How to Use Interactive Presentation Software to Upgrade Product Demos and Catalogs
In a fiercely competitive, entertainment-driven consumer climate where traditional catalogs and static presentations have lost their edge and selling power, there’s increasing emphasis on using interactive presentation software to drive sales and build brand loyalty.
The more traditional presentation formats require little interaction or effort on the part of the customer, making for a passive experience. In contrast, dynamic presentations driven by explainer videos, scroll motions, galleries, section views and sliders tap into the tactile and tangible, resulting in an immersive, participant-heavy experience.
Three elements are essential for product demos and catalog presentations to be effective. They need (1) a sales-focused storyline, (2) a captivating design to support the storyline and (3) interactive elements that maximize engagement and information retention. At Ingage, we provide all of these essential elements in a single platform, empowering brands to propel both their sales teams and the sales tools deployed to exciting new levels.
For example, WIB Excellence LLC led by Dennis Uricola implemented Ingage’s interactive presentation software for Kohler’s Florida sales team and reported a net closing increase of 10.2% in two years. This boost in conversions occurred as Kohler gradually moved away from using outdated PowerPoint presentations to rolling out the Ingage-designed sales training tool.
Increase Product Demo Engagement Through Storytelling and Interactive Presentation Software
The best way to hold your audience’s attention during a product demo or presentation is to incorporate an element of storytelling. By showcasing your product through a story, you bring a functional feature to life and make it relatable to your audience.
Ingage’s interactive presentation software maximizes the potential of your product demonstrations and catalogs in four ways:
- Maintain Engagement
- Provide Solutions to Relatable Problems
- Showcase Product Value
- Present Emotionally Immersive Content
1. Maintain Engagement With Storytelling
Research has shown that storytelling engages not just people's intellect, but also their emotions. From connecting both sides of the brain to triggering the release of specific neurotransmitters, stories trigger real change—to our thoughts, feelings and often actions. A bland delivery of “just the facts” invariably lacks the impact (and the enduring power) of a coherent narrative that stirs the emotions. Incorporating storytelling into your product demonstrations will also build trust with your audience.
The purpose of your engagement is to weave the benefits of your product through a story. Using a case study to show how a customer benefited from your product or service renders it authentic, trustworthy and memorable. At the same time, you may elicit an emotional response as customers identify their goals and experience feelings like achievement or success. In turn, these emotional triggers drive action.
Ingage offers effective features such as dynamic infographics, videos and navigation that allow you to craft your desired narrative to boost active audience engagement.
2. Match Your Product Stories to Customer Pain Points
Doing a little homework about your audience beforehand is always a good practice and places you in a unique position to address specific pain points experienced by your client. Your story framework should address each customer’s unique challenges, highlighting the solutions provided by your product or service.
Interactive presentation software with specific design elements, charts and graphs can create a flow of events, providing structure to the problem-solution cycle. It ensures that each scenario speaks to your client's pain points and illustrates how your product can resolve a particular challenge.
3. Showcasing Product Value
Effective product demonstrations get straight to the heart of the matter. You want to assure customers from the very beginning that you have a viable solution to their problem. Once interest is perked, you can unleash the entire value package of your product by dialing up its various benefits and features.
It is essential to understand why customers use your product and what value they extract from it. Knowing the ‘why’ behind a customer's interest in your product provides invaluable insight into the type of stories and messages that needs to be crafted to ensure resonance. Armed with this information you can tailor your product or service to their specific needs, creating an effective product story that combines what your product does with why your product matters.
4. Presenting Emotionally Immersive Content Through Video Storytelling
Video storytelling is one of the most effective marketing strategies a brand can implement. It guides viewers through a sequence of relatable content that stirs an emotional response. This offers a strategic scenario to present a satisfying solution.
Video storytelling allows your presentation to be much more than just a sales pitch. It is immersive, powerful and effective in driving engagement and investment. It can serve an educational purpose, as well as boosting brand recognition.
Enhance Product Catalogs With Interactivity and Analytics
Markets by their very nature will always be competitive, and first impressions can have a huge impact on conversion metrics across every vertical.
Stale, single dimension product catalogs are easy to come by but are completely out of sync with today’s fast-paced business environment and increasingly demanding customers. Enhance your product catalogs with interactive elements so your audiences can fully visualize the tactile and tangible benefits of your product or service in relation to their own situation.
For instance, using compare pages can fully highlight the superiority of your product’s features. Adding buttons, explainer videos, scroll motions, galleries, section views and sliders also enhance your potential customer's engagement.
Plus, Ingage provides you with detailed analytics to determine which products or product features are popular with customers, allowing you to further leverage these areas in your marketing strategy.
Ingage Case Study: Re-Bath
Atlanta-based Re-Bath (which specializes in all aspects of bathroom remodeling from consultation to design to installation) had been using PowerPoint as its primary sales presentation tool.
Re-Bath started seeing cracks in their sales presentation strategy when they realized their PowerPoint slides were not adequately addressing their clients’ questions and needs. With customers easily bored by static slides and monotone commentary, Re-Bath needed something more engaging, professional and interactive. They needed to rethink and remodel their sales presentation strategy, techniques and tools.
The COVID-19 pandemic then created more urgency for a strategic shift since consultants were no longer able to meet clients face-to-face. Ingage solved this particular dilemma by enabling virtual consults.
“With Ingage, we are leaps and bounds above our competitors.”
Not only has the Re-Bath team been able to conduct virtual sales presentations, but using Ingage allowed them to re-strategize and, in the process, revolutionize their entire sales approach:
- Virtual sales presentations help consultants qualify leads before traveling, saving time and travel expenses.
- Interactive sales presentations now include elements such as before-and-after images, videos and time-lapses. This presents a professional image, visually stimulates the audience and enhances the customer’s experience.
- Ingage provided seamless interactive tools at the consultant's fingertips with real-time pricing updates.
- Meetings now take less time, feel more engaging and are more effective
Ingage: Industry-Leading Multi-Function Enablement Platform
A Sales Training Tool
Ingage not only serves as an effective presentation tool in the sales cycle but is also a powerful tool in educating sales consultants, broadening their product knowledge base and making them experts in their field.
Ingage allows businesses to implement a variety of evidence-based methods into their sales pitch. New sales reps can be easily trained on proven sales methods and effective presentation delivery. Sales managers can include extra slides, videos and voiceovers for training purposes. This way reps know what to say, how to say it and when to say it.
Using Ingage to train new reps makes it easy to get everyone up to speed quickly. It allows the sales team to be consistent with presentations, follow company guidelines and evolve and grow together.
A Product Training Tool
It’s unrealistic to expect a new sales representative to recall every product detail in a 200-page catalog. The Ingage platform makes a potentially overwhelming amount of product specifications more manageable. It allows users to access information easily and download specifications when needed. It is easy to connect to pricing tables allowing for real-time updates, preventing delays in closing deals.
Ingage’s easy navigation features make onboarding seamless. Managers are also able to use the analytics features of Ingage’s software to see how long reps spend on the presentations and which slides they focus on. This allows them to guide reps in terms of underperformance, resolving issues before they become problems.
Using Ingage as a Presentation Training Tool
Ingage allows new reps to get a firm grip on the technology while getting more familiar with the product range. By using the platform to learn about product options, reps also become comfortable with their own presentations, which in turn results in first-class sales pitches.
Familiarity with the platform allows them to navigate easily and confidently when presenting to a client. Reps have the further option of customizing presentation features to best engage their client's specific area of interest.
Helping Content Creators and Businesses of all Sizes
Delivering over 100,000 presentations each month, Ingage’s presentation software serves as a multi-function tool for sales reps, business owners and training managers. The interactive features have reinvented traditional product catalogs and demos to allow instead for a full immersion into a product’s scope and capacity.
Ingage has the power to increase retention, improve efficiency and drive sales. Whether you’re looking to upgrade your presentation software or need a comprehensive retraining program for your team, Ingage offers the features and support to optimize your sales strategy in an increasingly virtual sales climate.
Register for a demo today and see firsthand how Ingage can help you close more deals with more dynamic presentations.