4 simple tactics to book more demos next month

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Remember those really simple math problems from elementary (or primary) school? You know the ones. Where there is a picture with like, a certain number of apples in one pile and some more in another. Then, you either add or subtract the apples and see how many apples there are going to be in the end. Sales has a similar equation.

inbound sales demos

Imagine, on a worksheet in front of you, there are a number of leads in one pile, a number of demos in another and finally the number of closed deals in the last pile.

You likely know the math.

To overly simplify, let’s say you start out with 500 leads. Out of 500 leads, you get 25 good demos and about 5 of those close. (So, 1% of leads are closing and 20% of sales/demo calls end up in a deal.)

If you want to raise the number of deals, there are a few ways to do this:

  • Figure out how to close more of the conversations you have
  • Get more leads to start out with by scaling your outbound/inbound
  • Or getting more of those leads to book a demo with you

You should always be learning how to sell better (and learning more about customers and products). And if you can, it’s a great idea to scale how you bring in leads.

But now, I’d like to cover a few ideas on how to get more demos out of your leads.

Let’s go.

Tactic One: Preview Your Demo

Recorded demos may not be an option. What you’re selling, how much it is, hard-to-explain features — there are a ton of issues that cause the need for a live demo.

That said, you can still put out a quick overview. Take 60-90 seconds to explain what they’ll learn on a demo call while showing them a glimpse. A highlight reel, if you will.

There are likely a number of interested leads that are curious about the demo, but they need a “what to expect” to push them over the edge.

Note: Even if your demo is recorded (ours is), this tip can help you get more traffic to it. I’m currently experimenting with a more interactive experience for this.

At Gist, we like to see which vertical a business is in to show how to best use our product. For instance, a plumber may not be interested in our workflow automations. But, they will likely want to know about how our live chat and meetings scheduler can be used to book more appointments right from their site.

So, we ask what they do and then give a few key features to show how they can use our product. Each of those leads to the opportunity to get a full demo.

Tactic Two: Make Sure the Landing Page is Solid

If you are trying to book live demo calls, this landing page is essentially an opt-in form.

The landing page is meant to convert visitors. Likely, if this is a preview of your demo, you want the lead to book a demo. If the demo is recorded, you want them to take the next step (e.g. sign up for a trial).

Here are some things to include:

  • Logo
  • Social Proof (testimonial, review, “featured in” section)
  • Enough opt-in details, but not too many (for instance, if you’re a B2B, make sure they enter a business email, but you may not need their company size)
  • A “what to expect” section for those on the fence (maybe not above the fold, but on there)

Below is a great example. There are clear expectations on the left, a quick preview and minimal inputs on the right.

Note: The image came from this post which covers tons of great examples of demo landing pages.

Tactic 2.1: Landing Page Sub-Tactic

If you currently have a demo-booking landing page, make sure you test a couple of different versions and continue.

One of the best things you can do to book more demos over time is to always be A/B testing page versions, and elements on the pages. A button placed slightly to the left or right could mean a few more conversations — as soon as next month.

Tactic Three: Use Automation

Hands down, one of the best ways to increase the number of people who want to talk to you is to stay in communication with them.

Not annoyingly.

Admittedly, Gist’s situation may not be yours. But all I can do is share our experiences. We are a product that lets people start for free. My goal as the Product Marketer is to get those who sign up to:

  1. Get used our product
  2. Start using our product
  3. Have enough success with our product to need a paid plan

For this goal, we rely heavily on automation. Here are just a few examples of how we send out emails based on user behavior

  • Installed, but not active: If someone installed our WP plugin yet hasn’t set anything up after several days, we automatically email them asking them if they need help.
  • Features not used: Say someone is using one feature, but not another. We send out an email asking if they need help further integrating our platform.
  • Uninstalled: When someone seems to have uninstalled our product, we desperately want to know why to improve our product and onboarding process.

Important Note: In most of these cases, there is a meeting scheduler link and a call-to-action asking to set up a demo to better use our product. Which brings me to my final tactic.

Tactic Four: Meeting Links Everywhere

The simplest, yet commonly overlooked thing reps can do to book more demos is to provide an easy way for leads to book a time.

Over the past 5+ years, meeting scheduler tools have become all the rage. You connect a calendar to your tool of choice, edit the times you’re available and send the link(s) to prospects, customers and even other team members.

The person who receives the link can view all available times and choose the best slot for them.

If you’ve been in sales for any length of time, you may use them. But are you really getting as much mileage out of them as possible?

  • Are you sharing your meeting link in your email signature?
  • Is your link accessible to other (non-sales) team members who may be interacting with potential clients?
  • Have you put any meeting links in content you create? Things like videos, knowledge base articles, etc.?

You will likely talk about the product to anyone who could possibly ever become a customer. So, why not give everyone who comes into contact with you, your content or even your website the opportunity to book a dedicated time?

Don’t hold back your link specifically to interested prospects or cold email campaigns.

Qualify Leads After They Schedule a Meeting

Here’s a quick bonus tip.

When someone books a meeting, you can then qualify them to see if a meeting is worth the time. So, someone books and you send them an email asking 1-2 qualifying questions.

If they return the email — great. And if they don’t, send another confirming the call and if they don’t confirm cancel the meeting.

Ready to Book More Meetings?

I truly hope that one or more of these tips, when implemented will increase the number of demos you currently book.

Let me know how it goes and feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

About the author

Josh Slone is a Product Marketer at Gist, a platform allowing business owners to create seamless personal experiences. Engage visitors, leads and customers all from one dashboard. The platform includes live chat, email marketing, marketing automation, a meeting scheduler tool and more. Get started with full 21-day free trial.