4 Reasons Interactive Demos Are Crucial for B2B Sales

Buyers today don’t want to be told how great your product is. They’ve been misled by the traditional sales process one too many times where a well-meaning sales rep who isn’t a technical expert assures them this product will do something it can’t, has a feature it lacks, or is popular with end users who will end up disliking it (and ignoring it as a result).

That’s why the future of B2B sales is in showing value, not telling prospects about it. They want to see and experience your product for themselves—and the best way to do that is including interactive product tours in your B2B sales motion.

Here are 4 of the biggest reasons you should add interactive demos to your sales process.

1. The Sales Cycle is Now the Buyer’s Journey

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again—the way B2B buyers want to buy has changed significantly. Today’s buyers aren’t waiting around for a salesperson to inform them about what your product does and why it matters. In fact, they spend only about 5% of their time in the buying journey with your sales reps.

Buyers are now doing their own research and they want to see the value your product offers at every stage of their journey—not only after you’ve determined they’re a qualified lead.

Interactive product tours on your website allow your potential buyers to explore your product on their own, at least to get an introduction to what you offer to them. They can determine if they want to continue through the sales cycle or disqualify themselves because your solution isn’t a match for their needs.

While that independence might make sales teams nervous (no one likes to lose control), the truth is that buyers are already doing this even if you don’t provide them with interactive product tours—they’re speaking to their peers in other organizations, reading online reviews, and watching product videos from other sources.

You might as well give them the resources they need right on your site with your own proof of value.

2. Adding in Product-Led Experiences

Product-led growth in its beginning form is tricky for many (or most) companies to adopt. Your product might not work as a free trial or freemium offering because of security concerns, or complicated installation processes, or simply because it’s hard for users to see the full value on their own.

But adding interactive product demos to your sales cycle can allow you to add a product-led element without going full PLG. They’re especially helpful for enterprise SaaS companies, which often have products that aren’t a fit for free trials or freemium, to enable them to deliver a product-led experience.

After all, letting users try out your technology before they buy it is what product-led growth is all about. Demos make that kind of test drive easy for both your company and your buyers.

3. You Need to Efficiently Scale Your Sales Process

In today’s tech environment, you’re likely looking for ways to increase your sales without bumping up your headcount. Interactive product demos allow you to scale your sales efforts by enabling buyers to self-educate in the very early stages via your website.

And their benefits go further: you can also add customized demos to post-call emails to better illustrate value to a buyer, or create a library of reusable demos that your sales reps can use early in the sales cycle without needing an SE on the call.

For example, Outreach used Reprise’s demo creation software to create a “golden demo” offering the most critical parts of their solution that AEs can deliver without an SE. By enabling your reps, you can save SE resources for the later stages of the sales process when their expertise is truly needed and avoid expanding your presales team further.

4. They Make Buying Software Easier and More Fun

Buying software right now is almost always a slog. You’ve experienced this if you’ve purchased anything recently, and the data definitely backs it up. In fact, Gartner found that 77% of B2B customers rated their purchase experience as extremely complex or difficult. No wonder buyers are fed up with the sales process as it exists today.

If you’re not focused on providing a great experience when you’re trying to woo a customer, what makes them think you’ll provide a good one once the contract is signed and they’re locked in?

A bad buying experience can make prospects look to competitors who offer a frictionless motion instead—according to Salesforce, 84% of B2B buyers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products.

And it’s not just difficult to buy software—it’s often really boring. Buying software doesn’t need to be as fun as watching these famous demo fails, but it can be much more interesting than glazing over as you stare at a 10-minute-long harbor tour video (or even worse, a 75-page slide deck).

Interactive product demos make your sales process easier because they’re self-serve but allow for guidance and story-telling so your prospects understand your product’s value without jumping through sales hoops. They also make it a little less painful, and with the right demo, it can even be a little more fun—your software can do some cool things, so why not show it off?

Making demos is easier with the right demo creation software too. Reprise enables sales and presales teams to create interactive guided demos that do more than show your product—they tell a story. Take a tour and see it for yourself today.