Think about the last time that you purchased something on Amazon for under $50. You probably looked at the price, the shipping time, and a photo of the product. For a small purchase this makes sense as you only need a limited amount of information to make a decision (to buy it). Now imagine that you are going to splurge and make a larger purchase for around $1,500. You will probably still look for the same information, but also more closely read product reviews both on Amazon’s website and some third-party review sites. For a larger purchase, more information is required to make the commitment to buy.

This same philosophy applies to buying cybersecurity products. When you are talking about lower price points (think under $5,000 per year) you could probably do a single demo of your product alongside some sales materials and close the deal. But as you start to go up market with higher price points, single demos will no longer cut it. Additionally, demos are a critical component of multi-threading and champion building within enterprise deals.

Let’s see the different ways in which demos can be used.

The Original Demo

Ignoring product tour demos on your website, let’s take a look at the first live demo you’ll deliver. This will be focused on a few use cases, aligned to the business goals or pain points that your buyer is currently facing, and most likely only scratching the surface of your product. But for larger deals there will be a couple of things missing from this initial demo. For example, the person that is going to be using your solution might want to deep dive on specific concepts or setups so they gain a certain level of comfort. Another example would be a secondary team that could derive value from the output of your product, but aren’t the direct users (and as such weren’t a part of the original demo).

So now we book a few additional meetings with the other players that need a demo of your solution.

The Second Demo

The second demo, also delivered live, has more of a technical overtone in nature. As mentioned previously, this will usually be given to the practitioners that will be operating your product day to day. They will have their own set of use cases, their own needs, and their own reporting. While this will most likely be the most technical team you engage with, their buy-in on your solution is critical (particularly in the enterprise space where teams make recommendations up to the decision maker or budget holder).

The Third Demo

Your third and final demo is delivered to a totally parallel team that your original buyer thought might find interesting. This new team once again has a different set of use cases, requirements, and reporting needs. This demo is also delivered live, but tailored to a very different audience.

In each of these examples you are delivering your demo live, but what happens if someone is out sick or stuck in another meeting? Sure, you could just record the call, but this is where the power of demo automation and demo libraries come into play.

Building Champions with Demo Automation

With this many players in the buying process, there are a lot of requirements to keep track of! This is where demo automation can make a big impact.

• Automating your demos and building up a library cuts down on delivery time for each demo you need to deliver
• Live demo recordings make for terrible leave behinds, but a personalized demo pull from your library lets buyers explore on their own
• Internal champions can use a demo themselves to build up a business case

In the world of cybersecurity sales it’s pretty rare to have a one and done demo, not because of complexity but because humans need time to visualize where your solution fits into the environment, workflows, and teams. Can you close a deal with one demo? Maybe if the planets are aligned. 

Otherwise, buckle up and prepare to deliver multiple demos to multiple teams…making this myth is officially busted!