How to prep for a sales demo with confidence

Sales demos can be stressful! Even the most experienced, successful sales pros can still get stage fright. When you’re prepared, you’ll feel more confident. The lead-up to a sales demo should involve research, strategy, planning, and — if you tend to get nervous — calming down your nervous system. A well-prepared demo showcases your product's value, builds your rapport with potential clients, and helps you close more deals. 

To help you knock your next demo out of the park, we asked B2B sales pros for their top tips for demo prep. You'll learn what info to gather and how to gather it, why agendas are a must-have, and how to handle pre-demo anxiety.

Here's how B2B sales pros prep for sales demonstrations, including what information to gather, how to gather it, why agendas are crucial, and how to handle pre-demo jitters.

What information should I gather before a sales demo?

Some sales teams have an intro discovery call before leads can be shown a product demonstration. Other sales processes use form fills and/or online research to corral info. Either way, discovery is crucial for tailoring sales demos to your prospects’ must-haves. 

Rounding up the right info is crucial for tailoring your product demo to meet your prospect’s specific situation and pain points.

“Discovery, discovery, discovery ... Without good discovery, your demonstration will just be a generic ‘harbor tour’ that likely won’t be as well received as a tailored demo specific to the prospect’s needs.”

Ben Wright

Principal Solutions Engineer at Calendly

According to Calendly’s most experienced salespeople, here’s what you should focus on during discovery:

1. Business and industry: Understand the prospect’s industry landscape, business model, and position in the market. This helps you highlight how your product fits into their operations.

2. Challenges: Identify your prospect’s specific pain points. This might include inefficiencies, budget constraints, or competitive pressure.

3. Goals: Know the prospect’s objectives and priorities. Do they want to increase revenue? Improve efficiency? Gain a competitive edge?

4. Decision-making process: Understand who the key stakeholders are, their criteria for choosing a solution, and their timeline for making a decision.

5. Competitors: Find out what solutions your prospect’s currently using and evaluating, so you can showcase how your product wins over your competitors.

“The key to a successful demo is to first understand the outcome that the client is trying to achieve — their goals, pain points, metrics of success.”

Sally Baldauf

Global VP of Presales at Gong

To unearth this in-depth discovery information, you have to ask prospects the right questions. Some examples:  

• What are the biggest challenges facing your business right now?

• What goals are you hoping to achieve with [your type of product]?

• What’s your budget for this project?

• Have you used similar products in the past? What were the results?

• Who are the key decision-makers involved in this purchase?

• What’s your timeline for making a decision and implementing a solution?

• Are there any specific product features that are must-haves for your business?

• Are you evaluating other options? 

• What are the biggest factors influencing your decision?

How should I gather that information?

Whether you gather intelligence via discovery calls, marketing forms, booking page questions, data enrichment tools like Clearbit, or all of the above, make sure you document that info in your CRM, so you can refer to it as you plan your demo roadmap. Pro tip: The easiest way to do this is to make sure your information-gathering tools integrate with your CRM, like Salesforce or HubSpot. Then prospect information is up-to-date and you’re not bogged down with admin tasks.

“Your doctor won’t give you a prescription without first understanding what is making you sick. Same applies for demos.”

Dave Evatt

Senior Solutions Engineer at Calendly

To make sure nothing gets lost in translation between the discovery call and demo, Calendly’s solutions engineers swear by Gong’s call recording and analysis software.

To gather additional information beyond discovery calls and forms, your company can use a combination of these research goldmines: 

1. LinkedIn and other social media

2. Company website and blog

3. Industry reports and news

4. Look for notes from past meetings with anyone at the same company, including meetings, emails, and shared documents.

5. Direct communication

How do I create a sales demo agenda?

“Now you have a good understanding of what you're jumping into. From there, once the demo has started, you can engage your client by showing you've done your homework while also confirming your suspicions with strategic questions to impress them.”

Patrick Moore

Senior Solutions Engineer at Calendly

Use an agenda to set expectations and structure the demo. Setting expectations throughout the demo process keeps things clear and organized, shows you respect your prospect's time, and demonstrates you're professional and prepared.

“Often, attendees aren't sure what to expect, so we have to make sure to set the tone before the call even happens,” says Morgan J. Ingram, Founder and CEO at Ascension Media Productions (AMP).

Here’s Morgan’s framework for setting up successful sales calls that close deals:

Use your discovery research to create an agenda and share it with your prospects 24 hours before the demo call. Your agenda should include:

• Topics you’ll cover

• Any questions you’d like them to think about beforehand

• Relevant use cases

• Time for Q&A

• Next steps

If you’d prefer a more structured agenda that ensures your demo is focused and efficient, follow this step-by-step agenda template. Just remember, every single one of these agenda items should be a two-way conversation, not an old-school sales pitch.

1. Introduction (5 minutes): Start with brief introductions, outline the agenda, and set expectations.

2. Recap of prospect's needs (10 minutes): Talk to them about their business requirements and challenges. Show that you’ve done your homework and are focused on their specific situation. Most importantly, ask questions and listen. 

3. Product overview (10 minutes): Provide a high-level overview of your product, highlighting key features and benefits. Relate these directly to the prospect’s pain points and goals.

4. Deep dive (20 minutes): Demonstrate the core functionalities of your product that address the prospect's specific needs. Use real-life scenarios and case studies to illustrate your points.

5. Q&A session (10 minutes): Be prepared to answer questions and clarify any doubts the prospect might have.

6. Next steps (5 minutes): Conclude with a summary of the demo, restate the benefits, and outline the next steps. Schedule a follow-up meeting while you’re on the current call.

How can I reduce demo no-shows?

Of the revenue team members we surveyed during Growth Week, 36% said that no-show prospects are a top challenge to moving deals forward.

Reminders are essential to reduce no-shows. Here’s a follow-up email schedule that’s worked for many of Calendly’s sales reps:

Immediately after scheduling: Send a confirmation email with the date, time, agenda, and any other helpful prep materials.

One day before the demo: Send a reminder email with the meeting link and a friendly note expressing your enthusiasm about the upcoming demo.

Day of the demo: Send a quick email or text message a few hours before the meeting to ensure everything is on track.

Email and text automation can take care of these reminders for you, so you can focus on planning your demo.

The sales team at CallRail uses Calendly Workflows to automate meeting reminder emails. These reminders serve double duty, keeping upcoming meetings top-of-mind, and asking potential customers to share any last-minute questions. The results? More tailored demos, doubled meeting conversion rates, and reduced no-shows.

“We used automated reminders as an opportunity to ask our free trial users what questions they had about our product. Not only are these reminders helpful, but they also make our meetings more to-the-point and shape the discussion for our sales team members and customers.”

Nick Jackson

Sales Manager at CallRail

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How do I cope with pre-demo anxiety?

Pre-demo anxiety is common, even among seasoned sales professionals. But it can be managed. Especially if you use the tips above to jump into the call prepared. 

Remember, you're selling something that provides real value to your audience. If you build confidence by knowing your product and your prospect, you ARE equipped to explain how your product can help a prospect do their job better and faster.

Nobody lands every single deal they go after. Even top producers lose deals. This is a normal part of the sales cycle.

If you’re learning from every setback, and studying your teammates’ wins and losses, you’ll become a better, more resilient salesperson. 

Even when you know all these truths, fear of rejection can be tough to shrug off. Morgan advises reminding yourself these are strangers and this isn’t personal. “That context point alone reduces pressure dramatically, allowing you to have a conversation, be bolder, and build confidence with each outreach.”

There’s no magic formula. Different approaches work for different people. Some focus on the job ahead, others need to focus on their nervous system. Use any combo that works for you, which may include: 

• Rehearsing

• Writing down potential Q&As 

• Testing video conferencing, video, audio, screen sharing, etc. 

• Using tools like visualization, mindfulness, or breathing techniques 

Either way, if you focus on the prospect instead of yourself, this can help relieve pressure and make the demo feel less like a sales presentation and more like collaborative problem-solving.

Start your sales demo with confidence

Your sales demo preparation ensures everything comes together seamlessly. You've discovered insights by researching the prospect's pain points, and goals. You've crafted your strategy, knowing your product's unique features and benefits. And you’ve planned meticulously for personalization.

You’ve set yourself up for a successful and collaborative meeting that leaves your prospect feeling heard and valued, and clear about how your product can help their business move forward. 

Now you can kick things off with confidence.

Want to learn more?
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