Brands looking to stay relevant in the SaaS marketplace must evolve alongside their customers. A growing staple in the SaaS sales toolbelt, demo automation addresses many of the new challenges SaaS sales teams face in the modern marketplace by focusing on flexibility, customization, and value. Through personalization and adaptability, these solutions empower sales teams to better anticipate, meet, and exceed their customers’ expectations.
The Evolution of the Modern SaaS Customer
With sales processes becoming more complicated and drawn out, customers have had to adjust their shopping habits to make the right decisions about which SaaS provider to use.
Some of these new expectations may seem contradictory. SaaS customers want a sales pitch that is fast and flexible while also addressing their unique, personal needs. They want to use a wide variety of channels but expect a consistent experience across each.
To address the evolving needs of their customers, brands must find the right solutions that can shift, flex, and adapt with their customers as the industry moves forward.
What Is Demo Automation?
Demo automation is a specially designed, interactive demo solution that helps sales teams create, present, personalize, and analyze digital demos for buyers who request them.
Solutions like Consensus are transforming the way SaaS sales teams approach demoing by improving the lead qualification process, reducing the burden of demos on sales engineers, offering buyers flexibility in both the content they view and when they can view it, and providing sales teams with industry-leading insights and analytics.
The use of these tools has decreased the length of sales cycles, as well as increased efficient business growth and sales success.
Sales Challenges Solved by Demo Automation
As SaaS sales teams work to meet the buyer where they are at, enablement tools like demo automation offer solutions to common roadblocks that have slowed or even lost sales in the past.
Fast-Paced and Flexible Schedules
Modern buyers don’t want to be sold to, they want to be educated and taught. Where SaaS sales teams were previously forced to fit customer demos into their already full schedules, demo automation offers customers demos at their convenience that will intelligently adapt to their personal preferences and learning styles.
With demo automation, you can teach customers what they need to know in a more streamlined way. Buyers can view, re-watch, and share SaaS sales demos at a speed that fits their schedule without disrupting your sales team’s workflow. Not only does this technology increase the likelihood of a customer engaging with a demo, but it also increases the odds of viewers sharing demos with others.
Anticipating Needs
SaaS customers are looking for more than just the standard, cookie-cutter demo offered to everyone else. That’s why sales demo automation provides customers with an interactive demo experience that can be adjusted according to a viewer’s specific needs.
As customers interact with the automated video demo, sales teams can get a more accurate picture of the exact pain points each customer has, allowing them to anticipate and proactively target these needs during live demos and other sales tactics.
Value-Based Selling
Today’s customers are seeking specific sales material that educates them on how SaaS products provide them with unique value, especially as technology advances and becomes more available. SaaS sales teams who use automated demos allow customers to learn more about what interests them without being forced to sift through topics that don’t. It also gives your sales team a glimpse of what the viewer was and wasn’t interested in, giving you a head start in discovery.
Automated demos offer an interactive experience that lets SaaS customers dial in on and learn more about the features that offer them the most value. Based on what customers choose to learn about, sales teams can then leverage that data later on in the sales cycle to focus on value points and emphasize features that interest them.
Content Personalization
As buyer groups continue to grow, the need for flexible, personalized content becomes increasingly vital to the SaaS sales process. Demo automation gives SaaS teams the information and tools they need to identify and address each stakeholder’s unique pain points during and after interactive demos.
This digital solution puts the power of personalization in the customer’s hands by letting customers select how important each topic is, minimizing the work required to better meet expectations. Demos shared within a buyer group can even be adjusted according to the interests of each individual stakeholder.
As demos are shared, specific data is collected for each viewer, offering sales teams a bird’s-eye view of how they can customize their sales tactics to address each stakeholder’s needs.
The Increased Role of Data
Data is central to the SaaS sales process, but it’s only useful if brands can collect and analyze it effectively. Through demo automation, brands have access to tools like Consensus Demolytics that can help sort buyer groups, track team performance, and give enhanced insight into how customers interact with sales materials.
From which features are most prioritized to how information is shared within a prospect’s organization, demo automation takes analytics to the next level.
Scaling Sales Teams
To facilitate future efficient growth in the SaaS sales marketplace, brands need to learn how to stretch their team without sacrificing their budget. Demo automation frees up valuable time for sales team members so they can increase their output and value without the need for additional hiring costs. It also extends sales reach by letting customers experience interactive demos at any time and share them with any stakeholders in their organization.
Omnichannel Strategies
Creating a uniform and efficient experience across every sales channel is essential to meeting customers where they are. As technology continues advancing, customers are using new methods to communicate with the brands they’re interested in buying from. However, they also want a consistent experience no matter which channel they choose to communicate through.
Demo automation acts as a channel accelerator by granting customers the same tools and access across every experience — allowing brands to better reach and engage with their target audience.
Prepare Your Team for the Future With the Right Tools
To keep your SaaS sales team on the cutting edge of the industry, you need tools that match your customers’ evolving expectations. Solutions like demo automation help your team proactively anticipate customer needs, accelerate the qualification process, and effectively collect vital information. Learn more about data automation through our blog or watch a demo to discover the benefits of demo automation solutions like Consensus for yourself.
