what are y'all's biggest challenge when it comes to doing sales demos?
mistamor
Biggest demo challenge
8
What’s yours? If you give some context, people will be able to help.
Sort of just asking for my own research if that helps?
Good research is based on a strong hypothesis that you are testing.
I'm not testing a hypothesis, I'm asking an open question about challenges that AEs on here are experiencing on demos. If an AE on bravado isn't experiencing a challenge then they wouldn'tneed to answer the Q
Your base hypothesis is that AEs are facing challenges.
Specificity around what challenges they MAY be facing would drive deeper research questions. For example:
1)Connecting technical requirements to product features.
2) Use-case framing across multiple stakeholders/departments.
3) Proper leverage of SEs within demos (e.g. when to bring in/how to split work and duty in the calls themselves)
Open-ended questions are fine, but framing the question and guiding the prospect (AEs in this case) is an effective way to gain answers that will drive the conversation forward.
Specificity around what challenges they MAY be facing would drive deeper research questions. For example:
1)Connecting technical requirements to product features.
2) Use-case framing across multiple stakeholders/departments.
3) Proper leverage of SEs within demos (e.g. when to bring in/how to split work and duty in the calls themselves)
Open-ended questions are fine, but framing the question and guiding the prospect (AEs in this case) is an effective way to gain answers that will drive the conversation forward.
Appreciate the tip on this as well as the investment of your response back.
While I agree that open-ended questions with some level of guidance can be helpful, sometimes it's not depending on person's (the one ask) intent.
The reason I say that is because open-ended questions with guidance can sometimes affect decision-making by influencing the other side with your suggestions.
So I purposely kept it open-ended without guidance to see what is naturally said. Some folks gave good answers (that they may or may not have had I guided them).
In any case, in your personal experience doing demos, are there specific challenges / skills you'd like to fix, e.g. lack of training/coaching on the mgmt side, catching yourself feature dumping, not enough deep discovery,not leveraging discovery throughout the call, etc etc?
While I agree that open-ended questions with some level of guidance can be helpful, sometimes it's not depending on person's (the one ask) intent.
The reason I say that is because open-ended questions with guidance can sometimes affect decision-making by influencing the other side with your suggestions.
So I purposely kept it open-ended without guidance to see what is naturally said. Some folks gave good answers (that they may or may not have had I guided them).
In any case, in your personal experience doing demos, are there specific challenges / skills you'd like to fix, e.g. lack of training/coaching on the mgmt side, catching yourself feature dumping, not enough deep discovery,not leveraging discovery throughout the call, etc etc?
I've been in sales leadership for the past 5 years, and in that time I have ensured that I put proper focus on sales training for my AEs/BDRs/CSMs.
I will say, as a general industry observation, that ongoing sales motion development is lacking in most sales orgs. Once the reps graduate training they are never really re-assessed unless they are head for/on a PIP. This is a crucial misstep by most sales leaders.
The fix? Weekly call reviews as a team to get both peer and management ears/eyes on your discovery and/or demo calls. This gets everyone involved rather than a single person (most likely the manager), leading to faster improvement.
I will say, as a general industry observation, that ongoing sales motion development is lacking in most sales orgs. Once the reps graduate training they are never really re-assessed unless they are head for/on a PIP. This is a crucial misstep by most sales leaders.
The fix? Weekly call reviews as a team to get both peer and management ears/eyes on your discovery and/or demo calls. This gets everyone involved rather than a single person (most likely the manager), leading to faster improvement.
"
Once the reps graduate training they are never really re-assessed unless they are head for/on a PIP. " << yep. Noticed that as well. The other mistake I see other orgs do is try to get the rep to improve more than 1 skill at a time.
Are you talking about clients not showing or????
Im not specifically talking about anything, more curious to learn outstsnding challenges from other folks.. call this.. market research?
Sometimes my Bluetooth headphones won't pair with my laptop
I hear you
1) Poor discovery: if you're not clear what the problems or issues are before you demo you can't run a a good sales demo.
2) No timeline or next steps: You can do a great demo but if you're not creating clear next steps to purchase or overcome objections you can't run a good demo.
3) Trying to show everything: It is easy to get wound up on the smaller details and showing people every feature. Rather then showing them everything, simply telling will normally suffice.
But- this all depends on your sales process, market and lots of other factors!
What is your research for?
2) No timeline or next steps: You can do a great demo but if you're not creating clear next steps to purchase or overcome objections you can't run a good demo.
3) Trying to show everything: It is easy to get wound up on the smaller details and showing people every feature. Rather then showing them everything, simply telling will normally suffice.
But- this all depends on your sales process, market and lots of other factors!
What is your research for?
You asked the best question on here "what is your research for?"
I'm asking this question in order to improve/add content to my sales demo course. I cover a lot of stuff but I think if I had larger sample size specifics from folks that are experiencing XYZ challenges, I'd be able to speak to that more.
And you're right, myc ustomers so far have had the 3 challenges you listed, #1 (poor discovery) being primary.
I'm asking this question in order to improve/add content to my sales demo course. I cover a lot of stuff but I think if I had larger sample size specifics from folks that are experiencing XYZ challenges, I'd be able to speak to that more.
And you're right, myc ustomers so far have had the 3 challenges you listed, #1 (poor discovery) being primary.
Different people have different. Anything in specific your team has challenges with that you are trying to get ideation on?
Not being able to run my own. The ability for a Salesperson to run an intro (30 min.) demo to show high-level capabilities and speak to pains/solutions is critical.
If you have SEs or SCs running demos, you're losing out, IMO. Not to say those positions don't have value or can really swing a deal towards the positive, especially for a highly technical product/solution. Most SaaS companies are over-leveraging these individuals, though.
If you have SEs or SCs running demos, you're losing out, IMO. Not to say those positions don't have value or can really swing a deal towards the positive, especially for a highly technical product/solution. Most SaaS companies are over-leveraging these individuals, though.
I feel like the role of the SE really comes into play when the product is super complex but why can't an AE just have them join the demo alongside?
Using G-Suite, Google Meet (Selling Digital Ads on Google ect. so our firm believe that we need to use there stuff... *SMH*)
The problem with Google Meet is when you're sharing your screen, you can't see the client anymore – and that's freaking hard sometimes!
The problem with Google Meet is when you're sharing your screen, you can't see the client anymore – and that's freaking hard sometimes!
why haven't you been using Zoom for demos ?
Our company did some time ago, but running with Meet now. Hate it!
that's annoying when you and the rest of your team hate as well.
Are you talking about clients not showing or?
Sometimes my Bluetooth headphones won't pair with my laptop
I find it's extremely helpful to get the whole team on a demo. If it's just one person, than the deal can die with them and they have to go convey everything to their team secondhand. I insist on getting multiple people in the room.
What’s yours? If you give some context, people will be able to help.
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