How to Avoid “Death By Demo” in Patient Engagement Software Sales

Every sales pro in Patient Engagement and Education recognizes that product demos are a big part of “closing the deal” in the sales process. A good presentation is useful for developing the interest of leads. Nevertheless, most B2B demonstrations are boring and fail to generate any kind of interest from the possible buyer, and they are often given too quickly, before knowing what the prospect’s needs are. These demonstrations often end up killing your chances of developing a solid relationship and making your case. This can turn potential customers toward your competitors, or feel too much pressure. You can think about it like a date. On the first date, do you think it’s a good idea to brag about how awesome you are, or should you get to know the person a little bit, sharing your highlights, and building rapport? The latter, of course. No person is ready to get married after the first date. It takes listening, building interest, and a valuable method to build their trust. Your demonstration is just like that first date, to make sure you get to a second date, and then get even closer to making the sale. Here are some pointers that will help you prevent ‘death by demo’ in your Patient Engagement and Education sales:

Getting potential customers to the demo

Know your Buyer Personas

Just as individuals are not ready to get married after one date, they aren’t usually ready to see your demonstration right away. You could talk endlessly about your Patient Engagement and Education services, but without any understanding of what you’re talking about and what these people need, it will be hard to make the sale. Instead, it’s a good idea to start by identifying your Buyer Personas (imaginary personalities that match your ideal customer. This will help you and your marketing team to better prioritize outreach and the presentation. For example, your Buyer Personas might be ‘Clinician Christine,’ ‘Physician Phineas,’ and ‘Administrator Adam’ with a listing of objectives, obstacles, and various other attributes that you find for each. You could then tailor your sales demo and conversations to resolve the needs of each persona. When you talk to them, uncover their specific demands, and make changes accordingly. By doing this, they are seeing that you don’t just offer a one-size-fits-all product.

Offering the demonstration

Keep if brief

Once you demonstrate how your products or services will help your prospect, take a pause. Talking nonstop without a break in your discussion will make your audience bored. Be sure to keep the demo quick, concentrating on what’s important. Also, don’t get caught up in the talk and forget about the customer. Look at their face and body language to find out if they have any questions or remarks. When they want to say something, stop the presentation and let them interrupt.

Be animated

B2B sales demos can be rigid and monotonous. If you want to engage your target market, you should add some enthusiasm into your talk. Be sure to change up the tone of your voice throughout. People will lose focus if you are monotone. Use facial expressions and hand motions to reveal to your leads that you are excited to help them fix their issue. Anik Singal, the Founder and CEO of Lurn and VSS Mind, is a fine example of somebody that makes a B2B trial dynamic and interesting.

Use case studies and stories

Don’t just spend all your time talking about the functions and advantages of your service or product. Use case studies and stories to demonstrate how other companies like those of your leads have used the product. For example, you could show in your demonstration how your Patient Engagement and Education service or product assisted ‘X Hospital’ in decreasing the typical person’s waiting time by Y%. Doing this will give clients a good idea of the value of your product, which will help them make a buying choice. Marketo’s case studies are a great example of how they help their leads select marketing automation software.

Don’t make unnecessary comparisons

Lots of salespeople use demos to contrast themselves with their competitors and talk about how their products and services are better. This should only be done in moderation. If you know that your client is considering a competitor, talk about your benefits over theirs. But, if you arbitrarily raise a point that the client hasn’t considered, you have put your competition in their mind. To stay away from these mistakes, ask questions to learn where your prospect stands in the buyer’s journey and what they are considering.

Practice makes perfect!

It is a good idea to practice at least two times before giving the demonstration. Getting more comfortable with the content will ease your nerves and make you show up confident. Looking at your products and presentation will help you find any mistakes to fix. It’s also a good idea to practice with a colleague who can play the role of the prospective client. Make sure to know what types of equipment you will need for the demo to make sure everything is working. It is suggested for anybody offering a discussion to exercise these steps in its totality at the very least.

Be on time

Make sure your demonstration starts and ends on time. Beginning or finishing late will frustrate potential clients and lessen the possibilities of closing the sale. If you have to start late because of unavoidable situations, apologize and explain the delay. If you have to go over by a few minutes, ask the prospective customer if they are free. Your leads are just as busy as you, so keep that in mind.

End with a call-to-action

Be sure to end your demonstration with a call-to-action (CTA). The CTA could be asking for business, setting up a call, or asking to talk with other decision makers in the company. This will guarantee the conversation keeps going after the demonstration. This will give you the chance to answer any questions, improving the chances of closing the sale. Corevist, a leading representative of SAP B2B ecommerce remedies, has a brief item demonstration that finishes with a CTA to arrange an individualized demonstration

After the trial

Keep in contact with leads

If the prospect requests a demonstration and either doesn’t show up or says they are not ready, continue to offer them content to help keep them informed until they are ready. Using your Buyer Personas, you could work with your marketing group to create content for their exact needs or rate of interest. This content could include blogs, infographics, or how-to-videos. You could send this content once a week to potential customers in Lead Nurturing Emails. Doing this will help your potential customers inform themselves and build trust with your brand name (thought leadership). Over time, the content could help them better examine their needs and options and help them decide to start a trial with you.

The last word

It’s important for you to give a good presentation, but your efforts will only be successful if your prospects are interested in your offer. For that to take place, the content and demos that you provide need to line up with their objectives and needs. Simply put, your sales process needs to be customer-centered, where your goal is not to sell an additional service, but to help your potential customers solve their problems. This kind of sales process is called the Inbound Sales Methodology. It could be really tough to do all of this alone. We at Responsify work with Patient Engagement and Education sales and business development pros to offer strategy, support, and help in applying these tasks. By collaborating, we help marketing and sales teams tactically bring in brand-new website visitors, convert them to qualified leads, and then satisfied clients. We’ve helped lots of skilled salespeople include Inbound right into their sales process and close even more sales. Don’t hesitate to schedule your totally free strategy session view your current methods and get tips and advice on how to enhance your demos and close more sales.