How to Create Sales Demo Videos That Don’t Suck

In our time-pressed society, video product demonstrations have increasingly replaced live ones in the sales realm. Pre-recorded demo videos can allow a salesperson to reuse a single asset on an as-needed basis, while live video demonstrations connect reps to clients instantly, even across thousands of miles.

The only problem is that not all demo videos are good. In fact, you may have already seen that many of them downright suck. But your’s don’t have to! You can put the following pointers and techniques into practice in order to make your video sales demonstrations both engaging and effective.

Remember That Quality Counts

Many companies fail at delivering demo videos because they do not emphasize the film-making skills needed to make an appealing video. Most people only subconsciously recognize markers of quality, and they often miss them in poorly made videos without really understanding why.

To make sure you don’t overlook anything, consider these 5 common causes of poor quality:

• Script — You can improvise in your videos and customize the messaging to fit certain clients, but you should never ramble. Write out a complete script for the demo, rehearse it, record it, watch it, and then make edits so that it can be concise and easy to follow.

• Sound — Get a good microphone! Also, try to eliminate sources of poor sound quality, like echoes and background noise. Having a dedicated studio room can help ensure consistency.

• Lighting — If your setup is too dark, then contrast will be poor and the image blurry. If you use too bright of light, your subject will look like they are being interrogated. Instead, use a three-point lighting system, or something close to it.

• Camera — Put your camera on a tripod at eye level. No one should be looking down awkwardly at a screen-mounted webcam, and they definitely should not be looking off to the side!

• Background — Backgrounds should be non-distracting but also nice to look at. You can either stage a simple business-like office setup or use a patterned backdrop cloth.

When your recipients see that your demos lack the amateurish qualities seen among many competitors, they already have a key point of differentiation in their mind.

Remember That Timing Is Everything

Whether a demo is seven minutes or seventy minutes, they typically require a time commitment beyond the typical piece of “infotainment” content someone would voluntarily consume. If you send the demo too early, the lead may simply get confused or overwhelmed with this time length. Send it too late, and the video could inadvertently create more questions than answers — or they could have already gone to a competitor!

Ideally, your demonstration will come at the perfect time when leads are converted well past the awareness stage and they already know some of the key benefits of your product because of their own interest. At this point, a demo can help them increase their interest and move towards the decision phase.

So make sure you can deliver key benefits in a digestible, appealing way until the prospect is ready for an in-depth demo when they start actively considering their specific needs and wants.

Use Sales Enablement to Position Your Team for Success During Sales Demo Videos

Clients take up a lot of the slack during the modern sales process, but they are not going to drive action forward. If you put too many decisions in their hands, they are just as likely to look at competitors. To avoid giving their leads too little or too much control, sales reps must have the inbuilt skills to deliver effective sales video demonstrations that indicate clear value and use compelling messaging without ever “hard-selling.”

If you think your team could use a skill boost to create the conditions to raise their chances of sales success, then you should likely invest in Demo Automation or sales demonstration training (or a combo of both) which will help them think on their feet and respond to the unique pain points of each client.

Together with training, high quality and unique-personal video production, your sales teams can create incredible demos that get real results!