The Bridge Call: The missing step that can skyrocket your demo win rate

Pre-qual > Disco > Demo > Negotiate > Close

That’s the way right? (I’ve been back and forth on pre-qual but I’ll save that debate for another post.) Most teams run some variation of this flow. 

One thing that I brought into my process that I don’t always hear much about is a stage between discovery and demo. I call it the bridge call. It’s essentially a sound test for the demo with your champion.

So what I do is message my champion or it could also be a coach if they have good internal knowledge. (I won a $250K deal leveraging a coach to guide me on what was happening internally using this approach.) Either way, I message them something super casual a couple of days before the demo.

—-----

“Hey Champion, (for the easily confused this is where their first name goes, I’ve found prospects find it a little weird when I address them as ‘Champion’... trust me.)

I don’t suppose you have 15 mins to connect quickly before the demo this week. I would love to just run you through my agenda for the call to make sure that we’re all on the same page so we get the most out of the time. 

Cheers,

Duncan

—-----

Now here’s the beauty of this. If they ghost you or push back/decline the call. You know you're in trouble anyway. They aren’t on your side, they probably aren’t a champion and it should send major redflags about the prospect of closing the deal. 

And if/when they accept, assuming you’ve got the right person, they will help you nail the demo call. Now it's important you already have a solid plan for the demo based on the pain and need you’ve found in discovery. But they will often give you even more detail and because the call is one-to-one and they are away from colleagues they are typically more open and honest. 

I’ve had folks take me one by one through each persona on the call and tell me how to sell to them, what they care about and what I need to prove to win the deal. 

This call can dramatically increase your demo win rate when done correctly. 

If you give it a try, let me know the results!