5 Reasons why "Just Give Them the Regular Demo" May Harm Your Deal

Has this ever happened to you?

You get a call from an Account Executive with a hot prospect on the line who needs to "see something" in the solution so they can "close this one quick." You ask for at least a little context to determine what you'll talk about, how you'll talk about it, and how you'll make it relevant and compelling to the prospect. The rep explains there’s no time and that it’s unnecessary in this case.  The rep assures you they "Already see the value," or "We'll use the demo to get discovery," or the ever-popular, "This is just to check their box."

So, you go in blind, trying to do your product justice while simultaneously trying to collect discovery from the prospective client to give you more to go on. The result? The demo lands with a “curious THUD!” instead of knocking the prospect's socks off.

It happens to all of us, yet time and time again, sales teams misuse generic or "the regular" demos and, consequently, fail to get the engagement the rep wanted, the answers the prospect needed, and the solution-fit the engineer wanted to build.

The Numbers Say It All

Sales teams are tempted to jump straight into a standard product demo, believing it will serve as both a showcase and a discovery tool. However, Gartner reports that 89% of B2B buyers expect sellers to understand their unique goals before pitching a solution.  It’s therefore not surprising that, due to the tendency for sellers to go with a generic presentation, the buyers are left confused and underwhelmed, so much so that according to a Forrester study, 67% of prospects say the initial demo wasn’t relevant to their business challenges.  There’s a disconnect between what sales teams present and what buyers expect.  That disconnect is not just unfortunate; it’s potentially lethal to the opportunity.

What is a Generic Demo?

To be clear, a “generic demo” is a one-size-fits-all demonstration delivered without tailoring the content to a prospect's business, industry, or use cases. Generally feature/function heavy, these types of demos do not focus on the specific needs and challenges of the potential customer but instead, follow a script that presents the same set of features in the same way for every audience. This demo typically utilizes minimal customization to reflect the prospect’s business needs or validated pain points.

5 Reasons:  Potential and Undesirable Outcomes from a Generic Demo

Given the statistics quoted above from Gartner and Forrester what is the buyer/prospect walking away with from the demonstration and what impact is that having on the opportunity?

1. Irrelevant Story:  When your demo’s story doesn’t speak directly to the prospect’s unique challenges, you’re missing a critical opportunity to drive home the value of your solution. It’s not just that they’ll find the story harder to follow or the information irrelevant—worse, they may feel that you don't understand their business. Worst case, they may assume your solution doesn't even apply to their problem. This can result in disengagement, lower trust, and a reduced likelihood that they’ll see your offering as the right fit. Ultimately, a generic demo risks pushing them away rather than drawing them in with targeted insights into how you can solve their specific problems.

2. Accidental Disqualification: If you're showing features or workflows that aren't relevant to the customer's needs and pains, you risk creating the perception that your solution just doesn't have the features the customer needs. Focusing on the wrong areas could qualify you in the customer’s mind. Essentially, you’re allowing the prospect to form an inaccurate or unfavorable impression of your product’s capabilities—leading them to mentally disqualify your offering even though your product is a good fit for their needs -- if you had only known them before you presented.

3. Information Overload: It can be overwhelming if you've ever sat through a product overview on a platform you know nothing about. If you don't know what a customer needs and how to tailor your message to that narrative, you are making them work harder. If you're going through use-case after use-case trying to find something that sticks, your demo can quickly become information overload. The prospect is left trying to figure out how ANYTHING you're showing applies to what they need to do, which is frustrating and strains their attention and patience. This can lead to confusion and an inability to connect what YOU do to the problem they need to solve.

4. Complex Appearance: Too much detail can make our product look harder to adopt than it is. A demo that goes through several irrelevant features or poorly connects pain to solution due to a lack of context often focuses on an overly broad, seemingly unrelated set of capabilities—making the solution appear more complex than it is. This can leave prospects with concerns about onboarding and adoption. The problems with complexity may overshadow any benefits and slow down the sale as adoption and implementation concerns present themselves in the prospect's mind.

5. Unintentional Set-Up for Competitors: Generic demos that struggle to highlight compelling and relevant use cases very quickly risk presenting irrelevant features or the impression of gaps in your solution. Left unaddressed, the gap may be something your competitors can exploit -- even if the gap isn't real. By giving "just the regular demo," you may inadvertently spotlight areas where your competitor excels or, during discovery in the presentation, lead to questions you’re unprepared to answer that favor your competition. This can undermine your value proposition and create a gap you may never recover from.
   

Exceptions to the Rule

While a tailored demo approach is often ideal, a generic software demonstration isn’t necessarily detrimental by its very nature.  There ARE some circumstances where a properly applied generic demo can be very effective.  Some of those are in cases of simple solutions with a narrow use case, demos in an exploratory setting, demos for former users, or potentially even demos of mature products.  These, however, aren’t without their own challenges, so I’ll be covering these in my next article, discussing how and when generic demos may be successfully employed.

For now, it's worth noting that even a little discovery ahead of time can tailor the demo to the prospect’s specific challenges and goals. This fosters a sense of partnership and increases the likelihood they’ll see genuine value in your solution.

Resist the Temptation to do the "Regular Demo"

Demos that address real-world scenarios have significantly higher conversion rates and boost customer satisfaction.  So, providing these scenarios is an investment in success.  

Before scheduling your demo, consider why you’re giving it, who you’re giving it to, and what you want the outcome to be.  While speed in sales execution may be desirable to some, a small investment in understanding the prospect can pay off with significant returns. Leveraging a generic demo comes at a potential cost, as it introduces risks that must be considered AND managed if it can expect to pay off dividends reliably.  Encourage your team to invest in demos that deliver what the buyers need and watch your demos have a better impact as your deals move forward.

Next Article: Making Generic Demos Work For You

Coming soon!

Want More Ideas? Listen to "Software Sales Simplified: MOVE to Success" the Podcast

My co-host, Matt Long, and I are authors of "Winning Faster: The MOVE Methodology for Enterprise Software Sales Success". Together, we have over 50 years of Enterprise Software Sales experience as seller, consultants, team leads, and more. Every week we and our guests share our industry experiences; exploring how technology is changing selling, consulting, and business strategies. Join us on your favorite streaming platform as we learn, laugh, and develop answers to selling's toughest questions as we move forward towards success together! Listen here: https://www.strategicsalesoptimization.com/podcast