Seven steps to a brilliant sales demonstration

Seven steps to a brilliant sales demonstration

In this article, we guide you to design a successful sales exhibition by exploring key questions to put you in the shoes of your prospects.

As a business owner or sales professional, you know how important it is for potential customers to see what's under the hood before buying a car. A sales demo is one of the few activities that allows you to reveal the inner workings of your product or service to an audience.re to edit.

​A good demo can also help you win qualified sales leads by connecting your product directly to your needs. That's because people care less about the actual solution you're selling in relation to the difference it can make in their lives.

Table of Contents
What is a sales demo?

Questions to prepare your sales demo

1. What does your potential customer need?
2. Who should be in the room during the demostration?
3. What sales approach should I take?
4. How long should your demo last?
5. What tools or technology will you need?
6. What is the best way to showcase your product or service?
7. Can you get ahead of certain questions?

What is a sales demo?

A sales demonstration is a presentation that is made to potential buyers to show both the characteristics of a product or service, and the value for which they are designed. In it it is important to show that you can:

1. Be familiar with your potential customer's pain points.
2. Understand what needs to be achieved.
3. Solve specific problems or achieve current goals.

If your demo doesn't make your potential customer want to buy your solution right away, you should at least make them move in that direction.

Questions to prepare your sales demo

​Ask yourself the following questions before you prepare your presentation

1. What does your potential customer need?

​Step 1: Determine the pain points and requirements of your potential customer.
One of the surest paths to becoming a trusted sales consultant is to do the work necessary to figure out who your potential customers are and what they're concerned about. To uncover important details about who you're selling to, use company webinars or emails to gather key information. For example, use surveys to gather information during your seminar or add one to your promotional emails.

The information you collect will guide your sales demonstrations.

• What does your company do?
• Who are your competitors?
• What specific problems are they experiencing?

The answers to these questions will help you tailor your presentation to your client's situation.

Why customize a demo?
Take a moment to think about how much more interested potential buyers become when you tailor your sales calls, presentations, and prospecting efforts directly to them. Sales demos are no different.
Research and preparation are essential to understanding the specific needs of your potential customer, instilling confidence, and eventually closing the sale.

Imagine that your company sells Pipedrive CRM software, a solution used by a variety of commercial companies and professional salespeople to manage their sales. Now imagine a prospect, a car dealership company, who is considering using Pipedrive to record, track, and track car sales opportunities.
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You would not use a demonstration based on common sales challenges and solutions; rather it would investigate the car dealership's problems and fix them and create its presentation from there. Once your potential client has accepted your demo, you will take the necessary steps to ensure that the right people will be there.

2. Who should be in the room during the demonstration?

Step 2: Invite people with purchasing
authority Before you begin your demo, make sure key stakeholders and decision makers will attend.
To find out who those people are, ask your sales contact:

• Who will use this product or service?
• Who will approve your purchase?
• How does your buying process unfold?

In many cases, B2B purchasing decisions are made by a company committee or a group of decision makers from different departments. Therefore, it is important to understand the individual roles of the various stakeholders involved.

According to Gartner, a world leader in consulting and research in the market of new technologies, customers who perceived that the information they received from suppliers was useful to advance their purchasing work were 2.8 times more likely to experience a high degree of ease of purchase.

In other words, the better you understand your roles, the easier it will be for stakeholders to make a purchase decision. However, that doesn't mean you should focus all your efforts on those with greater seniority or buying influence. Everyone involved will have a say in any deal that eventually happens.
Once you have determined who to
invite and verbally confirmed your availability, you should immediately set a date and time for your demo and send a calendar invitation or RSVP email to each person attending.

Don't forget to include all the information needed to log in or mark if you're presenting via webinar or video conference. You may also want to let guests you haven't connected with in person yet about the highlights of your company and its offering.
To prevent your hard work from being wasted, be sure to:
Allow enough time before the demo date to prepare and practice your presentation.
Contact your potential client the day before your event to reconfirm that he and his colleagues will attend.
They are prepared to reschedule if key decision makers have to postpone.

Remember, while it's important to do everything you can to make sure someone with the authority to make a purchase is present, your demo should be structured to have an impact on everyone in your audience.

Once you have determined who to
invite and verbally confirmed your availability, you should immediately set a date and time for your demo and send a calendar invitation or RSVP email to each person attending.

Don't forget to include all the information needed to log in or mark if you're presenting via webinar or video conference. You may also want to let guests you haven't connected with in person yet about the highlights of your company and its offering.
To prevent your hard work from being wasted, be sure to:

• Allow enough time before the demo date to prepare and practice your presentation.
• Contact your potential client the day before your event to reconfirm that he and his colleagues will attend.
• They are prepared to reschedule if key decision makers have to postpone.

Remember, while it's important to do everything you can to make sure someone with the authority to make a purchase is present, your demo should be structured to have an impact on everyone in your audience.

3. What sales approach should I take?

Step 3: Demo Structure
While the goal of any sales demo presentation is to show what your product can do, it's equally important to show how it can be tailored to the needs of the potential customer in front of you. 

There are two things to keep in mind when determining your selling approach.

1. Showing your audience that you understand their situation is essential
2. People are more likely to buy things they can easily understand

The initial research you did on your prospect will provide you with the foundation you need to:

• Acknowledge your weaknesses at the beginning of your demo
• Demonstrate exactly how your product or service can improve your current state.
• Focus on reiterating and solving your client's specific problems throughout your presentation.

The Power of Stories
In terms of tone structure, storytelling is a great way to show your prospect that you understand what they're up against.

As human beings, we are programmed to respond to stories. Not only do they help us remember information better, according to studies in neuroscience, they also trigger the release of oxytocin, a pro-social chemical in the brain that makes us feel caring and safe.

​By putting the capabilities of your solution in a colorful context, your customer will better understand and relate to them.

That doesn't mean you should avoid sharing facts, figures, or statistics. Rather, you should find ways to integrate product features or service benefits into stories of how they've helped existing and satisfied customers with similar challenges.

As you develop the structure of your demo, you should:
Keep your audience engaged with short answer questions at all times
Gather their thoughts on your offer immediately after your presentation.
Directly asking your prospect what the next step in their decision-making process will be

The point is to get feedback
on the ground on how any gaps between the need and the solution that may still exist can be closed.
your prospect and offering to address any questions or concerns that arise.

4. How long should your demo be?

Step 4: Plan Your Agenda 
To show respect for your audience (and keep yourself from rambling), sales demos must bridge that fine line between flexibility and an urgent schedule. 

Ideally, you'll want to leave enough time for questions at the end. Webinar stats from  Livestorm   - the  all-in-one video engagement platform that lets you manage your online events from start to finish -  suggest that 30 minutes to an hour is a good rule of thumb for most time periods. demonstration.

It's also worth noting that, especially in the case of informal or group webinars or presentations, the timing of the demo is just as important as the duration. 

​"The days of the week also come into play. You are less likely to attend scheduled sales demonstrations early in the morning or late at night. Try to schedule your demo mid-week, during working hours in your geographic area, to get the best support results," states Barnabe Lourdel, Head of Sales at Livestorm.

Regardless of the structure or approach you choose, you should start your demo with a warm welcome and then take a moment to reconfirm your potential client's needs and expectations against what you're going to cover in the reserved time.

Letting your audience know what to expect and updating them on their progress as you go through the demo will help them feel comfortable and keep you on track.

It's also important to respond to comments and questions along the way as much as possible. Be sure to emphasize that you have left time at the end of your demo for a more detailed Q&A session.

5. What tools or technology will you need?

​​Step 5: Choose and test your sales demo tools 
Will your sales demo be delivered remotely or through some other means? To provide as much support as possible, try to be available to demo your product or service in the way that works best for your potential customer. 
It's not uncommon, for example, to walk customers through a sales demo over the phone, live chat,  or email. But face-to-face presentations are often more effective.

If you can't meet in person, consider using a video conferencing tool or video conferencing software like Livestorm (which can be integrated with the  Pipedrive CRM) to present your product or service. Just make sure the video chat technology you choose allows for easy screen sharing and includes features designed to streamline the demo sales process before, during and after your event.
​
Livestorm's suggestion is to look for a tool that:

• Is browser-based (to increase support and increase security)
• Have engagement features (including chat, questions, and polls)
• Make automatic recordings
• Include marketing features
• Provide advanced analytics 
• Facilitate team collaboration

​You may also consider taking advantage of Pipedrive's valuable features and plugins like Scheduler to set up and manage your sales demo invitations.

Whatever sales tools or technology you use, be sure to leave enough time to get familiar with what it can do and verify that it works the way you need it to well before the demo.

6. What is the best way to showcase your product or service?

Step 6: Put Your Solution into Action
A sales demo is meant to showcase your product or service in action. Whether you're presenting virtually or in person, Barnabe suggests screen sharing as a great way to showcase your solution.

"Use screen sharing during your demo to introduce your product to your audience. They can follow you in real time and see exactly how your product can benefit them. You can also prepare videos in advance and upload them during your product demo or add slides and other media. Take any opportunity to clearly define how your product will help your audience," he explains.

Be sure to clean and disable the following in your shared viewing environment:

• Unrelated or personal apps and icons on your screens.
• Programs or web pages that you will not use during your demo.
• Audio and on-screen notifications for instant messaging or email communications.

Having a moderator on hand is a great way to answer questions during the demo. A support representative can sit in the webinar room and provide useful links to your help documentation during the webinar. At the end of the demo, you can answer these questions in greater detail, showing your audience exactly what you mean by screen sharing.

7. Can you anticipate certain questions?

​Step 7: Be prepared to answer unavoidable questions
The better prepared you are to provide quick and helpful answers, the more likely you are to establish trust with your audience.

Customize your landing pages to include forms that collect key information from potential customers. You can then tailor your demo to match this information.

You may also want to check with other members of your sales team to find out what questions new leads and prospects are typically asking them.

A common question to expect is, "How much does your product or solution cost?" You will need to decide in advance if you are prepared to talk about the price or if you will offer to provide a detailed selling proposition after the demo.

If you decide to answer questions about the price it is suggested:

• Put your price in context by emphasizing the value your solution represents in terms of cost savings or increased revenue.
• Be prepared to set the ROI (return on investment) that a specific lead can expect.
• Exceed expectations by "pinning" your price to a higher number: Enter higher-priced options first, for example, and then reduce the cost of the solution that best fits a particular customer

Just like when telling a story, it's worth using sales data to help prepare and answer questions from potential customers. Numbers or percentages that reflect the success of your product provide real value from a decision-making and trust-building perspective.

Lastly, be sure to record and use the questions and concerns raised during your sales demo to guide follow-up conversations and improve future interactions.

As Barnabe notes,
"Questions submitted through the questions tab of your demo software (such as Livestorm) can be saved and used later to create better demos. You can even use the questions to inspire blog articles or other content and send follow-up emails to attendees with this new content."

Conclusions

Now that you've laid out the steps you need to take to put together a brilliant sales demo, it should be clear that understanding your audience, knowing your product inside and out, and being prepared is critical to your success.

Remember to do a pre-demo check.
Have you tailored your delivery to the needs of your potential customer? Make sure you've asked your audience in advance, for example, if there are specific features or details they'd like to see explained during your demo.
Are there any features or results of the product that you don't know about? Contact your sales manager, product development team, or marketing department to get the answers you need.
Have you practiced your demo out loud? Rehearsing and recording yourself in front of a mirror or your computer camera will help you recognize nervous gestures or slurs when speaking that might discourage your audience.

Practicing what you're going to say ahead of time will also help you feel more relaxed during your sales demos and leave you better prepared to answer questions clearly and safely.

Source: Pipedrive Blog
Category: Improving Sales