Stop wasting demos (12-point fix)

Hey there,

Most sales reps are throwing away their best opportunities during demos.

You spend weeks nurturing a prospect through discovery, uncovering their pain points, building rapport with stakeholders, and then...

Your demo becomes a generic product tour that fails to connect to anything you’ve learned. The prospect leaves confused, overwhelmed, and questioning whether your solution is even relevant. Meanwhile, you've just burned your most valuable sales asset: a captive audience of decision-makers.

Here’s what we’ll cover today:

• The scorecard framework that eliminates wasted demo opportunities

• The difference between showing features and solving specific problems

• The booking strategy that maintains deal momentum between meetings

The Demo Scorecard That Saves Deals From Generic Product Tours

In order to turn demos from product tours into revenue generators, you're going to need a systematic approach that ties everything back to discovery.

Here's how to score every demo:

Foundation Questions (1-3)

The two elements set the stage for everything that follows.

Did you set a clear agenda? Start every demo by outlining goals, structure, and expected outcomes. This is your chance to frame the entire conversation around their specific needs rather than your product features.

Are the right people present, and what do they need to see? Before diving in, confirm all stakeholders are there and ask each person what's most important for them to see. This simple question prevents you from missing critical decision-makers' concerns and ensures everyone feels heard from the start.

Connection Points (4-6)

These elements tie your product directly to their discovered pain points.

How effectively did you reference their current situation? Open the demo by clearly articulating what you learned about their business context in discovery. This proves you were listening and sets up every feature as a solution to their specific challenges.

Are you connecting features to specific problems? Every capability you show must link back to a pain point from discovery. Don't just say "this feature does X", say "Remember when you mentioned X was taking 3 hours daily? Here's how we solve that specific problem."

Are you referencing consequences? Remind them what happens if they don't solve these problems. "You mentioned that without this, you'll miss your Q4 targets, which impacts your team's bonuses." This builds urgency and reinforces why they need to act.

How well are you connecting to their value drivers? Show specifically how your product delivers on what they said they value most. If they mentioned efficiency, demonstrate time savings. If they said compliance, show audit features.

Stakeholder Management (7-8)

Tailor your approach to each person in the room.

Are you addressing different stakeholders' interests? The CFO cares about ROI, the IT director worries about integration, and the end-user wants simplicity. Speak to each person's specific concerns that you identified in discovery.

Did you acknowledge their timeline and compelling event? Reference their deadline and time-sensitive factors. This requalifies urgency while showing you understand their business pressures.

Delivery Excellence (9-10)

Focus on quality over quantity in your presentation.

Is your demo clear and concise? Resist the urge to show everything. Overwhelming prospects with irrelevant features makes them think they're paying for more than they need. Stick to what matters for their specific use case.

How interactive is your demo? One-way presentations kill engagement. Ask questions, call out specific people by name, and ensure everyone participates. Interactive demos reveal additional needs and keep stakeholders invested.

Next Steps Mastery (11-12)

Close strong with clear advancement.

Did you establish concrete next steps? Define specific actions and timelines based on their decision process. Vague "we'll follow up" endings kill momentum.

How effective was your overall performance? Rate the demo's success in advancing the opportunity. Did you move closer to a decision or just deliver information?

That's it.

Here's what you learned today:

• Every demo needs systematic evaluation across foundation, connection, and advancement criteria

• Showing features delivers information; solving specific problems advances deals

• Concrete next steps and immediate follow-up booking prevent deals from stalling

If you don’t have a scorecard built out in your Sales Engagement Platform, like Gong or Salesloft - here’s a version for you to use.

Use this scorecard to evaluate your next three demos. Score yourself on each element and identify your biggest gaps. Your SE will thank you, your prospects will appreciate the relevance, and your close rate will reflect the difference.

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PS...If you're enjoying The Systematic Sales Leader, please consider recommending this edition to a friend.