How to convert demos into users?
I'm building a b2b SaaS. Kind of a niche thing. I'm aiming to replace some software in my industry which effectively has a monopoly, but that I often heard complaints about.
I have a few ex-colleagues who were able to arrange a chat and a demo at their new companies. Both times, I started by having them explain what their current workflows are, what their problems are, what could be better. From my perspective, it seems to align with what I'm building.
Then move into a demo and they seemed enthusiastic, asking a few questions, etc.
It's a freemium model so I leave it by saying I'll send over some links. They can sign up, have a play with the free features, and then I can swing some evaluation licenses for the premium stuff if they want.
That's where it ended both times. They didn't sign up, didn't try it.
The first of those was a few months ago, and they were not actively looking to replace what they were using, so I kind of just figured they weren't interested. Maybe that's my bad and I could have pushed more.
The second of those was a few weeks ago. The difference here is that they are actively looking to ditch MonopolySoft. My ex-colleague said that it's up for renewal soon and they don't want to renew it again because it's insanely expensive, so they've already been actively reaching out to vendors and looking at replacements. I figured that being the case, they would move fairly quickly to at least try it out, but nope.
What am I doing wrong? I don't think it's the case of the product being a poor fit, because what they're telling me aligns with what I'm building, and they seem enthusiastic. The demo is only an overview, so I don't think they can be coming to to opinion "this isn't even worth trying" based on that.
I'm wondering whether my approach of "give the free stuff a try some time" could use improvement, but I also don't want to be overbearing. Dunno. I'm an engineer not a salesperson.
Maybe twice is not enough data to read into anything, but these have felt like good opportunities and it's disappointing when they seem to fizzle out.