Everyone hates demos
And it’s not because of the product
If you ask buyers of any software their opinions on any particular product, you’re likely to get a variety of opinions, good and bad. But if you ask their opinions of demos, the response will be much more unified. Everyone hates demos. But why?
Here, in no particular order, are Kanan’s list of crimes that demos commit daily:
- They feel like a trap. An innocent button click locks you into a 30 min call
- Even at their best, watching someone screenshare and click through software you can’t touch or feel isn’t engaging.
- Screenshare comes before discovery. The excitement of a booked demo often replaces asking real questions, including whether this client is even interested.
- Demos booked becomes the goal. The pipeline looks healthy. Conversion quietly collapses down-funnel.
- Curiosity and conversation gets killed for the sake of the sale.
A better question than “How do we book more demos?” is “What would make a demo the obvious next step?” That usually means giving away more up front vs. holding back.
But what does “giving away more” mean practically?
- Let the product speak before sales does. – Get it ungated and in a playground to test.
- Don’t push a demo first thing in a meeting. Ask questions. They may not need a demo at all or you may not be speaking to the right contact yet.
- Be open to receiving feedback and solutioning, or bringing new information back vs. pushing them to close
- And if you must demo, do it under 10 minutes for everyone’s sake
A calendar full of demos doesn’t mean much; the demos you lose weren’t the ones you wanted anyway. One last hot take: do not send a post demo email with a link of 20 decks and videos. No one will watch any of them.
