Nothing beats a face-to-face demo when it's time to close the deal. The stakes are always higher, the potential client is already more committed and your closing rate is almost always much higher. This ultimate guide will help you create demos that close deals.

What Is a Sales Demo

A sales demo demonstrates a product or service to a potential customer. It's similar to the presentation done by a salesperson to show the capabilities of a product or service, but it goes further.

Rather than simply talking about what the product can do, the salesperson shows the prospect how it works. The best demos allow the prospect to interact with and even use the product or service.

A sales demo that closes deals focuses on solving problems and providing benefits for the prospect. It's not about listing features, it's about showing how those features will help solve problems for your prospect.

For example, if you were selling accounting software, rather than demonstrating how it helps you create invoices, show how it helps you collect payments faster and get paid sooner. In other words: Help your prospect envision how your solution will make life easier for them.

Benefits of Sales Demos That Close Deals

1. You'll Receive Feedback From Your Target Audience

Your target audience is the best way to get honest feedback about your product. While you may love your product, the people you're selling it to may have some serious concerns about it. Without a demo, you wouldn't be able to address any issues they might have.

2. Improve Your Sales Pitch

One of the biggest benefits of sales demos is that they help you improve your pitch. You have to explain the product, how it works, and why people need it when you give a demo. This forces you to think critically about what problems your product solves and how you can best describe that to your audience. The more demos you do, the easier it will be to articulate the value of your product in a way that resonates with your customers and prospects.

3. Increase Your Team's Product Knowledge

Demos also help increase your team's knowledge of your products and services. Whether it is a formal training session or an ad-hoc demo for a customer or prospect, these opportunities allow team members to see the products in action and learn how they work.

It's easy for product knowledge to become stale over time. Still, when each member of your team is involved with demos, everyone stays on top of their game and has more confidence in their abilities to demonstrate the value of your products.

4. You Can See if Your Product Meets Your Client's Needs

By showing potential customers how your product works, you can demonstrate that your product will solve their problems and meet their demands. If it doesn't, this is a great opportunity for you to find out what changes would need to be made in order for it to do so.

5. You Can Show How to Use Your Product Effectively

When people use a new product for the first time, their first reaction is usually confusion or uncertainty. By conducting a sales demo, you can show them exactly how they should use the product and exactly what it's capable of doing. This way, when they do purchase it on their own, they’ll know how to use it right away and feel confident in their purchase decision.

What Are the Similarities and Differences Between a Product Demo and a Software Demo?

Both have similarities and differences in their purpose, execution, and delivery.

Purpose

Both types of demos have similar purposes: to demonstrate the capabilities of either a specific product or service to current or prospective customers. In most cases, they are not intended to be comprehensive presentations. Instead, they may focus on specific features or aspects of the product or program that are most beneficial for potential buyers.

Execution

Product demos can be executed using physical samples or demonstrations of the product. In contrast, sales demo software focuses exclusively on demonstrating how the program works and its benefits via screenshots or videos.

The software can also be demonstrated via live online sessions with potential customers where they experience real-time demonstrations from an expert who controls all functions. These sessions allow for more active participation from potential customers than other types of demos.

Delivery

Product demos can be delivered either in person at a company's office or another location where potential buyers are present or through videos or images shown via email or on a website.

Software demos can be delivered in the same manner. Still, they also provide options for live online demonstrations, which allow potential customers to interact directly with the demo and ask questions as it is being performed.

Tips for Creating Sales Demos That Close Deals

Selling anything, from a product to a house, is about convincing someone that the thing you're selling will make them happier and more successful than they are now. Since you can't prove that your product will do that until the customer has already used it, you have to use other strategies to convince them.

The best way to do this is to give your potential customers a demonstration of the product's capabilities, its benefits, and how it can help them achieve their goals. If done well, this can close sales for many products and services. But if done poorly? It can lose them just as quickly. Here are five tips for creating sales demos that close deals.

1. Do Your Homework Before You Start the Demo

Sales demos can't be just a one-off experience. They need to be highly personalized and tailored to each prospect and their unique needs. To do that successfully, you'll need to do some research upfront to know what questions to ask and which features of your product will best solve their problems.

Also, prepare well by confirming the demo and opening relevant links in tabs prior to the demo. Prepare questions you’d like to ask your potential customer and prepare answers to questions they might have.

2. Make It Personable

Before the demo begins, take a moment to find out why the customer is considering your product. What is the problem they're trying to solve? What will their world look like when this problem is solved?

Asking these questions allows you to tailor your demo specifically to that potential customer and make sure that you address their issues in the best way possible. It also makes them feel valued and vital by showing you've done your research.

3. Keep It Short and Simple

No one wants to sit through a 45-minute sales demo! It's important to show off all of the features of your product, but you don't have to do it all at once or in detail. Focus on how you can show off each feature concisely that gives customers a good idea of what they're getting into but doesn't bore them with long explanations or drag on too long.

For your customers to understand the benefits of your product, you need to keep it simple. Follow a preset agenda and communicate this agenda prior to your meeting. This way your customer will know what to expect and this will put him at ease.

Don't bog them down with statistics or jargon. Instead, focus on real-world examples that show how it solves their problems directly in plain language everyone can understand easily.

4. Make It Interactive

Don't just talk to your prospect; make sure they're engaged in some way throughout the process. Ask questions, let them handle things themselves if appropriate, and get their feedback regularly, so you know how well they're grasping what you're saying.

5. Know Your Audience and Their Needs

The first step in building a sales demo is understanding your target audience and what they care about most. If you're trying to sell a product designed for small businesses, for example, don't focus on features that only large companies would find useful.

Similarly, when you're pitching a technical product, don't waste time explaining features or capabilities that your target audience doesn't understand. You'll lose their interest quickly if you do.

It's important to tailor your presentation based on who will be attending so you can make sure they get all the information they need from your demo.

6. Talk About Their Goals Before Talking About Your Features

Often, demos focus on what the seller has to offer, and mostly that’s all their product's features. After all, those are probably the things that get you most excited about your work. But a sales demo is not about your excitement, it's about making sure the prospect understands how much value they will get from working with you.

So instead of talking about all of your great qualities, start by asking questions about them and their goals and needs. Make sure they understand that you're there to help solve their problems, not sell them something. Then use these details to show them how your product helps them win in every way that matters.

7. Demonstrate the Product With a Problem-Driven Approach

Don't just explain what your product does, show how it solves problems for your prospect. This makes them think about their pain points in a new way and helps build a connection between what you're doing and what they need to do to solve those problems.

8. Get the Right Person in Front of the Customer

Have you ever been stuck in a meeting with someone who just didn't get it? Maybe they didn't have the right background or experience? It was probably pretty rough if they didn't understand your customer's questions, needs, and challenges. That won't inspire confidence in your product.

9. Listen and Pay Attention

This is one of the most important aspects of any sales pitch. Listening more than you speak will help you understand whether or not your demo is solving your potential client's problems. Remember, too, that listening well can help you adapt if things go off-course, which they inevitably will at some point or another.

10. Highlight Your Product's Main Features and How They Benefit the Client

The best sales demos address the client's needs by showing how your product solves their problems and meets their goals. Know what information to include and what to leave out. There are many different ways to present your product, but it should always be about the client, no matter the format.

11. Have A Clear Call To Action

At the end of your presentation, make sure there is a clear call to action telling potential customers exactly what they should do next: contact someone at the company via email or phone number, sign up for a trial period with no commitment required, etcetera.

The Right Tools For Sales With Vectera

Sales demos are one of the best ways to show potential clients what you're all about: how your product works, why they should buy it, and how they'll benefit from working with you. It also gives you a chance to find out more about the client, their needs, and whether or not they're a good fit for your business. It's a win-win situation-when done right. If you want to create sales demos that close deals consistently, use these tips discussed above.

So do you want to conduct professional virtual sales meetings, be able to rely on the technology, and stay in touch with your coworkers? Then our sales enablement software is for you! Feel free to contact us to discuss the possibilities for your organization!