What is a sales demo? 10 pro tips to run better demos
- What is not a sales demo?
- Avoid an engagement plateau
- How to run a high-quality sales demo
- What do prospects expect from a sales demo?
- Schedule sales demos with Zoho Bookings
- 10 tips for scheduling sales demos
If we're being honest, there's no secret formula for delivering a sales demo that consistently converts. Every sales team has its own strategies, continually refining the process to achieve better outcomes.
What worked for one prospect may not work for another. This is where training your sales representatives to think on their feet and adapt to the prospect in front of them becomes crucial.
Key takeaways from the many sales demo tips discussed in this article
- A sales demo is an interactive presentation that showcases how your product or service addresses a prospect's specific pain points or requirements, making it a conversation, not a monologue.
- High-quality demos must be highly tailored to the prospect's business context; a generic product tour or feature dump that overlooks their needs can cause them to lose interest quickly.
- To avoid an "engagement plateau," sales demos must be a discussion, making the prospect an active participant rather than a passive listener.
- Prospects primarily seek value payback and ROI (Return on Investment), not just features, and want to see a clear vision of how the solution will help their business grow and scale in the long run.
- Using a tool like Zoho Bookings can significantly boost sales rep productivity by automating scheduling (availability, reminders, time zones) and eliminating the back-and-forth email chains.
What is a sales demo?
A sales demo is a presentation delivered to a prospect about a product or service. The sales team typically delivers it, and representatives showcase how their offering addresses the prospect's specific pain points or requirements.
The demo can be presented as a slide deck, video, or a real-time product walkthrough that centers around the prospect's business needs. Regardless of the format, sales demos should ultimately help prospects make an informed decision about their purchase.
"An effective sales demo is not just a product tour. It’s a guided session where you walk the customer into their new reality, showing them what’s possible with your solution. You pause along the way, check for alignment, and make sure this future is what they want. It's a conversation, not a monologue.”
— Carla Garcia Espino, Sales Director at Zoho
What is not a sales demo?
- An off-script presentation without any breaks or two-way communication.
- A rushed slide deck run-through and Q&A that feels more like a college assignment than a sales conversation.
- A generic product tour that overlooks the prospect's business context.
- A product training session that overwhelms prospects with information they're not ready for.
- A complete feature dump that can be irrelevant to prospects.
Avoid an engagement plateau at any cost
Remember the long, boring lectures that you sat through in college? Initially, you're focused, but as time goes by and the professor delivers a monologue that piques no interest, you've lost all attention.
The same scenario occurs when sales demos are run with a generic script or a product walkthrough. A lot of information can dilute your core offering and make the prospect feel uninterested in proceeding further in the sales process.
The only antidote for avoiding the engagement plateau is discussion—make your prospects an active part of the demo.
How to run a high-quality sales demo
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"While a generic demo highlights features, a tailored approach delivers outcomes by showing how current challenges can be solved and how the business can scale. From my experience, this shift turns the demo into a vision of what their business could look like with the solution in place. It builds confidence, accelerates the evaluation process, and helps secure stronger stakeholder buy-in."
— Bear Ravenscroft, Regional Sales Manager at Zoho
What do prospects expect from a sales demo?
Demo expectations often vary. Each prospect has their own business requirements, and this determines what they're hoping to gain from the demo. However, we can shortlist a few common expectations that prospects tend to have.
A long-term solution
With the possible exception of day traders, no one likes investing in something for a short-term benefit. Prospects would like to know whether your product or service can help their business in the long run. Provide a clear vision of how your product can offer value both now and in the future.
Interactive communication
Sales representatives come to the demo prepared with the prospect's business context, which they have identified during the discovery call. Prospects come prepared to witness product-solution fit and ask clarifying questions during the process, so engage them with questions and make the demo interactive—not a one-sided presentation.
Addressing their requirements
On the day of the demo, prospects expect to see you address their pain points and showcase how your product or functionalities can help them. Offering a generic demo that doesn't consider their business context can be a gamble, as prospects will quickly lose interest.
Competitive advantage
Prospects have options, and they're likely evaluating your competitors as well. During the demo, they may ask about your competitive advantage, looking for answers or functionalities that set you apart. Preparing for these moments helps keep prospects interested in your product or service.
Respect for time
An—often unconscious—expectation prospects have is for sales reps to respect their time. They take time out of their busy schedule to attend the demo, and when reps show up late or deliver a generic demo that doesn’t cover their requirements, it leads to disappointment.
Value payback and ROI
Prospects aren't looking to purchase your offering for the features or quick fixes. They're investing in it to grow and scale their business. In other words, what they're really looking for is value. Go beyond the functionalities. Quantify the impact that your product or service offers and link it directly to each of their requirements.
Next steps
After a good demo, prospects expect you to share a clear plan of action. Confirm the follow-up timeline, offer a POC if required, or share pricing and other relevant resources. This helps them understand what to expect and plan accordingly.
Share appointment booking pages connected with your Google Calendar
Sign up for freeSchedule sales demos with Zoho Bookings
Your pipeline may be flowing with leads who want a demo, but negotiating a time to meet, sending calendar invites or meeting links, and coordinating with other stakeholders only slow you down.
"As a sales manager, sales rep productivity is paramount. Reps used to burn hours on email and phone ping-pong just to book the next meeting. With Zoho Bookings, scheduling is automated—prospects choose their own demo slots, time zones are handled, reminders go out, and our show rate climbed, giving reps more time to sell”
— Sreyas Benjamin, Sales Manager at Zoho
Zoho Bookings eliminates all the back-and-forth and allows prospects to self-schedule demos right from your booking page.
10 practical tips for scheduling sales demos with Zoho Bookings
1) Set your availability
Let prospects know when you’re available for sales demos. The availability that you set in Zoho Bookings will reflect on your booking page, where prospects can choose the best time for them.
2) Create one-on-one meetings for sales demos
Create a new one-on-one event type for sales demos to easily share the booking link with prospects.
3) Create collective meetings with other sales reps
Create a co-hosted meeting with other SDRs, pre-sales engineers, or account managers to share combined availabilities on the demo booking page.
4) Set appointment limits
Keep sales rep schedules balanced by adding limits to the number of demos scheduled every day.
5) Add buffers between each demo
Add pre- or post-meeting buffers to ensure that your reps don’t have to jump from one demo to another without any prep or breaks.
6) Send email, SMS, or WhatsApp notifications for booked demos
Configure notifications and reminders for prospects once they book a demo. Setting up multiple reminders helps reduce no shows as well.
7) Collect more information through booking forms
Ask key questions via booking forms when prospects schedule a demo. Add custom fields, mandatory responses, or terms and conditions.
8) Share priority slots over email to schedule demos
Add preferred time slots to prospect emails for quick demo scheduling. Prospects can choose directly from the offered slots to book a demo.
9) Add booking links to marketing campaigns
Leverage booking links in your nurturing emails, web chat, and other marketing campaigns so prospects can easily schedule a demo with your business.
10) Add demo booking widgets to your website
With a booking widget, you can allow prospects to schedule a demo directly from your website at any time.
What makes Zoho Bookings stand out is its flexibility in simplifying demo scheduling with your prospects. Plug it into your nurturing emails, cold emails, landing pages, web chat, marketing campaigns, webinar follow-ups, LinkedIn, and other marketing channels to automate your demos.