Want more engaging sales demos? Here's how to create an interactive demo.
Interactive sales demos win deals. The more engaging, exciting, and captivating a demo is, the more your prospects will want to purchase.
The science is simple, when people are engaged, they become more emotionally invested. Combine that with actually solving their problems, and you have a winning deal.
However, creating an interactive product demo is easier said than done, especially if you are dealing with difficult prospects who may not be very chatty.
To create interactive, engaging, and winning demos, that wow decision-makers here’s what you should do:
Personalize as much as possible
Want your prospects to really engage? Personalize as much of your demo as possible. Include their names, their company name, logos, and customer names within your demo instance so they can see exactly how your platform will look when they use it. Your prospects should feel like they are experiencing your solution, not just using it.
Speaking of what your buyers are experiencing... Even though many pain points can be generalized, never take them for granted. Take the time to understand your prospect's unique needs and let your software demo reflect that.
To make your sales demo even more relevant, ensure you use an instance that reflects the vertical your prospects are in and even customize the data they see. Larger or smaller numbers than their own may sway their opinion of your platform, making them think it is meant for larger or smaller companies than theirs.
One way to keep your demo relevant is to feature a case study from a similar company, to show the results you earned from them.
Of course, a demo experience platform allows sales reps to customize every aspect of a demo in minutes, guaranteeing the most consistent and personalized experience with the least amount of effort.
Collaborate on the agenda
When it comes to your demo plan, don’t dominate the agenda. Instead, whether it be before the demo call, or at the beginning of the presentation, ask your prospects what they would like to see and what’s most important to them.
The truth is you’ll never know if you don’t ask. So, to maximize the effectiveness of your sales demo, prioritize what your prospect wants to see. Then, if you know there are certain competitive advantages or outstanding features, work those in as well.
If you show your buyers what they are most interested in, you will grab their attention and keep them engaged. People tend to be passive about things they don’t care about, no matter how exciting you think it is.
Further, when you give a demo, don't just focus on closing the deal. Instead, seek to actually uncover and solve your prospect's pain points. When you truly solve problems, the deal should close itself.
Encourage discussion during the demo
The same approach to collaboration applies during the demo itself as well. Demos should not be a monologue, and you shouldn’t spend the entire time talking (no matter how much you like to hear yourself).
Go beyond a simple product tour and instead ask questions during your product demonstration. Look for feedback, check in, and even ask your prospects what they would like to see.
Make your demos a free-flowing conversation that touches on predetermined points. The best sellers are able to make a structured route, with what the prospect asks to see, feel natural and flowing. This should not be a simple product walkthrough, instead make it an engaging experience.
Moreso, when you check-in. Don’t ask standard questions like, “how are we feeling so far,” or “do we have any questions.” Instead, give specific prompts about aspects of the demo, or ask your prospects how they can see themselves using a feature so they are more engaged.
Ask follow-up questions
As your prospects engage with you during a demo, you can bring their participation to the next level by asking follow-up questions to their questions or comments. Rather than them making a statement and simply saying, “sounds good,” “okay,” or “I’ll make a note of that,” the best sales reps ask follow-up questions during a demo to drive more discussion and get more engagement.
Get deeper by asking them about specific use cases, the situations they can see themselves being in, how they’ve tried to solve problems in the past, and what prior outcomes were. All of this not only creates a more interactive sales demo but nets you more information you can use to close effectively.
Show your actual product
Perhaps the best way to create an interactive sales demo and drive an engaging conversation is to show your actual product during the call.
If you’re still using slides, screenshots, or even just videos, it's time to ditch that all together. Your prospects want to see your product, what it looks like, how it works, and how it actively solves their issues. To do that, they must see it.
But, sometimes showing the actual product isn’t always feasible, or effective. In-house demo instances have their issues and are prone to errors, unforeseen changes, and a myriad of other issues. Sales teams are often at the mercy of product or engineering when it comes to their demos, and never know what may happen.
Instead, a demo experience platform like Demostack guarantees flawless, interactive sales demos every time. These demo platforms give sellers complete control over the demo, and therefore their sales process.
