Discovery-to-Demo Alignment Checklist

Work through this before you build a single slide or click into the product.

Step 1 — Traceability Check

• I can name, for every attending stakeholder, the specific pain they described in their own words during discovery
• I have not invented or assumed a pain for anyone who hasn't actually told me one — if I don't know their pain, they get a short general overview and a question, not a personalized segment
• I have re-read my discovery notes in the last 24 hours (not relying on memory)

Step 2 — Per-Stakeholder Pain-to-Feature Mapping

Fill one row per attendee before building the agenda. If a row can't be filled, that's a signal: go back to discovery, or don't feature that person's segment prominently.

Step 3 — Demo Sequencing Rules

• Demo opens with the pain in their language, not a product overview ("You told me [X] — here's how that plays out differently")
• Sequenced by stakeholder priority, not by how the product is built internally
• Each stakeholder's segment lasts no longer than their actual level of interest justifies
• Highest-priority/highest-influence stakeholder's pain is addressed in the first third of the call

Step 4 — Generic-Tour Removal Checklist

• Removed any feature from the agenda that doesn't map to a row in the pain-to-feature table
• Removed "let me show you everything the platform can do" framing entirely
• Cut any slide/screen that exists only because "customers usually like to see this" without a named pain behind it for this audience
• Confirmed total demo length matches what was actually agreed, not padded to fill a default meeting slot

Step 5 — Proof-Point Preparation

• Selected one proof point (case study, reference, stat) per major pain — ideally from a company that looks like theirs
• Proof points are specific ("Company X cut onboarding time from 6 weeks to 9 days") not generic ("customers love this")
• I know which proof point maps to which attendee and I'm prepared to reference it directly to them by name

Step 6 — Objection Pre-Emption

• Reviewed discovery notes for any hesitation, concern, or competitor comparison raised and built a direct answer into the relevant segment
• Prepared a specific answer for the Technical Evaluator's known concern rather than a generic security slide
• Prepared a specific answer for anyone flagged as a Skeptic/Blocker

Step 7 — Rehearsal & Transition Checklist

• Rehearsed the transition sentence between each stakeholder's segment out loud ("That covers what matters to [Name] — now let's look at what this means for [Name]'s team")
• Confirmed who's driving the demo environment and that it's loaded with data/scenarios relevant to their industry, not default demo data
• Have a fallback plan if a technical issue occurs (screenshots/recording of the key moments)

Step 8 — Post-Demo Alignment Confirmation

• Ended by asking each stakeholder directly whether what they saw addressed what they'd told me mattered ("Did that land for what you're dealing with, or did I miss something?")
• Captured any new pain or concern raised during the demo itself for the next call
• Confirmed next step with a date before ending the call