How Apollo Boosted Their Win Rates by 7% with a Demo Environment That Actually Worked

The Challenge

Before TestBox, Apollo’s sales team was fighting an uphill battle. Their demo environment was inconsistent, visually unappealing, and simply didn't show off how powerful their product really was. This wasn't just an inconvenience; it was actively hurting their sales.

"Underwhelming" Demos Hinder Sales Success and Efficiency

Apollo’s demo environment was a mess of disconnected systems and visual glitches. The sales team struggled to show prospects the full value of their product suite, which made it incredibly difficult to engage them effectively and close deals.

Existing Demo Environment Increased Complexity and Reduced Confidence

Key features like dashboards and analytics would often break, forcing reps to dance around critical parts of the product. To tell a cohesive story, they had to jump between multiple demo environments and the live product, wasting everyone's time and killing their confidence.

"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...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 Drained Time and Resources

Keeping the demo environment running was a massive, time-consuming manual effort. Reps and technical staff were constantly updating the system, but it still lagged behind the latest product releases. This took the sales team away from their primary job: selling.

"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

Negative Impact on Win Rates and Revenue

The poor demo experience was directly hitting the bottom line. Underwhelming presentations led to lost deals because prospects weren't convinced of Apollo's value. It was clear that without a major overhaul, scaling their sales efforts would be impossible.

"Our demos were consistently underwhelming, which directly affected our ability to close deals... 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

Apollo knew they needed a fix that could showcase their platform's full power without draining resources. They turned to TestBox, which delivered a single, beautiful, and fully functional demo instance that completely transformed their sales process.

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A Beautiful, Unified & Data-Rich Demo Experience

TestBox replaced Apollo's disjointed demo environments with one cohesive, visually compelling instance. Filled with relevant synthetic data, the new environment allowed the sales team to present a complete story, with tailored flows for specific use cases and personas.

"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 reliable, data-rich environment, reps can now deliver powerful narratives that are perfectly supported by what prospects see on screen. This has strengthened alignment between sales and product marketing, creating a consistent message across the entire go-to-market strategy.

"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

Results

Since implementing TestBox, Apollo has seen a significant lift in key sales metrics, particularly in later-stage deals. The ability to deliver consistent, high-quality demos has directly impacted their bottom line and team morale.

• Increased conversion rates: Apollo saw a 4% increase in conversion from Solution Evaluation to Pricing & Negotiation, and a 7% increase from Negotiation to Closed-Won.
• Supported product adoption: The sales team can now showcase features more effectively, helping customers see Apollo as an end-to-end solution and boosting product activation.
• Enhanced rep confidence: With a stable and beautiful demo environment, reps are more confident and productive. They can now focus on delivering impactful presentations instead of worrying about technical glitches.

"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

Looking Ahead

The success of TestBox in the sales department has Apollo planning its expansion to other teams, including customer success and onboarding. They aim to use the platform to support upsell opportunities and drive deeper product adoption without disrupting live customer accounts.

"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