Three Reasons Why Demo Platforms Are All The Rage Right Now
Have you ever considered purchasing a product or signed up for a service but decided that you needed to see it in action first before making a decision? Some of you may have been unsure of how it worked, or whether or not it would be effective in solving a particular problem you were facing. A sales demonstration, on the other hand, is extremely useful in this situation.
When it comes to the software as a service (SaaS) business, sales demonstrations have risen to become one of the most significant components of the entire sales process, giving organisations with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to demonstrate the value of their product to potential buyers. Many businesses are working hard to develop new platforms that will help to smooth out many of the kinks that SaaS companies experience while conducting these demos, in order to meet the enormous new demand that has arisen. By the end of 2022, the SaaS market is expected to reach a value of $171 billion, according to projections.
What is it about product demonstrations that is so important?
When a corporation displays the value of its product or service to a current or prospective customer, this is referred to as a product demonstration. In most cases, a demonstration of the product’s primary features and capabilities is provided. This demonstration usually focuses on how the solution will assist the prospect in overcoming a certain set of issues.
Obviously, the entire point of the contact is for the firm presenting their product to close a sale and secure a customer for their product. Most of the time, the product demo is carried out by members of the sales team, more especially by the account executive who is responsible for the particular prospect in question.
The changing landscape of business-to-business software sales
Note that over the past decade, there has been a significant shift in the face of B2B software sales from traditional field sales to digital sales, which is one of the primary reasons why we are seeing a significant amount of innovation in the industry in the form of new platforms and software tools. Inside sales is the dominant sales model in business-to-business technology today: sales that are handled remotely via the phone, email, and online meeting tools. This has become even more prevalent in the wake of the global pandemic, which caused face-to-face meetings to come to a grinding halt across the globe.
Image courtesy of Canva Pro for B2B software sales
A large proportion of software as a service demonstrations are conducted online using meeting technologies that include screen-sharing, voice transmission, live streaming video, and other features. In reality, a wide range of issues might occur as a result of the fact that corporate software and technology aren’t designed for these types of interactions and are therefore prone to malfunctioning. Most firms still rely on generic online meeting platforms such as Zoom, Skype, and Google Hangouts to perform remote sales demos, despite the fact that these platforms have been demonstrated to be unreliable (and ineffective) when conducting sales demonstrations.
Because of this, a new generation of product demo platforms is emerging, led by companies such as Walnut, which was the first to introduce a platform that would benefit the whole sales industry. They put prospects at the heart of the sales process and host product demos in a code-free cloud environment, ensuring that there are no load times or connectivity concerns. The company just raised $15 million in Series A funding, which it intends to use to further improve its platform and expand its reach.
Following that, a number of alternative platforms have arisen, each with a more limited set of demo capabilities.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most significant advantages of sales demo platforms, as well as why they’ve become such a popular tool for B2B SaaS companies.
1) Stay away from technical difficulties.
Sales demo platforms, among other things, are a significant improvement over the traditional software demo process since they significantly lower the risk of technical errors occurring during the demonstration. Instead of relying on platforms such as Zoom and Skype, businesses can host their demonstrations on a platform such as Walnut, which allows them to deliver interactive demos in a secure environment with no downtime and no concerns about loading time.
DepositPhotos provided the image.
In this way, great consistency and quality are maintained throughout the demonstration, resulting in significantly increased sales and conversions. After all, if you’re attempting to sell a high-priced piece of software to a prospective client, it’s not exactly the best appearance when the demo is marred by technical difficulties and poor performance.
2) More tailored to the individual prospect
Customers are more likely to make a purchase when brands provide them with a personalised experience, according to Epsilon, and this is especially true when it comes to product demonstrations. Modern demo platforms, rather than providing prospects with a comprehensive overview of important features and capabilities, help to enhance engagement and drive more sales by delivering highly personalised demos that are tailored to the prospects’ unique requirements.
demo with a prospective client
Walnut is the source of this image.
To be successful, sales teams must be as specific as possible about how their product will address their clients’ problems and offer them with value. No one likes to sit through a generic presentation that does not meet their individual requirements, let’s be honest about it. Everyone concerned loses valuable time and energy as a result of this.
Sales teams have the unparalleled freedom to adapt each demo to meet the specific demands of their prospects because Walnut’s platform is completely codeless, which eliminates the need for back-end teams such as research and development, graphic design, and coding specialists. In order to effectively sell their products, sales representatives must bring their products to life by emphasising all of their best functionalities that are relevant to their prospects and demonstrating the value it will provide them.
3) Information derived from data
In almost every industry around the world, big data is transforming the landscape, and business-to-business sales is no exception. In order to accomplish this, most sales demo platforms have features for capturing and analysing client data, which can be utilised to gain important insights from, as well as for compiling valuable reports that can be used to improve company operations. Walnut enables users to collect information about how demos are being used and to optimise them in order to provide the most value to prospects.
data in a demonstration
Unsplash is the source of this image.
These data insights typically provide indications about consumer preferences throughout the purchase experience, highlighting the present challenges they are experiencing and which features may be of the most interest to them at any given time. Obtaining this information is critical for the selling agent, who can then optimise their sales plan as a result of the information. These data-driven insights also enable firms to more properly analyse sales effectiveness after a sale has been won (or lost), allowing them to change strategy and improve future demos on the basis of objective facts.
Finally, a note about
The product demo is without a doubt one of the most important components of the sales process, which is why SaaS companies must optimise their strategy to achieve the greatest possible return on their investment. Because of this new wave of sales demo platforms, SaaS firms are redefining how they display their goods to potential customers, all with the goal of increasing conversions and sales by creating a superior customer experience.
