Engaging Your Audience With Live Product Demos

Your demo is the reason you're losing deals And it has nothing to do with your product. After sitting through 200+ sales demos last year, I've identified the pattern that separates winning presentations from forgettable ones. It's not about features. It's not about benefits. It's about sequence. Most demos follow this deadly structure: 1️⃣ Company overview 2️⃣ Product walkthrough 3️⃣ Feature deep-dive 4️⃣ Pricing discussion 5️⃣ Next steps This is exactly backwards. Your prospect doesn't care about your company story. They care about their problem. They don't want to see every feature. They want to see outcomes. Here's the demo structure that actually converts: ↳ Start with their outcome  "Based on our conversation, you mentioned needing to reduce customer churn by 15% this year. Let me show you exactly how this would work for your situation." ↳ Show their scenario Use their data, their use case, their terminology. Make it feel like they're already using your solution. ↳ Focus on 2-3 key capabilities The ones that directly impact their stated priorities. Skip everything else. ↳ Handle objections proactively Address the concerns they mentioned in discovery before they have to ask. ↳ End with clear next steps Not "Do you have any questions?" but "Based on what you've seen, what would need to happen for you to move forward?" The best demos don't feel like demos. They feel like problem-solving sessions where your product happens to be the solution. Subscribe to our Innovative Seller channel where we post bi-weekly videos on sales strategies like this 👇

Spent 40 min with one of the best founders I know yesterday (he’s personally selling all their deals himself right now). Entire convo focused on what to SAY during a demo (most sellers actually have no idea): 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬: “we can do this… and we can do this… and we can do this… any questions?... and we can do this…” Great demos use features and functionality as *validation* that the platform can deliver the customer’s desired results (and solve the challenges currently blocking them). You want the customer thinking about buying the result, and the solution to the problem, not the features themselves. To do this effectively, before you talk about any feature, you want to contextualize it with the outcomes and challenges that matter to the customer (that you learned in discovery). For example, 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬: “so of course the main thing you guys are working towards is [outcome] and one of the biggest issues is that right now [challenge] so what I want to show you is how we [solve challenge] that should directly result in [outcome]” 𝐎𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬: “another thing I want to show you as we think about the issue the team is having with [challenge] is how we [solve challenge] which immediately start to free up your reps to be able to do more [whatever] which should then translate directly into more [outcome]” Think of yourself like a teacher. You’re helping the customer learn the relationship between your functionality and the results they want/the challenges they want to solve. Anything you swear by that helps you lead more impactful and engaging demos that I might be interested in?

90% of sellers are terrible at group demos. 3+ buyers on a demo? Crickets. It's like talking to a wall. 5 steps to running GROUP demos that close deals: STEP 1: 'What we heard' Most often, you've only met 1-2 people on the demo. The other people on the call? They're 'new voices' in the deal. They're not up to speed yet. So that's your first agenda on group demos: Spend five min summarizing prior calls: - the business problem - its root causes - its negative impact Then, get their input: "Emily, talk to me about how this is showing up in your world?" STEP 2: Frame EVERY feature with pain Before you show ANY feature: Frame the pain it solves. "But Chris, didn't we already summarize the problem?" Yep. But you framed the 'macro' problem. Now you're getting into the details: "One of the issues John shared earlier was XYZ... "Here's exactly how we address that..." That PULLS people into the demo with you. It gets them to engage. STEP 3: Use everyone's names, and toggle often. Notice in the above examples: I said 'Emily.' I said 'John.' Do this throughout the demo: Use people's first name. Call back to something they said earlier. Cycle through everyone. Repeat. Do that well? Impossible for them to 'tune out.' STEP 4: Ask engaging questions After you share a key feature (and how it solves): Stop and ask a question. But stop asking these: - does that make sense? - what questions do you have? Ask these instead: - how does that compare to how you solve this now? - to what extent do you envision this solving [pain]? - feels like that resonated. What struck a chord? - feels like that didn't resonate. Where'd it miss? Combine this with the last few steps? You'll have a conversation on your hands. Not a lifeless presentation. STEP 5: Host a discussion at the end As you approach the end of your demo, back up and ask the group: "in a second, we can talk about next steps. "But I'm curious to hear from each of you: "What resonated most about what you saw today?" That question sets expectations that each person engage. Go around the room. Ask opinions. Toggle between people. Then go into next steps. That's it for now. Hope you liked this. Tag someone this could help in the comments.

My top learning from conference season this year: interactive demos cut through noise at booths like nothing else. People don’t just walk by your booth.   They stop.   They engage with your demo.   They self-educate and remember your product long after the event. Storylane customers are using demos to attract, engage, and convert conference attendees—without overwhelming their sales teams at the booth. It's magical to watch. Here’s a 5-point checklist to help you get more out of using interactive demos at your next conference: 1. Boost foot traffic with autoplay demos  Attendees want to see your product in action. Set your demos on autoplay to grab attention and give them a hands-on experience. 2. Avoid Wi-Fi issues with offline demos   Conference Wi-Fi is (almost) always bad and it can ruin your live demos. Instead, download your interactive demo and run it without internet. No crashes, no stress—just a smooth demo experience. 3. Capture leads with in-demo forms Busy booth? Include lead gen forms in your demos to capture details from prospects, even when your sales team is tied up. 4. Increase engagement with QR codes Link your demos to QR codes on your booth, swag, and presentations. Let prospects review your product at their own pace and share it with their team. 5. Cover all buyer personas with Demo Hub   Different personas need different demos. Use a Demo Hub to cater to various audiences and show them exactly what they need to see. Take it from SentinelOne, who created a demo-enabled “GeniusBar” at RSA Conference with multiple demos on tap. They showcased Storylane demos across devices, giving each prospect a personalized, seamless experience. Make your product easy to experience and hard to forget—no matter how busy the event gets. We’ve released a guide for Storylane customers to make interactive demos booth-ready in 60 seconds, with how-to steps, customer examples, and key takeaways. Link in comments.

These two words kill any demo. The words? “You can.” When your demo becomes a series of “you can” statements, it turns into a tutorial —a step-by-step on features rather than the strategic impact for your audience. And once that happens, engagement drops, and your product starts to feel like a tool instead of a solution. Instead, consider framing around what your clients love. “Our clients typically start with…” “What many of our partners find value in is…” “Most customers first go to…” This isn’t just semantics. It’s storytelling. …It’s connecting with your audience’s priorities and experiences. When you talk about what others do, you create interest and momentum, building trust through a narrative. So the next time you’re tempted to say, “You can,” …pause and try leading with a client-centric approach. In every demo, remember: People want solutions, not tutorials. Stay curious and close deals.

We increased our demo conversion rate from 22% to 37% by doing a few simple things on every demo: A demo is not a tour. It is not a training session. And it is definitely not your chance to show off every single feature. A product demo is a sales conversation. Its only job is to help the customer see how you solve their specific problem. Here are the five habits we built into every demo: 1. Set an agenda and send it in advance. We email a short agenda before the call. It aligns expectations, builds trust, and tells the prospect we’re here to be organized and respectful of their time. 2. Start by confirming the pain. We do not rely on notes from the last call. We open the meeting by asking, “What problem are you hoping we solve today?” That answer dictates everything that follows. 3. Show one feature that solves that problem. We do not click around. We do not show everything. We pick the one feature that directly solves their pain and stay focused on that. The rest can wait. 4. Confirm your champion. Before the meeting ends, we ask, “Will you be recommending that your company buy our product?” If the answer is unclear, we work through the objections until we have a yes. 5. Always set a real next step. We schedule a follow-up to review pricing and commercial terms. The prospect agrees to review pricing in advance and come prepared with a decision. These are simple changes that you can make to your own demo to increase conversion rate. It made our demos tighter, our sales cycles shorter, and our deals easier to close. We went from 22% to 37% demo-to-close. What are your go-to habits for great product demos?

Most demos fail because of indigestion (too much info shared), NOT starvation (not enough info shared).  Here are 7 actionable ways to aid "buyer digestion": 1. A few days before the demo, email your buyer a teaser of what you're gonna cover. I like to send a 2 minute overview video of our product. 2. Show less than you think you need to. As long as they like what you did show, you'll always be able to earn more time to show the rest. 3. "Dead Air" is OK. There's nothing wrong with nobody speaking for a couple moments. Don't feel the pressure of having to "entertain" for the full 30 mins. 4. Use Zoom's annotation tools to draw on screen to highlight points of emphasis. 5. If you've talked for 2 mins straight, pause and take a few beats or a sip of water. Give 'em space to get a word in. 6. Occasionally pull down your screenshare to encourage conversation. 7. Pre-load each screen you plan to show. I pre-load a separate Chrome tab for each page I show in my demo. ___ What other techniques would you add to aid "buyer digestion"?

One sure way to improve your demos: bucket each feature you show into these three categories. 1) Table stakes (functionality all competitors offer): Sounds like, “Everyone can do this - I just wanted to briefly cover because you’ll need it and didn’t want you thinking we were the odd one out.” 2) Comparative differentiators (many do this, but we do it best): Sounds like, “You’ve likely seen something similar from our competitors. Here’s why our approach is different and why that difference matters for you.” 3) Unique differentiators (only we do this): Sounds like, “No one else does this - here’s why we chose this approach and how it helps people like you.” Most reps spend 80% of their demo on table stakes functionality. This drowns out the differentiators, and your buyer thinks you are the same as the competition. Lowest cost will win. To drive more engaging demos, spend 80% of your demo on differentiators. To drive better-understood demos, help your buyer categorize what you show to make it easier to compare to the competition. If you want help defending your differentiators, take two minutes to read this: https://lnkd.in/gC-Q2gZH