Yeah, we're David in a world of Goliaths. 

an illustrator of a person thinking

I get it. You've probably never used SmartCue. Or see it in action. Maybe this is even the first time you're hearing of us. That's understandable: we're the new kids on the block, after all. This is why I'm comparing ourselves with other players out there that you have heard of. And I'm being honest (as honest as I can be, given that SmartCue is my brainchild!). 

You see, I came up with SmartCue because I couldn't find the right tool to do what I needed to do, back when I was a very frustrated and overworked Sales Engineer. I wanted to create a tool that my sales rep could use on their next call - no messy deployments, no learning curve, and no coding experience required. A simple, effective, smart solution for busy, overworked sales folks. 

Simply put, SmartCue is demo creation software that takes the grunt work out of demo creation - Sales Engineers, Sales Enablement Managers or Product Marketing teams can rapidly create custom, personalized product demos with loads of contextual cues. This is a double win: time saved on making demos, and time saved in meetings which they no longer need to attend, because the sales reps are confident enough to deliver the demos themselves, without the SE in the room. 

How? Contextual cues. SmartCue presents cues to the presenter (and only to the presenter!) based on where they are in the product. It also provides a step-by-step demo playbook or demo flow, so the sales rep can simply follow the flow. It's a little bit like having a second brain (or an SE!) in the room. Without needing to do all this additional admin, the sales reps can focus on what they do best: selling your product.  

There are things SmartCue can do better than most, and somewhere we have ways to go. This comparison with Walnut and Demostack lets you assess whether SmartCue might be a good fit for you: now, or in the future. 

Walnut vs Demostack vs SmartCue

Parameters

Walnut 

Demostack

SmartCue 

Deployment speed

4 weeks plus 

4 weeks 

Instant, all you need is a chrome extension

Training requirements

Webinars, videos, documentation 

Videos, documentation and live online training. 

None. So far, no one has asked us to train them. 

Works with your demo environment

Creates its own demo/sandbox environment 

Creates its own demo/sandbox environment 

Yes. No integrations are necessary. 

Lets you customize demos on the fly 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes

Create Demo Playbooks 

Sort of

Not really. The product replicates the demo environment, but you still need to create your playbook

Yes. Even if you decide to move through the playbook in a non-linear fashion, it cues you with what's left to cover

Do presenters need scripts?

Yes 

Yes. 

No. Contextual cues basis where you are in your product

Simplifies demo creation

Yes. Capture screens. Customize the screens based on client requirements. Add callouts and pointers. Export. Use URL for the presentation. 

Yes. It effectively clones your tool. You can edit images, text, charts, data - everything. 

Yes. Simply add the cues for any feature, function, button, link, image etc. of your product.. You can have several of these on each screen. Combine screens into a demo flow. 

Manages your demo library

Yes

Yes

Yes

Export to video

Yes

Yes

Yes, through Loom integration

Export to PDF

Maybe

No

Yes. Can also include notes taken during the demo to make great leave-behinds. 

Note taking allowed 

No

No

Yes 

Edit dynamic text 

Yes, as it creates its own demo environment

Yes, as it creates its own demo environment. 

No, as it uses your own demo environment 

Content analytics

Basic analytics

Basic analytics 

Know where your reps spend the most time in the product, whether they followed the playbook, how much did they deviate and much more

Integrations 

Yes

Yes 

Over 200 planned integrations in 2023!

Support

Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Chat

Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base

Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Chat

Key benefits 

Walnut: The key advantage Walnut brings is its ability to create its own sandbox/dev environment. This is great when your tool isn't highly customisable and your demo environment is unstable. Using Walnut, you can rapidly create a number of demos with customisation using dynamic text. However, none of these customisations carries over to your next demo - you start from scratch each time. Also, should the client want to explore screens not covered in your demo, there's nowhere to go. 

Demostack: Like Walnut, the biggest advantage it brings is the ability to create its own sandbox/dev environment. The cloning feature is impressive, as the functionality is able to clone. Using editing tools, you can replace text, charts, images, front-end data, etc. However, in my view, this could create more work if you need to update dummy data in each screen, as opposed to doing so directly in your demo environment. I suspect you may end up having to do both - customize the demo environment, clone it in DemoStack, and then customize it in Demostack. 

Why our clients chose SmartCue 

There are some things you can only do on SmartCue. For instance, SmartCue sits atop your demo environment, and even your production environment! 

As long as you've created a demo using SmartCue, it's in the library. Now, if your client wants to explore a screen that isn't covered by your current demo, but you have covered in another demo, have no fear! SmartCue can pull cues from linked demos. So you can go into screens you haven't practiced, with confidence, knowing that you have all the information and cues you'll need to deliver the goods and answer whatever questions come up. 

 SmartCue's demo

SmartCue's demo dashboard screen is where you can see all demos created by you and your team. 

SmartCue also helps keep track of the agenda - the client wants to explore functionality out of turn? No problem! No need to madly flip through slides or move your demo video back and forth. Just go into your demo as always, and SmartCue will cue you on the basis of wherever you are in your product. When done, it will cue you into what you can cover next, based on your agenda. 

Also, no more cumbersome and long-drawn-out emails covering the demo play-by-play. Take notes within SmartCue itself, and export them as a PDF. This way, everyone gets exactly what you're referring to when you ask a question, provide additional information, or clarify something: because your notes are in context. 

Of course, the core function of the tool is to make demos super simple to make for Sales Engineers, and super simple to deliver for Sales reps. No more starting from scratch, no more scripts, no more memorizing jargon (or anything!) EVER. 

Smart, right?