Went to a trade show in Cleveland and finally got why some SaaS demos flop

I visited the Midwest B2B Expo last week and sat through maybe 12 demos. One guy from a CRM company started his pitch by asking us what our biggest headache was before even opening his laptop. That simple move made me realize how most vendors just jump straight into features. I swear 8 out of 10 demos I saw spent the first 5 minutes talking about their own platform instead of listening. Has anyone else noticed how rare it is to get a demo that actually feels like a conversation instead of a lecture?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamie8041mo agoMost Upvoted

Biggest tip I've picked up from sales vets is to ask one specific question about their workflow before even touching your laptop. @faith_shah88, I actually tried that CRM guy's approach at my last demo and booked 3 follow ups just by listening first instead of talking features. That one shift in how you start changes the whole energy of the room.

owens.anthony1mo ago

Whoa, hold up. Ten minutes on font choices? That's insane. I can't believe someone actually thought that was the selling point for a software demo. I would have been looking for the exit before he even got to the second font. That kind of stuff makes me wonder if these vendors ever even talk to their own customers before they put a deck together. It's like they're giving a lecture to impress other designers, not to solve a real business problem for the people in the room.

faith_shah881mo ago

Man, that reminds me of a time I sat through a demo where the guy spent 10 minutes showing off his font choices before saying a word about what the thing actually did. Did you ask that CRM guy any follow ups?