Consumers’ preferences and behavior may have changed over time due to digitalization, but the fundamentals and basics of making your business thrive still matters. Live demos can be an essential factor in regards to your success as a small business owner.

Even though customers’ shopping experience and purchasing behavior are now mainly shaped by digital marketing, it is worth noting that physical stores are still on top of every shoppers’ preference list when it comes to flexibility and convenience. Online shopping may have taken the world by storm, but customers still rely on hands-on engagement with products found inside a store.

How Live Demos Can Increase Sales For Your Small Business

So with that said, we have created this guide to help you launch successful in-store demos for your small business.

 Understand your customers’ behavior with live demos 

Research published by IBM pointed out that 71 percent of the people they surveyed often shop in micro-moments. This means that shoppers go to the store and purchase goods/services in-between errands. Basically, they are shopping “in the background” while doing other tasks.

For a small business owner, these types of insights are crucial because it tells you how a potential buyer actually ends up buying your products. On top of that, it would even give your marketing strategy some semblance and clearer direction.

Take, for example, your in-store demos strategy. If you have this type of insight and you know that your usual customers just shop in the background, then your sales pitch and demos should be short and concise. This way, you would not take up too much of their time and they would not be discouraged to come back to your store again.

So before you start writing your sales pitch script and organizing your live demos, you should at least know and understand your customers’ behavior first.

In-store feel to rival the digital experience

Consumers have become smarter and they are more likely to shop online these days. So in order to catch their attention and make them more curious about your store or products, then you should bring something new to the table, something that is not found on any digital site, and something that is unique only to your store.

For small businesses, doing this is not that difficult. It is common knowledge that small local stores are a sanctuary for niche and specialty products. Oftentimes, products found in local stores are so unique you cannot even find them in big grocers or outlets.

With that said, you should capitalize on your unique products and use this as your leverage every time you do live demos. Keep in mind that your customers may not know that your products are only available in your store, so you have to explicitly tell them this whenever you do your sales pitch or live demos. 

And to have that in-store feel to rival the digital experience, it is also a great idea to offer discounts, vouchers, or promos only found in your physical store. This way, customers would be more inclined to visit your store.

Personalized sales pitch

Keep in mind that attendees of your live demos are already at the door of your store even before the actual demo day. They would not sign up for your live demo event if they are not interested or have no clue about your product. That’s the reason why attendees are also called “potential buyers.”

They clearly know about your brand or products already. The only thing that you need to do is to convince them to spend their money to buy it.

In this situation, the best route is to try and establish a personal connection with them during the live demo. This way, you would know what they are specifically looking for in a product. Doing this allows you to highlight how your product is the exact thing they are looking for or how your product can perfectly solve their unique problem.

Given that improvisation during the actual demo day might be difficult for newcomers like you in the industry, it would not hurt to hire extra help from an event staffing agency. In fact, doing this can lighten the workload and you can even learn a thing or two from them. Once you fully get the hang of it, you can organize and prepare your own sales script for your other succeeding live demos. 

Transform to Thrive by using live demos

One of the reasons why some live demos often fail is because they do not adapt to their customer’s needs and preferences. Remember that following trends and understanding the changes in your customers’ behavior is one of the keys to retaining them as loyal customers.

Nowadays, live demos do not always have to be physical and face-to-face. Even small local businesses are starting to adapt to the tech-savvy generation of consumers and are now holding live demos via Zoom, Skype, Meet, and many more. On top of that, in-store experience has a whole lot of other new meanings these days as well. There are now things like in-store app navigation, in-store digital display, and many more.

So to keep up with the times, it would be in your best interest to listen to your customers’ suggestions as well as make an effort to respond and meet their recommendations.

Doing all of these does not mean pooling all your resources and hiring a full-service IT and digital team to help you. Oftentimes, you can do all of these for free if you just take the time to learn and adapt to these new changes in tech and the digital world.  

Conclusion

All in all, it all comes down to your research and planning process. The only way you can ever have a successful live demo is if you do your research right and plan for every possible event that may happen during the actual demo day.

Remember that a successful live demo does not have to be extravagant that it burns a hole in your pocket.

More often, a simple but well-researched and well-planned live demo is enough to do the trick. It can help you reach your target, establish a deeper connection with your customers, generate a conversation around your brand, and ultimately increase your sales.