I recently spoke with the CEO of a rapidly growing logistics company and his VP of Sales. Their niche is time-critical shipments like human organs for transplants and spare parts for grounded airplanes. Their core differentiator is an online portal that enables customers to get super-fast quotes with complex routing options, immediate driver dispatch, and shipment location tracking with an accuracy of three feet at any time during the delivery. Like all SaaS companies, they are a service provider solving tough business challenges with a technology platform.
As we spoke about ways to accelerate growth, they said their close rate increases by 70% when they can get a customer to watch a demo. So, they wanted help in training their reps to give better demos. I was intrigued, so I asked more questions. And that’s when they shared that their top rep, who accounts for 50% of the company’s revenue, is horrible at giving demos!
“How can that be?” I asked. “She’s been in the industry for years, since before we had the technology we have today. So, she understands our prospects’ businesses inside and out,” replied the VP of Sales. “She’s so used to talking about how we resolve their challenges, she rarely gets around to showing the demo.”
My advice was to train the rest of their reps on the business challenges they resolve, so they can emulate the conversations their top rep was having, then train them on giving the demo to those prospects who still need to see specific aspects of the platform to seal the deal.
Unfortunately, I talk to leaders at SaaS companies all the time who are making the same mistake. They all say the same thing, “No one has ever done it this way. We can’t explain it, customers have to see it. When they do, they’ll buy.” They then train their Account Executives (AEs) on how to demo the platform and describe its features rather than how to talk to prospects about the challenges they face and the value of resolving them. After a few months of giving demos, they wonder why sales aren’t ramping faster.
So what’s really happening?
Simply stated, their AEs are giving demos to unqualified prospects and talking about features and functions those prospects might not need or care about. In the Sandler world we say they’re spilling their candy in the lobby. And, in so doing, they are allowing the prospect to control the selling process rather than taking control themselves.
Sure, most SDRs try to do some level of qualification. But usually it’s not that deep. Without good training, it’s rare for an SDR to get a prospect to share what’s really on his mind in the three to five minutes it takes to schedule an introductory call. Often, the prospect is simply curious enough to exchange 30 minutes for some free consulting in the form of a product pitch.
When the AE preps for the 30-minute introductory call, she doesn’t have any information to work with. Smart AEs know to start with some initial questions, to elicit at least surface level pain. But the questions are usually perfunctory. Why? Because the stated purpose of the call is to introduce the AE and her company to the prospect. This sets the expectation that the AE will present, not engage in a two-way conversation. Therefore, the AE feels uncomfortable asking too many questions. And the prospect can become impatient if he feels he’s being asked about sensitive issues – like problems in his business – that he’s not willing or prepared to discuss with a stranger.
Also, most AEs aren’t trained in how to ask good questions. They don’t know what questions to ask. And they don’t know how to use questions to establish themselves as subject matter experts and trusted advisers. So, after asking a few leading questions, the AE launches into “educating” her prospect. She talks about her company, her platform, and other customers with whom she works. She then spends the rest of the call showing the demo and doing a deep dive into the platform’s features and functions. In other words, the conversation is all about the AE and her product and not about the prospect and his challenges.
By following this script, the AE learns next to nothing about the prospect, his challenges, urgency, motivation to change, or ability to afford the solution the AE wants to sell. Further, the AE has yielded complete control over the selling process to her prospect. The prospect has all the information he needs – often including pricing – without giving up any relevant or revealing information of his own. He can decide if he wants to move forward or not and the AE has no leverage to impact his decision.
The good news is, sometimes the prospect decides to move forward. And the AE pats herself on the back for making the sale. The bad news is, that good result reinforces a bad process. And there’s more bad news. Far too often, the prospect decides not to move forward; or maybe not now; or maybe to look at other platforms to see what else is available at what price. But he won’t tell that to the AE. In which case, she ends up wasting time and energy chasing him for weeks or months trying to make a sale which was likely doomed from the start.
Sound familiar? If this describes your company, or some aspect of how your team goes about demoing or selling your platform, your AEs may be wasting a lot of time giving demos to unqualified prospects and killing real opportunities before they have a chance to engage.
Here are a few techniques that will lead to better results:
Teach your team to set an Up-Front Contract for every meeting
A key element to the Up-Front Contract is verifying the purpose for the meeting. If it’s an Introductory Call, rather than stating the purpose as “to introduce my company to you” or “provide a demo of our platform,” try “so we can both learn more about each other and our businesses to see if there might be a fit.”
Another key element of the Up-Front Contract is discussing your prospect’s agenda then your own agenda. When stating your agenda, ask for permission to ask questions to learn more about your prospect and their business, that will set the expectation that you’re going to have a two-way conversation not give a one-way presentation.
Watch this video to learn more about Up-Front Contracts.
Train your team to understand the business challenges, or pain points, your platform resolves
Motivation to change nearly always starts with pain. So, work with your team – include your product managers too – to create a list of every feature described on your website and in your sales collateral. Put the truly differentiating features at the top of the list. Next, describe the benefit associated with each feature. Then, articulate the pain the benefit addresses and for whom. Now, develop questions and statements about other customers you’ve helped that will trigger the pain points you have listed.
For example, one of my customers features an Enhanced Visibility Adaption Layer for network management. According to their website the benefits of the feature include “seamless administration of network security and performance, assurance that all traffic in the network is authorized, and better monitoring and management of the network infrastructure with more efficiency and less stress.”
The trigger statement they now use with prospects is, “Many of our customers are frustrated because they don't have a consolidated view of network security and performance. They are also concerned about the cost of using multiple tools and the risk of potential blind spots. I don't suppose those are concerns for you…”
Develop a Questioning Strategy your AEs can use to qualify prospects
If providing demos to unqualified prospects is part of your process, develop a questioning strategy your AEs can use to qualify prospects rather than a demo script to show features and talk about benefits.
Demo scripts force your prospects to listen to your story. Questioning strategies allow your prospects to share theirs. Good questioning strategies employ open-ended questions about what and how your prospect does things today and if they’re satisfied with the current process. They also allow you to incorporate your pain trigger statements to understand what makes your prospect frustrated, angry, upset, or concerned – the emotions that might motivate them to make a change.
Here are some examples to get you started:
- “In order to make this demo most valuable for you in the time that we have, what are the two or three things you’d most like to see? .........A lot of people mention the same features, I’m curious, why are they important to you?”
- “Where would you like to start?.........That’s interesting, why would you like to start there?”
- “I’d be happy to show that to you. But before I start, can I ask how you are doing it today?.........Are you happy with that approach?”
- “I presume you are using your current platform to do______, how is that working for you?”
- “If you could change one thing on your current platform, what would it be? .........That’s interesting, why is that important?”
- “Many of our customers are frustrated because they don't have ________________. Is that a concern for you?”
Demos can be an incredibly powerful tool to help your Account Execs close the deal. But they can also be the kiss of death if used to talk about features and benefits that your prospect may not need or care about. Indeed, the more features you highlight the higher the perceived cost to your prospect – whether they say so or not. So, if your sales process includes showing demos to unqualified prospects, train your team to use the demo to qualify the prospect, not sell to them.
Free Whitepaper: 3 Questioning Strategies to Help You Close the Sale
Download a Free Chapter of: Asking Questions the Sandler Way
If you are interested in learning more about Up-Front Contracts or developing Pain Triggers and Questioning Strategies, Silicon Valley Sales Group is ready to help. Our expertise is helping companies accelerate revenue growth by building high performance sales teams and developing their talent with Sandler training. For more information, click here to contact us today.
