A product demo is a crucial opportunity to showcase your solution and persuade your prospects to buy from you. But how can you make your demo stand out from the crowd and stick in your audience's mind? One powerful technique is to use storytelling. In this article, you'll learn how to use storytelling to make your demo memorable and effective.
Storytelling is the art of using narratives to communicate a message, evoke emotions, and inspire actions. Stories are more engaging, memorable, and persuasive than facts and figures alone. They help your audience connect with your product, understand its value, and envision themselves using it. Storytelling can also help you overcome objections, build trust, and differentiate yourself from competitors.
The myth about demo storytelling It's not about your personal stories, It's about the PROSPECT's story. People believe they need to add personal stories to a demo. This often creates longer monologues and makes it all about you. The harsh reality? They're not interested in you. Storytelling in demos is telling the prospect's story.
Agree! Finding a story 'not about you' and that relates to the prospects needs / pains is a great way to engage the audience.
To create a compelling story for your demo, it's important to follow a clear structure with a beginning, middle, and end. Your hero should be the prospect, not the product. Use a question, statistic, quote, or surprising fact to grab attention and set the context. Show the urgency and severity of the main problem or pain point that your product can address. Demonstrate the features and benefits relevant to the prospect's needs and goals. Provide evidence such as testimonials, case studies, data, or social proof to validate your claims. Finally, make your call to action clear and specific for your prospect to take after your demo.
3 steps: 1. Describe the current pain 2. Describe the future 3. Visualize the future 1. You start by summarizing their current bad situation. "You shared that you're not meeting your SLAs. This is because you can't keep up with IT tickets." They now feel the pain, and they know that you stand with them. 2. You continue by sharing how the prospect's better future looks, using their words. "You said that you'd automatic issue remediation. When you'd have this, you expect to reduce 50% time" Now, you are describing a brighter future in their language. 3. Next, you show how your product resolves their problems, and you repeat the value to emphasize the better future state. They can now visualise a better future by using your product.
If you want to deliver a successful demo story, you need to use techniques that will boost your presentation skills and engage your audience. Visuals, such as slides, images, videos, graphs, or charts, can illustrate your story and make it more captivating and memorable. Additionally, you should evoke emotions by using stories, anecdotes, humor, or metaphors to make the audience feel something about your product. Furthermore, ask questions like open-ended questions, rhetorical questions, or polling questions to get the audience involved and attentive. Pauses can also emphasize key points and create suspense. Finally, repetition of words, phrases, or ideas can reinforce your message and make it more persuasive.
The key with using any of the aids, stories and so on is to present them in a organized and effective format. One of the ways could be to use the SPICED Framework - that allows you to frame the value in context and reinforce the message throughout along with getting next steps.
Before presenting your demo story to different audiences, you should conduct some research and preparation. Understand who your audience is, their needs and goals, their pain points and objections, and their decision-making process. Have a thorough understanding of your product's features, benefits, advantages, and differentiators. Additionally, craft a clear and concise story that covers the main elements of your demo and aligns with your audience's interests. Have variations and alternatives to use depending on the situation and feedback. Finally, set a clear and measurable goal for your demo that matches the audience's stage in the buyer's journey. Make sure to have a specific call to action to move them to the next step.
When having a personalized demo, make sure that you have validated the pain you are describing in your story is applicable to the audience. Best is to know it ahead of time, but if you need to do it live: Take notes of the pain, language used and specific words / sentences used by the prospect. I use paper as it acts as a 'second screen' I can refer to as I am delivering the story. Incorporate those words in your story.
To increase your chances of closing the deal, you need to maintain contact and communication with your prospects until they are ready to buy. After your demo, immediately send a thank-you email to express appreciation, summarize key points and benefits, and restate the call to action. Also attach any relevant materials that can help them remember your story. Ask for feedback through surveys, phone calls, or emails to gauge their level of interest, satisfaction, and understanding. Provide value by sharing useful and relevant information such as articles, blogs, podcasts, or webinars that can help them learn more about your product, industry, or topic. Showcase your product's success and impact by using stories, testimonials, or case studies. Nurture the relationship with your prospects by building rapport, trust, and credibility through social media, newsletters, or events. Stay in touch and personalize communication to show interest.
Conhe?a seu prospect a ponto de ser mestre ao narrar a história dele mesmo. Incremente emo??o, use o tema principal e elabore um enredo envolvente, seja criativo, mantenha o ritmo da narrativa e tenha um conclus?o adequada. E aguarde o seu prospect se apaixonar pela própria história e comprar seja lá o que for de você.