» Applicant Tracking Software

Its 2010 – Stop using your ATS like a Hoarders Basement

Sarah White — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:54:15 +0000

It is the first business day of 2010 (pronounced twenty-ten FYI). There are still no flying cars or teleportation devices. I still have to type this blog out and can’t just think it. No cancer shot has been discovered so the likelihood of I Am Legend actually happening next year is unlikely. However, we are still in a recession that I thought we were buying ourselves out of last year and there is still historically high unemployment rates. One thing that has also stuck around into the new year is the A&E TV show Hoarders and over the last week I caught up on the new season of Hoarders.

Hoarders was as gross and disturbing as it normally is. If you don’t watch it – they basically go in and clean up homes of people that hoard – most of them are old, crazy, cat ladies. It follows their families that have ignored or enabled it for so long that the hoarder has lost their children, pets or their sense of reality. On one of the episodes I watched a they were cleaning out a woman’s house who seemed to have 2, 3, 4, or even 10 of the exact same thing laying around and they found a cat. A dead cat. Then another. 2 dead cats. In her house. She didn’t know she ever had a cat. As I was watching that, I couldn’t help but think about what state of chaos you have to be in to not realize you have someone else’s dead cats in your living room.

But in reality, it’s what most companies (and recruiters) do every day with their applicant tracking system. For the most part, candidates are just dead cats in the living room of corporate software.

Many hoarders problems aren’t necessarily that they keep so much stuff – its that they don’t know what they have so they spend crazy amounts of money to acquire more of the exact same. Then they fail to organize and keep track of it properly so they can actually use it effectively. In the same light, Recruiting problems are not caused by the number of resumes they get it – they are caused by software issues and poor process decisions that they typically use.

1. Software Issues – Many (even well known) Applicant Tracking Systems don’t have solid search functionality. The ones that do, often make it cumbersome and not easy to work with. There aren’t easy ways to track/tag, manage and interact with candidates that aren’t attached to a particular requisition. It isn’t a new issue, its been beat to a pulp in many a blog postings already in 2009 and it is something that a few of the vendors are in the process of correcting.

2. Process Issues – This could (and IMO does) tie closely into #1 – but most companies don’t make searching their own database a priority. When they need a candidate – the first instinct is to post the position and see what comes in. The first step should be to stop, take a look around them and see what they already have. That candiate in the database may still be alive and kicking and wanting to come work for you, but not actively searching for opportunities.

The high unemployment rates are creating an overwhelming volume of candidates coming into ATS’s. Candidates are coming in, sometimes totally unnoticed, and are hiding under the couch like that cat did. Sitting, Waiting, Hoping to be found. Unfortunately, time consuming search functions and poor results stop many of us from from even looking. Like the hoarders, the recruiters are preoccupied with other priorities and companies software is so packed full of all of these resumes and people that don’t work for them right now, but may in the future (Common quote on the show Hoarders, BTW) that the one they may really want – may not ever be found. And the candidate disappears under the mess of other, less qualified candidates because they were lost in the database.

So, as we move forward to our flying cars and teleportation that I was sure would be here by now, lets at least stop treating resumes like the dead cat under the couch we forgot about.

Here she is…Miss Talent Acquisition System….

Sarah White — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:59:20 +0000

Well, it is a beauty pageant – but I don’t think it will be exactly what you are expecting and what else would you expect from a company based in Dallas? In and of itself, there are probably more beauty queens (Current and former) than anywhere else in the US combined! Anyway – the team over at HRchitect is back at it with another thrilling season of industry beauty pageants. Think of it as a way to silently demo a bunch of technology without all of the hassles and headaches of a zillion calls coming your way from eager sales reps.

I ran this type of thing here in Milwaukee (live) over the past few years and we would often have 30-40 companies joining us to see what was new in the way of software – so I understand the amount of work that goes into this on the back end and I really like the way the HRchitect crew does it. They take 5 vendors – each only gets about 10 minutes and you get to see the high level overview of the company. HRchitect also provides you with an overview of what is currently going on in the industry to start out with and leaves time for Q&A – all total the webinar lasts about 90 minutes.

Best part – it’s free and next week – I was planning on sitting in myself – but I’m on vacation sans laptop and will miss it. Check out all the details on their site and register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/379948915

AYO, I'm Tired of Using Technology…

Sarah White — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:34:39 +0000

I admit it – I like a little 50 – especially when I am working out. There is something about his songs that make me feel like I can run a little longer, lift a little harder and feel a little gangsta. I also admit that it is also only because of 50 I have any Justin Timberlake on my Iphone (which I recently learned is odd not to have via twitter). Anyway, beyond the soooo NSFW lyrics of the song – Ayo, Technology is “I’m Tired of Using Technology” and I think a lot of us can relate. Personally, it feels like I am never disconnected – between my 4 email accounts, im, 3 twitter profiles, linkedin, the blog, facebook, text messaging, voice mail and phone calls – I am rarely just experiencing down time anymore.

And truth be told, I do feel like the work never ends. The IM sessions until midnight, the email’s at 3 am because I thought of a great idea in my sleep – I bring it on myself. I am not really tired of using Technology – just bad technology that makes things harder than they need to be.

This past month I have been working on marketing strategy for new product lines, reviewing partnership requests (and doing demo’s) of a number of other peoples solutions, all while working on new product development and improvement with our own technology team. Needless to say, technology has been on my mind. Unfortunately, I have to admit that for so many new HR Technology vendors that I am seeing demos for – they have forgot about the users behind the product. Demo after demo I have done had a great user interface for 1 of the key stakeholders – but horrible ones for the others. It is no wonder that twitter is crazy with people complaining about their ATS’s (umm..big guys – you should really be paying better attention to your clients and what is going on via twitter….btw) and how unfriendly the user interface is or the complaints from the managers, etc. I had to sit through a complaintfest (A nice term for what it really was) during a late night poker game after the UFC fight Saturday night from a number of managers and end users of a certain performance management company. The ‘solution’ had been forced down the throats of users at 3 different companies in the Chicago area over the last 12 months and all of them had the same opinion – there “has to be something in it for HR, because we don’t see the value – it’s just making life more difficult” I sat slightly smugly and quiet glad it wasn’t my product they were talking about. :-)

So – I’m not really tired of using technology – just crappy stuff that makes my life harder. (Umm…iPhone that won’t send mail from all of my email addresses half the time) Vendors listen up – remember that behind all of the technology are people that acutally use the solution and need the solution to work for them. You should be designing for the Candidate, the Recruiter, the Hiring Manager, the employee, the retiree and who ever else may need into the solution – not just the person making the sales decision.

As for me – I am going to take a vacation next week without my laptop (ok, I will still have my iphone which is really just a mini office, but still) and just appreciate the joys of (almost) technology free downtown on the beach.

High Unemployment and Technology: A love story

Sarah White — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:22:20 +0000

Their eyes met across the room – he was everything she had been looking for: Organized, Responsive to Candidate Needs, Interactive with Her Hiring Managers, Great at managing the recruiting process – even tracked her metrics. She was everything he had been looking for: Someone to give his product a chance.

The time was 2001 – the location was any company in America that was evaluating software. You see, at that time – the “who are your other clients” question was paramount to getting your foot in the door. It didn’t matter what your product looked like – just how popular you are. Because as we all know – more clients must mean better service/product/responsiveness… right?

Fast forward to November 2008 – a Number of people from our industry attended the Kennedy Recruiting Conference in Orlando. Politics were still fresh on everyone’s mind and the topic of unemployment rate was brought up in more than one conversation I was involved in. If you recall, at the time we were right around 6.5% unemployment nationally and the debate that was occuring was about just how I it would go. The more tenured people in the conversations remembered the mid 70′s and early 80′s when the numbers were in the 8-9.5% range. The rest of us – weren’t in the work force to experience it and found the numbers staggering. In one of those conversations at Kennedy was the first time I ever heard someone say that we would have 10%+ unemployment rate by the end of 2009. (Numbers for July will be released Friday 8/7)

In fact, to many of us young X’ers and old Gen Y’ers (Iran Revolution Babies for @Animal) – the largest unemployment numbers we had ever actually experienced came after 9-11. In 2002 I was working for a company HQ’d in Chicago that was amazingly still growing by leaps and bounds. I was brought in to evaluate their processes/systems and help with some of the high level searches in New York and New Jersey. I can assure you that hiring in that area just a few months after 9-11 was challenging to say the least. Not because there weren’t any candidates available, but because of the number of applications we saw (often 1500+ per opening in a single weekend) were overwhelming to say the least.

Flashback to 2002 – The small to mid size companies are still being overlooked by the popular kids in the ATS space, but the A/V club kids have something to share. An new type of ATS – completely online – no hosting, no in house support team needed. In fact, you can access it anywhere with internet access.

The high unemployment of 2002-2003 allowed some of the smaller players to have a shot and opened the doors for a whole new level of ATS. Did we still pay A LOT of money for what we actually got – compared to today – ABSOLUTELY! But at the time – it was worth it and opened the doors to innovation and competition that 10 years ago didn’t seem possible. In fact – I remember at the time we watched demo’s of some of today’s major players via powerpoint screenshots because there wasn’t a product actually built yet.

So, here we are again – Unemployment rates are even higher, technology is even faster/better/cheaper than before – what ATS innovations will we see come out this time? Will the global companies start looking at new, innovative solutions instead of the 4 standards? Will an ATS finally become less of an ATS and more of a true Recruiting tool? Will we FINALLY get mobile? Will companies again be able to tell their vendor what they want and be able to get custom solutions that WORK?

While most people don’t see it – it is all happening – and I am sooo excited to be along for the ride.

Not all vendors are struggling right now…

Sarah White — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:04:03 +0000

I know it wasn’t my job – But, I am pretty sure that SOMEONE for got to tell the HR Technology Vendors about the bad economy? I mean what else would explain the results seen (and published) by some of my favorite vendors in the space.

The twitter wires were buzzing this morning with the links to the 2nd Quarter Results for SilkRoad as well as the results for Ultimate Software, an HRIS system. Both had positive results with Silkroad having its 24th consecutive period of sales growth! Ultimate Software reported a 14% sales increase vs. same quarter numbers the year before!

Lets combine that with the fantastic results that privately held Talent Acquisition/Talent Management/Applicant Tracking/ATS/Whatever we are calling it now is Companies like HRMDirect and ICIMS and it makes you stop to wonder if we are starting to see the uptic – and it happened 2 months ago!

My thought on why these companies are doing so well and some tips to the rest of you vendors that may be struggling. Here we go:

1. They are not the most expensive products on the market – They are not the absolute cheapest. They are robust products with a great value proposition to an organization so it is easy to actually find the ROI

2. They have great sales pros. That doesn’t mean that they are smooth talking, high pressure, angry closer types of sales people. They are consultative – want to provide value and respect your time (not call every day to check in on you and if you made a decision yet). (I worked w/sales reps from all 3 when I was consulting and always appreciated this aspect of their sales process) They also give enough information on their website for those of us with fear of forms issues (actually – icims – a touch more info would be great, but love the screenshots!) feel like we know what we are jumping into.

3. They are proactive when it comes to the market – when things need to be adjusted – they just do it. They don’t feel the need to brag about every single client they sign or every step along the way. They have taken on social media/twitter and are learning to use it – ahead of the other guys. ICIMS has recently started iblog, HRMDirect’s blog (New one launching this fall) is- believe it or not actually writen by our CEO. Himself. Seriously. No help. They are also on Twitter – learning the ropes still – but on nonetheless – their tweets are not slams on other products (Umm…you know who you are – mystery vendor that will remain unnamed but I see through my tweetdeck search) rather an insight into their organization or the industry. If you are on twitter make sure to follow these vendors – every once in a while, they tweet something cool. @HRMDirect @ICIMS @SilkRoadTweets

Sidebar: What makes them my favorite? I will elaborate briefly:

1. SilkRoad by far has THE single coolest onboarding technology I have seen. Others that try to compete, but honestly, they just don’t even compare. If you haven’t seen it and are on the lookout for onboarding – contact your local sales rep ASAP! If you are in the Midwest then lucky you! We have the pleasure to have their best guy on the job – Sam Gillen – so you will be in good hands!

2. ICIMS – I have enjoyed following them over the years and seeing what they were doing with their solution. The market responsiveness they have shown in the past 12 months and the interactivity on the website is just part of why I have always been intrigued by them. I love someone looking out for the small to mid business but scalable for the large as well – (which is what I also love about HRMDirect – nice segway, I know!)

3. HRMDirect - When I was doing consulting with sm/mid sized orgs (Under 10 K ee’s) they were always a product on my list. A true SAAS solution that can be up and running in DAYS or WEEKS vs. months – even for big guys! Full Featured software without the high enterprise pricing – works well for any size org. Now that I work there – I love surprising people in a demo with what the product can do!

Overall – HRMDirect, ICIMS & SilkRoad – are always looking for innovative, new ways to do things without losing the core ease of use of the product. They also have a great support/sales group that doesn’t hound you like you are the last recruiter/hr pro in the world.

And that is why those 3 are some of my favorites in the world of talent acquisition!

Maybe I have a fear of commitment – but….

Sarah White — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:37:08 +0000

I admit, I have a fear of commitment on so many things and an unwavering loyalty to certain things that I commit to.

Example #1 Commitment Fear – I am almost OCD when it comes to making decisions on no brainer things in my life (at work, no issues w/this – odd? yes) like flavor of ice cream (do I do vanilla, vanilla bean, french vanilla? AND YES there is a difference) where to go on vacation, etc. because I don’t want to commit to any one thing and always be questioning if the other option was the right decision.

Example #2 Loyalty – TV Shows – I can’t stop watching a show after I commit to it – I call it being a show deserter and if it gets cancelled, I feel it was my fault all those people were out of a job. You have NOO idea how hard it was to watch those last few years of Dawson’s Creek! Yikes! Now that Pacey (My first real TV Crush), I mean Joshua Jackson, is on Fringe, I automatically become committed to that show as well…you see the crazy cycle?

Anyway, my point is – before I make a commitment, I like to explore all of my options. Learn (in detail) about what I may be giving up and missing out on as well as determine the long term potential there. I like to research and learn and make sure that I am making the best possible decision at this moment.

Once you fill in a form on a vendor’s website – you are commiting to a product. Well, not the product so much, but the sales reps and email campaigns and everything that goes along with it. You are putting your name on a proverbial dotted line of commitment that I just don’t like to cross until I am really, really interested in something.

So why are vendors making it MORE difficult to learn about their products right now? Seriously – We are in a recession – they should be doing backflips that someone still is considering buying from them. HELLO Vendors, no one wants to fill out forms to see some really basic information that your competition is offering up for free on their site, then get hounded by your sales people forever.

Believe it or not, my idea this morning was to write about the new performance management solution that Success Factors was offering for “emerging” businesses (Apparently, “Emerging” means you are under 50 employees which is what it takes to be considered a “small” business. UGH!! More terminalogy to learn!) I think small “emerging” biz is a really under focused on, yet important market and I was excited they were going to play ball in that area. I was also excited that it was built on the cloud technology. Then I got to the site and while there is some (limited) information – if I want to see so much as a data sheet of what the product even includes I have to commit to “the form”. I can see for the online demo, pricing, etc – but to see what is included in the product? Really???

My favorite part on the form was the statement: “We will not share your information with 3rd parties.”

My immediate thought – It isn’t the 3rd parties we are concerned with…its your sales team!

I seriously started laughing out loud to myself at the irony of that statement. Maybe someone without such a fear of commitment would have just filled out the form and gone on where there lives. Me? I see who else is doing the form thing (I am adament not to have it at HRMDirect) via some quick research and am proud to share some vendors that actually appreciate commitmentphobe’s learning about their product - HRMDirect, Taleo, PCRecruiter, ICIMS (to a lesser degree), SilkRoad, Newton

Buying for all the wrong reasons…

Sarah White — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:46:23 +0000

I was reading Seth Godin’s blog this morning about why people purchase what the do and how little of it is dependent upon the facts.

From a logical perspective – It makes no since at all. Why wouldn’t someone look at their needs and look at the products logically and determine what is the best product for them is (this goes beyond HR Technology). Why would someone spend the thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on a system that didn’t fit their basic needs or would require extensive work arounds? Why would someone pay more for a product that gives them less value?

Branding. Image. Respect.

We live in a country where being logical isn’t appreciated and encouraged. As a culture we are driven by our emotions, feelings and since of pride we have associating ourselves with a particular brand. In the last week on twitter I have been involved with conversations about why someone else’s Hurley is better than my 5150 snowboard (I don’t know – I love my Empress) and the great debate on adidas vs. nike (nike lost the consensus there). People in our world are drawn to and attracted to a companies because of the way those companies make them feel when they are wearing them/riding them/being a part of the experience – not because they are technically any better or worse for the most part. We idolize athletes and movie stars while ignoring academics & innovation. As a culture, we are not entirely logical people.

HR Technology, specifically Applicant Tracking Systems – falls right in line with our fascination with the “ooohhh..shiney’s” For many companies – selecting the right ATS is vital to creating a solid talent acquisition structure from a holistic perspective – the candidates, outside vendors you may work with, sourcing teams, recruiters, hr staff, hiring managers, other technology you use…. Yet so many of us have been tricked educated to think that the brands that we see advertised the heaviest, or have the most clients or are the most expensive are the best.

For the last few years I worked at a non-profit helping small to mid-size organization’s select new HR Technology pro bono (for those of you that went to public schools in Milwaukee – that means FOR FREE) Why in the world would I do such a thing? Because I LOVE this industry and I believed (and continue to believe) that companies were buying the wrong products based on the feelings they got from the advertising or because their friend at another company seemed to like it. I worked with more than 250 companies and the way they were going about making their decisions was scary to an analytical like myself. ”This one is pretty” ”I liked them at the booth at the conference – they were nice” “Their sales guy has the same name as my son…” “They have the most clients, they must be the best” “This one is more expensive than the rest – must be the best, should I fight for a bigger budget?” (Yes, those are all real comments I heard)

In John Sumser’s top 100 influencers report on J. William Tincup on Recruitingblogs.com (I swear the link works this time JD) Tincup(check out their awesome new site if you haven’t already) made a point that I wish I had the credibility and guts to say when I knew that someone was actually listening - that the whole talent management game has been a sales & marketing pitch – with little (if any) technological advancements and support to back up the outrageous prices and features being sold by the guys on top – It has been all about the integration and bigger and better systems and the reality is – that just doesn’t work for most companies.

Here is a sampling that I enjoy:

Tincup believes strongly that the market has been “bamboozled” by Talent Management vendors. With some examination, this means that he believes that Mercedes level expectations were created just before Smart Car realities hit. “The Talent Management Suite rhetoric exposed critical weaknesses in most HR operations. The clear identification of deficiencies and redundancies in most HR operations simultaneously scared and attracted the customer. Then, when the bottom fell out of the market, they could not afford to fix the problem that they’d identified to their bosses. The customer has egg on her face. The economic landscape is unravelling the idea of an integrated Talent Suite.”

Again – the point of the matter that both of these postings/blogs/articles/etc have in common is the fact that we are just getting sold on technology by companies that have AMAZING branding & marketing budgets teams (and some that just have a name you know). At least in terms of HR Technology, it is time we stop making decisions based on the “ohh…shiney’s” and start looking at what product will actually work best for YOUR organization and its processes. It is time to look analytically at a product (that doesn’t mean that the user interface doesn’t matter, btw) and how well it suits your needs – not who has the biggest booth or trapeze artist’s hanging from the ceiling (no offense to the company that does that – I actually enjoy watching them, but it doesn’t make me want to buy your product any more than before).

Will you be one of the lucky 100 at Recruitfest???

Sarah White — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:49:31 +0000

Ok, so you are like – What is Recruitfest?

Recruitfest is an “Unconference” type of Conference – Only 100 recruiting, branding & social media pros will even be able to get a ticket to attend. You may be thinking to yourself, “That’s Dumb” - but it really isn’t. Recruitfest wants everyone to learn in an interactive, dynamic fashion and if you have too large of a group – the interaction is not taking place. No boring powerpoints, no 10 minutes at the end of the session to try to squeeze in a few questions, no wishing you really understood how this could relate to your role, no need to not challenge the presenter….do I really need to explain further?

Recruitfest is a Recruitingblogs.com production and will be sponsored in part by HRMDirect Applicant Tracking System (other sponsors will be announced soon!) For anyone who has been to one – it is an event not to be missed!!!

The conference will be September 23-24 in Toronto, Canada – so make sure you get your passport in line, like yesterday

Now you are like – “Why should I go to Recruitfest?”

1. See what Recruitfest is above….

2. Recruitfest is only $300!! Well, that is if you are a Canadian. For the rest of us – our cost is around $250!! Seriously, a conference for $250!! The hotel has some great rates for attendee – around $160 or so a night

3. There are GREAT track leaders that are going to be there – Jerry Albright, Julia Stone, Recruiting Animal……more to be announced soon

4. You can meet me – or totally avoid me – you choose (of course, if you can’t come, I will blog the event on this site and tweet it from @hrtechblog)

Check out the site for RecruitFest – more details will follow

Stop overcharging for your products, then!

Sarah White — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:16:32 +0000

That is what I say when I hear HR Technology vendors complaining about losing their clients!

Well, at least it is what I think to my self as I listen to them talk about the Hey Days…It is like they forget that I used to partner with them all on a regular basis and know how much of a varience most of the vendors have in pricing…

Thankfully for the consumer (YOU!) the newer products that are more targeted to the small and mid market clients are working hard to have fairness in pricing and transparency in that area of your business. Believe it or not – over the past few months, I have actually started to see an influx of smaller organizations (under 1,000 employees) testing out new products to help them lean up their organization or (if already lean) help manage their influx of resumes.

Don’t believe me – check out ICIM’s most recent press release - in 2nd quarter of this year they added an additional 80 clients! Why did this happen? In my opinion, because they got smart and stopped trying to compete with the bigger enterprise systems and fixed their price points to attract the mid-market organizations. But, that is just my impression by the shift in marketing focus they have had since early this year, as usual, I could be wrong.

Beyond small companies, larger organizations are starting to call into vendors to take a look at their options for when their current,overpriced contracts are over. A lot of these companies looked at the technology 5+ years ago (and signed 3+ year contracts) when prices were MUCH higher or implemented expensive, large scale products at their previous companies and never thought they could even afford something or just didn’t know where to start! And believe it or not – you MUST NEGOIATE with most vendors!

So if you are a vendor in this space…don’t get discouraged!

If you are a company – now is the time to look and make sure you are getting not only the best deal – but have a product that is up to date, fits your process and makes your life easier – not harder. I will have a whole other post on selecting an ATS in August…to coincide with the launch of atsvendors.com

Attn all ATS/HR Technology Vendors – What not to do on a demo…

Sarah White — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 17:15:03 +0000

Over the past few years, I have had the pleasure to demo many different ATS’s on the market. For the most part a demo is a demo is a demo and they all follow the same format:

1. Talk about the company and why it is great. Mention the leadership team and their prior accomplishments and that you have good funding.

2. Show other companies logos that use your product so we know you are reputable and that other people that are more important than us use it, so it must be a good option.

3. Show your product.

This is the accepted practice and while not rocket science, it works. However, over the past few months, as more and more companies have asked me to view their product I have noticed a trend – people are doing some funky things in demo’s. So, I am blogging here to see if anyone else has noticed these things….

1. Telling me that no one else does what you do when I have seen 5 other products that do the same thing. I have often been able to tell a company that there was a direct competitor in the space that they hadn’t even heard of. Being “new and different” doesn’t mean that you have icons with pictures instead of words.

2. Wasting time telling me about why everyone else does it wrong when you don’t tell me what you are doing differently. I really don’t like the fact that a vendor would slam another vendor, but if you are going to do so – tell me the problem they have and then the solution you offer that makes it no longer a problem.

3. Don’t twist competitors products and present them in a way that is inaccurate or untrue. All it does is hurt your credibility if the company you are talking too knows (or thinks they know) the right information.

4. Have a “group” demo with people from multiple companies at the same time. I recently had this happen to me and since there were 4 other companies on at the same time, I couldn’t address the issues that I thought would be relevant to me or my clients. I also didn’t have the opportunity to say “Can we skip to the demo” as we went through the history of recruiting since 1872.

5. Forget to DEMO the product. Yes, I said it. I went through more than one demo where the “demo” was a couple of pictures of the product at the end of an hour long powerpoint slide. YIKES! If I wanted to see the actual product, that was another hour that we needed to schedule.

I am positive that I have left off more strange events that have occurred over the last few months in demos – but I think you get the drift. Owner/Manager from companies should know what types of demos sales people are giving and if you are doing one of these things — look at your reasoning behind it and if you think it is hurting or helping.