In the competition of marketing in today’s world, companies constantly strive to stay ahead of each other and make their products marketable and more reachable for the customers. They opt for varied and innovative ways to market their product.
The main motive of marketing to make the customer aware of the existence of the product, tell them why they need that particular product and to gain the trust of the customer. Live demonstrations of products serve all these purposes. It helps the customer to get the real feel of the product and the company’s purpose is served well.
PROS AND CONS OF LIVE DEMONSTRATIONS
| PROS | CONS |
| A live demonstration stimulates the interest of the customer. | The way that the consumer tests the product might be unpredictable. |
| A live demonstration proves to be appealing to the customer. | For live demonstrations to be effective, there needs to be competent people. |
| This builds trust within the customer. | Proper training is necessary for carrying this out. |
| This demonstration provides proof to the customer about the product. | The time invested on each customer is a lot. |
| Checking the product out in real life gives the customer a feel of ownership. | The manpower and the training make it expensive for the company. |
| The direct communication involved proves to be beneficial even for future. | This increases the wastage of products. |
| Consumer education happens in a more effective way through live demonstrations. | If the timing of approach is not right, it will be a failure. |
| Any misinformation about the product can be debunked immediately. | There is a huge chance of everything getting wasted on the wrong people. |
| This grants more social credibility. |
Advantages OF LIVE DEMONSTRATIONS
- STIMULATION OF INTEREST
When the salesperson goes over to give an exclusive live demonstration to the customers, it stimulates their interest in the product. They tend to take more interest in the live demonstration in which the product is put to use in front of them than when a product is just advertised conventionally.
- APPEALING
The appeal of a live demonstration is much more than just distribution of pamphlets about the product. Here, the customer can see the product in real life instead of seeing it through various mediums.
- BUILDS TRUST
If the product is demonstrated live, then it builds confidence in the customer about the product and they tend to have trust in it. This is because a customer a well aware that if a product is of sub-par quality, then the company will not have as much confidence as need to carry out a live demonstration.
- PROVIDES PROOF
In case of live demonstrations, the customer can not only see the product in real life but also use it as he wants to. Apart from whatever the salesperson and the advertisements say, the customer can see for himself the quality of the product and how it works, in case of a live demonstration.
- FEEL OF OWNERSHIP
When the customer can check the look and feel of the product by himself instead of seeing it on videos or printed forms, he immediately starts imagining how he can implement the product in his life. This gives him a feeling of owning the product and thus, makes him buy it.
- DIRECT COMMUNICATION
The direct communication of the sales person with the customer helps build a cordial relationship between them. Building relationships with the customer proves to be very beneficial for the company as people tend to trust people and hence the products that they deliver.
- CONSUMER EDUCATION
Educating the customer about the product happens more effectively when the conversation happens face to face. It becomes easier for the sales person to demonstrate and hold the attention of the customer.
- DEBUNKING MISINFORMATION
If there is any misinformation that the customer has about the product, with a live demonstration it is easier to correct the customer about any prevailing myth or misinformation. The customer can question the sales person about any doubt that he has, which can be a misinformation, and the sales person can easily debunk that.
- GRANTS MORE SOCIAL CREDIBILITY
If a customer is convinced about the qualities of the product, he can go to spread good words about the product. When a customer speaks good of a product, people tend to believe it more as opposed to when a sales person speaks.
Disadvantages OF LIVE DEMONSTRATIONS
- UNPREDICTIBILITY
The customer might not be able to use the product with as much expertise as the salesperson which might lead the customer to have misconceptions about the product.
- LACK OF COMPETENT SALES PERSON
To educate the consumer about the products and to convince them to buy it, it is very important to have competent employees which is not always available.
- NEEDS TRAINING
The sales people need to be trained sufficiently so that they can carry out the live demonstrations effectively. A lack of training can severely affect the brand image.
- NOT TIME EFFICIENT
The time and effort spent on each customer is a huge as live demonstrations happen one on one and are not targeted for a group of people.
- INCREASED EXPENSES
The extra products used for live demonstrations, the manpower need to carry out the process and the training required for the employees makes live demonstrations an expensive process for the company.
- INCREASED WASTAGE OF PRODUCTS
Live demonstrations involve demonstrating the products and using them to their full potential. For needs, there needs to be a huge number of samples available to the sales person just for demonstrating and not for sale.
- TIMING
If the time when the sales person approaches the customer is not favourable for the customer, then all the effort will go to vain.
- APPROACHING WRONG PEOPLE
A lot of people to whom the products are demonstrated do not actually buy them. This leads to the wastage of all the resources and effort put into the process.
Live demonstrations, if carried out efficiently, can be an effective way to promote new products that of high quality. But when misdirected, live demonstrations will only lead to wastage of resources.
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“Business, marketing, and blogging – these three words describe me the best. I am the founder of Burban Branding and Media, and a self-taught marketer with 10 years of experience. My passion lies in helping startups enhance their business through marketing, HR, leadership, and finance. I am on a mission to assist businesses in achieving their goals.”