Best Practices for creating winning experiences with Automated Product Simulations (APS)

As part of our Product Experience Platform, Automated Product Simulations (APS) bring a wealth of interaction right when your buyers are feeling the most pressure; they’ve investigated the vendors, organized their project deliverables and made promises to their leaders about valuable outcomes.

So there’s a very real risk to buying the wrong solution - how do you help these buyers though this tense time and give them the confidence to make that next step.

Automated Product Simulations usher in game changing capabilities to you and your team, allowing buyers to experience your software without any hassle. It's a perfect tool to simplify the buying journey and increase engagement.

The problem with Proof of Concepts.

Often, a Proof of Concept (POC) is used to help buyers see the ‘reality’ of what they’re buying. But they’re costly and complicated, and with SaaS products being updated so frequently, they represent a real pain for those having up keep them up to date.

Data hygeine is a big problem too. If people change records or test things along the way, and it takes time to clear it up and make it presentable and functional again. Some folks even need to do this task at the weekend - not a favorite job!

That’s why we’re bringing Simulations to the world in a streamlined way.

The rigid sales-centric process

We found that allowing buyers to move through their buying journey on their own (in way you guide) drives results 30% faster, and doubles the win rate. So balancing your sales methodology with their buying needs is key. That’s why our Product Experience Platform brings the ability for your buyers to click through and ‘play with’ your software without the worry of breaking things, whilst you get to grow their confidence in signing with you.

Gartner (way back in 2019!) found that buyers only spend 17% of their time with vendors, so that 83% of asynchronous time or ‘selling between the meetings’ has never been so important to fill with interactive tours and simulated experiences.

Why create Automated Product Simulations in your process?

Automated Product Simulations are faster, easier and cheaper than POCs but provide a far more engaging experience for your buyers than a simple guided tour.

• Enhanced Buyer Engagement: By providing an interactive and self-paced simulation of your product, buyers can explore features and functionalities that are most relevant to their needs. You can have a number of different simulations tuned to different stakeholders.
  • E.g. Send a CFO a simulation of dashboards and reporting, without the fuss of setup and integration. 
  • or send a setup and integration simulation to the IT team, without the distraction of the other software areas
  • or send everything to everyone - it’s your choice!
• A safe snapshot in time: Every time someone accesses the link you send them, they get their own instance to explore as they wish, not affecting anyone else. No more reps finding data or filters changed by other people mid-demo! 
• Streamlined Sales Process: Eliminate the need for time-consuming and resource-intensive proof of concept projects, and allow your sales team to focus on high-value activities. Whilst this might seem simple, the pressure from sales to deliver POCs to win the deal takes a lot of time from teams like yours, and it’s often tough to say no. By having simulations to hand you can speed things up:
  • Simulations are available instantly
  • They’re updated frequently and easily
  • They can’t break or have setup that ‘was working yesterday...’
• Actionable Insights: Even though a deal might be ‘in the bag’, we know that nothing worthwhile happens unless it’s recorded. To gain those valuable insights into buyer behavior, you need the data to back up your feelings. With this data you can tailor your approach and close deals faster.
• Cost-Effective: Reducing costs associated with traditional proof of concept projects is hard. There’s skilled staff, technology and project management work involved, and even if the prospect/customer is happy to pay for the pleasure, managing their expectations and running a POC costs time, making deals close more slowly. Providing a superior buyer experience at no cost to the customer or your team’s valuable time is essential.
• Speed: Creating a simulation takes between 5 - 30mins depending on the complexity of your solution. Once you’ve done it once, you can use this for everyone.
• Scalability: The beauty of this is you create it once, and you can send to a million people. The Consensus Product Experience Platform gives you a way to easily scale your simulations to accommodate multiple buyers and stakeholders without additional effort. 

How Automated Product Simulations Work

Our platform integrates video, product interactions, and discovery automation to create seamless and engaging simulations. Here’s how the Simulations work:

1. No taking screenshots here - it’s a fully working copy of your product. You’ll click to create a new Simulation, then click through the areas, menus, anything you want included in the experience.

Anything you don’t click, will appear like this in the final experience:

2. Send / Share your Automated Simulations with prospects.

Updating Sims

Updating POC or trial environment can take days, but with APS it’s minutes - capabilities that users, teams and leaders love.

Here’s an example of some Simulations in the admin section, where we can change or update details for each. Clicking Edit Experience Data 

Getting Started with Automated Product Simulations

Ready to revolutionize your sales process with Automated Product Simulations? Follow these steps to get started:

1. Contact Us: Reach out to our team to discuss your needs and explore how our platform can be tailored to your sales process.
2. Setup: We’ll guide you through the setup and integration process, ensuring your simulations are up and running smoothly.
3. Create and Customize: Use our tools to create customized simulations that highlight the unique features and benefits of your product.
4. Launch and Analyze: Launch your simulations and monitor buyer engagement and behavior to gain valuable insights and optimize your sales strategy.

We’re committed to helping you improve efficiency, personalize the buying experience, and close deals faster. Our platform provides unique buyer insights and drives results that make a significant impact on your revenue.

Join the future of B2B sales with Automated Product Simulations from Consensus. Our innovative platform empowers your sales team, engages your buyers, and delivers exceptional results.