‘Prepare Well but Listen More’: How to Master the Product Demo

by Alton Zenon III
August 27, 2020
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While preliminary research plays a vital role in how salespeople ace their product demos, reps that don’t listen to a prospect’s concerns might miss details that could help them close the deal.

“There is no amount of preparation that will overcome not listening to a prospect and being present while they explain their needs,” Daniel Hall, a director of sales and enablement with almost a decade of sales experience, said. 

Hall, who works at the video-based marketing platform BombBomb, shared his insight on what makes for a good product demo, and stressed that attentive listening is key. On Hall’s team, account executives are trained to research prospects extensively before a call to get a clear picture of their company, industry and how BombBomb’s solutions could assist them. Then, the salesperson builds an outline of how they predict the call will go. 

But as any good salesperson knows, demos don’t always go as planned.

That’s why Hall said the real work begins during the call. Reps should listen deeply to a prospect’s challenges, then personalize the demo to focus on how BombBomb’s solutions can help address a specific need. Below, Hall shared his team’s demo strategies and provided an example of how they’ve led to closed deals and a happy customers. 

 

Daniel Hall
Director of Sales and Enablement • BombBomb

How do you prepare ahead for a product demo with a prospective customer?

We prepare AEs for two types of prospect conversations. One determines if our product would meet their needs and if they would be a good fit as a customer. The second conversation is an evaluation to see if our product provides a solution for the prospect and determines how we would move forward with them as a customer. 

We use a similar approach to prepare for each of these conversations. First, we need to know about a prospect’s company, industry, product and its number of potential users. We blend outbound and inbound prospects into our sales funnel. Some of that work may be accomplished in the prospecting phase of our outbound processes. 

Then, we research recent press releases, key stakeholders, fundings and get to know their competition. In step three, we use this information to think critically about their org and how our solution could help them. We then formulate questions that will help us understand their areas of opportunities. Once we have all the information we need, we outline a question path that we could see happening in the call, determine fit and start exploring solutions. 

Listen to what a prospect is telling you about their objectives.”

 

The goal of a product demo is to prove to a potential customer that your product can solve a particular problem for them. How do you go about achieving this goal? 

To provide an example, we scheduled a discovery call with a sales leader at a Colorado Springs company. We developed a question outline we felt confident would incite a good conversation to determine fit. On the discovery call, we learned that the leader needed help lifting her email response rate and that our businesses were a good fit for each other. 

We linked the leader and her buying committee with an AE for an evaluation call. Then we determined the best path forward for her team to achieve results. She suspected that emails were coming across cold or disingenuous and we felt video could help warm up her message and re-humanize her efforts. Together, with guidance from the customer success team, we developed a goal of a 25 percent response rate; a number the prospect chose because it could drive impact toward reaching her sales goal. The result: she saw a response rate of 70 percent and built a pipeline of over $1.2 million.

 

More from BombBombBonding With a Bang: BombBomb Is Reconnecting Companies With Clients Through Video

 

What’s the most important piece of advice you’d give to another salesperson who’s looking to master the product demo?

Prepare well but listen more. There is no amount of preparation that will overcome not listening to a prospect and being present while they explain their needs. Focus on them. Listen to what a prospect is telling you about their objectives and the goals of their organization. Then determine if your product could be a solution for them. 

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