The Human Touch – Why Live Demos Are Essential For Your Product’s Growth
- Brainz Magazine
- Mar 22, 2024
- 5 min read
Written by: Savian Boroanca, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Live demos aren't just about showcasing your product; they're about building relationships and understanding your users. Join Sessions' Affiliate Program today and turn your expertise into earnings. Host high-conversion demos, share the magic, and embark on a journey of mutual growth.
In a world full of distractions that compete for your prospect’s time, money, and attention, brands have to go the extra mile to win people over. Live demos can be a great opportunity to foster human connection in a world dominated by lifeless, boring interactions.
At Sessions, we've been doing live demos for the past two years now, and I admit, they've been a game-changer in our growth. So, grab a cup of coffee (or tea), and let us tell you 3 reasons why live demos are the secret ingredient your business needs to grow exponentially:
1. Human connection
People connect with people, not with impersonal brands. It's that simple. The personal touch of a live demo establishes a connection that goes beyond your product's features. It creates a human interaction that can leave a lasting impression.
2. Fast answers
People often have unique use cases, which means have usually have very specific questions about your platform. Live demos offer real-time answers to these questions, speeding up the buying decision process.
3. Direct interaction, real insights
You engage directly with your audience during live calls, understanding their use cases, struggles, and needs. This is a treasure trove of insights that helps tailor your product to meet real-world demands.
During the time we’ve been hosting live demos, we’ve tried and tested numerous approaches to find the most effective strategies to engage our audience and showcase our platform. Through this search process, we've identified several key practices that consistently yield positive outcomes and enhance the overall demo experience.
We'd like to share with you 7 best practices and strategies that have been honed through our collective experience and expertise. Whether you're new to live demos or looking to refine your existing approach, we're confident that these proven tactics will help you elevate your demo game and achieve your objectives with confidence:
1. Record, transcribe, save
Recording and transcribing demos transforms them into a valuable resource that you and the prospect can revisit at any time. Transcripts provide a written record of the conversation, making it easy to reference key points or clarify details. Saving these recordings and transcripts ensures that nothing is lost, allowing you to review past interactions and continually improve your approach.
👉 How we do it @ Sessions: Not only do we record and transcribe our demo sessions (with consent from our prospects), but we take it a step further by saving everything from recordings, transcripts, notes, and chat conversations to agendas used in Memory. It's a powerful feature that benefits both hosts and clients, allowing them to easily review and recall.
2. Ask and adapt
Having a set of questions that you ask at the start of your demo is crucial for understanding the person in front of you and their needs. By actively listening to their responses and adapting your presentation accordingly, you can tailor the demo to address their specific concerns and interests.
👉 How we do it @ Sessions: We refined a set of four questions that help us understand the person’s needs, professional background, and expectations. These questions are seamlessly integrated into the agenda as notes visible only to hosts and assistants. This personalized approach not only enhances the overall experience for our prospects but also increases the likelihood of conversion by demonstrating that we genuinely care about meeting their needs.
3. Automatic reminders
Sending automatic reminders is a game-changer when it comes to increasing attendance and engagement. These reminders serve as gentle nudges that keep your demo at the top of your prospect’s mind and reduce the risk of no-shows. Additionally, they demonstrate professionalism and organization, instilling confidence in your audience that the demo will be well-executed.
👉 How we do it @ Sessions: We set up automatic email and SMS reminders that are sent after somebody books a demo session with us. People are busy, and we don’t take their desire to talk to us for granted.
4. Note your way to success
Taking notes during your demo is essential, especially in the initial stages when you're getting to know the person in front of you. These notes serve as a reference point throughout the demo, allowing you to tailor your presentation to address their specific needs and concerns.
👉 How we do it @ Sessions: We write down everything we think is relevant in the built-in Notes feature that allows us to take private notes. These are saved in Memory, so we can review them at any time.
5. Use mirroring language
Using mirroring language means adapting your terminology to match your audience's specific needs, creating a more relatable and engaging experience. You establish a deeper connection and build rapport by speaking their language and framing your presentation in terms that resonate with their goals and challenges. This approach demonstrates empathy and understanding, fostering trust and credibility with your audience.
👉 How we do it @ Sessions: If our prospect wants to host 1-on-1 training sessions with marketing specialists, we will talk about this type of meeting. We use the same names as they did for their session types (“1-on-1s”) and audience (“marketing specialists”).
6. Seamless scheduling
Utilizing a scheduling system is a lifesaver when it comes to streamlining the demo process. By providing a user-friendly interface for booking demos, you make it easy for prospects to engage with your product or service. This not only increases conversion rates, but also saves time and reduces administrative overhead.
👉 How we do it @ Sessions: We use our built-in Booking system to create a scheduling page, and we’ve added a "Book a live demo" button on our website. We linked an agenda template to this specific booking page, so whenever somebody books a call through it, this agenda will be automatically added to the demo.
7. Structured excellence
You can’t wing it if you want to deliver high-quality demos. Having a standard, exhaustive structure in place ensures consistency and professionalism across the team and all presentations.
👉 How we do it @ Sessions: We've perfected our demo structure over time, creating an agenda template that covers all essential points and resources. By following this structured approach, but also adapting it for the person in front of us, we ensure that every demo is informative, engaging, and impactful, regardless of who's conducting it or who's in the audience.
Register here and redefine your live demos with Sessions!
P.S. Affiliate Program 👉 Join now and earn 40% per paid sign-up for life.
Savian Boroanca, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
I am passionate about praxeology, entrepreneurship, politics, diplomacy, cinema, and sports.
