Keeping your product demos up-to-date and relevant is crucial. Sam Collin, a seasoned Solutions Engineer at Demostack, recently shared insights and best practices on maintaining and improving demo environments . Here’s a deep dive into my key takeaways from speaking with her.
The Only Thing Constant is Change
Sam likens maintaining a demo environment to gardening, where different sections require varying types of maintenance at different times.
The Importance of Fresh Demos
Product demos are essential tools for sales teams, providing potential clients with a tangible understanding of your software’s capabilities. However, as products evolve, demos need constant updates to reflect the latest features. Outdated demos can lead to several challenges:
- Revenue Leakage: Failing to showcase the latest features can result in missed sales opportunities.
- Extended Sales Cycles: Inability to demonstrate new functionalities can slow down the sales process.
- Increased Maintenance Load: Sales teams may spend more time maintaining demos instead of focusing on live calls.
Challenges in Maintaining Demos
Maintaining an up-to-date demo environment is akin to tending a garden – it requires continuous care and attention. Some of the main challenges include:
- Constant Updates: Keeping the demo environment aligned with ongoing product updates.
- Data Relevance: Ensuring that new features have the necessary data for impactful demos.
- Dependence on R&D: Relying on R&D teams for updates can delay the process, as they prioritize production environments.
Effective Solutions to Demo Challenges
Addressing these challenges requires a suite of tools designed to streamline the creation, management, and presentation of software demos. Here are some effective solutions:
- Demo Builder: Allows users to create and customize demos, add relevant data, and block certain interactions to keep demos focused.
- Demo Library: Organizes and stores demo assets for easy access and sharing.
- Desktop App: Provides a clean, distraction-free environment for presenting demos.
- Demo Analytics: Tracks demo usage and ties it to revenue outcomes, helping measure effectiveness.
Spoke-hubs and Modules
A key strategy with updating new product releases with Demostack is the hub and spoke model for organizing demo environments. The "hub" refers to a centralized playbook that contains all the necessary assets for demos. Each "spoke" represents individual demo modules, such as different product features or use cases. This modular approach allows for efficient updates and maintenance. When a new feature is released, a new module (spoke) can be created and easily integrated into the playbook (hub) without overhauling the entire demo environment. This structure ensures that different sections of the demo can be updated independently, streamlining the process and keeping demos fresh and relevant.
Practical Demonstration: Building a New Demo
Here are 3 steps to create a new demo module for a new feature using a comprehensive demo management tool like Demostack. This process involves:
- Cloning the Demo: Recording a deep network-level version of the demo.
- Customization: Adding variables and customer-specific data to personalize the demo.
- Guidance and Enablement: Embedding guidance notes within the demo to assist sales teams in presenting new features effectively.
Presenter Experience
A seamless and efficient presenter experience is crucial for delivering impactful demos:
- Seamless Integration: Presenters can access the latest demos through a single link, ensuring consistency.
- Personalization: Easy customization options for tailoring demos to specific clients.
- One-click Playbooks: Presenters can quickly switch between different demo modules during a presentation.
Flexibility with Live Demos
For those unexpected questions or unique client needs, overlay demos provide real-time updates and flexibility, allowing experienced presenters to demonstrate features on the fly.
The Power of Scalable Demo Management
Controlling the demo environment and narrative is vital for moving fast and delivering consistent, impactful demos. A comprehensive demo management tool empowers sales teams to manage their demo environments independently, without relying on R&D, and ensures that every demo is as relevant and engaging as possible.
By leveraging these solutions, your sales team can deliver up-to-date, personalized demos with ease, enhancing your software's appeal and driving business success.
