Getting new sales reps up to speed is tough. You want them closing deals, not drowning in outdated PDFs, endless slide decks, or boring webinars. If you’re looking for a way to actually show reps how your product works—without babysitting them every step—interactive demos can help. This guide is for sales managers, enablement folks, and team leads who want to use Walnut to make onboarding less of a slog and more of a launchpad.
Let’s talk about what works, what doesn’t, and how you can use Walnut to create training that sticks.
1. Set Clear, Realistic Training Goals
Before you create a single demo, figure out what your new reps need to know—and what they don’t. The biggest mistake? Trying to teach everything on day one.
Focus on: - The 3-5 core workflows every rep must master to have a real customer conversation. - Common objections or questions they’ll get in the first month. - How to handle your product’s quirks or “gotchas” that trip up rookies.
Ignore: - Deep-dive features 95% of customers won’t use. - Internal admin tools or settings reps won’t touch. - Anything that’ll change next quarter (keep it fresh, not fragile).
Pro tip: Ask your top reps what they wish they’d known week one, and build your demo content around that list.
2. Map Out the Key Demo Scenarios
Walnut is great for building click-through demos that mimic the real product experience. But more isn’t always better—a 40-step epic will just lose your trainees.
Start by mapping out: - What a typical sales demo looks like (from login to “thank you”). - The must-show features for early calls. - Where new reps usually get stuck or ask for help.
How to break it down: - Keep each interactive demo short (5-10 minutes max). - Focus on one scenario per demo: setting up a new account, customizing a dashboard, sending an invite, etc. - Add branching paths only when reps have real choices to make.
What to skip: Showing every single button or menu. If it takes more than three clicks to explain, it’s probably too granular for onboarding.
3. Build Your First Interactive Demo in Walnut
Once you know what you want to teach, it’s time to build. Walnut’s drag-and-drop interface isn’t magic, but it’s faster than coding up fake environments.
Steps to create a training demo:
- Record a real workflow: Use Walnut’s browser extension to capture the steps as you actually do them in your app.
- Trim the fat: Edit out anything that’s not essential. If you wouldn’t demo it to a prospect, don’t force a new rep to learn it now.
- Add guidance: Use tooltips, callouts, or short explanations—just enough to keep someone moving, not so much they get lost in pop-ups.
- Make it interactive: Let reps click, fill forms, and choose options, not just watch a video.
- Test it: Run through the demo yourself, and ask a current rep to try it. Watch for places they get confused or bored.
Honest take: The first demo you build will take longer than you expect. Don’t get discouraged—future ones go faster as you get the hang of it.
4. Organize and Sequence Your Demos for Maximum Impact
Don’t dump all your demos in a folder and call it a day. Put some thought into the order—and make it obvious what to do first.
Tips for sequencing: - Start with the basics: logging in, key navigation, where to find help. - Move to core workflows that match the sales process. - Save advanced or “power user” features for later. Most reps won’t need these right away.
Use Walnut’s features: - Group demos by topic or sales stage. - Use completion tracking if you want to see who’s actually finishing the training. - Link out to support docs or FAQs for deep dives, but keep the main demo focused.
What to ignore: Overbuilding a “choose your own adventure” path for every single scenario. Most reps benefit from a clear, linear path at first.
5. Make It Easy for Reps to Access and Revisit Demos
New reps will forget stuff. That’s normal. Make your demos easy to find and replay.
Best practices: - Share direct links to each demo—don’t bury them in an LMS nobody uses. - Pin a “start here” doc in Slack, Notion, or wherever your team actually looks. - Don’t require logins or jump through hoops to view a demo. The more clicks, the less they’ll use it.
Common mistake: Locking demos behind approvals or internal firewalls. If new reps can’t get to the training on day one, you’ve already lost them.
6. Use Feedback Loops to Improve Your Training
Walnut lets you see where people click, pause, or drop off. Use this data—and direct feedback from reps—to fix what isn’t working.
How to collect useful feedback: - Add a quick survey at the end of each demo (“Was this helpful? Anything unclear?”). - Check analytics for steps where people get stuck or bail out. - Ask new hires what they wish they’d seen, or what was missing.
What to do with feedback: - Update demos regularly as your product changes (set a reminder every quarter). - Cut or condense anything that’s confusing or too long. - Repeat what works—if a certain format or tip gets good reviews, use it everywhere.
Ignore: Fancy NPS scores or “engagement metrics” that don’t tell you if reps can actually do the thing you’re teaching.
7. Don’t Try to Replace Real Practice or Coaching
Interactive demos are a huge step up from dusty onboarding docs. But let’s be real—they won’t replace live coaching, shadowing calls, or real-world practice.
What works: - Use Walnut demos as a primer before live role-plays or shadowing. - Let reps replay tricky workflows on their own time. - Combine demos with live Q&A or office hours to fill in the gaps.
What doesn’t: Expecting a new rep to just click through a demo and then nail a customer call. Learning is messy; demos help, but they’re not magic.
Summary: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
The best onboarding isn’t about showing off every bell and whistle in Walnut—it’s about making your reps feel confident, fast. Pick a few key workflows, build tight, interactive demos, and keep things easy to find. Get feedback, adjust, and don’t be afraid to trim what isn’t helping.
Good onboarding is a process, not a one-and-done project. Start simple, keep improving, and remember: real learning happens when reps get to try things for themselves. Let Walnut handle the basics, so you can focus on coaching your team where it matters.