Take control of your deal after the Demo

The most common part of the Sales cycle where AEs tend to lose control of their deals is right after the demo.

Prospect says at the end of your demo, “we’ll discuss internally and get back to you.” Poof. You don’t hear from them. They ghost you. You start chasing. Not fun.

Here’s how you can take control of your cycle at the tail end of your demos.

Firstly, leave the final 7-10 minutes of your demo to ask these questions.

“Linda and team, is there anything that you did not see today that you were hoping to see?”

pause

If there is something they’d like to see that they didn’t and if it doesn’t take more than 2-min to show, then show it. If it takes longer, save it for another time. The next part is crucial - next steps.

Clearly articulate the next steps of the evaluation process.

“Linda, in the spirit of our potential partnership, I’d like to outline what the next steps look like as part of the evaluation and ensure your process is aligned to that. Mind if I spend a couple of min walking through that?”

pause

Walk them through a timeline slide of what the next steps look like.

Visualize it. It resonates a lot better. Speak to the next steps on the timeline. Have dates tied to each item.

e.g. Demo => Executive alignment meeting => Scoping call => Proposal review and business case => Contract signature & execution

(you’ll have to customize this based on your typical next steps in your Sales cycles)

Talk through it and then ask them, “does this align with how you typically evaluate technology?”

Let them tell you if it’s different. You are the guide. You may be working with folks where it’s their first time evaluating tech at this company. Or they’ve been there a while and they can tell you how it’s typically done on their side.

There are certainly more things you will be discussing in these last few min, but the MOST important item is to lock in the next step.

Do NOT end the call without scheduling time for your next touchpoint. There’s a specific talk track I use for this that WORKS.

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Earlier this week, I had a 45-min session dedicated to this topic in our Community. I walked through exactly what the final 7-10 min of your demo should look like in detail. The exact talk track, timeline slide and next steps. Including how to tackle the most common questions at the end of demos (“can we get access to a trial?”, “how much does this cost?”)

If this is something you’re interested in, you can access the recording of the session in the Community, including 250+ pieces of actionable content across every Sales topic.

Let’s take control of our deals and increase our win rates!

If you’re looking to elevate your Sales acumen and close more deals, there are 2 ways I can help.

1. Join my community at Salmansalesacademy.com

2. Access the Strategic Sales Playbook I’ve built - from 17-years of learnings as an individual contributor - to learn at your own pace [releasing in mid-March]

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