Here's how you can create a successful sales engineering demo.

Through my experience, this is how I would create a successful sales engineering demo: - I would start by understanding the specific needs and challenges of your audience. - I would then tailor your presentation to directly address these points using relatable scenarios. - Do NOT forget to make your demo interactive—encourage questions and adapt based on feedback. - Simplifying technical jargon, using visual aids, and creating live demonstrations to enhance understanding is CRUCIAL! - Of course, you must also close with a strong call to action and follow up promptly to reinforce the value of your solution and strengthen customer relationships. #SalesEngineering #HopeThisHelps

Customize the demonstration to meet the unique needs and challenges of each client. Develop a brief and visually attractive presentation to showcase the main features and advantages. Integrate interactive components like live product demos or simulations to captivate the audience. Ensure technical specialists are available to answer questions or resolve issues during the presentation. Effectively communicate the product's value proposition and how it delivers return on investment. Solicit feedback from clients after the demo to enhance future presentations and boost sales performance.

To create a successful sales engineering demo, focus on understanding the customer's needs, tailor your presentation to solve their specific challenges, and demonstrate how your product or service can effectively address those needs in a clear and engaging way

i would say: Know Your Audience: Research their needs and pain points to tailor the demo. Prepare Thoroughly: Master the product, set up a reliable demo environment, and rehearse. Structure the Demo: Introduction: Briefly introduce yourself and outline the demo agenda. Showcase Key Features: Focus on features that address the audience's specific needs. Use Cases: Demonstrate relevant real-world scenarios. Engage and Simplify: Involve the audience, keep explanations clear, and emphasize value. Handle Questions: Listen actively, address objections confidently, and clarify when needed. Conclude and Follow-Up: Recap Key Points: Summarize benefits. Next Steps: Outline follow-up actions.

A product demonstration is always a means to an end. Objective, what you are trying to achieve, should be your first step in "understanding needs". That objective could be to facilitate a technical discovery or achieve the technical win. Next, determine what your customer needs to understand about your solution to achieve that objective. That understanding should include key capabilities, differentiation, functional and non-functional features. Work from this starting point and you improve your chance of success.

If you fail to plan then you plan to fail. Use the results of your discovery to build a clear storyline for the demo. Focus on outcomes for the customer and not features of the product or service

I like to refer to the planning as "creating a path". That, structure your presentation in an intuitive and easy to follow manner. Even a well thought out demo, if not organized with structure, will lead to a customer getting lost in detail. We talk of frameworks like tell-show-tell loops for a reason. These are methods for creating the framing and structure your presentation needs to satisfy you objective. That structure will allow you the freedom to adjust and respond to your audience while presenting.

Pre-Demo Discovery Ask insightful questions beforehand: - What specific challenges are you facing? - What would a successful demo look like to you? - What key outcomes are you hoping to achieve? By understanding their needs, tailor the demo to address their priorities.

It is crucial to ensure the client understands the demo and realizes how beneficial it can be for them. Connect with the client by speaking their language. If you are presenting this demo, it is because you previously understood their needs. Make it clear, in their own terms, how this demo addresses the identified problem. The right solution speaks louder than a thousand words.

Great demos are a two way exchange of information. However, I disagree with the question on the point about demonstrating features. DO NOT focus on features ! Put the feature into the context of how you help the customer solve the challenge that they have... Tell a story about it instead and create a vision of a better future solution for them.

Set yourself up for a strong value presentation by having a solid discovery and understanding of your customer's business along with what they expect to accomplish with your software. Tie all feature discussions back to what was learned in discovery and call out how your feature or solution differs from their existing options and what they stand to gain or change by adopting the new way. Continuing to anchor your features back to time and money saved, will correcting any painful experiences they currently have is how you demonstrate value.

Product demonstrations are not training sessions. Make sure you are conveying the value of your solution's capabilities, not showing them a "how-to". This comes back to understanding you customer's pain points, objectives, metrics, decision criteria and motivations. You must connect the dots from your solution's capabilities, how they are delivered, to your what your customer is trying to achieve. This is all about making the technology tangible to your audience.

I'm a big fan of always creating a deck to support and add structure to my demonstration. If I've planned well I'll have also created a script for myself that includes key screen shots of the capabilities and outcomes I demonstrated. I bring it all together into a single pdf I provide, a leave behind, to remind them what they saw and why. I want them to use this, especially my Champion, to influence internal stakeholders. I want to arm them with anything to help make it easy to deliver my message to anyone that was not in the room.

Previously, I provided clients with a PDF of my slides featuring a detailed click-through of our software demo with commentary. However, since adopting the Consensus demo automation platform, I now deliver a highly personalised 5-minute highlights reel video. This format is much more effective, utilising Demo2Win techniques to explain not only what I demonstrated but also the business value to the prospect.

Prepare for failure. Every demo can ultimately fail. Your network connection might go down, your SaaS application could stop working, or your VM could suddenly install a patch and cease functioning. You name it. There are plenty of legitimate "not your fault" reasons for a demo to fail. Having a backup plan is essential. It could be a video (my suggestion is to split it into several "per-use-case" videos), a separate VM image, a backup account, or anything that allows you to still convey what you intended to show.

While every prospect is unique, analyzing similar cases (both wins and losses) can help profile new prospects by highlighting valuable insights that might be missed in early discovery. Collaborate closely with the AE to uncover these insights and include them in the demo plan.

As an SE you are an integral part of the GTM customer-facing team. It is natural, especially in higher stakes selling motions, that emotions will run hot on the customer side and/or on your own. As a former SE, and Director of SEs, one of the most important traits you can possess is your ability to maintain poised and calm during those intense moments. It is easy to get caught up in the energy, and if it's negative, that exponential emotion I have seen really hurt careers. Be the calm in the storm-- your customers and colleagues will trust you that much more.