In an exclusive interview with TimesTech, Abhinandan Sahgal, Co-Founder & CTO of Pepsales, shares how the company is transforming demo personalization for B2B SaaS companies using AI and automation. With its innovative platform, Pepsales accelerates the sales cycle by simplifying the creation of highly customized, live demos in just a few clicks, driving increased productivity and higher win rates.
Read the full interview here:
TimesTech: How does Pepsales personalize demos in just a few clicks, and what effect does this have on the sales process?
Abhinandan: The key reason Ajay and I started Pepsales is to make demo personalization incredibly simple and efficient. Our platform captures all of your customer conversations and CRM data. Our AI model then takes this input and recommends the demo data with the necessary features to fit precisely with what the prospect is looking for. This streamlined process has a major impact on the sales cycle. It drastically reduces the time and effort needed to prepare a demo, making it faster and easier for sales teams to deliver highly relevant presentations. This helps sales reps engage with prospects more effectively and close deals quicker.
TimesTech: Gartner recently recognized ‘Demo Automation’ as a new category. How does Pepsales fit into this trend, and what makes your platform unique?
Abhinandan: Demo Automation Category was recognized by Gartner as the Top ranked new category of 2023. Software buyers want to see a product demo in the first meeting with the sales person. Also, since more than 70% of buyer research is online before interaction with the sales person, demos present an opportunity for B2B SaaS companies to create the first impression. These trends have propelled solutions related to Demo Automation at the forefront for Chief Revenue Officers and Chief Technology Officers of SaaS companies.
Pepsales is in the forefront of this trend with its highly customised proprietary AI Engine and thus delivering high quality demos. Our platform is also unique as it creates the demo by setting up the data layer, avoiding any cloning or screenshots which limits an amazing user experience.
TimesTech: How does Pepsales automate the personalization of demos compared to existing solutions, and how does it adapt to evolving buyer needs?
Abhinandan: Pepsales’ proprietary technology analyzes customer and product data to tell what buyers want, which features to show, and create live demos with personalized data. This approach automates the personalization process, mimicking the expertise of seasoned sales engineers while saving valuable time and resources.
We use Gen AI and Machine Learning to analyze all customer interactions and product usage to create personalized demos for a buyer in 3 clicks. Most of the existing solutions create clone of product and requires manual edits which creates more problems than solving it.
As buyer preferences and market conditions change, our system continuously learns and adapts, ensuring that the demos remain relevant and impactful. This adaptability means that sales teams can stay ahead of shifting buyer expectations and provide a more engaging and effective demo experience.
TimesTech: Can you share specific results Pepsales customers have seen in improving wins and sales productivity, especially in the US and Indian markets?
Abhinandan: For sure! Our mission is to improve wins by 50% and double seller productivity for B2B SaaS companies. We are currently working with Series B to Series E funded B2B SaaS Companies in the US and India markets. We are involved with our customers at every deal that they are working on. Early results are quite impressive and is resulting into testimonials, case studies, and referrals from them. We invite B2B SaaS companies who are looking to take their demos to the next level and stand out from the clutter of competition to join hands with Pepsales. We work with you as your Demo Team and in return you get to co-develop Pepsales for your specific needs.
TimesTech: With the new pre-seed funding, what are Pepsales’ plans for further development and expansion into the US and India?
Abhinandan: We will announce our pre-seed funding when we have concrete updates.
TimesTech: What inspired you to co-found Pepsales, and how does your experience at Tekion shape your vision for the platform?
Abhinandan: As a founding Lead Engineer at Tekion, I noticed that sales team used to come to engineering frequently for personalizing their demos. I would carve out a small team from my small team and work day and night to create demo. Again, next week, they would come with another request. If my team created a demo for Toyota, it can only be shown to Toyota and not to Rolls Royce. As sales team and engineering team grew, this dependency became even higher and frequent. I always used to think that there has to be a better way. We evaluated few Demo Automation software but found them lacking for our needs.
I take my inspiration from the founders of Tekion, who came out of Tesla and built the Automotive Retail platform for the entire industry. I want to ensure that the challenges we faced in our demos should not be faced by any SaaS company. At Tekion, I experienced firsthand the challenges of scaling tech solutions and the importance of delivering a seamless, engaging customer experience. This experience has profoundly shaped my vision for Pepsales. I wanted to create a platform that not only automates but also innovates the demo process, making it more effective and user-friendly. The lessons learned at Tekion, especially around agility and customer-centric design, are at the core of what drives our development and strategy at Pepsales.
