How To Successfully Demo Salesforce Solutions To Business Stakeholders

Never underestimate the value of a good demo. Users “eat with their eyes” when it comes to new features, often assessing value based on initial impressions. As Consultants, our job is not just to deliver high-quality, performant, scalable solutions – it’s to encourage adoption, engender enthusiasm in our systems, and ultimately, to create business value for Salesforce end-users. 

In this article, we’ll discuss the ingredients of a good functional walkthrough– a user-centric front-end demo intended for a non-technical, business stakeholder audience.

Structuring a Functional Walkthrough

Employing a reliable methodology can help to reduce the level of stress and effort surrounding demoing. In this section, we’ll take the guesswork out of how to structure your functional walkthroughs to a high degree of quality:

Start With the Vision  

Even though you are close to the solution and how it meets business needs, users may have had limited time to “plug in” to the demo and may not be fluent with the new feature(s). Starting high-level adds context to your demo, more effectively framing the solution and how it supports users’ work. 

Begin your demo by reiterating the vision of the future-state system – the headline value statement of the project that your team used to drive the solution. 

Re-aligning on the vision anchors the demo in what really matters – the value delivered to the business. Once you’ve recapped the vision, revisit high criticality requirements from your Discovery phase of work. These can be framed as the major problem areas you set out to solve. These pain points should be referenced throughout the demo, specifically calling out how new features ameliorate them.  

Outline the Functional Areas You’ll Demo

Once users are clear on the pain points you’ll address in the demo, and where your solution steers them, you can address scope. 

Outlining the functional area(s) of work that you will showcase flags for users what (and what not) to expect during the demo. This buffers against out-of-scope discussions consuming valuable demo time and focuses the conversation on the features that you have prepared to show. Using a visual diagram to contextualize in and out of scope functional areas can help foster alignment:

A functional decomposition diagram can be useful in explaining the scope of a functional walkthrough and how the showcased features fit into the broader system. 

Add context to the functional area(s) that you will demo, explaining:

• How each functional area supports the broader vision.
• The key features contained within each in-scope functional area that you will demo.

Now that the scene is set, you’re ready to demo! 

 

Demo According to User Process and Data Flow 

A functional walkthrough should be user-centric. This means the way that the solution is demonstrated should follow how users actually engage with the system, following their business processes, and a logical data flow.

Demo According to the Flow of Data 

When planning your demo, consider how users actually interact with the system: 

• What data is entered/changed first, and where? 
• Then what happens to those records? 
• How is data analyzed and understood to make business decisions?

Your functional walkthrough should follow a logical progression of how users will actually navigate the system. Disjointed demos confuse users and make your system appear complicated (even if it isn’t). Consider starting on the app home page, and then navigating to the relevant objects or features in their logical order, gently earmarking any transition points where users move from one page to another. Leverage Salesforce tools like Quick Action buttons, lookup fields, or related lists to streamline navigation. Don’t forget to demo reports or dashboards that make sense of business data. 

Highlight Improvements to Business Processes 

Your solution may change how users are accustomed to using Salesforce. Flag changes and improvements to business processes as clearly and simply as possible. Consider using a talk track like…

• In the past, you did [past user process].
• In order to [improve the relevant pain point], we have introduced [feature].
• Now, you can save time by [new user process]. 

Change can be scary for users – even if it is an improvement. Remember to remain empathetic and to focus on value delivery (i.e. how the new solution solves an identified problem) over what users must do differently. If you are met with resistance, gently remind users that you understand change can be disruptive, and that your team has a training and adoption plan.

Address Notable Bugs or Limitations Head-On 

If you have notable bugs unresolved at the time of the demo (especially those which users may encounter when they start to use the system themselves), address them head-on. Without getting into the technical weeds, explain the impact of the bug to users and the timeline estimated to resolve it. Don’t leave users to stumble on bugs unsupported. 

All solutions have trade-offs and limitations; being transparent about what your solution doesn’t do is as important as effectively demonstrating what it does. Being clear about limitations (and why those limitations exist) is an important part of setting realistic expectations and establishing a relationship of trust with end users. 

Revisit the Roadmap to Contextualize the Solution 

To close your demo, zoom back out to revisit how the demonstrated feature(s) constitute part of your system or product roadmap. Revisiting the roadmap serves to:

• Showcase progress against a wider system/product development plan.
• Address the timeline for managing limitations, resolving bugs, and executing future enhancements. 
• Educate users as to what features they can expect in the future. 
• Demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement.

Tips for Functional Walkthroughs That Impress 

Now that you’ve got a scaffolding to structure your functional walkthrough, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. Here are some concrete tips to help deliver high-quality demos:

Presentation Tips

Running a high-quality presentation requires some basic presentation skills, and can be enhanced by developing a game plan before you start. 

To keep your presentation smooth and engaging, remember to:

• Practice: Practice the demo with a colleague for feedback on areas that could be improved.  
• Speak slowly and clearly: Speaking slowly and with authority engenders a sense of trust in the solution. 
• Speak in plain language: Keep language jargon-free, non-technical, and matched to the language of the business to improve accessibility for users. 
• Understand the solution: Developing fluency with the solution sets you up to navigate questions with ease – if you are working with complex solutions and technical teams, make sure you have the information you need to demo successfully.
• Set rules of engagement: At the start of the call, tell users explicitly how to engage during the meeting. Set specific points on the call (e.g., after each functional area or at the end of the meeting) for questions and feedback. Slating specific moments for feedback keeps your demo moving while still allowing for important feedback to surface. 

To keep your presentation simple and on-topic, remember to:

• Enforce scope: Gently remind users that out-of-scope requirements can (and will) be addressed in other meetings to ensure that your demo stays on track.
• Game plan for technical questions: Set a game plan to manage technical questions that risk derailing your demo. For instance:
  • Have a senior technical resource (i.e. Architect) to tackle technical questions briefly, and then return the meeting to the task at hand. 
  • Schedule a Technical Walkthrough and remind users that any technical questions can be addressed during that meeting.
• Decide how to manage feedback: Feedback is a good thing – it means users are engaged. However, managing feedback so that it does not consume a demo is important. Consider:
  • Assigning a silent note taker to record feedback and ensure that follow-up items are addressed after the meeting.
  • Sending a follow-up email that explains how you plan to address feedback given during the demo. 

System Readiness Tips

A high-quality demo environment is crucial to delivering a user-centric functional walkthrough that demonstrates attention to detail. Some tips to ensure your system is demo-ready include:

• Be on-brand: Ensure apps are branded to match the business, making the UI feel familiar and professional. 
• Use high-quality dummy data: Seed your system with a baseline set of believable dummy data. Key objects that you demo and/or reference in reports should have dummy data that is relevant to the business added. Any specific records that you use for the demo should have complete dummy data added across fields.
  • If your demo environment is also used for development or testing, be sure to remove “messy” test data from list views, reports, and other pages that users will see during the demo.
• Know your clickpath: Navigation is a critical part of user experience; set up your dummy data so that you can navigate from record to record with ease.
• Enhance your demo with Salesforce standard features: Lean on OOB Salesforce functionality (i.e. Files, Chatter, or the Utility bar) to support user experience.  
• Ensure UI consistency: Ensure that Applications and Lightning Record Pages follow a consistent format to make your demo, and new features, more accessible. 
• Plan for automated processes: Have a plan in place to demo dynamic processes, such as approval processes (i.e. another user logged in to approve/reject records), so users can see automation work in real-time.  
• Include in-app guidance: Include in-app help to support users in adopting new features. 

Final Thoughts

Running a high-quality functional walkthrough, or front-end demo, is equal parts art and science. Practice makes perfect when it comes to presentation skills. However, anyone can deliver higher-quality functional walkthroughs by following a reliable methodology, developing a plan of engagement for the demo, and ensuring the demo environment is set up to impress. 

Remember to record your functional walkthrough, or record a separate demo video (without live user feedback) to circulate to users after the demo so that your walkthrough can be referenced in the future. 

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