Why you do this session / potential triggers
Demos can easily become feature lists, where a rep tries to show the prospect everything that your product is capable of. Running a demo skills coaching session is a chance for you to help the team put themselves in the buyer’s shoes and deliver a demo that’s a great story about how your product helps solve their issue, in a relatable way.
It’s a good idea to do these regularly to keep them fresh, but these might be common triggers to schedule a demo session:
- A new version or flagship feature is released, and you need to incorporate it
- You spot issues “on the floor”, via recordings or feedback from other people on the calls
- A particular objection is coming up frequently
- You’re running a campaign that emphasises different benefits
What you need to prepare as a manager
Create a scenario for the demo based on your ICP, and share it with the rep as far in advance as possible. Here’s an example:
Consider that a pre-qualification call has been done. You’ll be speaking with John the Managing Directory and Liz the HR manager. The company has grown to about 100 employees and they are looking to implement your software to help manage the growth of the team as they expand out the organisation and add 50 new hires. They plan to mix hiring between the main office and remote locations.
What the rep needs to prepare
They should schedule a live calendar invite and treat the engagement as if it’s a real demo. They role play it based on the scenario you gave them. If they don’t understand the scenario, they can ask questions on the call before launching into the demo as part of the role play itself.
What you’ll cover
Here’s some guidance for each talking point in the notes template:
Scenario recap
You’ll have a note of the scenario as you shared it with the rep here, so you can refer back to it.
Demo run through
You’ll “get in character” and represent the customer. Avoid the temptation to ask tricky questions based on what you know about your product/offering, that a customer wouldn’t.
To make the session seem more realistic, you could:
- Pause the session – ask the sales rep to wait as additional people want to join
- Mute and unmute audio as if there are interruptions
- Cut across the rep to ask a question unrelated to what’s being shown
- Shorten the time available for the session
- Ask the rep to reiterate a point they made earlier in the session to make sure it’s clear
- Ask specifically about pricing and what next steps are
During the demo, you’ll be taking notes based on the review points in the next section.
Demo review
Once the role play is complete, you can talk through your review notes.
We’ve listed some common elements of a demo that you can cover as well as adding your own:
- Adaptation on the fly
How did the rep respond to things like interruptions or changing the length of the call? - Product knowledge
Was the rep able to answer the prospect’s questions or take a note if they didn’t have an answer? - Understanding needs
Did the rep adjust the flow based on what they learned about the prospect? - Talking vs listening
Was there an appropriate balance? - Clarity on prospect’s process
Did the rep establish timing, cost, next step actions? - General manner
Did the rep open and close the call well, were they polite and professional?
How can the rep develop based on this?
To make the session valuable for the rep, there should be some action for them to take to make an improvement based on what they’ve learned. This section of the notes is a reminder to add those as actions so you can follow up later.
Some demo skills related actions might be:
“Ask other reps on the team for some anecdotes to pepper through the demo”
“Talk to product management team to get a better understanding of how to demo feature x”
What next?
Remember to share the notes and actions once you’re done.
Based on how the demo went, you might want to update the rep profile with an update or a change in their skills profile.