How to deliver a great product demo speech

By TRISOFT team

Creating a new product or service for your loyal, dear clients — here’s a prerogative every entrepreneur should work on every now and then. The ideal is creating strong business plans and putting them into practice, this way keeping up with the pace of this fast-moving carousel called making it as a successful company in the year 2016. However, not all ideas turn into projects and sometimes the issue isn’t the idea in itself, but the way in which you choose to present it. Clients are picky and they need to be impressed, while at the same time convinced that your project is worth investing their money in. And here’s how presenting your product demo can turn from an exciting adventure into a real head-wrecker.

Are there ways we can learn how to deliver a live presentation safely? Of course there are. Here’s some we have tried ourselves, along with a few tips and tricks.

1. Be calm and positive

You might remember the advice from your first exams in high-school or college. Everyone telling you to relax and let your inner self glow with every word you say. Easier said than done, though. But when the stake is the business you have invested so much in, it somehow becomes easier. Or… does it?

True, it’s great if you are calm and positive by nature. But then again, not all of us are. So what can we do to stay on top of the situation? Well, first of all, try to focus on your audience rather than on yourself. See how they feel, what they are saying, what they need. This will help you take your mind off the way your hands are shaking or how your voice sounds insecure or your racing pulse. Moreover, when you’re nervous it’s highly likely that you forget important things and this will definitely disrupt your speech. Also, more often than not, your audience will feel the negative vibes sent by your tension and this will also give them an uneasy state of mind. Try to become and stay chill, and you will see that everything will flow more naturally.

2. Organize your speech neatly

Here’s another thing we’ve learned pretty early in life — any composition should have a clear beginning, middle and end. The sooner you learn to structure your speech better, the faster you will see positive results.

Start by telling your audience exactly what you are about to tell them. Give them a summary of all the important points you will touch, making sure that these are really what they are looking forward to hear. Your audience will find this reassuring, as they will have a clear idea of where you are headed. Continue by making your point as strongly as you can. Don’t ramble, don’t get lost in details, don’t try to be (too) funny. Keep it simple — speak about how can you help them get what they need. Eventually, you will expose your bottom line, reminding the audience (in short) the essence of what you told them in your presentation. This rounded pattern will give the feeling of a smooth, rounded experience, which is always comforting.

3. Be prepared to find out exactly what the client needs

When you go into a conference with a possible client for your product or service, you need to be prepared. Actually, you need to be better than prepared! To this purpose, the first thing you should do is make sure you know your product or service perfectly, so that you need no further preparation when summoned to deliver a relevant demonstration.

And secondly, but at least as important, you must be ready to get from the client the answers to the questions that will later on pave your way to completing the product exactly as they need it. Do not be afraid to ask questions, as they are the key to understanding things better.

4. Listen carefully

After asking the right questions, what you need to do in order to keep your audience focused on you, is listen carefully to the answers. In fact, all throughout your presentation, you should pay attention to this aspect, as active listening, a major component in the act of communication, is essential in delivering a great product demo.

One tip we can give you is the magical pause. It means that after the person in front of you or on the other end of the line or on your computer screen, is done talking, you should slowly count to two before responding. This signals the fact that you are listening intently and it gives your partners an easy way to participate.

5. Choose your words wisely, as well as tone of speech

When you do speak, it is important that you choose your words and tone of speech appropriately. Everything you say should have a purpose and your entire speech should be designed to flow naturally. Try to keep it simple and focused and avoid getting into details or stories that would confuse your audience rather than keep it interested. Don’t waste a single word and mind your grammar, no amount of emotivity will explain a subject-verb disagreement!

6. Don’t do other stuff while presenting your demo

While delivering your demo, it’s important to give your undivided attention to your prospect. Don’t check your phone, don’t click on anything else on the screen, don’t wipe your glasses. Be totally involved in the act of presenting your product. Also, mind your gestures, as they might create the impression of scrappiness and are likely to distract your audience from the important things you are saying.

7. Be prepared to answer trick questions

When face to face with a possible breakthrough for your product or service, you need to be prepared to face all the possible challenges. Sometimes your prospect will ask questions that hide other questions underneath. It’s important to stay calm, listen carefully and practice your intuition while answering these trick questions.

8. Know your product perfectly, but don’t forget that charisma is priceless

We have make it strong and clear that knowing everything about your product is essential. People are positively impressed when you are able to answer all their questions. The way to gaining credibility also starts with proving you know good business and you have solid knowledge about it. However, earning the trust of your audience is also about being pleasant and charismatic. No one likes a ‘know it all’ after all. So while working to establish a good relationship with your future client, be approachable, stay modest and if there are answers you don’t have, admit it and follow up promptly.

9. Record your presentation

Sometimes memory can be tricky. You try to remember how your presentation went, what you said and how you reacted in certain situations, but it doesn’t always work the way you want it. One of the ways to improve your ways is to analyze closely what you are doing and how you are doing it. So it could be a good idea to record yourself while delivering your product demo. It’s what famous sports people do — they watch their games in order to understand what they could have done better.

10. Don’t draw attention on flaws, if there are any

In case your demo is lacking information or you discover any kind of error during the presentation, don’t point it out and most importantly, don’t start bringing excuses for it. There is a big chance the audience won’t even notice it if you don’t bring it up. Make a note of it and handle it appropriately as soon as you get the opportunity, to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Don’t let awkward silence take over, fill the gaps with conversation and don’t apologize for your tools, but rather find a way to stress what they are great for.

TRISOFT’s advice

Bringing a product to life is exciting and rewarding. There is great satisfaction in having the tenacity and skills to give your product the proper marketing even from its demo version. It’s also great to find the proper ways to display the ways in which it can help your customers and solve their problems.

Following the tips we have put together in the present article will ease your way into delivering a great product demo. Be friendly, be energetic, learn how to read your audience and adjust accordingly, but above everything, make it look easy! It’s the clients’ favorite thing!