Insights EDU

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your VR Demo Experience

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Ben Reed | Non Executive Director | Experience Engine

19 Apr 2019 | 4 min read

“You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression’, is the phrase that I most remember from working with Sir Stuart Lipton, the London property mogul and developer behind the second tallest building in the City of London. And after numerous encounters with immersive technology companies, his wise words are something that businesses in this sector need to take notice of.

At that time, we were managing £million plus marketing budgets and attending various tech fairs and PROPTECH conferences, actively looking for a VR partner and content provider. The sad truth is, most of the people we met weren’t convincing, they failed to pitch properly, and they didn’t create an impactful experience. So, what did they do wrong exactly?

Here are some insights that I garnered that may help you with your next product or service launch and help convert new business opportunities.

Let Others Deal with the Time Wasters

Okay, maybe time wasters is a bit harsh, let’s call them distractions, you know the type, the people that you spend a lot of time talking to but deep down you know will never become a prospect.

So, you’ve got a great elevator pitch and you know your business inside out – in a one-on-one situation you make a great impression and you can perfectly articulate your vision going forward, but what if you have a few hundred people passing your experience and you need to focus on the conversations that will help you grow your business.

When you attend an expo or trade show you are exposed to thousands of people, but realistically, less than 1% will become prospects. So, spend your time meeting the contacts that matter, and entrust others to look after the other 99% of visitors to your experience. 

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Employ specialists who can deliver your key messages to the target audience and who can apply the first filter, who can then refer quality contacts to you. This plays into the process of demoing being streamlined as much as possible so that you can really make the most of your limited time on the showfloor, sourcing prospects and chasing leads. 

Our clients use our Experience Engineers who can be trusted to help you out and become an extension to your team.

Speak in a Language of Features and Benefits

Do you really understand how your tech can be applied to different sectors? It is important to know how to have a brief chat about different sectors and understand the specifics of say PROPTECH or FINTECH. Being able to demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of multiple sectors, especially those that are directly related to your project, will ensure that you make a great first impression as someone who has done their research and knows the issues and barriers facing their specific sector and, even more importantly, as someone who has already begun working out ways to address those issues. 

I would suggest doing your research and finding out what the business challenges are for these audiences.  For example, is it to sell commercial space? Or to sell 5,000 new homes? Or is it to have an experience to wow investors and senior stakeholders?

After the initial ‘hello’, drill down pretty quickly into the actual features and benefits of your product and how it can be applied the sector. If you do this right, then you are pretty much guaranteed a follow-up meeting.

The Follow-up Meeting – It’s Not All About You.

The first meeting has gone well, the demo experience has been well received and sparked a genuine interest in the larger project, now your meeting your prospect for a second time. From the prospect’s point of view, they’re looking to check you out and get a feel for your company culture. And now it’s crunch time, you have 45 minutes to try and close the deal.

However, this is where things can go horribly wrong.

The key thing to bare in mind is too keep your prospect engaged. Don’t lock people in a room for an hour and spend the last 5 minutes doing the demo! Reverse the dynamic and get straight to the technology. Avoid presenting a lengthy credentials document showing what you have done with countless other spurious clients.

Get us hands-on with the tech. Show us how easy it is to use and maintain.

Get the room ready, practice beforehand and don’t let there be a any awkward moments where the tech is not working. If the tech does not work in your controlled environment, then the deal is gone, it has slipped through your fingers.

To summarise, there is no magic wand to wave to win new business, but being brave and doing your homework will pay dividends. Lastly, don’t be afraid to delegate, you can’t do everything. To find out more about how our agency can help you, we love to you to get in touch.

About the author:

Ben serves as non executive director of Experience Engine and works on marketing for the brand. Experience Engine are a promotional people agency scale-up. Experts in tech and placemaking. Disrupting the events sector with our Experience Engineers. Through a mix of careful selection, robust training and prompt payment, we’ve recruited a network of 1,200 energetic Experience Engineers™ working in all major EU cities.