5 Things That Make a Demo Great

Demos play a critical role in every sales process. Oftentimes, just being prepared to give a demo isn’t enough. Sales professionals need to be mindful of other factors besides knowing their products to have their demo be a success.

Brian Burns, host of The Brutal Truth About Sales & Selling, sat down with Chad Sanderson, Managing Partner, Value Prime Solutions, to discuss five things that make a demo great:

1. PLANNING FOR FAILURE: Never assume you’ll be able to plug and play. Technologies are constantly evolving and many companies haven’t caught up with the latest trends. Always have a fallback plan for when technologies fail.
2. TIMING: Mondays? Forget about it. You want a captive audience that’s going to engage with you. Be mindful of weekends, events and holidays that might distract your audience. Generally, the best times to give a demo are Tuesday’s – Thursday’s, either in the morning or after lunch.
3. FIND A CONNECTION: Demos aren’t meant to train, they’re meant to connect. People make emotional decisions when buying and it’s often a personal connection they remember, rather than the features of a product. Just focus on finding that one connection and don’t worry about the rest. Typically there’s someone in that demo that has that problem you solve and you’ve got to connect with them.
4. KEEP IT CONVERSATIONAL: Too many sales reps use demos as a crutch. Establishing a rapport with your audience keeps the demo as a conversational piece, but allows you to talk like human beings. If you can’t have a solid interactive conversation about the industry, the problems people face and the customer’s role in the company for a good half-hour, you’re not ready yet.
5. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST FOR THE 5TH ELEMENT!

Listen to the entire podcast episode to get more insight into each key element, the things you, as a revenue executive, must be aware of to remain relevant and successful in the new sales landscape.

This post is based on a podcast discussion with Brian Burns, host of The Brutal Truth About Sales & Selling. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to the B2B Revenue Executive Experience.

If you don’t use iTunes, you can listen to every episode here.