The sales demonstration is a time-proven strategy that strengthens your presentation by attracting the prospect’s attention, stimulating interest, and creating desire. Car salespeople don’t simply talk about features and benefits. They hand you the keys and suggest you take them for a spin. Why? It gives you a temporary feeling of ownership that helps build a desire for the product. Evoke the same response in your prospects by learning to plan and deliver compelling sales demos using your products and services as proof devices below.
What is a Sales Demo?
A sales demonstration, or a sales demo, is the process of sales reps delivering a presentation to their prospective customer, hoping that the features, benefits, and advantages of their product or service will help persuade them to close the deal.
Why Deliver a Sales Demo?
A sales demo aims to explain to prospective customers how your offering or solution will solve their specific current needs and alleviate customer pain points or issues they’re experiencing.
This process persuades your prospect to want to purchase your product or service or at least spurs them to learn more so they can close the deal later on.
When Do You Deliver a Sales Demo?
There are a few specific points within a buyer journey when you might deliver a sales demo. These include:
- When your lead requests a consultation.
- When an inbound lead contacts your team to learn more about your product or service.
- When users complete a micro conversion on your website, for instance, by signing up for a newsletter or downloading a free document.
How Do You Deliver a Sales Demo?
Different prospects have different needs, and in today’s largely remote workplace – you may find yourself using some of these common sales demonstration delivery channels:
- Live video chat (Zoom, GoToMeeting, Google Meet)
- Pre-recorded video (On-demand)
- Phone
- In-person
How to Plan & Deliver a Compelling Sales Demo That Sells
Do you prefer to watch instead of read? Learn how to make more compelling demonstrations right here in this video.
1. Plan the Benefits
Planning the benefits – not the features but the benefits- makes your sales presentation so effective. What’s more, arriving unprepared for a sales demo is a waste of everyone’s time. Planning to answer your customer’s question of “what’s in it for me?” begins by understanding the differences between features and benefits.
Features: Features are what your product does or has — the specifications and technical aspects. For example, the ‘feature’ of a carpet might be that it has stain-resistant properties.
Benefits: Benefits are the value it brings to your customer. It answers why the feature is useful. For the same carpet, the benefit of a carpet with stain-resistant properties might be that if red chili sauce is spilled on it, the carpet won’t stain. Instead, it’ll wipe off with water. The benefits you’ll want to prepare include cost savings, increased productivity, profitability, speed, effectiveness, or effort.
While there are so many different benefits that you can present to customers, the key is to find that one benefit that resonates most strongly with them. Find out what’s essential to your customers, then present them with the benefits they’ll find the most valuable.
2. Create a Sales Demo Agenda
Sales demos should always follow an agenda or plan that has been circulated among prospects before the beginning to ensure they understand which stage of the agenda they’re currently in.
This helps set expectations, lowering your prospect’s anxiety, meaning they’ll stay on track and organized.
Ensure you note how you will take detailed questions at the end of the sales demo – but that you also appreciate quick questions throughout.
3. Select your Sales Demonstration Proof Devices
All prospects know you will only say good things about your product, so you must give them an impartial view of the benefits.
However, before you suggest a virtual sales presentation – you need to know what’s most important to your customers so that when they’re at the tipping point of buying – you can present the proof device that will resonate with them most.
Proof devices can be anything from a testimonial from a current or past customer, case studies, samples, a demonstration, or product models.
Here are some examples of proof devices to plan to incorporate into your sales presentation:
- Testimonials
- Awards won
- List of clients
- Photos of the successful implementation of your product
- Case studies
- Models or samples of your product
- Product demonstrations
- Articles in trade magazines
- Consumer reports
- Product specification sheets
I often offer qualified prospects a free consultation, and this is often referred to as a proof device.
Most choose to engage my services after demonstrating how I could help improve sales in their businesses.
These strategies provide a temporary feeling of ownership that builds desire.
Now, you must consider how you can attract your prospect’s attention, stimulate interest, and create desire.
4. Anticipate Objections
When prospects have questions or objections about your offering, it’s a sign that they’re considering your solution. That’s why when it comes to asking questions, you need to be able to anticipate objections – and have formulated answers to persuade them that your offering has the value they need.
Next, you’ve got to practice it. Rehearse your answer repeatedly in front of the mirror so you can see what you look like when you respond to that objection. Practice with a partner, friend, colleague, mentor, coach or manager.
Sales Demonstration Techniques & Best Practices
Personalize It
The last thing you want to do is focus your sales demonstration on values you assume your prospect cares about, only to discover that your pitch would have landed if you’d used another benefit of your offering.
The solution? Ask them. Ask them what’s most important to them regarding this solution and what they have tried before that they were happy or not happy with.
Ask other key stakeholders if you can’t find out what drives them directly from the key decision-maker. There’s a good chance that if you have a strong relationship with them, they’ll root for you and share it with you.
Make it interactive
What is the best way to deliver a compelling sales demo? Make your prospect part of your demonstration!
For example, if you’re selling photocopy machines, rather than going through and demonstrating them, get them to use them to complete a simple task.
Something foolproof, like loading paper and pressing a green button. Let them see how easy it is.
For instance, if you’re selling televisions, there are many features on this TV, like a smart TV, where you can flip from app to app and go online and surf or use Netflix.
Don’t just tell or show them; hand them the remote control. Get them to push a couple of the big, easy buttons so they can see how simple it is.
Memory & Movement
Moving graphics of your proof devices in action can gain attention and raise your prospects’ dopamine levels.
However, ensure they change frequently and ensure it’s graceful and timely to avoid your prospective client becoming overwhelmed.
The 20% Rule
Give 20% more emphasis on your voice, movement, and facial expressions when connecting via video.
This rule makes it easier to understand without raising your voice to an unnatural level and often helps eliminate filler words.
The Unseen
Everyone has a hidden emotional agenda; it’s perfectly normal. What happens in a prospective client’s day might affect their decisions, so it’s important to remember that trust is everything. Don’t ignore the signs; you can always suggest rescheduling to another time if they’re distracted.
End On Time
Everyone has a hidden emotional agenda; it’s perfectly normal. What happens in a prospective client’s day might affect their decisions, so it’s important to remember that trust is everything.
Don’t ignore the signs; you can always suggest rescheduling to another time if they’re distracted.
Also read:
- How to Ask For The Sale Without Being Pushy
- Solution Focused Sales Coaching Techniques
- 5 Powerful Reasons Why The Customer Is Always Right
Final Word: Gain the Skills To Tell Prospects ‘What’s in it for them’
Gain the foundational sales skills everyone in sales needs to master with Selling Your Solution Training, whether asking the right questions to uncover problems, presenting your solution effectively, tactfully overcoming objections, or presenting so efficiently that closing becomes easy.
We equip participants with the knowledge and application skills to assess customer needs better, adopt a consultative selling approach, and avoid losing deals by not proposing inadequate solutions.
