Demo Script and Discovery Guide
The demo is the single most important sales artefact. Every rep rehearses it weekly. Bad demos lose deals; great demos win deals before price is discussed. This script is the floor, not the ceiling.
1. Discovery framework (pre-demo, MUST run)
The 30-minute discovery call
Format: 3 + 12 + 12 + 3 minutes.
Minutes 1-3 — Set the stage
"Thanks for taking 30 minutes today. I want to use this time to understand your property and your current operations — so the demo we run next week is tailored to what you actually need. By the end of this call we'll either have a great agenda for the demo, or we'll save you the hour because KeyNova isn't right for you. Sound fair?"
Outcome: explicit permission to ask hard questions.
Minutes 4-15 — Current state (12 questions, ~1 min each)
- Tell me about your property. (let them talk — note brand, segment, size)
- How many keys/beds/outlets, and what's your typical occupancy? (sizes the deal)
- What's your booking mix — OTAs, direct, agents, walk-in? (channel strategy hook)
- What software do you use today, by function? (map full stack)
- Which of these vendors are you happy with? Which are you actively unhappy with?
- Walk me through a normal Monday morning — how does your team start the week? (workflow surfacing)
- What's the biggest operational pain right now — what wakes you up at 3am? (emotional pain)
- What does your reconciliation process look like — daily, weekly, monthly? (integration pain quantification)
- How are you handling GST e-invoice today? (compliance hook)
- What about DPDPA — guest data handling, ID copies, etc.? (compliance hook)
- If you could fix one thing about your current setup, what would it be? (priority surfacing)
- What does success look like for you 12 months from now? (metrics for proposal)
Active-listen mode. Echo back. Don't pitch anything yet.
Minutes 16-27 — Future state + buying process (12 minutes)
- What triggered you to look at alternatives now? (why-now hook)
- Who else, besides yourself, will be involved in deciding? (DMU map)
- What does the decision process look like — RFP, trial, demo-and-decide?
- What is the timeline you're targeting? (urgency reality)
- What's the budget envelope — order of magnitude — that you've been working with? (money signal; OK if vague)
- What other vendors are you evaluating, if any? (competition)
- What would make you NOT choose us, even if you loved the product? (disqualify)
- What's the implementation timeline pressure — when do you need to be live?
- Are there integrations that are non-negotiable — door locks, IPTV, accounting? (integration scoping)
- What does Day 1 of being live look like for your team — what's the worst-case scenario you want to avoid? (risk surfacing)
- Who, in your team, would be the day-to-day champion of a new platform? (champion identification)
- If I told you we could compress that implementation to 14 days, what would that be worth to you? (value quantification setup)
Minutes 28-30 — Wrap and next step
- Recap what you heard (3 bullets)
- Confirm the demo agenda — what they need to see, who needs to be there
- Schedule demo (calendar in real-time)
- Send recap email within 2 hours
Output of discovery (filed in Salesforce):
- MEDDPICC fields populated
- Champion candidate identified
- Pain quantified (cost or time)
- Demo agenda customised
- Next step locked
Discovery red flags (disqualify or downgrade tier)
| Signal | Action |
|---|---|
| "I'm just exploring — no plans to switch" | Mark Marketing Nurture, don't book demo |
| "Budget is whatever the cheapest option is" | Tier down or disqualify |
| "We need on-premise / our own data center" | Disqualify |
| "Decision will be in 12+ months" | Mark Stage 1, nurture |
| "I need it free / free trial only" | T1 PLG flow; disqualify from T2+ |
| "We need it for our hostel/dharamshala/dharamsala" | Disqualify (out of segment) |
| "Looking for property-management service, not software" | Disqualify |
| Multiple stakeholders requested but only one shows | Re-schedule until DMU is present |
2. The 45-minute demo — standard structure
Pre-demo prep (30 min before the call)
- Re-read discovery notes
- Pre-load the demo environment with their property name as the tenant
- Customise the demo data — at least property name and 3 rooms with their actual key types
- Have the right person attend: champion + economic buyer + ideally IT
- Open a parallel Notes tab to log objections in real-time
Demo structure (45 min)
| Minutes | Section | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 0-2 | Re-confirm agenda | Show you've listened |
| 2-5 | KeyNova in one slide | Anchor the platform vision |
| 5-12 | Front-desk flow | Show the heart of PMS |
| 12-18 | Channel + rate management | Demonstrate OTA control |
| 18-23 | POS + KOT + KDS (if F&B) | F&B integration |
| 23-28 | Banquet / spa / asset (if relevant) | Module breadth |
| 28-33 | Mobile + housekeeping | Modern operations |
| 33-38 | Revenue + analytics | Insight + AI hook |
| 38-43 | Compliance + security | De-risk the buying decision |
| 43-45 | Next step | Close to action |
Script — section by section
Opening (0-2 min)
"Before I share my screen — based on our last call, you said your biggest pain is reconciliation across 4 vendors, and you're 6 months away from e-invoice mandates being enforced for properties your size. I'll spend the next 45 minutes showing you exactly how KeyNova solves both of those.
If at any point something I show isn't relevant to your property, stop me — I'd rather skip than waste your time. Sound good?"
KeyNova in one slide (2-5 min)
Show platform diagram. The line:
"Here's KeyNova. One platform, 10 modules. PMS, POS, channel, banquet, spa, asset, CRM, revenue, payments, analytics. All one database, all one login, all one bill. Whatever you turn on, you get. Whatever you don't need, you don't pay for.
Now let me show you what that looks like in your hotel."
Front-desk flow (5-12 min)
Live demo, not slides. Open the dashboard, log in.
"Reception screen. Today is [date]. You have [X] arrivals expected. Watch what happens when I click on [guest name] — full profile, stay history, preferences, anniversary date because we picked it up from their last visit two years ago. Their room is preassigned. They're a Gold tier loyalty member, so we have their welcome amenities pre-booked with housekeeping.
Check-in is 3 clicks. Watch — name verified against Aadhaar, photo captured, key card issued if you have the integration, GST invoice generated automatically, payment captured via UPI, folio created. That's it. Time-stamped: [X] seconds.
Now — your front-desk staff. They speak Hindi, yes? Let me toggle the UI."
Toggle to Hindi UI live
"Same workflow, Hindi labels, Hindi voice prompts if you want them. Training time for new staff drops by about 40% based on our lighthouse customer data."
Channel + rate management (12-18 min)
"Your booking mix is 60% MakeMyTrip + Booking.com, 30% direct, 10% Agoda. Watch the channel screen. All your inventory across all channels on one grid. I'll close this room category for tomorrow — boom, pushed to all OTAs in real-time. Rate change for next weekend — same thing, simultaneous push.
Rate parity alert — if MakeMyTrip undercuts your direct rate, you get a Slack notification within 60 seconds. Watch."
Demo a rate parity violation alert
"And here's the rate calendar with AI suggestions. Our Revenue Strategy module looks at last year's data, current bookings on the books, local events — and suggests rate moves. You approve them or override. Nothing auto-publishes without your sign-off."
POS + KOT + KDS — only if F&B-heavy (18-23 min)
"Your F&B is ₹X lakh/month, 30% of revenue. Here's your POS at the bar. Tap, tap, tap — order placed, KOT printed in kitchen, KDS lights up on the kitchen TV. Server marks served, table cleared, bill out, payment via UPI or card.
Zomato or Swiggy order comes in — same KDS, same flow. No retyping. No reconciliation. Your daily F&B closeout is one button at the end of shift."
Banquet / spa / asset — pick the most relevant (23-28 min)
For resort: banquet event PNR + spa room booking + asset/PPM ticket flow. For city hotel: banquet booking + branded receipt. For F&B chain: skip; spend more time on POS.
Mobile + housekeeping (28-33 min)
"Your GM runs the property from his phone. Here's the mobile app on iOS. Real-time KPIs, occupancy by room type, today's revenue, alerts. He can approve a complimentary upgrade from the phone, deny one, look at housekeeping status. Walk through the corridor — every room he passes, he can see status: clean, dirty, OOO, inspected."
Revenue + analytics (33-38 min)
"End of every day, the system produces three reports. Daily flash, F&B closeout, channel-wise revenue. Pre-built. Emailed at 11 PM IST. You can ask Sneha — your analytics AI — natural-language questions like 'show me RevPAR last month vs same month last year by room type' and get an answer. Live demo:"
Type into NLQ bar live
Compliance + security (38-43 min)
This is the de-risk slide.
"Three things every property your size is currently scrambling on.
One — GST e-invoice. Mandatory at ₹20 Cr turnover from April 2026. We generate IRN automatically, tested with NIC sandbox, audit-trail every step. Switching from eZee or IDS, you'd be doing the integration yourself; with us, it's day-zero default.
Two — DPDPA. Notice + consent baked into every booking. Right to erasure respects the 90-day post-checkout retention by default. We do field-level encryption on Aadhaar, PII, payment data.
Three — CERT-In. We do 6-hour breach reporting, immutable audit logs, ISO 27001 in flight. Your IT auditor will love us."
Next step (43-45 min)
"We've covered a lot. Quick question — based on what you've seen, what's not obvious to you yet about how this would work in your property?
[answer their question]
So here's what I think makes sense. We give you sandbox access this Friday — pre-seeded with your property data. You and [champion name] test it for 7 days. We do a mid-trial check-in next Tuesday. End of Trial week, we sit down for a proposal review. Does that timeline work?"
3. Demo customisation by tier
T2/T3 (SMB hotel) — emphasise
- One platform, lower vendor sprawl
- Hindi UI for housekeeping
- e-invoice + GST simplicity
- Razorpay UPI integration
- Quick implementation (14 days)
T4/T5 (enterprise chain) — emphasise
- Multi-property architecture
- Open API + integrations
- Brand standards
- Compliance posture
- Revenue management at scale
- Migration from incumbent
- SLA + support
T6 (F&B chains) — emphasise
- POS speed at peak
- Aggregator integration
- Multi-outlet inventory
- KDS workflow
- Recipe-cost / wastage (roadmap)
Resort variant — emphasise
- Banquet + spa + F&B in one folio
- Activity / experience inventory
- Group booking + corporate
- Offline reconciliation for remote properties
PG / coliving variant — emphasise
- Bed-level inventory
- Recurring monthly billing
- UPI mandate
- Aadhaar KYC
- Maintenance / asset tracking
- Tenant agreement workflow
Homestay variant (PLG) — emphasise
- Single-screen mobile control
- Channel manager pays for itself
- WhatsApp guest comms
- 14-day free trial
4. Demo "watch-outs"
| What's happening | What to do |
|---|---|
| Buyer asks for a feature we don't have | "Honest answer: that's not in the product today. It's in the roadmap for [date]. Here's how you'd work around it today: [workaround]. Or — and this is rare — if it's a deal-breaker we can scope a custom build." |
| Buyer compares to incumbent feature-by-feature | "I can match feature-by-feature, but the real difference is the platform unification. May I show you the moment where 4 vendors become 1?" |
| Buyer interrupts demo with "how much?" | "I'll get you a tailored quote at the end. Per-key is ₹X-Y for the modules you're talking about, depending on tier — but the right number depends on what we agree the scope is. Continue?" |
| Buyer goes quiet | Stop demoing. Ask: "Was that the right level of detail? What questions are you holding back?" |
| Buyer is multitasking on their laptop | "Just sensing this might not be the best moment — should we reschedule for a quieter time?" |
| Buyer says "send us a proposal" without demo | Hard pass. "Happy to, but historically I've found that proposals without a live demo end up not getting evaluated. Can we do 30 min next week?" |
5. Demo certification
Every rep must:
- Shadow 5 senior demos
- Run 3 internal mock demos (scored against rubric)
- Run 2 customer demos with manager present
- Pass certification rubric (≥ 80%)
- Annual recertification
Demo rubric (10 dimensions, 10 points each):
- Pre-call prep evident (1-10)
- Agenda set + agreed (1-10)
- Discovery customisation visible (1-10)
- Live (not slides) where possible (1-10)
- Pace + energy (1-10)
- Questions handled gracefully (1-10)
- Objections de-fanged (1-10)
- Champion engaged during call (1-10)
- Clear next step locked (1-10)
- Follow-up email within 2h (1-10)
6. Recording, coaching, sharing
- All demos recorded (Gong) with permission
- Top 3 demos per quarter become training assets
- 1 "demo of the month" awarded
- Reps share Gong clips in #sales-wins Slack
- Manager listens to ≥ 1 demo/week per direct report
7. Demo environment hygiene
- Daily reset of demo tenant (scripted, 6 AM IST)
- Pre-seeded personas: city-hotel, beach-resort, F&B-chain, PG, homestay
- Demo data refresh — quarterly, including realistic dates + amounts
- Issue-tracking — anything that breaks in a demo → P1 fix within 24h
- Owner: dedicated Demo Operations Engineer (hire by Month 3)
Last reviewed: 2026-05-16