Welcome to Season 1, Episode 3 of our new Sales Hacker series: Demo-litions, where real reps giving real sales demos are reviewed by two sales experts (Scott Barker and Dave Kennett).
If you want to see how Shane opened the call, built rapport, and set an agenda, check out Episode 1. Scott and Dave had some great advice for sellers, too.
To see how Shane introduced his product’s value, and showed off his deep understanding of his prospect, see Episode 2.
Full Disclosure: We don’t have anything to disclose. Nobody in this video paid to be in it, and we didn’t trade any services either. This is just our honest appraisal of a real sales demo from a real rep!
Let’s get right into it!
Pricing & Negotiation
In the first two episodes, Shane Todhunter from Klue started a demo with his prospect, OpenGov. He did a good job opening the call, and starting the demo in Episodes 1 and 2.
In Episode 3, we look at the third quarter of Shane’s demo. In this episode, Dave and I will evaluate Shane on his ability to close out the product demo portion and handle a pricing conversation with his prospect.
- Rapport
- Agenda Setting
- Introduction
- Demo
- Pricing
- Negotiation
- Closing
- Next Steps
Demo: 4/5
Last episode, we rated Shane’s Demo portion a 4 out of 5. In this episode, he actually came back to a few features and pushed it a little too much. It drew him away from a critical pricing conversation and started to feel a tiny bit like over-selling.
But he still did a really strong job, especially when faced with internet and product bugs. He kept the conversation rolling very well.
He also got the prospect raving about some product features, saying it was better than the competitors she had seen. He continued to show how well-prepared he was by using hyper-targeted and relevant use-cases.
Pricing: 3/5
Big ouch: Shane never asked (or re-confirmed) his prospect’s budget before talking about Pricing! While it didn’t hurt his call too much, Dave and I saw this as a miss. Even if Shane had already discussed with his customer during Discovery, we would have liked to see him confirm that nothing had changed.
Then, after he started discussing pricing with his prospect, he got a little sidetracked and started showing some features again. His prospect did ask a question about features after bringing up pricing, but only because Shane brought up features! So, it was a little foot-in-mouth moment.
A pricing conversation should always concise, clean, crisp and clear. Shane still might bring it out in Episode 4, though!
Key Takeaways
Despite the scores in this episode, Shane continued to do a really strong job. He showed some very relevant examples, and his prospect even told him that she liked his product and approach more than his competitors’. Big win!
- Always confirm (or re-confirm) budget before you begin a pricing conversation.
- Ideally, budget is discussed during Discovery, and you’ll also know who owns it in addition to the number.
- When you’re presenting your product, use your mouse/cursor carefully. Point at things only when you’re showing something specific. Don’t wave it around as you’re speaking about other things.
- While you should consultatively answer prospect’s questions, don’t let them throw your agenda out the window.
- If you have the opportunity, don’t be scared to use the name of any large brand names in your customer base.
Quote of the Episode
“We’re at a point now, where anyone worth their salt is consultative. Why not be liked while you’re at it? You might as well!”