Tweet

Don't Demo Yourself Out of a Sale

Written by: Russ Lombardo

Article Overview: A product demonstration can be the killer of a sales opportunity. I've seen many a sales call go down in flames because the demo did not address the prospect's main issues and pains. This usually happens when the Sales Process is either out of whack or non-existent. If you’ve been reading some of my other articles, then you know that Sales Processes are like a religion to me. Without one, sales are inconsistent, unpredictable, and frequently unsuccessful. What often happens with the demo is that the sales person tries to show what his product can do too soon.

Don't Demo Yourself Out of a Sale

A product demonstration can be the killer of a sales opportunity. I've seen many a sales call go down in flames because the demo did not address the prospect's main issues and pains. This usually happens when the Sales Process is either out of whack or non-existent. If you’ve been reading some of my other articles, then you know that Sales Processes are like a religion to me. Without one, sales are inconsistent, unpredictable, and frequently unsuccessful.
What often happens with the demo is that the sales person tries to show what his product can do too soon. He tries to show off his wonderful product and all its glorious features before he knows what the prospect needs. And it doesn't matter if he’s demonstrating a software product or decorator window coverings. The results are the same. The prospect ends up hearing about a bunch of features and functions that don't interest him nor solve his specific problems. This is the same thing as talking too much or too soon.
A sales person needs to ask the right questions first, and then listen carefully to the answers BEFORE explaining his products and the benefits, so that there's a good fit. It's equally bad with the demonstration, sometimes even worse, because when the sales person has the opportunity to "show his wares", he can take this as a sign of interest on the part of the prospect. Sometimes it is, but frequently it is not. It is only a sign that the prospect wants to see how your product might help him. But if you haven't asked him what specific problems he is having, then what exactly will you be demonstrating? The answer -- A whole lot of what he doesn't need and possibly a little bit of what he does need (if you’re lucky).
Your goal should be to spend a lot of time during the first meetings with a prospect learning and understanding what his pains are. This takes patience. You can easily try demonstrating your product at your first meeting, but it would be premature. Given what you learn in your first meeting, you can then customize the demo to perform some of the functions your prospect will relate to. These small customizations will help reveal exactly how your product can solve some of your prospect’s problems.
Sometimes you are forced to show your product or do a demo before you've had a chance to ask the questions you'd like. The prospect gets right to the point - "Show me what you've got!" or "I can only make a decision if I see what it is I'm buying!" In these cases, I always cause some sort of a "hidden" stall or delay. In my business when I'm demonstrating a CRM product, I have the perfect built-in delay. It's called "boot time". Yes, that's the time it takes my laptop to boot up. I also add in there the time involved with pulling it out of my bag, hooking up the projector and associated wires, plugging it in, and anything else I can think of to buy me more time, and I take my darn sweet time doing it too.
What do I do with this extra time? Ask a million questions! Sometimes I say, while hooking things up and booting up my laptop, "I can give you a demo that will last for days because there's so much I can show you. But I don't think you'd go for that. So in order for me to focus on the specific functionality that will help you make a decision, would you mind if I ask you some questions while I'm setting up?" They ALWAYS agree to this, even if it's simply to prevent an awkward silence while I'm on my knees reaching for the outlet. You have to be good at asking questions and listening while juggling other things. So this may take you some practice. But I can assure you that it is extremely effective. You just have to do it and not get tempted to just jump into a demo showing them everything that YOU think is important, instead of what's important to your prospect. One time I actually got so engaged in a conversation with my prospect about his needs that I ended up not doing the demo at all – and I won the deal! Instead, while I was setting up the demo, we discussed his pains and how we can solve them with our technology and services. It was a totally benefits-oriented discussion that worked perfectly.
So what have we learned? A product demo can make or break a sale, depending on its timing. We have to get the prospect to tell us where it hurts so we know exactly what to demonstrate, and good listening skills are required to make this work successfully. We learned that patience is a virtue and to not get tempted by showing our product too soon, before we know what they need. We also learned to customize the product so the demonstration closely resembles the ultimate solution or so your prospect can easily visualize how it will help his unique problems. Finally, we learned how to create natural delays to stall the demo when the prospect wants it before you are ready to give it, so you can use that time more effectively to learn about his needs. So don't demo yourself out of a sale. Use the demo as a closing tool.


Good luck and good selling!

Russ Lombardo

Related Articles
  Know your magic numbers
  What is the best way to develop my sales skills?
  How can you make more of your customers open your emails?
  Writing and Publishing eBooks Made Easy #11 - Using eBooks To Get Traffic To Your Web Site
  Profitable Online Business Ideas and the Recession Part 2

Article Tags: demo, product demonstration, prospects, sales opportunity, sales processes



Related Forum Posts
Re: How to Promote Your Blog – The Definitive Guide to Promoting - Great Post! Dont forget to put your blog in Anchor Text For SEO purposes for the keywords you want when getting backlinks (for example with article marketing)...Very important. You can conquer quite a few small Niches and get your site on the number 1 spot in Google!
Re: Due Diligence, Market Research.. Ahead of the curve. - Congrats! A few months ago I wrote extensively on market research. Check in the Inventors corner for the posts. Let me know if I can help further! Dont spend a dime on a protype or advertising until you do some research! Jude
Re: Who hates cold calling? - I saw this and had to chime in. I HATE COLD CALLS. lol its terrible and a wast of my time. Something i have done is gotten online and found all the networking event happening in my area for the next 2 months and i try and go to about 3 a week. Even just for an hour. Dont bring any business cards. Just meet new people ask them alot about what they do, not too much about what i do and follow up the next day or 2. Has worked well
Re: Businesswomen in the news - [quote="TheRainmaker":2susnvqs] Dont forget that the media is out for the media and scare tactics and bad news gets the coverage.... J[/quote:2susnvqs] This is true....
Yugma - MAC & PC - Shri, This online tool is great for the following: - Webpage walk throughs or showcasing a website and it's functionality - Demo something on your Computer - Presentations of your powerpoint slides You can have a number of users online at the same time and you are given a free teleconference line (may be long distance to the callers or you have the option of a toll fre number). you can now have customers from across the continent - including overseas at a presentation. No need to book rooms, AV equipment, snacks etc. etc. You can also record the conference to be replayed at a later time. So do a conference once and make it available on your site. does anyone use a similar tool (gotomeeting or webex) in other creative ways?


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Is the iPad useful? One CEO tells all ....

What Type of Business Should I Start?

Sales Courage and Resilience

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.