How can you align your product demonstrations with company goals?

Most companies aim for revenue, particularly in the case of SaaS, where Annual Recurring Revenue is a key metric. The business bottom line thrives on compelling solutions to meet business needs. However, there are instances where the solution might not be a good fit. Instead of forcefully fitting a solution to a customer, it might be wise to step back if there's not a good fit and focus on other customers who would be a better match. In short, it's about prioritizing customer needs.

Working in sales or any other direct/indirect commercial role, the first thing is to know your goals as an individual, then as as team member, and those needs to be align with the company goals. When you have clear your role and your portfolio, and the company goals, the next steps (as a direct or indirect commercial role) will be to learn about your products/solutions and to create a demo pitch according to the company’s goals/customer needs and the main value for them. Is not about a product demonstration, is about the way it solves a problem (or a need) in the market, that is the reason of a company life. Discover it and align it to the company’s Mision/Vision.

Remember that your company has 2 types of goals, the ones they say and the ones they need. So they may say their goals are like selling more llamas or making better quality llama stuff but their real goals are what's not being said. These are things like making sure nobody dies in a llama revolt, protecting llamas from the self-harm dangers caused by social media, or how to best avoid llama taxes to increase profits. And this is what is on your customer's minds and should be in the demo. Anything else just wouldn't be authentic. You want to be authentic, don't you? Don't you?!

When doing a demo, it is extremely important to understand both the vertical that the customer is in and their unique situation. Different verticals have different compliance requirements (i.e., HIPAA, PCI DSS, etc.) and individual customers have different use cases that they will specifically want to see as well. It's important as a Sales Engineer to get creative and make sure you are doing your research on the company and its vertical as well as tailoring the demo to the needs of the customer.

For those fortunate enough to have a sales development representative, there is typically a prequalification process along with contextual notes about what the customer is looking for. These pieces of information serve as a valuable tool to tailor conversations when engaging with prospects. Another noteworthy source of information, especially for publicly listed companies, is the company's annual report.

Most demos today are just the typical tap dance around how great the company is and how awesome its llamas are. And customers are sick of that. What's needed is the contributions from the technical team including devs and engineering to do a 10+ person choreographed dance routine. Dance routines are hot now and it's how all the biggest sales are made today. Be sure to have quality music accompanying it as well, don't go cheap there. Maybe even hire a soprano to the engineering team to make sure you can give a good show. Whatever you do, and omg don't even consider doing acapella. Just don't. Acapella is sales demo poison.

I thought it was customer goals, objectives and outcomes that matter most! Any other way is a product in search of a problem to solve - instead of a solution made to solve a problem! Just a thought.