5 reasons why to show a demo on the first call?

Debating whether or not to provide a demo of your product in your initial discovery call?

Here are five reasons why the FOCUSED team strongly recommends including a product demo on the first call:

1. It is what prospects 'Signed Up' for

If your company schedules inbound demo calls, you likely have a demo-based CTA on your website. You're in good company. 40.1% of the 5,600+ accounts Navattic canvased offered demo CTAs.

So if you’re like us, and many B2B SaaS buyers, you might find the typical process a bit funny: Marketing drives qualified leads to your website Visitors are greeted with a demo-based CTA They schedule an appointment to see a demo When they show up…no demo.

In addition to being misleading to your prospects, it can lead to fractures in sales and marketing alignment. One of FOCUSED's key value drivers is 'GAIN VALUE FROM DAY ONE' and we’re aware that’s what people expect when they request to BOOK A DEMO. Ignoring this, and denying our prospects the ability to view our product, would be a great way to lose credibility from the get-go. And that’s not our style.

2. Shorten Sales Cycles

At Focused we believe there are typically 4 different types of calls with prospects.

To find out more about The Focused Sales 4 Step Plan and what are the key objectives for each call - check out this post.

Once teams have completed their FOCUSED question framework (see below), we provide you with the structure and question sets required to conduct a highly effective discovery call.

By showcasing a demo during the discovery call, you can de-risk the rest of the sales process. At FOCUSED, we recommend prioritising an in-depth demo during our second call with prospects. (The clear 'shared' objective of the disco-demo call).

By demonstrating our ability to fill the gaps in their business during the first call, we earn the trust of our champions and embolden them to involve executive sponsors and other stakeholders in the second call.

We don't use the first call demo as a way to avoid the in depth demo call. Instead, we aim to build confidence, show that we understand their needs, and prove that we have the solution for their business problems.

This collaborative approach not only makes buyers more comfortable but also speeds up the sales process, resulting in shorter sales cycles.

The FOCUSED approach has halved the average deal cycle for one of our clients from 62 days to 31!

3. Don't just meet expectations.... exceed them!!

To make the most of every interaction in a world with high expectations and low attention spans, it's crucial to impress your potential buyers right from the start. After all, simply satisfying a customer no longer drives loyalty in world of choice and free information.

While it may not be possible to demo all possible solutions during one joint call, you should seize the opportunity to engage buyers with a guided demo that sparks their interest and prompts them to schedule the in depth demo. This follow-up call will allow you to refine their use case and customize your demo even further.

With only 13% of buyers wanting a second call or meeting with an expert after the initial one, scheduling additional calls can be challenging. Therefore, it's crucial to demonstrate how your product can deliver desired benefits during the first call and make a lasting impression.

4. Get additional stakeholders involved, sooner

In today's business landscape, involving multiple stakeholders in the decision-making process has become the norm. Engaging and convincing various stakeholders throughout the sales cycle can be quite challenging.

To address this, we have developed the FOCUSED way (see point 5) that involves providing a functional demo during our first call. This demo helps to demonstrate that we can meet the needs of the organisation, which builds confidence and sets up the in depth demo second call.

During this second call, we deliver a more detailed product walk-through, discuss technical specifications with IT, and align our product with the executive priorities.

Our approach streamlines the sales cycle by reducing the number of meetings required and enables our champions to engage other stakeholders more quickly.

5. Because it's the FOCUSED way!

To effectively combine discovery and demos during your sales calls, follow the FOCUSED way:

1. Avoid calls longer than 30 minutes.

2. Prepare questions with timings.

3. Limit the demo to 5 minutes. (Have tabs ready of your product.)

During the first 2/3 of the call, it's important to spend most of the time understanding and listening to your prospect's problems while assessing how your product can benefit them. Use this information to highlight 1-2 parts of your product that are most useful to their specific needs in the final 'DISCOVER & DECIDE' stage of the meeting. By creating intrigue and teasing the product, you can book a follow-up in depth demo call on the spot.

Conclusion

Implementing these tips into your sales process can help you:

• delight your prospects,

• simplify their buying journey,

• shorten your sales cycle,

• qualify prospects quicker,

• ultimately help you stand out from the crowd.

It requires superior product knowledge and the ability to think on your feet, but it's highly effective and with FOCUSED will become second nature.