Theron Smith’s Post

Setting an agenda on your sales calls and demos will not help you with your discovery. If you want to ask deep discovery questions on your calls without irritating your prospect, you need to gain a little trust. And you gain that trust by asking permission. Because when you ask prospects for permission, you're telling them that you respect their time and opinion. I've done / coached thousands of demos over my 10+ years in SaaS sales. Setting and objective for the call is how you do it (not setting the agenda)

Balancing pre-sales demos and post-sales timelines is no easy feat. The key? Seamless communication and prioritization. Set clear expectations with your team and clients, automate where possible, and never underestimate the power of a well-organized schedule. Master this, and you’ll not only meet your goals but exceed them. How do you ensure both sides get the attention they need? #Sales #Productivity #CustomerSuccess

To all the hardworking salespeople—are your demos falling flat? There is one mistake I see sales reps make over and over, and it is costing them deals. Most reps get stuck in "feature overload" mode, thinking more is better. But here is the deal: Features don’t sell. Solutions do. When you focus on features, your prospect tunes out because they can’t see how it solves their problem. They need to know one thing: “How will this help ME?” To fix this, start by understanding their pain points. Tailor your demo to address those specific issues. Skip the feature overload and zero in on what truly matters to them. Make your demo a STORY—one that shows exactly how your solution can change their game. Remember, it’s not about what your product can do; it’s about what it can do for them. That is how you turn a demo into a deal-closing conversation. #DemoSuccess #TechSales #SolutionSelling

Demos in the Discovery phase… I’ve had a chat with a few clients this week where SDRs get pressured by customers to show a demo early in a sales cycle. Whilst of course we want to ensure a demo is only performed with the right qualification and use cases – sometimes we have to show the shiny toys to get the favour to ask the right questions. My thoughts – we are humans – dealing with humans. We need to give to get. We need not be too purest about this – as long as we understand that first ‘demo’ is actually used for discovery and not a full solution demo. We have to acknowledge though the demo is in discovery and not the demo stage itself. Providing we prep in the right way and the goal is still to get a qualified demo with Pain, Metrics, Champions identified – and of course, the use cases defined to ensure great conversion of a more detailed demo. To be clear, I am not advocating this is a good approach every time. Use this advice sparingly. It is a cheat and also not best practice. But for some customers, this may be required to curry favour for future meetings. #Sales #B2Bsales  

Situationship vs Relationship in tech sales: A situationship is primarily focused on polished product demos and closes. This type of salesperson focuses on their own success metrics. On the other hand, a relationship helps your prospects with their strategic buying process by sharing best practices and providing relevant insights and perspectives learned from working with their peer firms. The relationship-based salesperson focuses on their prospect's success before their own. #accountants #techadoption

How Many Touchpoints Are in Your Sales Cycle? Sales professionals, we want to hear from you! How many touchpoints do you typically engage in before closing an enterprise deal? My touchpoints have gone up - hovering around 47 from start to close. 🤝 Initial contact, qualification calls, personalized demos, negotiation meetings—every interaction counts. ✉️ Comment below with your average number of touchpoints and any tips for managing them effectively! #SalesTips #Touchpoints #SalesEngagement #EnterpriseSales #SalesCycle

How Many Touchpoints Are in Your Sales Cycle? Sales professionals, we want to hear from you! How many touchpoints do you typically engage in before closing an enterprise deal? My touchpoints have gone up - hovering around 47 from start to close. 🤝 Initial contact, qualification calls, personalized demos, negotiation meetings—every interaction counts. ✉️ Comment below with your average number of touchpoints and any tips for managing them effectively! #SalesTips #Touchpoints #SalesEngagement #EnterpriseSales #SalesCycle

Peter Cohan is spot on! Far too many sales reps think their job ends (relative to setting a demo) when a zoom is set so the Sales Engineer can “do their thing!” With no real discovery, prioritization of use cases / capabilities. ( Yes, top tier reps always do great discovery). Peter has trained my Presales teams in a few companies and each time we reduce sales cycles and increase win rates. Definitely worth reading!

How Many Touchpoints Are in Your Sales Cycle? Sales professionals, we want to hear from you! How many touchpoints do you typically engage in before closing an enterprise deal? My touchpoints have gone up - hovering around 47 from start to close. 🤝 Initial contact, qualification calls, personalized demos, negotiation meetings—every interaction counts. ✉️ Comment below with your average number of touchpoints and any tips for managing them effectively! #SalesTips #Touchpoints #SalesEngagement #EnterpriseSales #SalesCycle

How Many Touchpoints Are in Your Sales Cycle? Sales professionals, we want to hear from you! How many touchpoints do you typically engage in before closing an enterprise deal? My touchpoints have gone up - hovering around 47 from start to close. 🤝 Initial contact, qualification calls, personalized demos, negotiation meetings—every interaction counts. ✉️ Comment below with your average number of touchpoints and any tips for managing them effectively! #SalesTips #Touchpoints #SalesEngagement #EnterpriseSales #SalesCycle