if you want to close business then you should always lead with your best move. You always hear that advice. The quotation about putting your best foot forward is one often referred to in this context.You should always do your best in any selling situation. Giving someone samples of your product or a demonstration of your service is a great illustration of that point. Generally most people feel giving away samples in making demonstrations is a pleasant use of time. Experienced salespeople do this well. The newest and least experienced sales folks, however, often waste a lot of effort doing these things.

On the list of very powerful selling techniques you will find giving away samples in making product demonstrations ranking high. Often is the only thing that will work with a complex product or service. Other times you have found that giving someone a free sample, or samples, of your product or services is the only way they can really truly experience what it's all about. You may have learned from your long experience this is a required step in the overall sales process.

Of course sometimes not making a good demonstration can be the very reason the sale was blown. Maybe no demo was given and no product was ever given away. It might not just be that they were done poorly. Most people want to make sure they use these two methods.

The proper time in the proper place are vital. Timing is critical. Almost every company has a sales pipeline. Many times the process isn't very formal, but it does exist.

For our discussion let's assume a demo is vital. Therefore we're going to give away products or make a demonstration.

These aren't inexpensive ideas. Products for free and demonstrations cost money. The overall sales process is an expensive undertaking. A demonstration of products may be one of the most expensive on the list of things done during the selling process. Many times multiple employees within an organization have to be assembled in order to give a proper demonstration of a product. All kinds of other resources often need to be put together.

We don't want to waste demonstrations.

You can waste a great deal of money giving a demonstration at the wrong time. A demonstration should be scheduled at the very time a decision requires it. Demonstration should not be given as part of the early-stage selling process. Instead, it should be one of the very last things done.

In summary, it's very wasteful to conduct a demonstration to early (or even too late). Proper timing is critical. The more experienced a sales rep or more likely the demonstration will be used well. The newer and more inexperienced people tend to waste a lot of time and energy making ill-timed demonstrations. It's fun to do and that's one of the reasons inexperienced people do them too often, too soon and too poorly. Veterans tend to do them much better.

You want demonstrations, but you want to invent the right time. Generally, it's best if you insist on playing demonstrations and product giveaways until very late in the sales process. You will want to have it be required that demonstrations and product giveaways are reserved for qualified prospects. They should be off limits for unqualified prospective customers.