How to Nail Every Live Demo Like a Pro?

Do you struggle to captivate your audience and demonstrate the value of your product or service? If so, mastering the art of the live demo could be your go to solution. Live demos are an effective way to showcase your product's capabilities, build trust with your audience, and ultimately close deals faster. 

Even an averagely crafted 5-minute demo can increase conversions by an average of 15.33%. Consider how effective and engaging a live demo would be. And that’s not all, it helps to close deals faster. Want to know more? This blog post will discuss the ins and outs of delivering effective live demos. We'll also cover the challenges of captivating potential clients during every virtual meeting. Let’s begin.

What are Live Demos?

Live Demos are a face to face meeting and an interactive way of showcasing products or services in real-time. They allow potential customers to experience a product before they purchase it or to better understand how a service works. They allow people to ask questions and get direct feedback from the presenter, which can help make an informed decision. 

In addition, during a live demo, the presenter can showcase features and benefits that the customer may not have been aware of. Live Demos are the crucial part of the sales process where the sales person engages personally with the buyer. 

Typical Live Demo Stages in Sales Calls

Sales calls can be nerve-wracking, especially when delivering a live demo of your product or service. In the words of Marc Benioff, co-founder of Salesforce, “The key to success with a product is getting to know your customers and building something that they need.” There are specific stages to a successful live demo that every salesperson should know.

1. Understanding the Problem in a Discovery Call

The first stage of a successful live demo is understanding the problem. Before you even start talking about your product, you need to know what your prospect is struggling with. This is where a discovery call comes in. This call is an opportunity to ask questions, listen, and learn from your prospect. Once you understand their pain points, you can customize your demo to show exactly how your product can solve their challenges.

2. Explaining How Your Product Can Eradicate the Challenges

After you’ve identified the problem, it’s time to explain how your product can help. This is where your sales pitch comes in. You need to clearly and concisely explain your product’s features and benefits. Use language that your prospect understands and relate it back to the challenges they’re facing. It’s important to show how your product can save time, increase efficiency, and ultimately provide a return on investment.

3. Providing Proof of Concept for Your Solution 

Once you’ve explained what your product can do, it’s time to show it in action. This is where providing proof of concept comes in. Rather than just telling your prospect what your product does to address their issues, you need to demonstrate it. Have a demo prepared that shows each feature in action and shows how the solution will address each issue. This not only helps your prospect understand the product better, but it also builds trust in your brand.

Why a Typical B2B Live Demo’s Win Rate is too Low?

Live demos allow salespeople to interact directly with potential buyers and build relationships through verbal and non-verbal means. However, despite their importance, these sessions may not yield the desired results for the following reasons:

1. Scheduling Challenges and No-Shows

Scheduling challenges and no-shows can make gathering all important stakeholders in one room for a meeting difficult. On average, there are about 11 or 12 stakeholders involved in a B2B decision-making process, and it can be a challenge to get everyone together at the same time. When some stakeholders don't attend the meeting, getting consolidated feedback on the proposal can be challenging, which can hamper the chances of closing the deal.

2. Lack of Confirmation and Follow-Up

Follow-up is critical in B2B sales. It's an opportunity to build on the momentum of the initial demo call and continue to build the relationship with the buyer. It's also a chance to answer any additional questions, address any concerns, and provide additional information that could be helpful in the decision making process.

After the initial demo call, many sales representatives fail to follow up with the buyer in a timely and meaningful way. Data says that over 50% of sales leads are never followed up on. This can leave the buyer feeling ignored or unimportant, leading to a relationship breakdown.

3. Inability to Have Solution Engineers at Every Meeting

As solution engineers have in-depth knowledge of the product or solution, they can showcase its value to potential clients. However, due to capacity issues, having SEs attend every deal and meeting is not feasible. When account executives or salespeople have to run these meetings without the support of a skilled solution engineer, there is a risk of a lower-quality product-solution experience in the room. 

Even the most talented AEs may not possess the same level of expertise as an SE, which can negatively impact the level of understanding and trust between the client and the product. Moreover, without an SE present, clients may feel that they aren't getting adequate technical information or that their questions are being addressed. This can lead to a lack of engagement with the product or confidence in its capabilities. 

4. Inconsistent Narratives or Pitch of Sales Reps

During demo calls, sales reps convey the features and benefits of the product or services and tell an engaging story that convinces the potential buyer to buy. However, the sales teams trying to personalize their pitch for specific clients may overdo it, causing miscommunication or omissions of key elements. This can lead to a customer's needs and pain points not being addressed, resulting in confusion or an ineffective pitch.s

5. Inability to Engage and Connect with Right Stakeholders 

B2B live demos often face low win rates due to a lack of understanding of decision-makers, the people ultimately responsible for approving purchases. Without connecting with these stakeholders, sales teams can struggle to craft a compelling argument that resonates with their needs and interests.

According to Gartner, an average B2B buying group comprises six to ten decision-makers. If you don't have the decision-maker present, there's little chance the deal will progress. Sure, you might be able to schedule another meeting, but that's not always feasible or practical.

The challenge goes beyond simply identifying who these stakeholders are, it requires sales teams to dig deep into their motivations, challenges, and objectives in order to develop a narrative that converts. 

How Demoboost’s Interactive Demo Can Eliminate the Obstacles?

Demoboost's interactive demo can help you boost the effectiveness of your live sessions. Here’s how:

1. Discovery Automation

With Demoboost's discovery automation, you can make the discovery process seamless and enjoyable for the buyer. By building a playlist micropage outlining the benefits of your solution as case studies, you're creating an easy-to-navigate menu of choices for buyers. This not only helps you identify the buyer's needs, but it also gives them a mini demo of how your solution helped other clients. By turning the discovery session from a tedious interrogation meeting into a lively exchange, including show and tell diving buyers engagement and information sharing. 

2. Landing Perfect Pitch Every Time With Speaker Notes

Delivering a complex solution with precision and confidence is not always easy. It can be difficult to engage and be effective at the same time while remembering the details, facts, and stories for the presentation. However, with Demoboost's speaker notes feature, you are better equipped to answer questions from prospects and present your ideas in a convincing way. 

This means you don't have to worry about missing important points. Speaker notes are prepared by presales- the demo expert and shared with AEs. Even inexperienced sales reps will deliver their pitch with maximum effectiveness, leading to higher closing rates and greater success for your business.

3. Engage With all the Stakeholders and Gather Their Feedback

Demoboost's demo automation provides a simple and effective way to engage with all stakeholders, even if they are not present during the call. It tracks who watches the demo videos and sends out notifications to all stakeholders, inviting them to provide feedback on the product demo. This allows businesses to quickly gather insights from multiple stakeholders without any additional effort. 

Additionally, Demoboost helps consolidate all feedback in one place. This makes it easier for vendors to analyze feedback from all stakeholders and determine the final shape of the POC demo. Not only does this process streamline the feedback process, but it also ensures that everyone is on the same page about the demo presentation.

4. Reinforce the Live Session with an Even More Powerful Follow-Up Demo

After the live session, you can reinforce the demo with a more powerful follow-up demo. It is an interactive demo that can be accessed by the prospect anytime and anywhere. 

The demo is tailored to the prospect's specific  questions raised during the live session and it helps the sales team give additional information and examples. This gives the buyer the reassurance that the team is listening and is there to deliver a solution to the buyer's needs. 

5. Learn what works Through Powerful Live Demo Analytics

Demoboost's interactive demo automation platform leverages the power of live demo analytics to provide valuable insights into what works for your live demo. For the first time sales leaders can actually get insights about live demo sessions. Thanks to tracking the live sessions delivered on Demoboost platform, organizations can:

•  collect data about AEs following the demo flows
• understand the FAQs  in order to adapt the pitch
• Identify training needs for individual contributors

Can a Live Demo be supported by an Interactive Demo Platform? 

Many people believe that interactive demos offer only a linear journey, which goes against the principle of free-flowing conversation. That is however not true. Let’s have a look at how Demoboost support the Live Demo Sessions:

1. Demoboost’s Interactive Demos are Effective in Showcasing Product Value in Use 

Demoboost's interactive demos provide rapid action and a streamlined experience for AEs and prospects alike. Instead of waiting to craft demos, they can quickly be customized within minutes based on existing templates, allowing AEs to move prospects through the sales process quickly.  This is in particular relevant for the mid-funnel sales meetings, where demos are frequently used. With this fast-paced approach, AEs are able to demonstrate product value more efficiently, making it easier for potential customers to be convinced of its worth.

2. Demoboost Handles Nonlinear Presentations

Demoboost supports non-linear demo journeys allowing users to freely ask questions during the session and explore the product on their terms. Demoboost always recommends having a pre-recorded pitch, however having all other sections open in case the questions come up. In this way, the live session powered by Demoboost delivers the same experience as in a live demo environment, but with the added benefit of speaker notes and analytics (read below). 

3. Demoboost Seamlessly Demonstrates Platforms Integrations For stronger engagement 

With an interactive demo Platform like demoboost, one can easily integrate the screens from different environments, products and platforms. By integrating all those different platforms into one demo, the presenter in the Live Session avoids jumping between different tabs. No more ‘imagine’ statements- sales teams will be able to click through  a seamless journey for better buyer experience. 

4. Demoboost Provides Speaker Notes for 100% narrative alignement

Through the use of Demoboost's speaker notes, presales teams can draft custom scripts for each page of their demo. These scripts provide the necessary guidance to AEs for an effective presentation. They are tailored to ensure that the key points and messages of the demo are delivered in a way that resonates with the audience.

5. Demoboost Stimulates Continuous Learning with Live Demo Analytics

Demoboost Demo Analytics provides valuable information on how the AED delivers the script and how the buyers take them off track. By analyzing how much time was spent on each element and whether the pitch went smoothly as planned or maybe there were many follow-up questions, the sales leaders can know, 

• Whether the demos perform well
• Which AEs are best skilled at landing the message and which need support 
• Gather qualitative insights about the flow itself and potential need to change it.

Supercharge Your Sales Demos With Demoboost

Live demos are crucial for any B2B sales process but require much effort and expertise to execute effectively. The typical sales process involves several stages, such as discovery, qualification, and positioning, before a demo can even be scheduled. And even after a demo is scheduled, the closing rate remains low.

Demoboost helps you overcome these obstacles. The platform is designed to make your demo process more efficient, effective, and personalized. With Demoboost, you can deliver high-quality, interactive demos to prospects in less time and effort. In turn, you can close deals faster and more efficiently.

Master your live demos with Demoboost. Book a demo today and see the results for yourself.

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