You will be able to respond when a buyer asks you to just show the product before answering questions.
You have done the opening from lesson 1.1. Time confirmed, purpose stated, outcomes named. Then you ask what the buyer would like to get out of the meeting, and they say, "Honestly, can you just show me what it does? I've got a few of these calls this week." Every plan you made for the next forty minutes now looks like an obstacle between them and what they asked for.
This happens often enough that you should have an answer ready. You do not refuse, and you do not give in. You give a short overview, a reason for your questions, and a way back to them.
Start by assuming the request is reasonable, because usually it is. A buyer who asks for the product first has often sat through discovery calls that felt like a form being filled in. Twenty minutes of "how many staff do you have" and "what system do you use today," and then a demo that ignored every answer. They have learned that the questions are a ritual, so they try to skip to the part that tells them something.
Some buyers are also comparing. They have seen two other suppliers this week, and they want to know quickly whether you are even in the same category. Others are simply short of time and nervous about being sold to.
None of those buyers is being difficult. They are protecting their time, which is exactly what your opening promised to do. So your reply has to prove that the questions will save them time, and saying so is not enough.
Start by doing what they asked, in a small way. Give an overview of what you do in under a minute. That means who you work with, the problems you usually solve, and roughly how. Leave out the history of the company, the features list and the client logos.
Hafiz sells payroll and HR software to small and medium businesses. When the operations manager of a logistics firm in Tuas asks him to just show the system, he says something like this:
"Sure. In short, we run payroll, leave and claims for companies with roughly twenty to two hundred staff. Most of the firms we work with come to us because payroll takes someone two or three days a month, or because shift and overtime calculations keep going wrong. The system does the calculations, sends payslips, and handles leave and claims from a phone app."
That is about thirty seconds. It tells the buyer whether they are in the right meeting, and it gives them two problems to react to.
Then ask permission to tailor the rest, and give the reason in terms of their time. "The system does quite a lot, and most of it won't matter to you. Can I ask a few questions about how you handle payroll now, so I only show you the parts that are relevant? It'll take ten minutes, and then I'll show you those parts."
Three things make this work. It names a time limit, so the questions have an end. It ties the questions to a benefit for the buyer: a shorter, more relevant demo. And it asks, so the buyer agrees to the questions instead of putting up with them.
Most buyers say yes. What they objected to was questions with no visible point, and you have just given yours a point.
Then keep your word. If you said ten minutes, watch the clock and move to the demo at ten minutes, even if you have more to ask. You can come back to questions during the demo, and the buyer will trust your next estimate.
Sometimes the buyer says no. "I'd rather just see it first." Fine. Show it, but keep it short, perhaps five to ten minutes on the main screens, and watch them closely while you do.
The demo now becomes your discovery. Every reaction is a door. If the buyer leans in when you show overtime rules, ask, "You looked at that closely. How do you handle overtime today?" If they frown at the claims screen, ask what they were thinking. If they say "we don't need that bit," ask what they do instead. Each reaction gives you a follow-up question, and each question is about something they have already shown interest in, so it never feels like a form.
Hafiz finds that the overtime screen gets the strongest reaction from logistics firms. When the Tuas manager says, "That's the bit that kills us every month," Hafiz stops the demo and asks what happens every month. The next fifteen minutes are the best discovery he does all week.
The common failure is a two-minute overview that grows into twenty. You start with who you work with, then mention a feature, then a client story, and the buyer has received the full pitch after all, with no idea how it applies to them.
The other failure is arguing. "I find it works better if I ask questions first" sounds like you care more about your process than about their request. Give the overview first, then ask. The order matters.
Before the activity, think about the last time a buyer asked to see the product first and write down what you actually said back.
Write a one-minute overview of what you sell and the sentence you will use to move from it back into questions.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).