What is a Demo Engineer, and Why Its Important?

Is your business struggling to move prospects from one stage of the sales cycle to another stage?

It might be because of the non-interactive product demo. Instead of being boring, the demo should make prospects excited about your product and help them get hands-on with what your solution can offer. 

But, how can you enhance your product demo tailored to meet the specific desires of your prospects? 

That's the importance of having a demo engineer with your sales team. 

The demo engineers have one overarching goal: to deliver an environment that meets each department's need, thus ensuring an entirely cohesive and well-oiled group behind your product.

This article covers everything about a demo engineer and when you should invest in hiring one. 

Let's explore!

What is a Demo Engineer?

A demo engineer works with sales enablement to teach prospects about what your product does in a way that speaks to them and their needs.

The demo engineer is responsible for ensuring that demos are built properly in terms of functionality and aesthetic appeal. The individual will be able to mentor other people who demonstrate their proprietary software, advising them on the proper way to build a visually-pleasing product demo while making sure it also functions at a high level.

The team collaborates with various individuals across Sales, Marketing and Customer Success. Working as a cohesive unit, their goal is to provide customer education and support that drives closing new deals. 

Why is a Demo Engineer Important for Sales and Growth Teams?

Most people are clueless about a new software and question a lot before investing in it. Some software needs complex steps to set up, making it hard to use. 

However, a well-engineered demo can change how investors and customers think about what you've built! This is where the role of demo engineers comes in. 

Demo engineers are essential when creating "demo environments," training, and access to the product. Having a demo engineer on your go-to-market team is ideal because they can quickly and effectively modify any problems that may arise while showing off the product's capabilities and features.

Moreover, the role of a demo engineer is not confined only to showcasing your product appealingly, but they are also,  

• Take on a proactive role in building products for companies or other entities. 
• Collaborate with the sales team and your team members to research, plan and design user-facing product demos. 
• Craft and tailor product demos that meet the user's needs. 
• Act as a technical resource for the internal sales team of your business. 
• Aids in closing new deals.
• Plays a dominant role in defining the sales strategy for your product. 
• Build expertise on all Salesforce products and equip the team with knowledge on the same. 
• Encourage communication and understanding of best practices for creating unique demos. 
• Identify emerging technologies, and facilitate training and knowledge sharing among the team.
• Automate the demo build process for your Solution Engineers and ensure no efficiencies are lost or wasted. 
• Formulate a horizon line surrounding your demo tools and technologies in collaboration with your entry-level colleagues, and determine the core objectives to which you can bring these solutions up.

A demo engineer is not a headcount. They need to be intimately involved in product development to ensure the correct pieces are being designed and integrated to create a practical product demo. 

As 70% of the B2B buyers conduct their research before speaking to a sales team, your product demo must be tailored to their use case needs so they can see how this particular tool will solve their problem. That's where the demo engineers play their crucial role!

When Should You Invest in Hiring a Demo Engineer?

As the technical arm of a product development company that works to get products ready for market, demo engineers are indispensable. 

When should a company bring on demo engineers?

The best time to hire demo engineers is when your current system is running out of efficiency. Here are some ways where you can find the need for a demo engineer, 

• The efficiency of your production environment goes pale, and your sales teams are demoing only "bugs" rather than your full-fledged products. 
• When new features emerge, and your company hasn't yet explored their uses, the demo account remains blank and bereft of any meaningful information.
• Reps are demoing the same thing repeatedly without updating anything based on the user's needs. 
• Not tailoring the sales demo in a way that covers essential features of your product and leaves your prospects blank about the same. 

When you are experiencing the same, it's time to hire more sales engineers. After all, a well-designed product can be sold more quickly than a defective product. This is where you get the most bang for your buck regarding sales. Marketing is essential, but demo engineering is what gets the product out there.

Wrapping up  

Sales enablement will be critical to companies with a heavy focus on selling their technology, services or product. Demo engineers are like lifeblood for your sales enablement , team because they effectively get the sales team up to speed on product demos. 

If you have enough headcount in your go-to-market teams, then you should consider having an engineer work with the salesforce to ensure they know how to sell your product when it's launched.

Building a platform for creating demos requires more attention, even when you have your internal team in place. By getting your hands on a perfect sales demo tool, you can take off things from your team like going through complex steps in creating a product tour. 

There may be factors out of your control that can cause an interruption in service – luckily, there are tools available to make this less impactful! One such simple tool for creating unique product demo is Storylane.  

You will get everything under one umbrella, from tailoring your product tour for specific users to onboarding your customers to your product. Wondering how it even helps you scale your business? Book a demo now!