TennisandSales profile picture
TennisandSales profile picture

TennisandSales

Head Of Sales

Politicker
Acclaimed Answer
Executive
+9

Do a demo before an RFP?

I have had 2 deals recently that came in bound asking for a demo.


In the discovery call, they let me know they will be launching a formal RFP really soon but want to see a demo before they do that.


It has been my thought in both of these scenarios that doing the demo is a positive thing.

  1. You get to bring important topics to light, and make sure they have a really positive out look of our product.
  2. I can help highlight our strengths and plant land mines for the competition.
  3. I can get a sense for how serious they are by the questions they ask, who they bring to the call, ect.
  4. We can then tell when the RFP is released, if this has been written for a particular competitor or not.

my boss is concerned that we should not give away too much info on these demos because they could already have made a decision and he doesn't want to waste time or give away info.


What would you do?

👑 Sales Strategy
📣 Demos
9

10 comments

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Pachacuti
Politicker
8
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
You ABSOLUTELY need to get in there with a demo prior to the RFP.

They are asking for a demo because the RFP isn't fully written yet. So this is your chance to influence the RFP.

You also get to start a relationship with the key players in the deal. If you want to have a chance here, you need to dive in head first and deep.

This is your ONLY change to influence the RFP and add any unique values to the mix.
1nbatopshotfan
Politicker
1
Sales
Well said. It’s also another chance to build rapport with the client.
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
4
Sales Rep
I am confused why your manager thinks they made up their mind, before they have sent out an rfp. I would assume they would want a demo then go through the entire rfp process.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
3
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
I’ve used a pre-RFP demo as an opportunity to tell a story and paint a vision of our company - experts in our field and what makes us the best choice. Record the demo/presentation and make it available to the prospect. I’d expect demos that occur during the RFP process to be more use-case specific and resolving the pain points they’ll provide in the RFP.
This is your chance to show that you’re easy to work with, provide a great story, and get yourself invited to participate in the RFP. I do think you risk being left out if you don’t meet with them and provide the requested demo. You should also get a chance to do some preliminary discovery. Honestly, I’m not seeing the downside here.
saaskicker
Celebrated Contributor
2
Enterprise AE
I have HELPED my customers with writing the RFPs so that I know what they are thinking / suggested questions. This helps you build trust with them while also stacking the deck in your favor -- esp if you know some pot holes your competitors have.

The more info they have before the RFP in my experience, the faster the timeline to sign afterwards is. So many RFPs get sent, then you demo, then you demo the next team and the next team and then someone is sick and you demo them again and then you've really wasted more time. Your boss sounds scared.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
3
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Yes, help with the RFP! We have a template we offer to send out to prospects with questions they should be asking vendors. It helps establish your credibility as a. leader in the space and also as a company that is experienced with the process. It also guides the questions toward ones where you have answers and may be differentiators.
Mad
1
Head of Sales and Customer Experience
Yes! This is your chance to highlight the things only your product can do! Depending on your industry, if your prospect/customer is using federal funds, they may be required to issue RFPs for large purchases (I’m in EdTech, and this dollar value varies depending on the state and even district). Getting a random RFQ with no demo request usually means they’ve made up their mind and want to show they’ve made an economic decision with competitor price comparisons. Getting a pre-RFP demo means you are of interest and, like others have said, allows you to influence the RFP and vision build with them!
ASP23
Good Citizen
1
Founder
100% have the demo, especially if it's a blind RFP. Before the demo, ask to have some kind of discovery so that you can tailor the demo and use that to understand their pain points.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
0
🦊
I always get in for a pre-meeting, if the RFP allows it.
GingerBarbarian
Opinionated
0
Lead Sales
Quick note, if you are in the proposal space at all I suggest following Proposal Industry Experts on LinkedIn. They are an amazing resource of other proposal pros.

You should NEVER send an RFP without having an in-depth conversation with a potential customer. You spending an hour with the customer can save you dozens of man-hours in putting together a proposal for a company that you do not fit with anyway.

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