Pinned
Gong grew from $200k ARR to $200M ARR and $7.2B valuation in a 5 year span.
Buyers told us our demos were 2nd to none.
9 lessons I learned about SaaS demos I'll never forget:
Chris Orlob
7,781 posts
Chris Orlob
@Chris_Orlob
CEO at pclub.io - helped grow Gong from $200K ARR to $200M+ ARR | Defining the Standard of Revenue Performance
- Hey SaaS Founders: Gong grew from $200k ARR to $200M ARR and $7.2B valuation in a 5 year span. Buyers told us our demos were 2nd to none. 9 lessons I learned about SaaS demos I'll never forget:
- The longer you’re in sales, the more you realize: Nobody really teaches you how to sell. The best reps can’t even explain their own magic. It’s not a checklist. It’s a craft you build through thousands of reps, mistakes, and “aha” moments. Sales is a skill, but mastery is
- I helped grow Gong from $200k to $200M ARR in 5 yrs. Customers routinely told us our sales demos were 2nd to none. 9 lessons I learned about sales demos I'll never forget: (no one does #5, yet it's the easiest)
- If you can't sell to the C-suite, you're going to have a bad year. Every deal is hitting an executive's desk now. Every single one. But here's what most reps do wrong: They show up and ask: "What are your biggest challenges?" Executives HATE that question. It signals you
- Two worst demo questions: 'Does that make sense?' 'Any questions?' 10 questions that actually move deals: • 'How are you doing [X] today?' (before demo) • 'How does that compare to now?' (after demo) • 'To what extent is this useful for you?' • 'How do you see your team
- Want $250k? Stop hoping. Start engineering. Here's the math: • $200k OTE = $100k base + $100k variable • $800k quota = 12.5% commission rate • Need $1.2M ARR for $250k income • $40k deals = 30 closes needed • 20% close rate = 150 opps required That's 3 new opps per
- Most AEs lose deals because they can't build urgency. They find pain. They demo features. They quote price. But they never answer the million-dollar question: "What happens if we do nothing?" Here's how to build the cost of inaction (and close more deals):
- Most AEs get the first 5 minutes of a discovery call wrong. Either no agenda, or overcomplicated. Here’s the 5-step opener you can follow every time. 1. Transition from small talk (”can we talk about the agenda?”) 2. Set the objective (”the purpose of this call…”) 3. Set the
- Hey salespeople: I talk to 3-5 Chief Revenue Officers every week. Guess what we talk about? What separates their best reps from others. Here’s 4 patterns I hear every week:
- 20 years old: Joined first startup as SDR while still in college. $36k OTE. 21 years old: Left school and went all-in on my new SaaS sales career 1 year before graduating. 22 years old: Had my first child. With my back against the wall, dug in, got promoted to AE, and started
- Two of the WORST questions you can ask on a sales demo: "Does that make sense?" "What questions do you have?" Those don't sell. They just fill the silence. ✅ 10 demo questions that move deals forward: "How are you doing [X workflow] today?" (Ask right before you demo the
- If you work in sales, and you are not "locked in," focused, maximizing your productivity during your working hours? You're wasting the reason to be in the profession. "Sales is the highest paid hard work and the lowest paid easy work."
- "Your price is too high" is not an objection. It's a symptom. Here's the framework I use that's saved me from giving away millions in discounts: When someone pushes back on price, I say: "In my experience, price resistance at this stage usually comes from one of three places: