The 5-Act Play for PreSales Part I: Framework

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Jason Zeikowitz

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Apr 2, 2023

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Are you in PreSales and responsible for performing solution demonstrations, earning buy-in, and supporting buyer enablement?

Are you leveraging conventional storytelling models for deeper discovery and elevated delivery?

This article will articulate the principles and applications for PreSales communications, conversations, and conversions.

Read, note, and share … 

… to convey value completely, consistently, and confidently!

Now that’s a call to action — literally! Those were the 5 PreSales acts in action: 

Act 1: Who is your audience? Identify the situation.

Act 2: Why should they care? Incite the issue.

Act 3: What will they need? Inform of the solution.

Act 4: How can they get to it? Illustrate the steps.

Act 5: What will be achieved? Inspire success. 

Whether you are delivering demonstrations, making sales, giving advice, or advocating causes, you are making a call to action; invoking the 5-act play to identify, incite, inform, illustrate, and inspire your audience. 

Sometimes these acts are explicit and sometimes they’re implied — but they’re always present in your audience’s mind. By being aware of these acts, you can ensure that your message and audience are aligned, accurate, and accelerating toward success!

The Hero’s Journey

Your call to action invokes your audience’s inherent script that Joseph Campbell defined as the Hero’s Journey, or monomyth. Across communities and generations, within cultural ethics and cinematic epics, the monomyth is as universal as change is constant. Buddha, Moses, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, and Dorothy Gale exemplify the allegorical avatars that Campbell calls The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Your call to action casts your audience as the hero confronting their transformational journey. 

And along with Obi Wan, Professor Dumbledore, and Glinda the Good Witch of the North, you are the hero’s North Star, serving as their trusted advisor.

Reader, if you have a feeling we’re not in call to action anymore, then tap your heels together three times and think to yourself, “And-But-Therefore-If-Then.”

And-But-Therefore-If-Then

This concept magically composes the 5-act play:

  1. {Situation}, and {Situation}.
  2. But {Issue}!
  3. Therefore, {Solution}.
  4. If {Steps},
  5. then {Success}!

Here’s how they conjured my opening Call to Action:

  1. You are in PreSales and are responsible for performing solution demonstrations, earning buy-in, and supporting buyer enablement.
  2. But you fear you are not leveraging conventional storytelling models for deeper discovery and elevated delivery.
  3. Therefore this article will articulate the principles and applications for PreSales communications, conversations, and conversions.
  4. If you read, note, and share,
  5. then you will convey value completely, consistently, and confidently!

Giving credit where it’s due:

Whether they are questions, statements, or demonstrations, the play remains the same. The 5-act play is a framework for discovery and delivery. Like Thor’s dual-wielded Stormbreaker, with an ax to cut through the noise for engaging insights, and a hammer to nail thunderous talking points!

Because of its multifaceted attributes, there are several memory tricks to summon it:

  • And-But-Therefore-If-Then: Instant story!
  • Situation-Issue-Solution-Steps-Success: The sequence of subjects for consideration.
  • Identify-Incite-Inform-Illustrate-Inspire: The trusted advisor’s actions per act.

Now let’s put this concept into context.

Applications for PreSales

PreSales is typically involved with solution demonstrations, buy-in conversations, and buyer enablement. 

Each has unique but interdependent calls to action: Solution demonstrations call up possibilities; buy-in conversations call out decisions; and buyer enablement calls for victory.

Solution Demonstrations

Episode I: A New Sale

If a solution demonstration is the art of the possible, then the 5-act play is your paint-by-numbers set to illustrate value. 

Speaking of numbers, Bob Reifstahl’s famous Tell-Show-Tell demo technique only has three parts. Oh no! Is our 5-act play not fit for the task?!

Fortunately, the Hero’s Journey can also segment into three parts: Exposition-Adventure-Epilogue. For PreSales, this translates to Context-Concept-Closure:

  1. Context (Tell): The Situation, Issue, and Solution are introduced, explored, and established; setting the stage for where the solution plays out.
  2. Concept (Show): The story switches to the Steps demonstrating the solution.
  3. Closure (Tell): The Success from the steps; the value. 

For example:

  1. Context (Tell): You are a successful Solutions Consultant, and business is booming! But the boom is breaking your calendar; leading to delayed, underserved, and lost deals. Therefore my demo automation solution will allow you to work more strategically to reach your potential in sales!
  2. Concept (Show): Let’s see this in action!
  3. Closure (Tell): As a result, you can better use your time to reach more minds and earn more dimes.

These three parts are universal. Andy Pollard, a cinematographer for NFL Films and production manager for software demonstrations, always takes his audience on a journey with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Let’s call his three-part gridiron journey “Snap-Spin-Score.” From the shoulder pads to the mouse pad, the story frame stays the same.

Furthermore, for solution demonstrations, Pollard warns to speak directly to the heart, by evoking emotions instead of instructions. This is not a coach’s film reel training session, it is the rousing speech for the players to run onto the field. Instead of calling out where you’re clicking, express how the clicks click to the feeling of success: By downloading this file, you will take your game to the next level.

As you frame your solution demonstration around your prospect, the portrayal will depend on the circumstance. There are four personifications, giving you a collection of stories for articulating your solution:

  • The actual buyer: This makes your story most relatable since the buyer is literally seeing themself in the story. However, because you can only hypothesize future scenarios, it is essential to build your story from a solid grasp of reality. Therefore, this persona is best suited for discovery conversations along with their personalized demonstrations.
  • Previous similar buyers: When available, stories of previous similar buyers are great for building social proof, pressure, and people. They indicate the credible value of your company, trends of the market, and solidarity of the community. Assemble a collection of customer stories by acquiring permission and testimonials. Then, use them when appropriate to illustrate your work with similar roles, challenges, and goals.
  • You as a previous similar buyer: If you have this advantage, this story gives you unique credibility and perspective.
  • Fictional similar buyers: Similar to assembling a collection of real customer stories, a portfolio of fictional personas and scenarios give you connectors and cables for communicating quickly and broadly across applicable companies.

Your solution demonstration can get your prospect to lean in, but you will need a conversation to affirm buy-in.

Buy-In Conversations

Episode II: Analysis Paralysis Strikes Back

“Great demo! We’ll get back to you.” — the last words before a sale dies.

But fear not, the 5-act play is also a decision making masterpiece theater, playing out the critical collective considerations for rational decision making. 

Individually, each act is a critical consideration. Expect questions to arise, and be able to improvise. That’s why the 5-act play is more than a script to follow, it is a series of scenes to set the stage for playing out. 

Collectively, the acts enable calculations. Does the success of the solution, with respect to its steps, warrant a change to the situation with respect to its issue?

Considering the possibilities, they enable comparisons.

To illustrate, Goldratt’s 4 Quadrants of Change expresses and compares the current and future states (left vs. right) against their pros and cons (top vs. bottom).

Defining these quadrants in terms of the five acts:

  • Mermaid: Strength from the situation. The value of the status quo. What’s working and why?
  • Crocodile: Weakness from the issue. The need for change. Why change? Why now?
  • Ladder: Opportunity of the solution. The force for change. Why us?
  • Crutch: Threats* from both the accepted and unwanted steps to achieve success with the solution. The pain of change. Costs and other investments are accepted threats, while the fear of messing up (FOMU) is unwanted. (*”Threats” is being used loosely so the four quadrants also map to a SWOT Analysis.)
  • Pot of Gold: Value of success from the solution. The value of change. The fear of missing out (FOMO); but do not brush past its more heavily weighted counterpart, FOMU.

By laying down and weighing out the options, the 5-act play can compare a multiverse of storylines; turning analysis paralysis into a clear and present decision.

A confused mind says “no” but a determined mind says “go!” So where do we go from here?

Buyer Enablement

Episode III: Return of the Trusted Advisor

While this is typically the responsibility of sales, PreSales is the co-pilot. PreSales’ eye for technical details and voice for communicating complexity earns them a seat in the cockpit. The solution demonstration uplifts prospects’ spirits, buy-in conversations overcome turbulence, and buyer enablement lands the deal. 

Now fasten those seat belts because 40-60% of promising sales fall off into “No Decision Limbo.” Autopilot isn’t enough, so don’t take your hands off the yoke (that’s the airplane’s steering wheel). 

That’s why, as the trusted advisor, after Glenda informed Dorothy of the Wizard, she directed her to “follow the yellow brick road!” Actually, she sang it (if you can do that too, more power to you). In any event, you’re more familiar with your sale’s song and dance, so help your buyer step to it. Procurement and security and legal; oh my! Or as Garin Hess says, “Selling is Hard. Buying is Harder.

The Sales Manager’s Guide to Greatness lists four stages of the buyer’s journey: Need-Decide-Buy-Value. To align with the 5-act play, I added one more:

  1. Observe: How does the business and market operate? Identify the situation. 
  2. Need: Why change? Why now? Incite the issue.
  3. Decide: Why us? Inform of the solution.
  4. Buy: How? Illustrate the steps.
  5. Value: What are we striving towards? Inspire success.

When the prospect requests a solution demonstration, they could be trying to explore industry trends, uncover unknown issues, investigate known issues, discover solutions, decide which solution is the best, determine “best” means, etc. 

The 5 acts become a checklist to assess, accommodate, and advance the buyer along their journey.

Of course, sophisticated technologies and separated stakeholders can make the buyer’s journey a marathon and the linear path a multi-segmented juggling act. 

Marvelously, with the 5-act play you can plan out the buyer’s journey to a T. Literally, the T shape illustrates the combination of broad surface awareness and selective deep focus. This way, you can plan ahead and be mindful of the present action items. 

Step-by-step, you can monitor, move, and motivate your buyer to cross the juggling marathon’s finish line! 

Writing stories doesn’t have to be as dramatic as the stories you tell. With the 5-act play, your stage is set for success!

One last thing…

You think you’re the only PreSales storyteller? Reader, you are a part of a bigger universe; you just don’t know it yet. Stay tuned for the sequel, The 5-Act Play for PreSales II: Best Practices, to see how best practices from across the PreSales universe fit into each act.

About Jason Zeikowitz

Jason E. Zeikowitz is a Technical Trainer at MTX Group.

Unlock this content by joining the PreSales Collective with global community with 20,000+ professionals
Read this content here ↗

Are you in PreSales and responsible for performing solution demonstrations, earning buy-in, and supporting buyer enablement?

Are you leveraging conventional storytelling models for deeper discovery and elevated delivery?

This article will articulate the principles and applications for PreSales communications, conversations, and conversions.

Read, note, and share … 

… to convey value completely, consistently, and confidently!

Now that’s a call to action — literally! Those were the 5 PreSales acts in action: 

Act 1: Who is your audience? Identify the situation.

Act 2: Why should they care? Incite the issue.

Act 3: What will they need? Inform of the solution.

Act 4: How can they get to it? Illustrate the steps.

Act 5: What will be achieved? Inspire success. 

Whether you are delivering demonstrations, making sales, giving advice, or advocating causes, you are making a call to action; invoking the 5-act play to identify, incite, inform, illustrate, and inspire your audience. 

Sometimes these acts are explicit and sometimes they’re implied — but they’re always present in your audience’s mind. By being aware of these acts, you can ensure that your message and audience are aligned, accurate, and accelerating toward success!

The Hero’s Journey

Your call to action invokes your audience’s inherent script that Joseph Campbell defined as the Hero’s Journey, or monomyth. Across communities and generations, within cultural ethics and cinematic epics, the monomyth is as universal as change is constant. Buddha, Moses, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, and Dorothy Gale exemplify the allegorical avatars that Campbell calls The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Your call to action casts your audience as the hero confronting their transformational journey. 

And along with Obi Wan, Professor Dumbledore, and Glinda the Good Witch of the North, you are the hero’s North Star, serving as their trusted advisor.

Reader, if you have a feeling we’re not in call to action anymore, then tap your heels together three times and think to yourself, “And-But-Therefore-If-Then.”

And-But-Therefore-If-Then

This concept magically composes the 5-act play:

  1. {Situation}, and {Situation}.
  2. But {Issue}!
  3. Therefore, {Solution}.
  4. If {Steps},
  5. then {Success}!

Here’s how they conjured my opening Call to Action:

  1. You are in PreSales and are responsible for performing solution demonstrations, earning buy-in, and supporting buyer enablement.
  2. But you fear you are not leveraging conventional storytelling models for deeper discovery and elevated delivery.
  3. Therefore this article will articulate the principles and applications for PreSales communications, conversations, and conversions.
  4. If you read, note, and share,
  5. then you will convey value completely, consistently, and confidently!

Giving credit where it’s due:

Whether they are questions, statements, or demonstrations, the play remains the same. The 5-act play is a framework for discovery and delivery. Like Thor’s dual-wielded Stormbreaker, with an ax to cut through the noise for engaging insights, and a hammer to nail thunderous talking points!

Because of its multifaceted attributes, there are several memory tricks to summon it:

  • And-But-Therefore-If-Then: Instant story!
  • Situation-Issue-Solution-Steps-Success: The sequence of subjects for consideration.
  • Identify-Incite-Inform-Illustrate-Inspire: The trusted advisor’s actions per act.

Now let’s put this concept into context.

Applications for PreSales

PreSales is typically involved with solution demonstrations, buy-in conversations, and buyer enablement. 

Each has unique but interdependent calls to action: Solution demonstrations call up possibilities; buy-in conversations call out decisions; and buyer enablement calls for victory.

Solution Demonstrations

Episode I: A New Sale

If a solution demonstration is the art of the possible, then the 5-act play is your paint-by-numbers set to illustrate value. 

Speaking of numbers, Bob Reifstahl’s famous Tell-Show-Tell demo technique only has three parts. Oh no! Is our 5-act play not fit for the task?!

Fortunately, the Hero’s Journey can also segment into three parts: Exposition-Adventure-Epilogue. For PreSales, this translates to Context-Concept-Closure:

  1. Context (Tell): The Situation, Issue, and Solution are introduced, explored, and established; setting the stage for where the solution plays out.
  2. Concept (Show): The story switches to the Steps demonstrating the solution.
  3. Closure (Tell): The Success from the steps; the value. 

For example:

  1. Context (Tell): You are a successful Solutions Consultant, and business is booming! But the boom is breaking your calendar; leading to delayed, underserved, and lost deals. Therefore my demo automation solution will allow you to work more strategically to reach your potential in sales!
  2. Concept (Show): Let’s see this in action!
  3. Closure (Tell): As a result, you can better use your time to reach more minds and earn more dimes.

These three parts are universal. Andy Pollard, a cinematographer for NFL Films and production manager for software demonstrations, always takes his audience on a journey with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Let’s call his three-part gridiron journey “Snap-Spin-Score.” From the shoulder pads to the mouse pad, the story frame stays the same.

Furthermore, for solution demonstrations, Pollard warns to speak directly to the heart, by evoking emotions instead of instructions. This is not a coach’s film reel training session, it is the rousing speech for the players to run onto the field. Instead of calling out where you’re clicking, express how the clicks click to the feeling of success: By downloading this file, you will take your game to the next level.

As you frame your solution demonstration around your prospect, the portrayal will depend on the circumstance. There are four personifications, giving you a collection of stories for articulating your solution:

  • The actual buyer: This makes your story most relatable since the buyer is literally seeing themself in the story. However, because you can only hypothesize future scenarios, it is essential to build your story from a solid grasp of reality. Therefore, this persona is best suited for discovery conversations along with their personalized demonstrations.
  • Previous similar buyers: When available, stories of previous similar buyers are great for building social proof, pressure, and people. They indicate the credible value of your company, trends of the market, and solidarity of the community. Assemble a collection of customer stories by acquiring permission and testimonials. Then, use them when appropriate to illustrate your work with similar roles, challenges, and goals.
  • You as a previous similar buyer: If you have this advantage, this story gives you unique credibility and perspective.
  • Fictional similar buyers: Similar to assembling a collection of real customer stories, a portfolio of fictional personas and scenarios give you connectors and cables for communicating quickly and broadly across applicable companies.

Your solution demonstration can get your prospect to lean in, but you will need a conversation to affirm buy-in.

Buy-In Conversations

Episode II: Analysis Paralysis Strikes Back

“Great demo! We’ll get back to you.” — the last words before a sale dies.

But fear not, the 5-act play is also a decision making masterpiece theater, playing out the critical collective considerations for rational decision making. 

Individually, each act is a critical consideration. Expect questions to arise, and be able to improvise. That’s why the 5-act play is more than a script to follow, it is a series of scenes to set the stage for playing out. 

Collectively, the acts enable calculations. Does the success of the solution, with respect to its steps, warrant a change to the situation with respect to its issue?

Considering the possibilities, they enable comparisons.

To illustrate, Goldratt’s 4 Quadrants of Change expresses and compares the current and future states (left vs. right) against their pros and cons (top vs. bottom).

Defining these quadrants in terms of the five acts:

  • Mermaid: Strength from the situation. The value of the status quo. What’s working and why?
  • Crocodile: Weakness from the issue. The need for change. Why change? Why now?
  • Ladder: Opportunity of the solution. The force for change. Why us?
  • Crutch: Threats* from both the accepted and unwanted steps to achieve success with the solution. The pain of change. Costs and other investments are accepted threats, while the fear of messing up (FOMU) is unwanted. (*”Threats” is being used loosely so the four quadrants also map to a SWOT Analysis.)
  • Pot of Gold: Value of success from the solution. The value of change. The fear of missing out (FOMO); but do not brush past its more heavily weighted counterpart, FOMU.

By laying down and weighing out the options, the 5-act play can compare a multiverse of storylines; turning analysis paralysis into a clear and present decision.

A confused mind says “no” but a determined mind says “go!” So where do we go from here?

Buyer Enablement

Episode III: Return of the Trusted Advisor

While this is typically the responsibility of sales, PreSales is the co-pilot. PreSales’ eye for technical details and voice for communicating complexity earns them a seat in the cockpit. The solution demonstration uplifts prospects’ spirits, buy-in conversations overcome turbulence, and buyer enablement lands the deal. 

Now fasten those seat belts because 40-60% of promising sales fall off into “No Decision Limbo.” Autopilot isn’t enough, so don’t take your hands off the yoke (that’s the airplane’s steering wheel). 

That’s why, as the trusted advisor, after Glenda informed Dorothy of the Wizard, she directed her to “follow the yellow brick road!” Actually, she sang it (if you can do that too, more power to you). In any event, you’re more familiar with your sale’s song and dance, so help your buyer step to it. Procurement and security and legal; oh my! Or as Garin Hess says, “Selling is Hard. Buying is Harder.

The Sales Manager’s Guide to Greatness lists four stages of the buyer’s journey: Need-Decide-Buy-Value. To align with the 5-act play, I added one more:

  1. Observe: How does the business and market operate? Identify the situation. 
  2. Need: Why change? Why now? Incite the issue.
  3. Decide: Why us? Inform of the solution.
  4. Buy: How? Illustrate the steps.
  5. Value: What are we striving towards? Inspire success.

When the prospect requests a solution demonstration, they could be trying to explore industry trends, uncover unknown issues, investigate known issues, discover solutions, decide which solution is the best, determine “best” means, etc. 

The 5 acts become a checklist to assess, accommodate, and advance the buyer along their journey.

Of course, sophisticated technologies and separated stakeholders can make the buyer’s journey a marathon and the linear path a multi-segmented juggling act. 

Marvelously, with the 5-act play you can plan out the buyer’s journey to a T. Literally, the T shape illustrates the combination of broad surface awareness and selective deep focus. This way, you can plan ahead and be mindful of the present action items. 

Step-by-step, you can monitor, move, and motivate your buyer to cross the juggling marathon’s finish line! 

Writing stories doesn’t have to be as dramatic as the stories you tell. With the 5-act play, your stage is set for success!

One last thing…

You think you’re the only PreSales storyteller? Reader, you are a part of a bigger universe; you just don’t know it yet. Stay tuned for the sequel, The 5-Act Play for PreSales II: Best Practices, to see how best practices from across the PreSales universe fit into each act.

About Jason Zeikowitz

Jason E. Zeikowitz is a Technical Trainer at MTX Group.

Unlock this content by joining the PreSales Leadership Collective! An exclusive community dedicated to PreSales leaders.
Read this content here ↗

Are you in PreSales and responsible for performing solution demonstrations, earning buy-in, and supporting buyer enablement?

Are you leveraging conventional storytelling models for deeper discovery and elevated delivery?

This article will articulate the principles and applications for PreSales communications, conversations, and conversions.

Read, note, and share … 

… to convey value completely, consistently, and confidently!

Now that’s a call to action — literally! Those were the 5 PreSales acts in action: 

Act 1: Who is your audience? Identify the situation.

Act 2: Why should they care? Incite the issue.

Act 3: What will they need? Inform of the solution.

Act 4: How can they get to it? Illustrate the steps.

Act 5: What will be achieved? Inspire success. 

Whether you are delivering demonstrations, making sales, giving advice, or advocating causes, you are making a call to action; invoking the 5-act play to identify, incite, inform, illustrate, and inspire your audience. 

Sometimes these acts are explicit and sometimes they’re implied — but they’re always present in your audience’s mind. By being aware of these acts, you can ensure that your message and audience are aligned, accurate, and accelerating toward success!

The Hero’s Journey

Your call to action invokes your audience’s inherent script that Joseph Campbell defined as the Hero’s Journey, or monomyth. Across communities and generations, within cultural ethics and cinematic epics, the monomyth is as universal as change is constant. Buddha, Moses, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, and Dorothy Gale exemplify the allegorical avatars that Campbell calls The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Your call to action casts your audience as the hero confronting their transformational journey. 

And along with Obi Wan, Professor Dumbledore, and Glinda the Good Witch of the North, you are the hero’s North Star, serving as their trusted advisor.

Reader, if you have a feeling we’re not in call to action anymore, then tap your heels together three times and think to yourself, “And-But-Therefore-If-Then.”

And-But-Therefore-If-Then

This concept magically composes the 5-act play:

  1. {Situation}, and {Situation}.
  2. But {Issue}!
  3. Therefore, {Solution}.
  4. If {Steps},
  5. then {Success}!

Here’s how they conjured my opening Call to Action:

  1. You are in PreSales and are responsible for performing solution demonstrations, earning buy-in, and supporting buyer enablement.
  2. But you fear you are not leveraging conventional storytelling models for deeper discovery and elevated delivery.
  3. Therefore this article will articulate the principles and applications for PreSales communications, conversations, and conversions.
  4. If you read, note, and share,
  5. then you will convey value completely, consistently, and confidently!

Giving credit where it’s due:

Whether they are questions, statements, or demonstrations, the play remains the same. The 5-act play is a framework for discovery and delivery. Like Thor’s dual-wielded Stormbreaker, with an ax to cut through the noise for engaging insights, and a hammer to nail thunderous talking points!

Because of its multifaceted attributes, there are several memory tricks to summon it:

  • And-But-Therefore-If-Then: Instant story!
  • Situation-Issue-Solution-Steps-Success: The sequence of subjects for consideration.
  • Identify-Incite-Inform-Illustrate-Inspire: The trusted advisor’s actions per act.

Now let’s put this concept into context.

Applications for PreSales

PreSales is typically involved with solution demonstrations, buy-in conversations, and buyer enablement. 

Each has unique but interdependent calls to action: Solution demonstrations call up possibilities; buy-in conversations call out decisions; and buyer enablement calls for victory.

Solution Demonstrations

Episode I: A New Sale

If a solution demonstration is the art of the possible, then the 5-act play is your paint-by-numbers set to illustrate value. 

Speaking of numbers, Bob Reifstahl’s famous Tell-Show-Tell demo technique only has three parts. Oh no! Is our 5-act play not fit for the task?!

Fortunately, the Hero’s Journey can also segment into three parts: Exposition-Adventure-Epilogue. For PreSales, this translates to Context-Concept-Closure:

  1. Context (Tell): The Situation, Issue, and Solution are introduced, explored, and established; setting the stage for where the solution plays out.
  2. Concept (Show): The story switches to the Steps demonstrating the solution.
  3. Closure (Tell): The Success from the steps; the value. 

For example:

  1. Context (Tell): You are a successful Solutions Consultant, and business is booming! But the boom is breaking your calendar; leading to delayed, underserved, and lost deals. Therefore my demo automation solution will allow you to work more strategically to reach your potential in sales!
  2. Concept (Show): Let’s see this in action!
  3. Closure (Tell): As a result, you can better use your time to reach more minds and earn more dimes.

These three parts are universal. Andy Pollard, a cinematographer for NFL Films and production manager for software demonstrations, always takes his audience on a journey with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Let’s call his three-part gridiron journey “Snap-Spin-Score.” From the shoulder pads to the mouse pad, the story frame stays the same.

Furthermore, for solution demonstrations, Pollard warns to speak directly to the heart, by evoking emotions instead of instructions. This is not a coach’s film reel training session, it is the rousing speech for the players to run onto the field. Instead of calling out where you’re clicking, express how the clicks click to the feeling of success: By downloading this file, you will take your game to the next level.

As you frame your solution demonstration around your prospect, the portrayal will depend on the circumstance. There are four personifications, giving you a collection of stories for articulating your solution:

  • The actual buyer: This makes your story most relatable since the buyer is literally seeing themself in the story. However, because you can only hypothesize future scenarios, it is essential to build your story from a solid grasp of reality. Therefore, this persona is best suited for discovery conversations along with their personalized demonstrations.
  • Previous similar buyers: When available, stories of previous similar buyers are great for building social proof, pressure, and people. They indicate the credible value of your company, trends of the market, and solidarity of the community. Assemble a collection of customer stories by acquiring permission and testimonials. Then, use them when appropriate to illustrate your work with similar roles, challenges, and goals.
  • You as a previous similar buyer: If you have this advantage, this story gives you unique credibility and perspective.
  • Fictional similar buyers: Similar to assembling a collection of real customer stories, a portfolio of fictional personas and scenarios give you connectors and cables for communicating quickly and broadly across applicable companies.

Your solution demonstration can get your prospect to lean in, but you will need a conversation to affirm buy-in.

Buy-In Conversations

Episode II: Analysis Paralysis Strikes Back

“Great demo! We’ll get back to you.” — the last words before a sale dies.

But fear not, the 5-act play is also a decision making masterpiece theater, playing out the critical collective considerations for rational decision making. 

Individually, each act is a critical consideration. Expect questions to arise, and be able to improvise. That’s why the 5-act play is more than a script to follow, it is a series of scenes to set the stage for playing out. 

Collectively, the acts enable calculations. Does the success of the solution, with respect to its steps, warrant a change to the situation with respect to its issue?

Considering the possibilities, they enable comparisons.

To illustrate, Goldratt’s 4 Quadrants of Change expresses and compares the current and future states (left vs. right) against their pros and cons (top vs. bottom).

Defining these quadrants in terms of the five acts:

  • Mermaid: Strength from the situation. The value of the status quo. What’s working and why?
  • Crocodile: Weakness from the issue. The need for change. Why change? Why now?
  • Ladder: Opportunity of the solution. The force for change. Why us?
  • Crutch: Threats* from both the accepted and unwanted steps to achieve success with the solution. The pain of change. Costs and other investments are accepted threats, while the fear of messing up (FOMU) is unwanted. (*”Threats” is being used loosely so the four quadrants also map to a SWOT Analysis.)
  • Pot of Gold: Value of success from the solution. The value of change. The fear of missing out (FOMO); but do not brush past its more heavily weighted counterpart, FOMU.

By laying down and weighing out the options, the 5-act play can compare a multiverse of storylines; turning analysis paralysis into a clear and present decision.

A confused mind says “no” but a determined mind says “go!” So where do we go from here?

Buyer Enablement

Episode III: Return of the Trusted Advisor

While this is typically the responsibility of sales, PreSales is the co-pilot. PreSales’ eye for technical details and voice for communicating complexity earns them a seat in the cockpit. The solution demonstration uplifts prospects’ spirits, buy-in conversations overcome turbulence, and buyer enablement lands the deal. 

Now fasten those seat belts because 40-60% of promising sales fall off into “No Decision Limbo.” Autopilot isn’t enough, so don’t take your hands off the yoke (that’s the airplane’s steering wheel). 

That’s why, as the trusted advisor, after Glenda informed Dorothy of the Wizard, she directed her to “follow the yellow brick road!” Actually, she sang it (if you can do that too, more power to you). In any event, you’re more familiar with your sale’s song and dance, so help your buyer step to it. Procurement and security and legal; oh my! Or as Garin Hess says, “Selling is Hard. Buying is Harder.

The Sales Manager’s Guide to Greatness lists four stages of the buyer’s journey: Need-Decide-Buy-Value. To align with the 5-act play, I added one more:

  1. Observe: How does the business and market operate? Identify the situation. 
  2. Need: Why change? Why now? Incite the issue.
  3. Decide: Why us? Inform of the solution.
  4. Buy: How? Illustrate the steps.
  5. Value: What are we striving towards? Inspire success.

When the prospect requests a solution demonstration, they could be trying to explore industry trends, uncover unknown issues, investigate known issues, discover solutions, decide which solution is the best, determine “best” means, etc. 

The 5 acts become a checklist to assess, accommodate, and advance the buyer along their journey.

Of course, sophisticated technologies and separated stakeholders can make the buyer’s journey a marathon and the linear path a multi-segmented juggling act. 

Marvelously, with the 5-act play you can plan out the buyer’s journey to a T. Literally, the T shape illustrates the combination of broad surface awareness and selective deep focus. This way, you can plan ahead and be mindful of the present action items. 

Step-by-step, you can monitor, move, and motivate your buyer to cross the juggling marathon’s finish line! 

Writing stories doesn’t have to be as dramatic as the stories you tell. With the 5-act play, your stage is set for success!

One last thing…

You think you’re the only PreSales storyteller? Reader, you are a part of a bigger universe; you just don’t know it yet. Stay tuned for the sequel, The 5-Act Play for PreSales II: Best Practices, to see how best practices from across the PreSales universe fit into each act.

About Jason Zeikowitz

Jason E. Zeikowitz is a Technical Trainer at MTX Group.

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