3 Ways to Reach Sales Quotas with Interactive Demos

The role of enterprise sales has changed in the last several years, as prospects increasingly want to see products for themselves. That transforms the role of AE from gatekeeper to consultative sales. The upside? Prospects get the opportunity to self-qualify for additional conversations, and sales teams get a ready-to-rock pipeline of product-qualified leads (PQLs). The hero of this story is the interactive demo

In our new research, we identified three key stages of the sales cycle that could benefit most from interactive demos:

• Lead qualification: 46% of sales representatives agreed they need more qualified leads to win more deals.
• Discovery: Many sales representatives weren’t fully confident in their ability to showcase product value without SE support.
• Multi-threading account decision-makers: The majority of sales teams (86%) have lost deals to a committee decision at least once in the past month.

Let’s dive into how teams can act on this data by embracing interactive demos throughout the sales cycle.

1. Let prospects self-qualify with your demos
According to Gartner, B2B buyers only spend 17% of their total purchase journey with sales reps. That means sales teams need to maximize every second they get with a prospect. Why not let the prospect pre-qualify themselves by hosting interactive product demos on your website and in your marketing materials?

Interactive demos provide an easy way for even the most complex enterprise companies to showcase their product’s value. Prospects can explore the product for themselves, enabling sales teams to be even more consultative and effective on the first call.  It’s a win-win for both parties!

2. Add value in the discovery process
The next step is adding value for the prospect on the first call. If your prospect has already viewed a demo on your website, your sales rep will have access to data on which features resonated most, or where they may have gotten stuck. From there, your reps can ask more educated and informed questions in the discovery process, adding even more value about how the product can serve the prospect’s pain points or specific needs.

It’s easy to customize a live sales demo even further, by using a golden demo as a template and refining based on what you know. Tailoring your demos to the prospect shows that you’ve got the industry chops and information required to help them confidently make a decision.

3: Multi-thread accounts with interactive demos as leave-behinds
Did you know that the typical buying committee for a B2B product involves six to 10 people? With so many decision-makers, it’s little wonder that so many deals are lost in the committee buying process. Typical leave-behinds, like sales one-pagers, don’t do the job of helping committee members self-inform. Many of these team members will seek out their own information independently, leaving your principal champion less equipped to advocate on your product’s behalf.

Instead of a one-pager, a demo is far more powerful as a leave-behind. It can act as a sort of virtual AE, to tell your product’s story when you aren’t there to tell it yourself. And, sales reps can explore session activity on these demos, providing more opportunities to multi-thread accounts beyond the primary champion.

Incorporating demos to accelerate sales cycles
Want to dive deeper into these tips to learn exactly how to create winning demos at each stage of the sales cycle? We’ve got you covered. Our latest eBook highlights our research on the key sales challenges teams face today, with practical tips on how to optimize interactive demos as valuable resources to drive more sales efficiency.

Get the eBook: The Sales Leader’s Ultimate Guide to Accelerating Enterprise Sales Cycles