How Apollo Increased Conversion Rates by Empowering Reps with Fully Functional, Data-Filled Demo Experiences

The Challenge: “Underwhelming” Demos Hinder Sales Success and Efficiency

Before partnering with TestBox, Apollo’s sales team struggled with a demo environment that was not only inconsistent and visually unappealing but also failed to accurately represent the full capabilities of their product suite. These issues significantly impacted the sales team’s ability to engage prospects effectively and close deals.

Existing Demo Environment Increased Complexity and Reduced Confidence

Apollo’s team faced numerous challenges with their existing demo environment. Key features like dashboards and analytics often failed to display correctly, preventing reps from showcasing critical parts of the product during demo calls. The disconnect between the demo environment and Apollo’s sales narrative made it difficult for reps to learn and for leaders to enforce a consistent sales story.

To demonstrate a cohesive product story, sales reps had to toggle back and forth between multiple demo environments and the live product, wasting valuable time for both themselves and their prospects. This added complexity not only eroded the reps’ confidence during presentations but also made it hard for prospects to see how Apollo could effectively meet their needs.

"One of Apollo’s unique strengths is our living database, continuously updated  by millions of contributors. It’s crucial for us to showcase this quality data during demos, but our old environment made that challenging. We’d show prospects our search capabilities, only to have contact data not populate correctly, or links lead to empty pages. The data story was fragmented, with no clear path for prospects to follow, which meant the demo could easily fall apart if the rep didn’t click in exactly the right order." — Scott Skinner, Head of Enablement, Apollo

Manual Upkeep Drains Time and Resources

Maintaining Apollo’s demo environment required an extensive amount of manual effort. Sales reps and technical staff had to regularly update the environment to ensure it was as current as possible, yet the demo often lagged behind the latest product developments. This manual process was time-consuming and prone to errors, resulting in an unreliable demo experience.

"Our demo environment was not only underwhelming but also difficult to maintain. The manual upkeep of our demo instance was time-consuming and not scalable." — Scott Skinner, Head of Enablement, Apollo

The ongoing manual upkeep also took valuable time away from the sales team’s primary focus—engaging with prospects and closing deals. The constant need to troubleshoot and manage the demo environment detracted from the overall effectiveness of the sales process and created frustration among the team.

Negative Impact on Win Rates and Revenue

As the issues with the demo environment persisted, it became increasingly clear that the poor demo experience was directly impacting win rates and, by extension, revenue growth. The underwhelming demos led to lost deals, as prospects walked away unconvinced of Apollo’s value. The time and resources spent on maintaining the demo environment only compounded these losses, reducing the overall productivity of the sales team. Apollo recognized that without a major overhaul of their demo process, the lack of consistency in their sales narrative created barriers to scaling their sales efforts and achieving predictable growth.

"Our demos were consistently underwhelming, which directly affected our ability to close deals. Reps were losing deals because they couldn’t effectively demo our full product suite. The realization that our demo experience was directly impacting our win rates made it clear that we needed a more reliable, personalized, and scalable solution." — Scott Skinner, Head of Enablement, Apollo

The Solution: Fully Functional Demos That Boost Confidence, Conversion Rates and Sales Effectiveness

Faced with a fragmented and underwhelming demo environment, Apollo's team knew they needed a solution that could truly showcase the full capabilities of their platform without draining their resources. They turned to TestBox, which provided exactly that—a single, beautiful, and fully functional demo instance that transformed their sales process.

‍

A Beautiful, Unified & Data-Rich Demo Experience

TestBox replaced Apollo’s multiple, disjointed demo environments with one cohesive and visually compelling instance. This new demo environment, filled with relevant synthetic data, allowed Apollo’s sales team to present a complete and compelling story that showcased the platform’s wide range of use cases and features. Sales reps now have access to demo flows tailored to specific use cases and personas, enabling them to engage prospects more effectively.

"TestBox has helped us consolidate all of these disparate demo environments into one beautiful demo environment that accurately showcases the Apollo platform and its full capabilities." — Scott Skinner, Head of Enablement at Apollo

Enhanced Storytelling and Cross-Departmental Alignment

With a fully functional, data-rich demo environment, Apollo’s sales reps can now deliver compelling product narratives that are seamlessly supported by their demo environment. This improvement has significantly elevated the quality and effectiveness of their presentations. The consistency in storytelling has strengthened alignment between sales and other departments, particularly product marketing for a consistent and cohesive narrative across all of go-to-market.

"Our product marketing team tells fascinating, compelling stories about the value we provide for various personas. Now, our sales reps can continue that storytelling seamlessly during demos." — Scott Skinner, Head of Enablement at Apollo

Higher Win Rates and Improved Product Adoption

Since implementing TestBox, Apollo has seen improvements in key sales metrics, particularly in later-stage conversion rates. The ability to deliver consistent, high-quality demos has directly impacted their win rates, with a 4% increase in conversion from Solution Evaluation to Pricing & Negotiation, and a 7% increase from Negotiation to Closed Won.

"TestBox is not only helping more prospects move through the evaluation process but also positively impacting our ability to close deals. It’s been a game-changer for our sales effectiveness." — Scott Skinner, Head of Enablement at Apollo

TestBox has also played a role in Apollo’s initiative to increase product activation across various use cases. By showcasing features more effectively, TestBox has strengthened the sales team’s ability to support product adoption, ensuring that clients see Apollo as an end-to-end solution rather than just a data provider.

More Productivity and More Confidence

The introduction of TestBox has not only eliminated the burden of maintaining demo environments but also significantly increased the sales team’s productivity and confidence when giving demo presentations. Reps no longer worry about technical glitches or outdated demos; instead, they can focus on delivering impactful presentations that resonate with prospects. This shift has smoothed out the sales process and led to a noticeable increase in closed deals.

"The manual upkeep of our previous demo instances was not only time-consuming but also unsustainable. With TestBox, that’s no longer an issue. It’s freed up our team to focus on more strategic initiatives, ultimately benefiting our reps and improving the overall quality of our demos." — Scott Skinner, Head of Enablement at Apollo

Looking Ahead

The Apollo team is planning to expand the use of TestBox beyond the sales department to other teams such as customer success and onboarding. The goal is to leverage TestBox's capabilities to support upsell opportunities and drive product adoption, all without risking disruptions to a customer's existing instance.

"It’s exciting because these opportunities are possible without creating a heavy lift on my end.  Changes are not only achievable but also critical for making Apollo’s sales process more efficient and creating a better buying experience for our prospects." — Scott Skinner, Head of Enablement at Apollo

Results

• Increased conversion rates: saw 4% increase in conversion from Solution Evaluation to Pricing & Negotiation, and a 7% increase from Negotiation to Closed Won
• Support product adoption: Helped improve product activation by giving prospects a more comprehensive understanding of Apollo’s capabilities during sales cycle
• Enhanced rep confidence: Increased rep confidence and effectiveness with a singular, visually appealing and fully functional demo environment