How to Schedule a Product Demo With Prospects (And Avoid No Shows)

Getting leads to schedule product demos and move further into the sales funnel is one of the main goals of every SaaS marketer, but it's also one of the biggest challenges every SaaS business faces.

Scheduling demos isn’t a small task between qualifying leads and converting them – It's an essential step that can help you close more deals successfully.  But, if you don’t strategize the scheduling process properly, it can end up derailing your entire sales funnel. 

Here are the steps to schedule a demo with prospects effectively and avoid no shows:

1- Capture leads on your website

The most common way to capture leads through your company website is by designing landing pages with lead capturing capabilities. You can incorporate gated content, pop-up forms, and even webinars to get more people to schedule a product demo. 

You can also share the landing pages on social media or set up paid ads to get more eyeballs on your website.

Another way to increase conversions on landing pages is by embedding a short product tour on the page. This will not only give your prospects a better idea of how your product works but it will also land you more qualified leads. When people already have a clear idea about what your product is and how it works, they are more likely to be interested in purchasing it when they schedule a demo.  

2- Make scheduling as easy as possible 

The more friction there is in your scheduling process, the less likely people will schedule a meeting with you.

Even if you have built effective landing pages and have attracted the right target audience, you may find it challenging to schedule demos if your scheduling process isn’t easy or modifiable.

To really make scheduling effective and easy, you should give control to your prospects. Use scheduling tools like Calendly or Hubspot to offer demo slots to prospects and allow them to book a demo according to their own availability. 

By embedding scheduling options right in your lead capturing landing pages, you can get prospects to schedule a call while they are excited about the product.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when setting up your scheduling slots:

• Keep a buffer of at least 2-3 business days so your team can better prepare themselves for the call. But don’t go any longer than that as keeping the prospect waiting for too long may lead to you losing them to another competitor.
• Ask for a 30-45 minute time slot for the demo meeting so you have enough time to show how your product works and how helpful it can be for prospects
• If your customers are located across the globe, keep time zones in mind as well. You want to make sure customers from all the major regions can comfortably find a time slot that fits them 

3- Send an effective initial outreach email 

To grab your prospects' attention and get them excited about the demo meeting, you need to send them an effective initial outreach email. 

Instead of sending the same copy/paste email to all of your prospects, personalize the email content with details to show that you understand who they are and what they need. 

Chances are, your prospects receive dozens of copy/paste emails everyday where the only thing that changes is the recipient's name. 

A personalized email that addresses your prospects' main pain points and challenges can make all the difference, and it can actually help you stand out.  

You shouldn’t use this email to brag about how great your product is. Instead, you should talk about how your product can help your prospects address their challenges and reach their goals.

4- Create personalized demos for prospects 

More important than a personalized email is a personalized demo. 

Here’s a simple fact that you need to always remember: Your prospects just don’t care about how great your product is. Instead, they want to know how your product can help them.

Therefore, you need to make the prospect the hero of your demo meeting, instead of letting your product take center stage. 

Use a no-code custom product demo builder like Storylane to create interactive, engaging, and custom demos for your prospects. 

Here is how Storylane works:

• Capture responsive pages of your SaaS product quickly
• You can edit the captured pages and link them to tell a perfect story of your product
• You customize the demo for every prospect in just a few minutes by changing the text, images, data, files, buttons, etc.
• You can create a fully functioning interactive product demo that can be shared through a unique link

5- Send a follow-up email post call

Done with the demo meeting? Well, you are not nearly done yet. 

To close the deal, you don’t just need to nail the demo, but you also need to follow up with the prospects to ensure they move forward in the sales funnel. 

Ideally, you should follow up with your prospects within 24 hours of your meeting. The longer you wait to follow up, the more time you give your prospects to lose interest in your product.

The follow-up email can include:

• Summary of the demo meeting
• Link to the interactive product demo discussed during the meeting that the prospect could view again 
• Answer to any questions that you weren’t able to respond during the meeting
• The next step for the prospect to take
  

Effectively scheduled demos increase conversions

The way you handle scheduling your demos gives your prospect a glimpse into how your business works. A good demo scheduling process can directly lead to an increase in conversions.

Storylane has been built to make it easier for anyone to create powerful and custom product demos. Take a look at how Storylane can streamline the process and help you boost conversions.