I see this pattern again and again. An AE opens a demo call, introduces their SE, and then quietly disappears into their CRM.
Sometimes it even looks like nap time with the camera on. It happens more often than people admit, and it creates real problems for the conversation.
Even if the SE is doing most of the talking, there are a few responsibilities the AE cannot ignore. The most important one is setting the stage. Customers need context. They need to understand why everyone is in the room, what the goal of the call is, and what success should look like by the end.
Without this framing, the demo easily turns into a feature tour, and while the SE might do a great job walking through the product, the meeting still fails to move the opportunity forward.
Every demo should start with a working hypothesis. It is something both sides can test together. You either confirm it or adjust it by the end of the meeting.
This gives the conversation a clear direction and helps the customer stay focused on the problem they want to solve.
The best moment to set this up is right after the small talk. At this point, the AE steps in and defines the purpose of the meeting. A simple sentence is enough, for example:
“Thanks for joining today. The goal for this demo is to help you understand how you can solve the problem you shared with us earlier, and then decide together if this is a good fit to move forward or not.”
This one line does a lot of heavy lifting. Everyone knows what the problem is, why the meeting exists, and what the expected outcome is.
It also creates a clear moment at the end to gather feedback, check alignment, and agree on next steps.
This structure also helps the SE. They no longer have to guess the AE’s intentions or hope the customer interprets the demo correctly.
With the objective clearly defined, the SE can focus on guiding the customer through a simple story that shows how the solution addresses the problem they care about.
If you skip this step, the entire meeting becomes harder. You risk showing too much or too little. You leave the purpose of the demo open for interpretation.
And you make it almost impossible to measure whether the call was successful. Without a shared objective, how would you even know?
There is another benefit that people often underestimate. When you set a clear objective at the start, you also reduce wasted time. If the outcome is “not a good fit”, that is perfectly fine.
At least you know. You avoid endless follow-ups, pointless reminders, and the familiar ghosting cycle that drains energy on both sides.
Setting the stage takes less than twenty seconds, but those twenty seconds can completely change the quality of the demo.
So yes, the AE may not speak much during the meeting, but their role is still critical. They provide context. They create structure.
They make sure the meeting has a purpose, and when they do that well, the SE can focus fully on helping the customer understand how to solve their problem.
A good demo does not start with the first click. It starts with clarity. And clarity almost always comes from the AE.
