember they are human, just like the rest of us (sort of :) )

Regards
Richard Rabins -- Alpha Software

[Finian Lennon]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

This may seem obvious but .. make sure you are in command of the equipment on which the presentation wil be made. So, if you are doing it in the client's office for an audience of 11 people, how are they going to view the app? From your laptop hooked up to a big monitor? A copy of the app already running in the office? A nice projector hooked to your laptop?

Whichever it is going to be, make sure you get there early enough to be sure you have plenty of setup time so that the presentation environment is to your liking and advantage and you have some dry run time.

Good luck.

Finian

[glenschild]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

Greg

Preparation, preparation, preparation! It seems like your audience WANTS this which puts you very much in the driving seat!

In my regular line of business, the presentations that are the most effective are those that the presenter believes in, but the biggest danger is to slip in to jargon. So as has already being said before, practice and focus on the key benefits from the perspective of the people sat in the room.

Good luck

Glen Schild

[whanigsberg]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

Greg,

So much good advice. What a great thread.

I would only add that you might want to begin with a list of the things a successful inventory system must do. You know this, but everybody in the audience may not have articulated this explicitly. Perhaps you even hand out the list. By presenting the list, you immediately orient your presentation to a shared view of the the organization's problems.

You can then work your way down the list indicating briefly how your application deals with each issue. Even it they don't remember a specific feature of your program the fact that you have included a problem in the list will remind them that you cope with it somehow.

Bill

[davej]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

Greg,

Let me share some advice with you from a teacher's point of view.

I teach computer science at a community college, and as you can probably imagine, the material in my courses continually change and I get the 'pleasure' of having to present new versions of software all the time. I once had to teach a group of the CPAs from the local city Accounting Department how to use Lotus 1-2-3 (how's that for old?). I was scared s***less until I realized that I wasn't teaching (or challenging) their accouting skills, but rather I was sharing a new tool with which they could do their job better and easier.

Every time I teach a new class, I remind myself that there might well be someone in the class that knows how to write program code better than I (and that's a LOT of people) or knows more about web page development and design, but I am either offering them alternative ways to do what they already know, or possibly I will give them one new skill that they can use.

You will NOT be challenging the group, you will be offering them a new and easier way to do their job. They will probably be more appreciative of what you are showing them than you can imaging. AND, you may make more sales.

Just show them what you have created, they will ask questions about how to do this and that, and they'll ask if can you do such and such with Alpha. Answer them honestly and admit that you don't know when you don't know and they'll appreciate your honesty.

Good luck.

Dave Jampole

[Greg Fong]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

Thank-you all for the support and ideas. I think that I have a better handle on what I should be concentration on. After all, the app has been running very well for my client for while now.
I guess I will treat this meeting like the wonderful learning experience I had trying to figure out how to make Alpha adapt to the way my current client believed his company should operate. It was the back and forth that made it so much fun. It seemed there was always a new challenge or puzzle to mull over every day.
The best part is logging on to this forum in the morning with my cup of coffee to see what came up over-night.
Thanks everyone!

[Peter.Greulich]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

Greg,

Since all the others have given you much good advice and positive encouragement, let me limit my remarks to the $$$ issue. In the future, don't be afraid to charge what you and your product are worth. Don't be afraid to charge hourly. You may have to set certain limits. I have noticed that many (most?) developers seem to exactly specify what forms, reports, functionality they will be providing their clients/customers. Anything beyond that is extra. If you don't charge enough to make a decent living, you won't be able to continue doing what you are doing. There is absolutely no virtue in being a "low bidder" if you have to cut corners and compromise yourself by doing so. Have faith in yourself and in your product. If your client asked you "to present my app to a meeting of 12 regional managers from all over the place" that is a great compliment to your abilities and to your application. Don't short change yourself!

Peter

[Themis Skiathitis]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

Hi Greg, let's hope that this is the first of many, many times of being uncomfortable, it's all part and parcel of being successful.

A couple of words of advice that will help.

As someone esle stated try not to dwell on the technical aspects unless asked by one of the decision makers.

Get used to using a simple 5 word phrase that will help you in everything that you do, "what this means to you"

This is especially helpful when explaining a technical aspect and helps to put things into perspective for your audience. For example a car salesman may something like;

"This car has a fuel injected 6 cyl engine with double overhead cam and lowered floor mats! What this means to you is better fuel economy and less wear and tear on the car!"

In marketing terms this is called turning a feature into a benefit. People buy because of benefits not features.

If a particular feature cannot be translated into a benefit for the customer, then don't mention it as it is of no use to them. Stick to the features that will benefit the client and you will get the sale every time :)

One last thing. If you're not used to standing up in front of a group of business people, which can be daunting, just imagine them sitting there in their underwear or sitting on the john, makes them seem a lot more human!

Anyway, good luck to you, I'm sure you'll do just fine :)

[Thomas Henkel]

RE: Presentation of app has me shaking in my boots

Greg,

So now that you have all this great advice, I am sure that all the others, like me, will want to know how the presentation went. Please make sure to keep us informed.

Tom