Jbeans

Director of Sales

How long do we preamble before we get to the tech portion of the demo?

Oh man. You know when you go to a movie and there’s 78 trailers ..a few are great but after the 5th one it’s like , I’m getting older here by the min. Can we get to the main attraction? ... We are trying to work on our demo presentation skills - the reps lead the meetings - and we have to do an intro with a specific format for strategy - (Sandler UFC) not a script as much as a set of checks to make sure we cover -then lead into an intro about the company to show prospects we offer other solutions ..Then pass to the tech. But it’s now longer than a lord of the rings film festival- an extended directors cut -and I’ve lost the will half way in. We are in training and some reps can nail the first bit but not the company slide - And vice versa. How long can we hold attention before we lose people? As a customer I would get annoyed by more than 5-10mins in and still waiting for the main event.

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13 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

7

☕️

Hot tip: no one on the prospect cares about your process...tailor it all to how they want to buy.

Do you sell to IT folks? Their slack is piling up with requests and errors every minute you are wasting time on a slide deck about your company history. You have 5-10 minutes before they check it and ignore the demo...get to the point, and do it quickly.

It may help to, as @OpalTiddyChurger said, to spice it up and do a combo of discovery and demo with the show-and-tell technique. Set the stage with a sharp agenda, hit them with some basic discovery to ensure you are a basic fit, and then go deep into the product while asking questions that develop buy-in along the way.

Jbeans

Opinionated

0

Director of Sales

I hear you. I sell transactional to my IT - they wouldn’t typically be in these types of meetings. This scenario would be to new logo who might not be aware of what else we do. Or to a client that we haven’t engaged with since our expansion into other areas of Tech. I used it today -but I talk fast and cut all the crap out- got a lead for another department- (which I’m cool with as increases our stronghold and makes us more valuable as a supplier imo) so I do see the benefit but it’s time and place …know your audience. In person is so much better because you can feel ans see when you’re losing the room. PIVOT!!! Lol virtual meetings I find tricky bc they might not have the camera on. They could be shopping on Amazon for all I know. 🤔

BmajoR

Arsonist

3

Account Executive

We lump discovery into our demos but it works in a natural way. It allows me to adjust on the fly by gauging the prospects mood, attention to what I’m saying, and body language.

If they’re a talker, it could go 15 minutes. On average I’d say we’re in the 5-10 minute range.

I like doing discovery throughout the demo because it makes it more engaging and breaks the status quo from the traditional route of: disco, demo (with exhausting slide deck) and then product info.

Jbeans

Opinionated

0

Director of Sales

Totally. It’s missing the interaction. I feel like the team is talking AT people, not engaging at this point!!

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

1

SaaS Eater

I see no need to give the rundown on company history etc, the buyer doesn't care about that. Engage them with disco or confirming use case early in the call to make sure they are bought in and then move into how you will solve their problems. Prospect doesn't care who you are, just that you can fix whatever issue you have isolated.

dwightyouignorantsale

Politicker

0

Account Executive

We do demos on a second or third call, so generally by then, the prospect understands what we do. I will still kick it off by recapping their company objectives, spending less than 5 minutes talking about where we fit and what the general flow looks like so that they can visualize during the demo. Trying to up/cross-sell before a demo is just not the place to do that. Go through the demo, get them bought in, and if they are interested, then talk about how your other products can help them in other ways based on what they liked (or where they thought there were gaps) of your product. It definitely sucks that your organization is trying to make you go through all these hoops before you even know if the product is a right fit for someone.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

0

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I tend to do a couple of slides up front to check the agenda, and customer agreement that we know the value prop and what's important to them, and then we're off into the interactive demo that responds to the discovery call. If there's time at the end, I'll bring in some customer stories (or, better, there will be opportunity to sprinkle them in during the demo) and recap with why we're the best vendor for them (analyst slide, etc) but...if the demo ran long and they were engaged during that time, then the time is better spent where they're interested. I'd rather have the customer get a chance to see what they are interested in and engaged with and maybe something additional that only came up during the demo than bludgeoning them with another logo slide or diagram.

Jbeans

Opinionated

1

Director of Sales

That’s interesting. I like that idea too.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I tend to PDF the deck and send it to the customer with the recording of the demo as well, so they can see any "extra" collateral at that time.

Jbeans

Opinionated

1

Director of Sales

I’ve used recordings before but not in this way. Had a few people miss the meeting - this is a very interesting approach to me. Thanks 🙏🏻

Sunbunny31

Politicker

0

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I've used it a lot recently. I also use a shared space where I can see if they actually log in to retrieve the demo and/or any collateral I think will be valuable for them. I capture additional contacts and the level of interest that way as well.

Also, I can revisit a demo if I've forgotten exactly how a question or comment was phrased, and/or any follow up we committed to.

Jbeans

Opinionated

1

Director of Sales

Like the smart link feature on sales Nav? It’s like a spy. You can see who when and how long they accessed for. Never thought of using this for follow up demo. Thanks for sharing, really appreciate this nugget!! I’m going to spice things up this week

Sunbunny31

Politicker

0

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Sure thing! Best of luck.

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