Course Outcomes

This product demonstration skills course will:

  • Offer a framework for designing strong product demonstrations.
  • Highlight best practices for conducting an in-person or virtual demo.
  • Provide several checklists.
  • Suggest techniques for using stories and encouraging audience interaction.
  • Provide language for moving prospects to the next phase of the sales cycle.

Course Overview

Many of us remember the heyday of the product infomercial. From chicken roasters to contraptions that could affix rhinestones to clothing, a cadre of product-pitching hosts sold millions of dollars worth of As-Seen-On-TV wonders. And regardless of whether you bought his products, you had to admire Ron Popeil’s ability to make whatever he was selling the star of the show. This workshop is designed for people who use product demonstrations as a sales tool. The course covers a range of information: what makes a solid product demonstration, understanding an audience and scheduling appointments, conducting one-on-one and one-to-many demos, engaging buyers in person and virtually, using stories to create mental movies, and helping an audience envision themselves using a product, regardless of whether they’ve ever seen anything like it.

Program Objectives

At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Articulate the elements a strong product demonstration contains.
  • Build rapport with prospects and engage an audience.
  • Research an audience in advance and on the fly.
  • Put their buyers and their product front and center.
  • Use stories during their demonstrations.
  • Explain innovations to which customers have not yet been exposed.
  • Avoid product-demonstration mistakes.
  • Demonstrate their products dynamically, and move customers to the next phase of the sales cycle.

The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).

Workshop Outline

Master Class: What Makes a Great Demonstration

This program begins with a review of several well-known product demonstrations. Working in teams, participants will evaluate a series of videos and identify why each works as well as it does. Next, the class will create the first of several checklists they will use later in the day to evaluate their own product-demonstration efforts.

Knowing the Audience and What’s Important: Understanding Need

Sometimes product demonstrators have the luxury of researching prospects before conducting a demo. Other times, they must learn as they go. In this part of the workshop, we will develop a process map for each situation. We will also discuss tactics for scheduling demonstrations and how to overcome objections to appointment setting.

Customer Segments: Engaged Customers Buy More

Product demonstrations can happen in both one-to-one and one-to-many formats. These days, they can also occur in person or virtually. This part of the program looks at the adjustments demonstrators need to make for a range of scenarios. In addition to those demonstration strategies, we’ll also talk about engagement techniques to establish a dialog early in the process, regardless of whether the demonstration is an in-person event or virtual meeting. 

Story Time: From Dry to Dynamic

Not every product is an instant head-turner, but every product has a story that can make a connection in the hearts and minds of prospects. This part of the workshop focuses on product stories: how to find them, how to craft them, and when to use them during the demonstration process. 

Didn’t Know I Needed It: Strategies for Selling “New”

Many a product manager has lost a job because would-be customers failed to understand an innovative solution. Enter the product demonstrators. At its core, their job is to spark a desire to own whatever product they’re selling. This seminar segment pays particular attention to the challenges a demonstrator must overcome when people don’t understand what’s being sold or why they need it.

Demo Don’ts: Do Not Collect $200

Watching a bad product demonstration can be considerably worse than spending hours watching paint dry. Lounging in front of latex is at least quiet and an opportunity to unplug. A bad demo, on the other hand, is just painful. This workshop segment explores show-stopping mistakes and solutions for avoiding them. From faulty equipment and endless apologies to over-explaining and data dumps, this part of the program looks at a range of errors that can kill a sale.

Closing Conversations: Next Steps

No matter the product, the goal of any demonstration is to drive prospects to the next step, whatever that is. In this part of the course, we’ll talk about closing language and tactics for moving prospects further along in the sales process.

Operators Are Standing By: Show What You Know

This program ends with a final product demonstration run-through. During this part of the course, participants will receive peer feedback in addition to coaching from the facilitator.

By the conclusion of this hands-on program, participants should be able to interact comfortably with an audience and deliver an engaging product demonstration.