JUST SHOW ME THE F&$#!NG DEMO!

Warning: this post contains hot takes bordering on a rant. Do not proceed if you already have a stubborn opinion about this topic and are unwilling to stray from it. Or actually, do proceed. Because it's kinda fun to make people irritated on socials.)

Here we are. Groundhog Day. Well, actually the day after but it may as well be the movie.

Another day, another post on the eternal sales debate:

"To Demo or Not To Demo"

- credit: William Salesspeare

This time, it's the highly esteemed Salman Mohiuddin in this post. (FWIW, I think Salman's content is A+ and the talk track he advocates here is absolutely solid for an upmarket salespro like him and a customizable solution like Asana.)

Salman's post comes on top of posts such as this one from Will Aitken who found that buyers want a demo on their first call with a potential partner/supplier...

Then there's this one from James Gilbert ???? who says sellers make it hard for buyers to buy...

?? Joe Benjamin touches on a similar subject here....

And on (credit: Tim Davidson ) and on (credit: HubSpot 's research into what buyers want to talk about on first calls)...

Anyone who has bought or sold SaaS (or just spends a few days hanging around on Linkedin) is all too familiar with the situation by now:

• SaaS Company rep gets a meeting set up with a prospect either inbound or outbound. [By the way, very often this is happening by inviting them to see a demo, via a "Schedule Demo" button on their website, or in the prospecting activity of BDR/AE. Gee, I guess the buyer might possibly be expecting a demo?]
• Meeting starts and after light pleasantries, the AE begins their discovery in earnest...
• Buyer tolerates discovery questions for a while before...

(queue that dramatic dun dun dun sound effect)

• Buyer, in an annoyed tone, says "Can we just see the demo?"

• I've been there many times (while selling for different companies).
• I've been coached on how to handle this by multiple sales leaders and gurus.
• I've coached reps to handle it in a similar way to how I would.

But the question I think we should keep front and center is not how to handle this "objection" ...

but why do so many buyers do this?

[OK, at this point let's take a Timeout and establish some 'No sh*t Sherlock' agreed facts before I carry on...

1). There's no perfect answer. The reason is we're in sales. And sales is about dealing with people. And what one person appreciates and wants, really pisses off others. Example: some people really hate Calendly links (h/t Adam Kronemeyer )

2). Different softwares, demo differently. Of course some are simpler than others to demo.

3). There's no single, finite, perfect demo. For pretty much every software that you can mention, there will (or should!) be different types of demos for different stakeholders, users, personas, moments in the sales cycle, demo-deliverers etc).

With that disclaimer out of the way...]

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I'm not going to elaborate on each point.

Partly because I'd love for these comments (hot takes?) to stimulate some debate in comments (I like the ), but also I just don't have the energy in my fingers right now to type everything that needs to be said to do this justice.

But happy to always chat live with people about this - hmu. I don't know why but I get really energised (US energized) by this topic.

Ok, so why do buyers respond like this?

Why do they push to see demos?

1. They're busy AF: they just want to get on with it. You almost certainly have not earned the right to multiple hours of meetings with them yet.
2. They don't trust you: why should they believe anything you say (yet)? Seeing is believing.
3. You did a crappy job at setting an agenda / expectations for the call either before, or at the start,
4. They're expecting one: You almost certainly offered them (or mentioned) a demo on your website or in your call to action to get the meeting. C'mon, admit it. You did, didn't you?
5. They want to make their own mind up: guess what... shocking as it seems, people love to buy stuff, but they hate to 'be sold'. Let me use a crappy analogy - imagine being offered a test drive of a fancy new car, but you have to watch the sales guy drive it while you sit in the showroom. Kinda lame.
6. They know you're not going to be able to speak to everything on a single demo: if they're going to buy your sexy SaaS, the chances are you're going to have to do more demos. You know it. The buyer knows it. So why not show something to give them an overview at least?
7. Buying software IS a consistently crappy experience: needs no further comment.
8. Discovery is almost always entirely self-serving for the seller: why do we do discovery as sellers? To improve our chances of winning a deal. No other reason. Full stop. (US: Period).

"But wait..." I hear you cry, "Discovery helps the buyer through their buyer journey. It helps them understand if we're even a fit and how to buy us." "True with a pinch of BS", says I.

You're trying to improve your chances of winning the deal. You're trying to find pain to hold your pricing and create urgency. Yes, you're also assessing if they're a fit to avoid wasting time - hence my comment about 'improving your chances of winning a deal', even if it's not this deal.

Do we really believe a buyer is incapable of making their own mind up if we just showed them demos and gave them information?

So - with all that said - WHAT SHOULD WE AS SELLERS DO?

My answer:

Give them a F&$#!NG?DEMO.

Or don't.

It's up to you.