Navigating Product Demos: How to Sidestep Disappointment

Being selective may not always be an admired characteristic, yet in one domain it becomes critical – deciding which prospects merit your time and which should be gently let go. This strategy of discernment aligns well with the Pareto principle: 80% of your revenue stems from a mere 20% of your accounts. An error many salespeople often fall into is losing sight of their crucial 20%, inadvertently diverting their efforts towards squeezing profits from the remaining 80%. This neglects the potential of high-value closures.

Recently I've been part of a series of no-shows and underwhelming product demos, marked by low-quality discourse, underscored for me the value of a selective approach in inviting prospects to a product demo. Ideally, I want people with pain and the willingness to do something about alleviating it. One of the two is not enough.

It's easy to fall into the temptation of engaging with any potential lead to bolster your KPIs, but this could be a risky endeavor.

Spending time with 'window shoppers', prospects who are content with merely browsing your offerings without any serious intent, leads to disappointing outcomes. Such interactions can drain your energy and valuable time without advancing your pipeline.

How can you avoid these time-wasting encounters with window shoppers?

Imagine you’ve peaked a prospects interest in the cold-call. You two have agreed to meet over zoom and discuss your offering further, and get a glimpse of your service in real-time. Sounds amazing. But this is where a lot of sales people set themselves up for disappointment. They trade the short-term high from booking a demo for a more rational view of the bigger picture.

Many salespeople expose themselves to the risk of disappointment by not confirming whether the prospect could genuinely benefit from the product and (very important) has the will to act on it. This type of casual commitment often leads to non-binding results.

By posing the following question, you can evade such situations: "Assuming I demonstrate how you could enhance your operational efficiency by 10-15%, would you be committed to executing the necessary steps to achieve that outcome?"

If you get a wishy-washy answer, you can get a sense of the prospects willingness to put pen to paper on your offering. Studies such as that from Gong.io (2017) provide empirical evidence backing the practice of being more selective with your prospects, showing how high-performing sales reps are more likely to disqualify low-opportunity leads earlier in the sales process.

If this appears too direct for you, then perhaps it's time to scrutinize why you've found yourself so many fruitless meetings. The participants of these calls lack the urgency to address the problem you've highlighted and lack the authority or resources to take any action. These factors need to be verified and answered affirmatively before a product demo is scheduled.

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