I've always found that pre-sales people tend to have a penchant for the latest technology and gadgets. Look across any tech company office and the pre-sales people are almost always the ones with the latest and greatest computers and equipment. I'm not sure why, maybe its because we're savvy, maybe its because we're geeks or is it that we're just like magpies and love shiny things?
In any case I would love to start a discussion on "What technology or gadget do you use that specifically ups your game in pre-sales?" Could be a whole setup, could be one thing. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts.
I'll go first - big shout out to my Logitech C920 Webcam. This little beauty is relatively inexpensive and a huge upgrade to any laptop's standard issue camera. It allows background replacement with relative accuracy without a green screen, and even comes with a small tripod so that you can mount it across from you and have several people on screen in a conference room setup. Yeah, conference rooms, remember them?!
Looking forward to hearing everyone's suggestions below! ⬇️
I totally +1 you about the Logitech C920 webcam. For whatever reason, Asus built a camera from the 90s into my otherwise high end ultrabook (UX331U, damn that thing is thin and light). The C920 sitting on top of my monitor now allows for great hi-res video conferences.
Speaking of the monitor: I got a curved monitor last year and didn't see that much of a difference - until I had to work on a "regular" one for a day again. Long story short: curved monitors rock. They're flattering your eyes especially when looking towards the edges because they're physically coming closer. When working on that spare (flat) monitor again I was under the impression, the edges folded outwards and it was really wearisome looking outside of the bull's eye.
Last but not least: I spend a great part of my working days on the phone. I usually used the shipped iPhone cable headset for my calls until they broke and I decided to give the AirPods a shot (I have the "old" ones, not the Pros). They add a great deal of moving freedom during calls and they recharge super quickly.
So much for my gadget Top 3 (reverse order). Looking forward to more input. Thanks @David Ledger for opening the topic.
Mine is decidedly low tech but has been pretty helpful. I bring a yellow card/red card combo as well as a yellow penalty flag. At the beginning of meetings with numerous attendees and stakeholders, I put them out on the table right after confirming the agenda and give some version of.... “No matter what football you prefer, here’s a way to tell me we’re not focusing on what matters to you. Throw the flag or show me a yellow card and that’s my one chance. If you give me a straight red card, I’ll close the laptop up and walk out, giving you a bunch of time back.” It usually sets a great tone that the meeting is for them and requires their participation.
Wow, great advice. Thank you.
In remote meetings it might even loosen up the atmosphere asking the customer to prepare some cards by themselves in advance without yet telling them the background :-)
@Pabel MartinGreat idea! I like the mentality of "raising the stakes" in order to gain participation from the audience.
I have to give a shout out to my Yeti Blue microphone. After going years with a Plantronics headset, I hated getting on video calls with one. Someone suggested this mic and I could not be happier! Great sound quality with multiple patterns for incoming sound. Plus, I do not have to wear my headset to participate in a online meeting.
Hi @Torsten Larson thanks for the tip! Have you ever used the Yeti Blue for conference calls? For example if you hook up to a Zoom call and then place it in the middle of a conference table in place of the usual Avaya stand? Would be interested in its performance for that application as well as video calls.
Logitech Spotlight - Presentation Remote (clicker)
I'll also two thumbs up the Logitech C920 (completely out of stock everywhere in the UK at the moment) and the Blue Yeti Nano on a spring loaded arm (in my case). Along with my Neewer LED lighting rigs, that's my standard remote setup.
I'm going to go off in another direction and give a shout out for the Logitech Spotlight. It works live and remotely. It acts like a normal presentation clicker (next slide, back one slide) but then it's like a Harry Potter wand; you can be standing and moving (back in the days when we could be face-to-face, remember them) and then wave it at the screen to highlight part of your User Interface (UI) and then zoom in to highlight specific fields and icons. SO WHAT: These days most enterprise focused user interfaces are very busy. UI designers try very hard to create the illusion of space on the screen but they can't help adding as many widgets, icons, dashboards and fields as will fit into the HD screen 'real estate'. For us in PreSales, this is a huge problem. The first time prospects see our UI there's an initial period of UI 'shock'; they stop listening to you and their eyes rapidly scan the screen trying to understand the visuals. We need to anticipate this reaction, to stop, slow down and very carefully guide the prospect around how the screen is constructed and where they should be looking. Finding a way to spotlight certain parts of the UI and 'dim' others is the only way of managing this hence the value in having a 'highlighting' tool. The third dynamite feature of the Spotlight (as well as being able to highlight and zoom) is the ability to hold down the next slide button and blank the whole screen. You might say 'so what' (again); in PowerPoint you just need to press the 'B' key for a blank black slide or the 'W' key for a blank white slide. Well the difference here is that there is a tiny piece of Logitech software running on your laptop (Windows or Mac) and it means you can 'black slide' absolutely anywhere, even in your software or App (even in Salesforce). No need to navigate back to PowerPoint or Keynote. For 'live', in-person demos, 'black sliding' is absolutely best practice for handling questions and objections in a demonstration or presentation; it shows respect and focus. For virtual demos, the equivalent is going back to full-screen camera mode.
If you try handling an objection while you still have your UI or a busy slide on screen, everyone in the room (live or virtual) who isn't interested in the question will just keep scanning the screen and probably thinking 'I wonder what that button does', 'how big is that field' etc. As an aside, because it doesn't have a laser pointer to highlight parts of the screen (which doesn't work on large format monitors anyway) you're legal to travel to countries where laser pointers are banned like the UAE.
Thanks @Don Carmichael - great contribution as always. Interesting that it works remotely too, although do you know of a similar tool for remote demos that is a small app of some kind instead of a physical device? I'm thinking of a workflow like "hold down the z key" and a magnifier appears at the mouse cursor. I've looked but haven't found anything!
@David Ledger Last week I was working with the wonderful folks at Conga and they introduced me to 'ZoomIt' which is a free Microsoft downloadable tool for screen zooming and annotation. Its been around years but was completely new to me. Just keep the key combinations on a post-it beside your screen.
@Don Charmichael I use Zoomit as well and its a very handy tool for demo's especially remote ones.
Webcam and mic ordered... thanks for the recs!!
I use a Mac as my work machine. One of my new tools that comes in handy (especially for remote presentations and recording microdemo videos) is Limelite. It's perfect for calling attention to a specific area during a demo. And for $15 a year, it doesn't break the bank.
Thank you for sharing the recommendation for the Logitech Spotlight. It's only £60 on Amazon at the moment and so I've invested and already love it.
£60 for a bit of demo magic, totally worth it!
Well spotted Rob. Drat, I must have missed the discount period. It's back up to £80 on Amazon here in the UK. I have to say, that's still good value; especially if you're going to bill it back to your employer.
Don - if you don't mind it in Gold, it's currently £57.63 in the UK on Amazon right now
Simple, yet effective for demos & built in if you're on a Mac: 1.) Quicktime to showcase mobile apps on your computer screen: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-mirror-iphone-to-mac?r=AU&IR=T 2.) Built in "Zoom" capability to highlight areas of your screen: https://www.imore.com/how-use-zoom-mac Not free, but I use Doceri extensively for more natural whiteboarding using an iPad/stylus, but displaying content on the Mac (and built-in controls for advancing slides, if I'm using PPT or Keynote)
For these covid days of primarily online demos I use my Mac and a couple of bits of software I couldnt be without.
ZoomMe . at the touch of a button a magnifying glass enlarges the specific part of the screen I am pointing at.
PresentationAssistant. Highlights the mouse pointer and adds an extra flash when clicking something to specifically show that I have clicked on a button.
Deskscribble . With a plain desktop wallpaper I can turn my screen into a whiteboard or annotate over anything, circling the buttons im going to click etc.