This is the sixth video in our series on how to sell software to businesses, and we discuss how to improve your demonstrations.

 

The Most Common Demonstration Mistake

The most common mistake that we can make with how to sell software to businesses is to go straight to demonstrating the software when first engaging with a prospect. This can happen either because the first close attempt by the salesperson is to close for the demo, but it can also happen when the prospect asks for a demo.

The problem with jumping straight to the presentation is that you might be skipping the Conversation sales process step, and this is where you can learn more about the prospect. If you are able to learn more about the prospect’s needs and pain points, you can then tailor your presentation and demonstration to the prospect. This subtle change can make a huge impact on the impression you make and the effectiveness of your attempt to persuade the prospect that they should buy your software.

 

How to Organize the Conversation

As you can see, having a meeting before the presentation could be the difference between failure and success. And with that, we want to take some time to outline what to do in the meeting and Conversation sales process step.

A great way to organize your first meeting with a prospect is to make the first half of the meeting about the prospect and the second half of the meeting about you and your product. This is fairly easy to implement because all you have to do is spend the first half of the meeting asking good questions. Pain and current state questions will fit very nicely here.

After you gather information on the prospect’s needs and current environment, transition to talking about how you can improve things with your product or solution. You don’t need to get into all of the details or completely explain everything here because your goal is not to sell the product. Your goal is simply to sell the demonstration, and you just need to introduce what you have to offer at a high to medium level.

 

How to Organize the Demonstration

By going through the Conversation sales process step and gathering information about the prospect, you can greatly improve the flow of your demonstration and presentation. You can start out by sharing your findings and what you have learned about the prospect in terms of their needs and challenges. It is always nice to check in with the prospect to make sure your findings are correct and complete after you share what you have learned.

You can then transition to talking about your company and product and go into deep detail on how your software can solve their challenges and needs. This is your opportunity to persuade the prospect to buy what you are selling.

This flow is a significant change from jumping straight to the demonstration because that will usually be a standard product demonstration and one that is not tailored to the prospect. That slight change could be the difference that makes you stand out from the competition and secure the business.