Jackrabbit69

Business Development

Valued Contributor

SaaS demos - next steps after a demo

Hello savages,

Happy New Year first off - hope yall have already started killing it out there 👊

So I've being doing SaaS sales across different industries for 3 years now - but one thing I'm struggling with is conversions from demos to sign ups.

Thing with SaaS is there's almost always a trial period - we end the demo with the lead telling me they're going to start the trial first - I agree and that's when the ghosting begins 👻

I'm trying to experiment with getting them to sign up for the trial at the end of the demo itself - since it's a limited period trial, I'm thinking they'd want to make use of it and try it out instead of outright forgetting about it and ignoring my calls. But what's something that almost always works for yall? Also if you've demoed something in-person, what are usually your next steps?

Our product and the demos are likely not the problem - there's no product like ours out there and I've always been told my demos rock.

☁️ Software Tech

13

20 comments

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TennisandSales

Politicker

3

Head Of Sales

So if they say that they will sign up for the trial, and then never do, that tells me they don't have a very serious problem, or they are not convinced the solution will solve the problem.

What is the conversation like when they tell you they want to try the free trial?

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

What about your colleagues? Do they have the same issues? If not then you might want to sit with them to know what right they are doing.

Have you tried telling the
prospect about the trial period and having themsign up before the meeting so they can explore a bit more and you can deep dive into their specific use cases during the call?

Jackrabbit69

Valued Contributor

0

Business Development

Haha I'm the only salesperson here, trying to set up the 0-1 journey here. Tbh, my managers want to do away with the trial all together because it is an additional step to closing. Plus the platform is quite vast, a trial might make the prospect feel confused and disinterested.

So I finish the demo, I'm usually given a - 'we'll discuss this internally and get back to you' response and then poof! 7/10 times they don't respond after that, let alone sign up for a trial.

punishedlad

Tycoon

2

🧙‍♂️

Get rid of the trial. It's an easy way out for prospects and devalues your product.

braintank

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

I'm confused. Are they not signing up or signing up then ghosting?

Also, what kind of product are you selling?

Jackrabbit69

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development

They're not signing up - I finish the demo, they tell me they'll discuss and get back to me and then they stop responding. I'll admit the industry I'm targeting is unorganized and largely run by folks with 0 corporate background, expecting them to be a little more courteous and professional is actually a little too much :P

Our software is a cloud-based interior and architecture design software, rn focusing on interior design firms and kitchen and wardrobe manufacturers. It's the manufacturers who are usually painful to work with

braintank

Politicker

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Interesting. Who are you giving demos to?

Jackrabbit69

Valued Contributor

0

Business Development

The owners, senior designers in these companies. Lot of resistance to move from legacy software😢

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

2

Lead Sales

Never rule out your demo. If they are not moving forward, they are the problem.

What you are basically asking about is closing. You are getting to step 10 and they are saying no. In all likelihood, it is not because you did step 10 wrong, but something between steps 1-9 went wrong.

The way most people do demos is very scripted. They have their process amd walk through it the same way virtually every time. If that is the way you do it, you may as well just send them a YouTube video of the demo.

Instead take more time to understand THEIR business. What are their real headaches. How do they think the software will help? How tech savvy is their team?

Put another way, do not show them the shirt, show them how they look in it.

Tell more stories. Ask more questions. That should help.

If nothing else, go back to the people who said no and ask flat out "why didn't you move forward?".

kittychachas

Valued Contributor

1

VP/Director of Sales

Agreed. Lots of sales reps do stock demos which leads to a low win-rate.

The right approach is to do a sufficient amount of discovery before setting up the demo.

The demo should be used to demonstrate that you are able to solve their key problems that you both identified during discovery. One of the worst things you can do is a feature dump during a demo where you walk them through everything your software offers without tying it into their needs.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

1

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

I was struggling with this big time too! A couple of things I did, that worked:

- Set the agenda straight up towards the beginning of the call that not everything would be explained / explored on this one call. You would be setting another call.

- Even after setting the agenda, leave out one or two key areas of their problem to be explored in the next call.

- While ending the call, I stopped asking "so do you think we can setup some time next week for this conversation?" I started asking "Do you have your calendar with you?" and then propose a time with agenda clearly defined.

- Send the invite while on the call - and make sure they get it.

- Followup email, just nudging "Speak to you on XXX".

cornerback16

Valued Contributor

1

Strategic Accounts

I sell a niche product in the Transport industry. We have a high set up cost so ‘free trials’ never really worked for us.

However, we have sold to governments who provide our system for free to some private orgs. Usage for the private orgs is shocking.

From my experience when you are getting something for free you don’t value it. Someone’s head needs to be on the chopping block to drive adoption!

kittychachas

Valued Contributor

1

VP/Director of Sales

Reading this it sounds like you’re losing people right after the demo, which means there may be an issue with setting up the demo itself.

- Are you doing discovery?

- How are you setting up the demo?

- Are you covering the same thing every demo or is it tailored to each specific prospect based on their needs?

- What pain points are they looking to solve by moving forward with you?

- At what stage do you do the demo? Is it first call, second, third?

GTMLeader

Good Citizen

1

GTM Leader

^^^^ Good info here.

Remember that software demos are the means to an end. All the cool and hi-tech features should lead to an outcome for the customer. What is the outcome your customer will receive with your software? Outcomes are the focus.

Have you identified the buyers journey and who the sponsor, economic buyer, etc are?

I'm generally not a fan of freeware. If you give something to somebody for free, that is how it will be treated. Even a few shillings of them putting some skin in the game will help identify their true desire to move the sales process forward.

Good luck!!!

SalesPharaoh

Big Shot

1

Senior Account Executive

It sounds that maybe something went off in the disco call…I sus the urgency wasn’t communicated properly…or maybe you get leads that are just browsing??

Maximas

Tycoon

1

Senior Sales Executive

That's how I can see it here!

activity

Politicker

0

VP, Business Development

That's why trials are garbage. If they've seen use cases, it's time to start signing contracts.

Justatitle

Big Shot

0

Account Executive

Since you asked, I think this is where people stuggle the most so here is the best way I have found to solve for it. in the hour demo you have or if it is broken into 2 parts ensure there is 15 minutes left at the end to discuss how they felt about what you showed them. Does it solve a problem? Do they like it? Have you discussed pricing already and can they justify it? If any of these are asked and you get positive responses take charge and say you understand that they will have to sync internally to determine if they would like to move forward and in order to avoid being annoying have a backstop meeting 3-5 days from the demo if not sooner. Once all of that happens you have a meeting to discuss if you have been determined to be the Vendor they want to go with. All that said, understanding their timeframe is also crucial to leaning on all these pieces I am mentioning.

LMachine

Valued Contributor

0

Sr. BDR

Could be they consider the solution a nice to have. Not a must have. Or maybe a conditional if solution. A buddy of mine had that happen at his company recently. Best wishes to get it figure out!

mistamor

Opinionated

0

VP of Sales

Without understanding more of the nuances here, there are some quick pieces of advice I can give:

1. When you're on the demo, schedule next steps, but make the next steps about going through the trial (i.e. a 2nd demo).
2. Try and convince your boss to lower the trial days - this helps put you in a bit more control.
3. Try and get them on a free trial before the demo starts so you can demo THEIR account (making it more sticky) - I've done this many times and it works.
4. Work more on your discovery - I bet (I'm 99% confident) there are a lot of discovery questions you're missing out on which gives you 0 leverage to keep the prospect interested and engaged after the demo.
5. Discovery needs to be throughout the demo (not just the beginning)

P.S. I have a SaaS sales coaching program, focused on disco, demo, and close (fdtcuniversity.com) - genuinely think this could be interesting for you.

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