A Good Sales Demo vs. A Bad Sales Demo

In sales, it is our goal to get our prospects to fall in trust with us. And just like all relationships, that has to happen before they ever fall in love. A good sales demo goes a long way to getting them to fall in trust with us. 

A sales demo can be a pivotal moment in the sales process, serving as a bridge between potential customers and the solutions your product offers. However, not all demos are created equal, and the difference between a good and a bad demo can significantly impact the outcome of a sales opportunity. Let’s dive into what distinguishes a good sales demo from a bad one, with practical examples to illustrate each.

At the highest level humans want to be seen, heard and understood. If you do not incorporate this concept into your sales demos you will lose more deals than you win.

What you will learn:

• What is a good sales demo
• What is a bad sales demo
• How to utilize a sales demo to improve discovery
• The one question to never ask during a demo

So let’s have a little fun. Let’s start with a bad sales demo.

The Bad Sales Demo

A bad demo fails to connect with the audience and often leaves prospects thinking what a waste of time. They feel more confused or skeptical. They do not feel seen, heard, or understood. They will not feel good about you or your organization. They will remember this experience for a very, very long time. And there is a good chance they will share this horrible experience with just about anyone who will listen. Here are some characteristics that typically define a bad demo:

Key Characteristics

1. Company history: Nobody is showing up to a demo to hear how you came up with your brilliant idea to be the next “Uber of ___” or why you are the “world leader in ____.”  Trrust me, the only thing you are the world leader of is giving bad demos.
2. Feature overload: A demo is a demo, it is not product training. Too often a sales person is trying to show everything. And by everything we mean every, little, nook-and-cranny. They want to show how to upload data, they want to show all 20 reports that can be run using the tool, they want to explain why they chose sea-mist green over lime-green and forest green. Again, trust me when I say this, nobody cares.
3. Walking someone through a deck: A sales deck is not a demo. And frankly, there is no reason to walk anyone through a sales deck anyway. Sales decks should be sent BEFORE the demo meeting. This helps you understand the level of intent, interest, and seriousness of someone’s buying intentions. When was the last time you actually liked sitting through a deck?
4. No discovery beforehand: One of the biggest mistakes we see around sales demos is when there is no discovery beforehand. If you do not do some level of discovery before a sales demo your prospects will not feel seen, heard, or understood and your sales demo will probably turn into a feature/benefits product dump.
5. Lack of preparation: Poorly prepared sales demos that don’t consider the customer’s industry, business model, or pain points can feel generic and not engaging. Again, leaving your prospect feeling not seen, heard, or understood.
6. Technical issues not addressed: Now this is a tricky one, we don’t want to go really far down the rabbit hole of technical issues, however failing to create space for this conversation in a sales demo will hurt you. Even if its brought up and tabled for another discussion, that’s ok. Failing to check and ensure all technical aspects of the product work smoothly during the sales demo can lead to interruptions and diminish credibility.
7. Monologue presentation: When the presenter does all the talking without engaging the audience, it prevents the interactive exchange of ideas, questions, and feedback that could otherwise enrich the session. If you are not asking questions about how what you are showing aligns with their current way of doing things or what their specific goals are for considering your product or services, you are failing. And in reality, you will notice them yawing, checking their watch or phone, and probably wishing they could take a nap.
8. Ignoring objections: There should be zero objections you do not know how to handle when doing a sales call or a sales demo. Additionally you should know exactly what to say when the objection arises. Do not “handle” objections, nobody wants to be handled, just ask my wife. Instead you should marinate in these objections. Understand their specific concerns, and in some cases, understand if the objection is really that important to making the decision. Not addressing or marinating in objections can leave prospects with unresolved concerns, making them less likely to buy.

Example

Consider a company demonstrating an advanced CRM system to a small business owner who needs simple client tracking solutions. If the sales demo focuses heavily on complex analytics and automation features without addressing the basic need for ease of use and low maintenance, it will likely miss the mark. 

As mentioned above, it’s completely appropriate to ask a simple question, “Before we jump into things, what are you hoping a CRM system will do for you? I have no desire to show things that you don’t feel matter to your operation.”

The Good Sales Demo

A good sales demo effectively communicates the value of the product in a way that resonates with the prospective customer’s specific needs and pain points. It is a conversation based on you customer’s headspace. What they see, hear, and feel each day that drove them to even want to talk to you in the first place. It’s not merely a feature tour but a tailored narrative that aligns the product’s capabilities with the customer’s objectives and challenges.

Key Characteristics:

1. Pre-Demo Discovery: If you can get a meeting with your champion before the demo it’s great to find out some of these things. Who will be in attendance? What is their title? What is their role in decision making? What things are important to them? And what are the things these people will be skeptical about?If you cannot get this information beforehand it’s pretty simple to just say, “I know I could show you everything and it will feel like ‘death by mouse click’. In order to make the best use of this time, what are the three challenges you are facing now that you want to make sure we cover?”
2. Customer-Centric Approach: The good sales demo starts with a clear understanding of the customer’s business, their pain points, and what they hope to achieve with the solution. This ensures that the presentation is relevant and engaging. We often suggest one simple slide before the demo. Show the prospects a slide that says “assumptions we’ve made”, then list 5-7 assumptions about why they are here. And simply ask them, “What did we get right, what did we miss?”If you cannot build that slide because you are not sure, then you probably should not be conducting a sales demo in the first place.
3. Engaging Narrative: There is no such thing as a customer journey, there is only the customer experience through the seller’s journey. A good sales demo is a part of that seller’s journey and critical to the customer experience. Instead of a dry run-through of features, the good sales demo weaves a story that positions the product as a hero in the customer’s experience. This narrative approach helps in making the demo memorable and impactful.
   
4. Interactive and Responsive: I will be the first to admit I can get long winded. And if I am not careful I will go on long diatribes and forget how long I’ve been talking. Good sales demos are interactive, allowing for questions and feedback, and adapting the flow based on the audience’s reactions and interests. This flexibility shows that the presenter is attentive and committed to addressing the customer’s specific concerns. 
   
   And if you are long-winded like me, feel free to use this line, “Oh, wow, I’ve been talking way too long, I am going to shut-up now. What questions do you have for me so far?” And yes, I really say this.
   
5. Clear Value Proposition: I actually hate the phrase value proposition or value prop. It actually feels very self centered. It feels like I am telling someone how wonderful we are because we can solve their problems.
   
   And, I don’t believe people buy words, they buy pictures. So it’s our job to Bob Ross this stuff for them. We want to have prospects share their actual pictures of pain. What they are struggling with day in and day out. We want them to give us their very specific use cases. Just like the Nyquil commercial we want them to paint the picture of their sniffling, sneezing, coughing, achy head and fever. From here we can then align our sales demo to solve their pains. We can then use the sales demo, just like in the Nyquil commercial how much better they will feel.
6. Smooth Handling of Objections: As mentioned above, nobody wants to be ‘handled’.  A good sales demo anticipates potential objections and addresses them proactively, integrating solutions into the narrative seamlessly. In fact we can even pre-address the demo. We can simply say, “Which of these things might still be a concern for you?”  
   
   We are now in control of the narrative around the objections, and we can understand which ones are the most important ones to be addressed. 

Example

Imagine a SaaS company demoing a project management tool to a potential client struggling with team collaboration and project tracking. We may even ask them to confirm these are still the top challenges they have, and we can even ask, what’s the next challenge on the list that we have not addressed?

The sales demo would focus on features like real-time collaboration, integration capabilities with other tools, and customizable project dashboards, directly linking these features to the client’s needs for better communication and efficiency.

The Dumbest Question to Ask In a Sales Demo

I know, I teased you with this one way back at the beginning of this post. Here’s the worst question to ask in a sales demo, and just about everyone asks it.

“Does that make sense?”

Single handedly the worst question to ask, and not even in a sales demo, probably in a discovery call too. Here’s why its a terrible question:

1. It’s a crutch used by sales people who feel they are talking too much and they want to make sure they’ve tried to answer questions.
2. The answer is “yes” 99% of the time.
3. It provides no real insight into what the prospect or customer is really thinking?
4. It’s not even the question we want to be asking.

Instead of asking “Does that make sense?”, ask one of the following:

1. “How does what I just explained (showed you), compare to your current way of doing things?”
2. “I want to stop here and see what concerns you might have?”
3. “On a scale of 1-10, how much does this fulfill your goals and requirements?” (Then ask, what would be the difference between the number they gave you and 10?)
4. “How does what I showed you compare to what else you’ve seen in the market place?”
   

Conclusion

I hope I’ve been able to show you the differences between good and bad sales demos. Making sure you understand the reason to ‘know your audience’, preparing meticulously, incorporating discovery into the demo, and building an interactive demo that is not death by mouse click or has you asking “does that make sense?”.

A well-executed demo not only showcases your product effectively but also builds trust and confidence in your brand, paving the way for successful customer relationships.

What key elements do you believe are essential for a sales demo to be considered effective? Let’s chat.