A Demo Video Never Has a Bad Day — Why Live Sales Pitches Don’t Always Work Best

Saturday Night Live is rehearsed. Reality TV is edited. Tons of huge touring bands lip sync. Even sports and news broadcasts have a time delay. Why? Because with live performances something can go wrong at any moment, and there’s no way to take it all back. You only get ONE opportunity to get it all right.

Even then, we can’t predict everything. Maybe the Systems Engineer demoing has a bad day. Maybe they’re just having a bad hair day, and it’s distracting. Maybe they get hit with a question they totally would be able to answer, but when put on the spot they stumble. These risks show why pre-recorded sales demos can provide advantages compared to a live demonstration. You get the luxury of 6-8 or more takes, and you get to choose the best portion of each take. Your prospects also have the advantage of being able to jump back in the video and catch something they missed.

These advantages, coupled with many others, show why a pre-recorded sales demo video or demo automation software is a great way to supplement or even subsititute a live demonstration.

People Don’t Want Things Live - They Want a Good Experience

While there’s definitely a sliver of appeal to actual live performances, what people usually want is the appearance of immediacy. Good production values are always more welcome than a confusing or uncomfortable mess. 

This is especially true in the sales environment. Yes, nothing can replace the authenticity and electricity of the human element. But humans can also make things just plain awkward, and even true professionals used to working live have bad days.

Imagine if a huge performer in a stadium beckoned someone on the stage and handed them a guitar. It could be an amazing moment! Or it could be something everyone wishes they could to forget.

The key to remember is that we only like live things when they go near-perfectly. Since sales prospects will want to get as much information about your solution as possible, you can give them this near-perfect performance by splicing together a few days’ worth of recording and refining.

After watching, they can respond with questions for you, giving you the opportunity to follow up in person. Then, you can tailor your actual live performance to their needs, rather than giving them the one-size-fits-all demo.

 All of these factors make pre-recorded videos a lower risk and a better use of both your time and the prospect’s time leading up to pre-sales.

Using Effective Demo Automation Software

We at 2Win like the idea of pre-recorded personal & authentic demo videos because they let the lead go through the sales process at their own pace. That way, we can send out demos to multiple leads at once and follow up with them when they’re ready to continue the conversation.

Letting your leads self-guide not only helps your team multitask, it also provides leads with the autonomy they increasingly want. According to a recent survey, 19% of prospects claim they prefer to engage one-on-one with sales only when they are close to the consideration phase.

So if you arent already, consider personalized automated sales demos to give yourself every advantage you can when it comes to getting it all right. Your prospect will thank you for it!