You’re getting ready for the product demo and we know exactly how you feel.
Your palms are sweaty. Your knees are weak, arms are heavy. There’s vomit on your sweater already, mom’s spaghetti. You’re nervous, but on the surface, you look calm and ready…
Okay, okay. We may be paraphrasing Eminem, but you get the point. It’s a big moment and you have to be ready to deliver.
In fact, it’s probably the most important moment of the sales process. You’re about to sit with your prospect and walk them through exactly how your product can help them save time, money, and valuable resources. After all, turning prospects into paying clients isn’t an easy task, but it can be a lot easier with the right preparation.
That’s where a product demo agenda comes in handy.
What is a product demo agenda and why do you need one?
A product demo agenda is a clearly written plan for the demo meeting that you should send to your prospects to grab their attention, prove that you’re worth their time, and eliminate the risk of no-shows.
You’ll usually send the agenda before the demo call in the form of a short email. There, you’ll remind them of the meeting and outline what will happen on the demo call.
Buyers are busy so you need to make sure it’s clear to them what they stand to gain from giving you some of their precious time. You also need to prepare them to understand what to expect during the demo process.
Top benefits of writing a product demo agenda
A demo agenda is much more than a table of contents. When done right, your product demo agenda will help you move the sales process along and close your sale.
Here are the main benefits of writing and sending a demo agenda:
1. Verifies participation, reducing no-shows
2. Let’s buyers know you won’t waste their time by giving them a clear idea of what they can gain from attending
3. Gives prospects a chance to review the topics you’ll cover beforehand and prep any questions for the meeting
4. Helps ensure you cover all of the vital points
5. Allows you to lay the groundwork for why they should choose your software over a competitor’s
When to send your sales demo agenda
We recommend sending the agenda a day in advance of the demo. Make sure to send it during working hours so that the prospect will see it. This will allow them to plan their time accordingly.
How to write a successful product demo agenda
To create your demo agenda, you need to plan and time the demonstration structure carefully. Generally, a demo agenda will include the following sections:
Part one: Introduction
Part two: Set the stage
Part three: Address challenges and provide solutions
Part four: Call to action
To create a demo agenda, you first need to understand the structure of an effective SaaS sales demo.
Ideally, a software demo should last no longer than 30 minutes, so planning how long each step will take will keep things running smoothly. To ensure you meet your timings, you can create and practice using a demo script. You can find our demo script writing tips here, which should help you nail this aspect of your planning.
Here is the framework for a successful demo experience and its collaboration with the agenda document itself.
Part 1: Make intros and understand your audience
The first part of the demo is where you make a brief introduction to everyone on the call. The goal of this part is to simply break the ice, introduce everyone present, create rapport, and quickly share the agenda.
Here are the four big questions you’ll need to answer as quickly as possible:
- Who are the attendees?
- What do they stand to gain from your product?
- Why should they pay attention to the demo?
- How long will the demo take?
What to write in your demo agenda
Write to each recipient personally. Call them by name, mention their company name, and make it clear you aren’t simply copy-pasting.
When writing the agenda, it’s a good idea to mention that there will be an introduction, but refer to it as a “quick” or “brief”. This will make sure your readers don’t feel like they’re going to get stuck listening to a long, drawn-out introduction before they can get to the meat of the meeting.
Part 2: Nail down the pain points and what you’re there to solve
Formalities over, your next task is to set the stage for the demo. This is your opportunity to quickly reinforce that you understand the challenges they face and start explaining how your SaaS solution will solve them.
It is important to get into your prospect’s mindset and business at this stage. Your aim here is to ensure you’re addressing the customer’s specific pain points. Otherwise, you risk losing their interest.
Remind your prospects of the business challenges they face and how your software can solve them. Use affirming statements and clarify what you will cover.
What to write in your demo agenda
You want to make it clear that you understand their needs and are going to spend the demo focusing on their specific pains.
So in your product demo agenda, mention a few of the specific issues they have and that you’ll discuss the ways your product can help.
Part 3: Address challenges and map solutions
The next part of the demo is solution mapping. This part of the demo heavily influences a prospect’s decision. Presenting how your SaaS provides a solution to your stakeholders is key.
Here’s how you can ensure a knockout software demo agenda that piques interest in your product and brings you one step closer to closing sales:
1. Create a professional, interactive, and personalized software demo.
Let your prospects click through your demo by themselves to get a sense of your product. With the right product demo platform, you can give your prospects a great sales experience.
2. Show how your software solves your client’s challenges.
Get specific but not technical. Remember to focus on their needs, not on your product’s features.
3. Outline how your software addresses other challenges.
Once you made it clear how your product can solve the pains that they feel are most pressing, you can also cover other benefits your product can provide.
4. Include room for questions.
Encourage them to engage. Make sure you’re not talking at them by speaking to them directly, mentioning the specific team member by name who will most benefit from each aspect of the product, and asking them questions throughout the demo.
What to write in your demo agenda
After the last step where you mentioned their pains, now you’ll describe the specific flows you’ll be demonstrating in your product that’ll help the prospects see how it can solve their pains.
Part 4: “What’s next?” Encourage action
The end of the demo should help your prospect understand how to move forward with buying your software. Be clear on your prospect’s decision-making process and the next steps.
If this was marketing material, this would be your CTA. You need to schedule your next step so that your prospect knows exactly what they need to do next. This is your opportunity to keep the sale moving forward and lock in new customers.
What to write in your demo agenda
In your product demo agenda, you could briefly mention that you will close the demo and discuss the next steps for the potential partnership.
SaaS product demo agenda templates to help you close more deals
When you write demo agenda emails, we recommend keeping it light and easy to read, giving just enough information so the prospect knows what to expect and when.
While you should really be creating personal emails for each prospect, it can be helpful to start off with a template that you can customize for each use.
Here are a couple examples:
Demo agenda email template #1
Hey (First Name) 🙂
How are you?
I am super excited to demo our product to you tomorrow, at (time). Just to give you a sneak peek, here is the demo agenda:
1. Quick meet and greet
2. A brief overview of how (product name) works
3. Take deep dive into how you can use our product to solve (prospect’s pains)
4. Any extra features you’d like to see / questions
The call will last around 30 minutes. Please use this link to connect.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Looking forward to chatting tomorrow!
(Your signature)
Demo agenda email template #2
Hi (First name),
I wanted to reach out to let you know the agenda for what we’ll cover tomorrow during our demo call:
1. Short intros
2. How our product can help with (prospect’s specific pains)
3. Question time
The call will start at (Time) and last around 30 minutes. You can join the meeting with this link.
I look forward to chatting with you!
Kind regards,
(Your signature)
Use the right product demo platform
By sending a product demo agenda in advance of the call, the prospect can see that you will address all of their pain points before the demo even takes place. This makes it more likely that they’ll come to demo excited to learn something new.
But when you’re ready to deliver the sales demo, make sure you’re utilizing interactive product demo software like Walnut to create personalized and interactive product demos.
Not only will you be able to give prospects a more engaging and customer-centric sales experience, but you can also then use the demo analytics to inform changes so that you can make data-driven decisions based on customer interactions and discover how to structure a sales demo.
Related reads:
- Product Demos: The Different Options and Their Benefits
- The Ultimate SaaS Product Demo Checklist
- Top 3 Ways for Remote Sales Teams to Deliver Impactful Live Product Demos
- The Top 6 Live Product Demo Fails Of All Time
- How to Create an Interactive Product Demo in 5 Steps
Ready to revolutionize your product demos? Book a meeting with us now by clicking that “Get Started” button on the top of the screen.