Stop Offering This One Thing

Today’s Skill: Navigating Trials

Have you ever gone on a Safari? Me neither but I know if I did I’d get a tour guide and stick close to them. They know the lay of the land and have deep knowledge if we run into a tough situation. I’d prefer not to be mauled by a lion, just saying!

You need to be that “Guide” for your client. One of the big ways is when the dreaded “T” word comes up.

You know what I’m referring to…Trials.

→ Tell me if this sounds familiar…

You’ve had some good client calls and there is mutual interest. You’re trending in the right direction as you’ve answered a countless number of their questions about the partnership. Then, out of nowhere, they hit you with something like, “Can we get a trial to test it out?”

It’s very common to get that ask and it often happens for a few different reasons.

1. They think they have to ⇒ they see other people doing trials and they’ve done it themselves with other products so it’s the next logical step.

2. They have indecision ⇒ they believe that if they get a trial then that’ll give them that gut feeling of “this feels right” they’ve been looking for.

3. They aren’t serious ⇒ they think if they see something that “wows” them then maybe they’ll buy.

4. They haven’t seen value ⇒ Prior calls haven’t fully convinced them that your product can answer their needs so they are trying to get more information. See #2.

5. Then there is a sliver of the population, like .04%, that are actually seriously considering and want a trial to go deep into the product.

You can’t cater to those unicorn situations. They are very hard to sniff out.

Instead, my advice…

Stop offering trials or sandbox’s altogether.

Some reasons why?

1. They rarely will go into the product at all once a trial is offered.

2. They get stuck because they don’t know how to use it. Therefore they deem it “not user friendly” even though they simply haven’t been trained.

3. They will not go deep into “playing around” for fear of messing up or breaking something.

4. They don’t actually know what they are looking to “solve” without their actual data in there.

👉 Instead, offer a Guided Tour

A Guided Tour is where you are on the call with the client while they are able to “play around” in your product. It becomes more of a guided presentation than a trial. They can share their screen and you can watch along as they work through different areas of your platform.

On programs like Zoom, you can have them “take control” of your screen instead. In case they get stuck, you can grab the mouse back from them and walk them through the area deeper.

Here’s how you approach it:

Client: This all looks great, I’d love to get a trial to play around with it.

You: Sure thing. What are you hoping to get out of a trial?

Client: {Insert Reasons} Let’s say it’s “I just want to get a better feel for it before I make a purchase.” (whatever they say you can use that as the reason for why the “Guided Tour” is the better option).

You: Okay, great! Instead of throwing you over a login and having you do it yourself, what I’ve found the most helpful is to give you a “Guided Tour”. It’s an easier way for you to go deep into the solution and not have to worry about anything. I don’t expect you to know every aspect of it so I’ll be on the call to walk you through any questions that come up. Let’s pull up calendars and find a time that works to set this up.”

→ Who’s going to say no to that? Almost nobody.

Why is this effective?

• It’s more Facetime versus them being on their own in the “wilderness.”

• It exposes questions you can address on the spot.

• It turns into a conversation about problem solving and less about features.

• You can provide more depth in critical areas to bring clarity not confusion.

• It speeds up the buying process by eliminating delays and the inevitable “I haven’t had a chance to get in yet, can we have more time?”

→ Remember, your buyer might not know how to buy.

They might be bringing up generic “asks” because that’s what they’ve seen or has always been done.

Help your buyer by offering a different perspective to get to the same result.

They want to learn more about your product. Great, why do they have to do that in a vacuum by themselves? Don’t miss a great opportunity to guide them on their journey.

Don’t adhere to “status quo” because that’s just the way it’s always been done.

Remember, Tension is an important part of the sales process.

Be different.

That’s how you separate yourself from the rest.

Action Item:

If you often get asks for “trials”, work on practicing the ask followed by your response. Do this with a friend or colleague and become confident in the approach.

Then, when it comes up next time on a call be prepared to use your response followed by securing a calendar date for the “guided tour.”

Once you do, let me know how it goes!

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