HarryCaray

HMFIC

Recorded demos

Do y'all send out recorded demos or require them to be live? My company doesn't allow us to record and send out demos, but I get the request a lot from prospects. I get why we don't allow it, but I also think it's a pretty reasonable ask from customers. Thoughts?

☁️ Software Tech

📣 Demos

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Smithy

Politicker

Director of Sales

I get where you're coming from but as @Donniedarko you want your demos to be specific to your prospect's needs/problems.

I think a happy medium is a quick overview/highlight video on your product page that whets the appetite, that you can direct prospects to if they won't commit to a demo.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

Yeah for sure, and we do have marketing materials like that on the website. I think where some of it comes from is trying to reduce not having a sales rep involved in any internal discussions they're having while looking at the product, while also encouraging more interactions to maintain momentum.

Smithy

Politicker

Director of Sales

In that case, it may be worth you making a short video for them on bombbomb etc on the one element of your platform that you have identified that would help them from your DISCO and using that as your hook for the full walkthrough?

Savagedoge

Tycoon

Account Executive

I don’t know about recorded demos of they’re not specific to each customer/prospect. What I do though is send a recording of a demo to them so they can refer back to it or share internally. I’m also able to track when they’re clicking on the link so I can follow up at the right time.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

What do you use to track the link clicks? That seems like something I should look into.

Savagedoge

Tycoon

Account Executive

The conversation intel tool that records my meetings has this functionality to do that. Happy to talk if you wanna.
Full disclosure: I work for the said conversation intelligence tool

TheQueenofDiamonds

Politicker

Account Executive

I like the control of the call, so don't send recorded demos, i do send recorded follow-ups though. Works for me

taylor

Executive

Strategic Account Executive

Can you go into more detail here? What do you mean by recorded follow-ups?

TheQueenofDiamonds

Politicker

Account Executive

Recorded recap after the demo, with specific points that were discussed

taylor

Executive

Strategic Account Executive

Are these pre-canned? Is it a snippet of the call recording? I meant can you go more into the process here -> this seems really badass.

TheQueenofDiamonds

Politicker

Account Executive

Just a quick 2 min screen plus camera recap of the demo.in addition to summary in email. Very effective, when it comes to multiple stakeholders. Takes almost no time to record and very impactful. Hope it helps you too, give it a try ❤️

taylor

Executive

Strategic Account Executive

I would upvote this 10x if I could. Thanks queen.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Live demos for the interaction.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

Yeah that's definitely my position, and I don't want them looking at a demo without me, allowing them to poke holes in it or ask questions internally without me there to answer or put their concerns to bed.

overheard_sales

Politicker

CEO - Overheard_Sales

I prefer to do them live, but then send the recording after. might as well let them share it around to get some momentum!

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

I agree, but my only hangup there is potentially getting the response "we don't need another all at this time, we've got the recorded demo and we'll get back to you if we need anything." or something like that. You see where I'm coming from?

ARRisLife

Politicker

Account Executive

^ that's not a result from sending the recording. That's a direct result of not the right work being done earlier in the process- you haven't found enough pain, your selling below the power line and haven't built any relationship.

Don't mean to sound harsh but that's the reality.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

Wow ok making some pretty broad assumptions here. This is a discussion about the pros and cons of a particular strategy. Not really necessary to come here and act like some kinda badass. Trust me, I'm doing well. Was just asking for opinions on one area and the thought behind doing one thing vs. the other.

Don't mean to sound harsh, but that's the reality.

ARRisLife

Politicker

Account Executive

First off no badass here @HarryCaray Apologies if the tone in that response came off as condescending, I assure you that was not the intention at all.

I'm gotten smoked in more than my fair share of deals- and specifically have experienced that type of response. The 'we have everything, we'll get back to you' blow off response. Looking back at all that I lost it was usually one or a combo of those factors that I outlined before.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

I appreciate you clearing that up. Thanks for your input here. I'm definitely interested in hearing more thoughts on this topic because it's a common question that comes up and I'm honestly torn on how I feel about it.

ARRisLife

Politicker

Account Executive

Let me take a stab at the original question. So I've never actually had someone request a recorded demo in leu of doing it live. I imagine that would probably set off a couple flags for me as to the seriousness of the project. Idk what you solution is but ours in generally a pretty big investment between our product, implementation and all the time the client puts in over the course of the project so that just gives me some leverage to put back to them later.

We have a handful of what we call demo teasers on our site/youtube. They're about 5 minutes long, and I actually use them to help qualify sometimes. Our typical issue is that our prospects are coming in hott looking to get right into demos so we can sometimes get some pushback as we want to have at a minimum 1-2 calls for us to do discovery and then segway into a demo. If this isn't done properly, it probably feels like a rep just interrogating them but the idea is we're providing some value as well.

Anyways- so if we're getting a tough time getting commitment for discovery, I'll say well hey I totally understand you want to get your eyes on the product, we have a couple high level videos on the site, I'll send you over the links. If you're interested in taking a deeper dive and letting us set up a custom demo for you, we're going to need another call so we can help suss out what's most important. Often times the things they want to see are table stakes so it helps us steer towards our real value adds or if we dont think we're a fit we bounce out of it.

To your original question, I'd probably respond with- "hey look we could send you a demo but to be honest it probably won't be that valuable as we wont be able to know what's the most important for you. In our experience doing this live are the most valuable so we can pivot to things that matter to you and make sure we're actually showing you things that you care about. After all you're making a big investment, the least we can do is make sure we're supporting you in the process"

Perhaps your counter to your leadership is having a couple very general short videos that you can use to tease and gauge interest.

I'm curious in your perspective- those that ask for recorded demos, do you think they're legit good opportunities or window shopping? Or perhaps the first question back is- can you help me understand why you don't want to do it live? is scheduling all the right people too difficult or is it xyz?

Last point- I almost always record them when we do them live- so i don't mind sending a copy for review after but never in stead of doing it live first.

DadFather

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Live demo to hear/see reaction and guide the conversation. I ask to record the meeting and then will send it out for review (if it goes well).

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

"if it goes well" is a great call out haha. Guess it wouldn't be great to send out a recording of a bunch of people hating on the product.

beachNsales

Politicker

Sales Manager

I think the first time they really see the product should be live, then its great to send short version demo follow ups

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

definitely live for the first one. Do you have a canned shorter version that you use for the follow up recorded version?

beachNsales

Politicker

Sales Manager

I have 2 or 3 generic ones I have to set in my library to use. But with loom or vidyard, its so easy to make a 3 minute video sharing your screen, I will usually record a new one so I can personalize it to the prospect and use their name.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

I'm thinking a lot of this is going to be product specific. Our system is so complex and spans across so many different departments that it would be tough to whittle it down to a shorter, more easily consumable video version. So many different routes we can go in the demo org, and no 2 demos are the same. Maybe that's why we operate the way we do at this company. Our shortest first-time live demos are rarely less than an hour long.

Wolf

Opinionated

Commercial Account Executive

Once you give them a recorded demo, you have lost the battle already in my opinion as they have what they need. There always needs to be a challenge or an ask with regards to your prospects to give you something in return for something else.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

That's good perspective. Should always try to get something in return. This for that kinda thing. Thanks for the input.

Wolf

Opinionated

Commercial Account Executive

You're welcome!

rekled

Opinionated

Strategic Account Executive

I was thinking the question was recording the "live" session for the participants that were unable to join. But, your point is well taken and something I had not thought about before. Hmm... food for thought fer sure.

Wolf

Opinionated

Commercial Account Executive

Happy it helped!

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Back when this applied to me, I loved recorded demos. They can be very helpful with folks:

-Who are super early in the process
-Struggling conceptually with the genre of products they're in (think first time ERP buyer)
-Who probably aren't qualified
-Needing to take something to a boss to show that they're trucking along

Also, if you have a massive product that can be demoed for endless hours, it can provide some basic context before you do more catered demos.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

All great points, thanks!

softwarebro

Politicker

Sales Director

Prospects have to earn a demo. (By satisfying our buying requirements) we would waste a lot of time demoing to everybody who wants to kick the tires

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

For us, live has done good deeds.

Chep

WR Officer

Bitcoin Adoption Specialist

Ours is automatically recorded and I just ask the prospect before starting if that's alright with them

slaydie

Big Shot

Account Executive

We record our calls/demos via Gong but I don't send them out to customers. I think maybe once someone asked for the recording for a colleague and that was fine, I sent it. But I don't make a habit of it, would prefer to go over things again on a call if they want.

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

ISR

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HarryCaray

Recorded demos

39 comments

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