If you're in the B2B SaaS space, you know that discovery and demo calls are an essential part of the sales process. But should you combine them into one call, or keep them separate? In this blog post, we'll explore the pros and cons of both options so you can make the best decision for your company.
Sahil Mansuri, CEO at Bravado, said that "The concept of a Discovery and a Demo call was invented by salespeople, not customers. No customer woke up and said, "I hope this discovery call goes awesome!"
He continued by saying that all customers care about is if your product solves their problem and at what cost.
There are a few factors to consider when deciding if you should combine discovery and demo calls for your B2B SaaS company.
What is a discovery call?
A sales discovery call (or a Disco Call as we like to call it) is the first leap towards the process of establishing rapport with a potential client in the sales journey. The main objectives of a Disco Call are to assess fit between the prospect's needs and your company's solutions, understand the buyer's current pains and needs, and lastly position yourself and your solutions as the perfect fit to address those needs.
Disco Calls typically follow a similar format: an intro where you establish commonalities with the prospect, followed by some quick wins to help build trust early on. Once trust is established, you can begin to probe deeper into their specific pain points. From there, you'll want to begin sharing how your company's solutions can help them overcome those challenges. Lastly, you'll want to assess their readiness to buy and establish the next steps.
By following these steps, B2B SaaS companies and account executives can increase their close rate and discover new opportunities for upselling and cross-selling existing customers.
FOUR FACTORS TO DETERMINE IF YOUR SALES DEMO SHOULD BE COMBINED WITH DISCOVERY
The first is the length of each call.
If your discovery calls typically last an hour and your demos last 30 minutes, it might make sense to keep them separate. However, if both types of calls typically last about the same amount of time, it could be more efficient to combine them.
However, if you typically have a lot of material to cover in your discovery calls, it might be more efficient to keep them separate from your demos.
Customers in the B2B SaaS space can come in different sizes:
SMB (Small Busines)
MM (Mid Market)
Enterprise
Typically, enterprise deals' sales cycles can be anywhere from 6 to 12 months, which means account executives will need to do multiple discovery calls with other stakeholders.
The second factor to consider is the content of each call.
Discovery calls are focused on understanding the prospect's needs and pain points, while demos are focused on showing how your product can solve those needs. If you try to cover both topics in one call, you might end up rushing through either the discovery or demo portion.
Another thing to consider is what you'll be discussing on each call. If you'll be discussing product features during the demo, it might make more sense to have the demo call first, so that potential customers have a better understanding of what they're buying. However, if you'll be discussing pricing and contract terms during the demo, it might make more sense to have the discovery call first, so that you can understand your customer's needs before proposing a solution.
The third factor to consider is the complexity of your product.
B2B SaaS Sales is a process, and the more complex a software is, the more time you'll need to communicate with the prospects. It can be tempting to try to shortcut this process by combining the demo and the discovery into one call.
However, these shortcuts will only lead to a longer sales cycle and a lower close rate. A more complex product will require a bit more customization (unless you'll define a demo as a generic product overview, which is not recommended).
The fourth factor to consider is your sales team's bandwidth.
If your sales team is already stretched thin, it might not be realistic to add another type of call to their plate. In this case, combining discovery and demo calls could help streamline the process and free up some time for your team.
4 reasons why combining discovery and demo work
Reason 1:
Combining a discovery and demo into one call doesn't take up available slots on account executives' calendars, which means they'll have the capacity to do more sales calls.
Imagine for a minute that a B2B SaaS company's VP of sales has 5 account executives. And each account executive has 2 calls per customer (let's assume that it's an SMB prospect).
That secondary call (the sales demo) is taking up a slot that can be used for another lead.
Reason 2:
Combining discovery and demo into one call will dramatically shorten the sales cycle. If it takes an account executive fewer calls to close a prospect, then sales cycles don't drag out since they're combining the disco/demo.
Reason 3:
Combining a discovery and demo into one call will bring the company new revenue, faster. Similar to reason #2, shortening the sales cycle has a direct impact on new MRR or ARR. Close prospects in 45 days instead of 90 means the company generates that revenue sooner.
Reason 4:
Combining a discovery and demo into one call leads to collecting more data sooner because the higher the volume of sales calls, the more information (data) that's gathered.
Ultimately, remember, every B2B SaaS company is built differently and has its own ICP and industry. Some B2B SaaS companies are focused only on enterprise deals and have a complex product that may require not combining a discovery call and demo into one call.
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