mistamor

VP of Sales

Do demo conversion rates really matter?

I've spoken to a lot of AEs that are hitting quota but there demo win rates are only 10-20%. I know it depends a lot on industry, but in their industry 10-20% isn't great.

This makes me wonder, do AEs care about improving their demo win rates or is it more about hitting quota/or at least going above quota?

📈 Closing

📣 Demos

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26 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Saw you on the JB Sales webinar, it was riveting.

Sales mastery includes understanding every metric that you have control over, including win rates.

If you are giving 100 demos but only closing 10 then you are highly inefficient--if you know this about your funnel then you can improve it. This leads to more deals closed in less time, aka pipeline velocity. Pipeline velocity leads to higher earnings and less time in the cycle. These are all metrics reps should be striving for.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

This is the answer.

TheNegotiator

Arsonist

VP of Sales

In simplified language:
if you’re booking 100 demos and closing 10, you’re hot garbage and should consider another profession.
.
In anything to do, you need to want to be the very best, that no one ever was. Clearly this AE is happy just breezing through life. Presuming he’d fed demos by an SDR, maybe he feels like it’s no sweat off his back. That or he has no self respect. There’s no in between.

mistamor

Opinionated

VP of Sales

thanks! glad you made (even though I have no clue who the person behind poweredbycaffeine is, ha)

This is good reinforcement - seems that AE that I was talking to was an outlier.

SaaSguy

Tycoon

Account Executive

This is like asking if closing a deal really helps you hit quota.

mistamor

Opinionated

VP of Sales

yep. The reason I ask is b/c spoke to an AE that said he's hitting quota but not even paying attention (or knows) his demo win rate. He ultimately cares how to have a bigger commission check, but wasn't following his demo conversion numbers so curious what other AEs are motivated by etc

Avon

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

I think it depends on what a demo at your company is. I’ve worked at one where we needed an SE for a demo. There I think it matters because that’s using extra company resources. But I also worked at one where the first meeting was a disco/demo in one call. There I don’t think it mattered much because people would take the demo out of curiosity or way before they were in a buying cycle, but many of those ended up being deals a year later or so.

PleaseAdvise

Executive

Account Executive

Agreed. Depends on if you’re spending your valuable time running demos or if you have SEs showcasing the product. If it’s the latter - the demo conversion rate is generally out of your hands.

buckets1

Politicker

💯% care about my demo win rate. If the prospect is not qualified...I’m not wasting my or my SEs time by giving them a live demo. I’ll send a video to the tire kickers to circulate internally and ask for a reverse demo first (they show us their current process). If they’re willing to do a reverse demo then it’s an indicator that I mis-judged how qualified they were that particular time.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

ABQ! Why waste your time on those who will never convert?

mistamor

Opinionated

VP of Sales

love that

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Yes I care because it's how I measure my pipeline.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

What is a "demo win rate"?

Are you asking how many of the deals for which the AE provides a demo led to a win? Or is there some other way to define what you're asking?

mistamor

Opinionated

VP of Sales

yep, exactly

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

In our world, every sales cycle includes a demo. Win rate for the deal is the same as "demo win rate".

mistamor

Opinionated

VP of Sales

Are you SMB-MM?

FormerStartupJobHopper

Tycoon

It's certainly not the end all be all but I'd say so. Just spitballing, I think I have fewer demos than my colleagues but a much higher win rate, as I don't let unqualified people get that far. If they're rocky on even booking the demo.... not gonna buy. If they won't answer basic questions... not gonna buy. No ROI? Not gonna buy. Haven't heard of our company and don't know we're the expensive option? Not gonna buy. Etc

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

Account Executive

I think this varies per industry but overall the % matter based off of Demos completed

mistamor

Opinionated

VP of Sales

seems like the AE that said he doesnt look at it as much is leaving money on the table

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

I think it depends on what a demo at your company is.

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

This is like asking if closing a deal really helps you hit quota.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Can't hit quota without converting demos...

mistamor

Opinionated

VP of Sales

What do you define as a demo?

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

My SE and I showing our software to a prospect.

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

Inside Sales

Depends on your company. I've pushed along some demos on fringe opps to inflate my pipeline and hit internal metrics.

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

ISR

This is like asking if closing a deal really helps you hit quota.

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mistamor

Do demo conversion rates really matter?

26 comments

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