6 Dos and Don’ts of Sales Demos

Sales demos are your opportunity to showcase your solution.

If the demo goes well, there’s a good chance you’ll close a deal and sign a new client. Similarly, a poor demo will result in a lost sales opportunity or sending the prospect for further nurturing.

We spoke with our sales team that’s responsible for running AiSDR’s own demos: our CEO Yuriy Zaremba and our Head of Marketing Alina Karnaukh.

Here’s their take on some of the dos and don’ts of sales demos.

What are your dos of sales demos?

Sales demos are your chance to show off your solution’s features. You can also outline how your solution meets a prospect’s needs and solves their pain points.

Here are some of the things Yuriy and Alina do during their demos.

Do ask for feedback after showing your solution

“When I’m wrapping up the product part of the demo, I like to lead off with questions like ‘What do you think? Do you see any blockers to trying out AiSDR?’ This helps shift the topic to an open conversation where they can ask any pressing questions while voicing their concerns. Not only does this let you know if they’re serious about trying the product, but it gives insight into their objections or reasons for not choosing your product.”

Alina

Do ask about their current outbound/inbound

“After introducing myself, thanking the person for joining the call, and setting the agenda, I ask them about their current outbound strategy and results. Based on that, I explain how AiSDR can help and where it may fall short. I try to be as honest and upfront as possible so that I can align their expectations with what AiSDR can deliver. Sometimes I just let them know that it seems like they lack a good product-market fit, making it too early for them to start using AiSDR. Similarly, if they’re getting all their demos from cold calls and they don’t have outbound up and running, I tell them that I’m not certain if AiSDR is the right channel for their audience.”

Yuriy

Do ask prospects to express their expectations and use case

“I make sure to always ask the person about their performance expectations and use cases. With that info, I can show them what their user journey will look like when they’re using AiSDR. I can even try to replicate their actual use case on the spot so that they see how it’ll work.”

Alina

What are your don’ts of sales demos?

Broadly speaking, sales demos are unscripted calls that last 15-30 minutes. Even though there’s a general framework for the demo, there are lots of moving parts. From technical failures to late arrivals, there are several ways for a demo to go wrong.

To minimize your chances of a poor demo, here are some don’ts you can use to make sure your demo goes well.

Don’t leave the Q&A until the very end

“Demos are your best chance of having a true conversation before the decision is made to buy or not buy. The last thing you want to happen is for them to either forget their questions or not have a chance to ask. To keep this from happening, make sure to create multiple chances for questions. This works especially well if your demo shows multiple features as you can give them the opportunity to ask their questions as you transition to a different feature.”

Alina

Don’t oversell

“In my early days of running sales, I used to oversell a lot. At some point though, I stopped and switched to a policy of full honesty. Interestingly enough, I saw my win rates go up. Even if it means losing a deal, I don’t keep secrets and I don’t make promises like ‘AiSDR will book 2-3 meetings per week on autopilot.’ Instead, I focus on AiSDR’s core values at the beginning, middle, and end of the demo.”

Yuriy

Don’t fret about not showing everything

“Addressing your prospect’s objections to using your solution is more important than getting to the end of the demo. After all, the goal of a demo is to deliver as much information as you can so that they can come to a decision. Don’t worry if you can’t show everything you wanted to. If they really want to see something more, you can always set up another call.” 

Alina

Use AiSDR to get more demos booked

AiSDR comes with multiple features out of the box to help you book more meetings:

• LinkedIn personalization
• Native HubSpot integration
• Intent-based outreach
• Lead discovery database
• Automatic mailbox warm-up

And many other features that allow AiSDR to have conversations with prospects that look and sound like you were the one conversing.

Book a demo to see how AiSDR will sell for you.