How to Beat Slick Demos

What do you do when your competitor’s product is shiny and new and yours comes off as ancient? When your demo is milquetoast and theirs is slick?

Is there a way you can use your opponent’s strength against them? You most certainly can, and the tactic I’m going to lay out for you not only has a good possibility of setting them up, you can have some fun while doing it. The tactic is exaggeration.

Here’s how it works:

Let’s say your client or prospective client will be seeing product demos from both you and your competitor.

If you know that their demo is slicker than yours, let the client know that information ahead of time.

Client: “So, we’re going to try to see both products in the next 2 weeks, both yours and XYZ’s.”

You: “Sounds good. By the way, their demo is really slick. Beautiful screens. Nice navigation. Very impressive.”

You may be wondering why you would do this. It sounds like you’re doing the selling for them.

No, what you’re really doing is overselling

At a minimum you’ve taken the wind out of their sails. If the demo goes well for them, it was expected.

Or, worse for your competitor, you might be setting them up for the big fail. You’ve set a high bar. If their demo is anything less than stellar, the client will be disappointed. And they may think less of the software or the support person delivering it.

So, what do you do if the client asks about your demo?

Undersell

“Our demo? Its okay. Don’t get me wrong. I love our software. It’s very comprehensive. It’s easy to navigate, especially after a bit of training, and it’s reliable. But our demo? Let me put this way, if we had a demo like theirs, I don’t know if we’d ever lose a deal (slight chuckle or wink).”

By the way, did you notice how them asking about your software demo creates competitive advantage? It further baits the trap. The client now may ask your opponent more questions about product reliability or how comprehensive it is.

If you execute this little tactic with confidence it carries little risk of you losing the deal. It will either have virtually no impact or it will start to give you an edge.

And that’s important because in complex sales usually the team that makes the least number of mistakes wins. And, anything that puts more pressure on your opponent increases the likelihood they’ll make a mistake. You can be the catalyst to that happening, but in a fun way.

Good luck and have a great week!

Bob

P.S. There are many ways to legally and ethically set up your opponent. Let me know if you’re interested in more strategies and counterstrategies to increase your probability of winning. [email protected].

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