Some of you might be wondering what happened to this last week’s SeSaMint edition? Did it land in spam? No, I did not publish it on my usual Thursday cycle. Why is that?
Has your iPhone screen blanked out and never turned on despite all the restoring techniques? Have your MacBook’s speakers suddenly stopped working? Have your AirPods acted weirdly by disconnecting once every 5mins on the zoom call?
Did all three of these incidents happen on the same day within the same hour? This is exactly what happened to me this week and stalled all my work. The only mode of communication for me was email. Thankfully things got sorted by Friday.
This edition is co-authored by Prakhar Jain and I.
Last week my friend Prakhar Jain, Director of Global Sales at WhatFix posted something profound on LinkedIn and started a great conversation. It was about orchestrating an effective product demo.
Here are a few basics that we as Salespeople must-do for an effective product demo:
1. Testing of Hardware and Software
I regret missing this at one point or another. It is a great practice to test the hardware-your microphone, camera, speakers, and software-video conferencing, screen sharing, slide deck presenter mode, 10-mins ahead of your scheduled demo. Since most of the demos happen over video conferences this step is more critical than ever.
2. Turn off all the notifications
You do not want distractions and speed breakers in your demo flow. You want to give undivided attention to your prospect during the demo. You do not want the prospect to see your team chat, calendar, and email tracking notifications. Make sure you turn off all the notifications for the time duration of the demo. Below is how I turn off all the notifications.
3. It’s a Product demo, not a training session
Make sure you create a story and your demo has a flow. People remember stories, not features. Start with the higher-order bits (the broader problem your company or product is solving) and then dive into the specific use cases related to your prospect. I would recommend you to look at Andy Raksin’s storytelling framework to take some cues on storytelling.
4. Design 2-3 WOW moments in the demo
People remember stories. Most importantly they remember a few moments that have either mesmerized or surprised them. These are the WOW moments of a story. If someone asks me what do I remember about Nolan’s Batman Dark Knight, I will say it is the action episode of Batman charging on his bat mobile bike to overturn Joker’s truck. That’s a wow moment for me. Similarly, give your prospects 2-3 WOW moments in the demo. One trick to designing these wow moments is to show how easy it is to solve the prospect’s 2-3 burning problems using your product.
5. Keep the demo to 45mins max
We are living in an attention-deficit world. There is a reason why content is broken down and services like Quibi have popped up. Your prospects can’t take it all at once. Longer demos lead to information fatigue. A format I use is to keep the demo for 30-mins and 15-mins for questions. If you are selling a complex enterprise, split the demo into parts if possible. But, do not overload your prospects with information.
6. Always ask for next steps
A product demo is not the end of all. It is a means to the end. It is part of the sales motion. You will be left in no man’s land if you don’t discuss the ‘how’ aspect with your prospect. Ask for the next steps and how do they plan to continue the due diligence. A simple question to uncover the next steps is - ‘What are the next steps at your end to implement a solution like this?’
7. Follow-up the demo with a summary email of your conversation
I learned this tip from a sales professional at Drift. Sending a summary has multiple benefits:- it leaves an email trail of everything that is discussed in the demo, it will help your prospects to share the summary with their colleagues who missed the demo, and most importantly it reiterates to the prospect that you understand their problem well. Make it a point to CC all the attendees and any other stakeholders from your team. I use this simple demo summary email format, feel free to use it :)
Post Demo Summary email template
Sub: Thanks {{prospect_name}}, {{your_product info)
Dear {{first_name}},
It was great talking to you all today.
Next Steps:
- {{steps at your prospects end}}
- {{steps at your end}}
What I Heard:
- {{prospect’s pain point}}
- {{prospect’s goals}}
{{your_product}} Value:
- {{value_proposition 1}}
- {{value_proposition 2}}
- {{value_proposition 3}}
Pricing:
- {{add pricing details}}
References:
- {{share the names of big logos or companies that are using our product}}
Let me know if you have any questions or require more information.
Best,
{{your_name}}
SeSaMint for your first Job
Unfortunately, no B-school or University has a course for SaaS Sales. I know because you actually searched platforms like Lamda School, UpGrad and more across the Internet etc but even they don’t have any courses.
I started the SeSaMint project to help founders and aspiring salespeople sell SaaS. As part of the project, I spoke to 15 global SaaS leaders, referred to some of the best books, spoke to 40+ founders, and reflected on all my learnings in the last 6 years. This book is distilled from all of that, packaged in an easy to read format, filled with immediately actionable takeaways that get results.
SeSaMint - Guide to Selling SaaS is available online. I’m offering a 50% discount on my book today Here’s the link to grab the discounted copy: SeSaMint Guide to Selling SaaS - First Job.
Go get that Job! Close that Deal!