the underlying component of a successful sales presentation is

How to Create a Winning Sales Presentation?

Discover essential elements for a powerful sales presentation. Learn what to include to win clients over. Read our expert tips now!

Welcome to the world of persuasive communication! Whether you’re a seasoned sales professional or just stepping into the realm of selling, mastering the art of a compelling sales presentation is essential. In this guide, we’ll explore the key elements of a successful sales presentation that can help you win over clients and close deals effectively.

What is a Sales Presentation?

A sales presentation is a structured communication process used to showcase a product, service, or idea to potential clients or stakeholders. It’s your opportunity to make a strong impression, convey your message clearly, and persuade your audience to take action. Sales presentations can be used in various settings, including:

Sales Pitches: When you’re selling a product or service to potential customers.

Investor Meetings: When seeking funding or investments for your business.

Board Meetings: To update key stakeholders on company performance and strategy.

Product Launches: To introduce a new offering to the market.

A sales presentation is your chance to shine and demonstrate why your offering is the best solution for your audience’s needs.

What Slides Should Be Included in a Sales Presentation?

Introduction slide.

The introduction slide sets the stage for your sales presentation. It’s your first opportunity to engage your audience, so make it count. Here’s how to craft an effective introduction:

Importance: ‍

• This slide grabs your audience’s attention right from the start.
• It introduces yourself and your company, establishing credibility.
• It provides a brief overview of what to expect in your presentation.
• A few sentences are enough to introduce yourself and your company.
• Include your company logo or a relevant image to make the slide visually appealing.
• Begin with a welcoming and friendly message to create a connection with your audience.

Problem Slide

The problem slide is where you acknowledge the challenges or pain points your audience faces. It’s crucial for building empathy and demonstrating that you understand their needs.

• It establishes a common ground with your audience.
• It shows that you’ve done your homework and understand their pain points.
• It creates a sense of relevance and urgency for your solution.
• Phrase the problems in a way that resonates with your audience.
• If available, use data to quantify the issue’s severity.
• Explain how these problems affect your audience personally or professionally.

Solution Slide

The solution slide is where you introduce your product or service as the answer to the problems you’ve identified. This is where you transition from issues to solutions.

Importance:

• It showcases the main benefit of your presentation — your solution.
• It demonstrates how your offering directly addresses the pain points discussed earlier.
• It piques the audience’s interest and curiosity.
• Clearly outline how your solution solves the problems.
• Incorporate images or graphics to represent your offering visually.
• Mention unique features or advantages that set your solution apart.

Product Slide

The product slide is where you provide a deeper dive into your offering. You should elaborate on your product or service’s features, specifications, and advantages.

Importance :

• It gives your audience a comprehensive understanding of what you’re offering.
• It helps potential customers visualize how your product works or what they’ll experience.
• It builds confidence in the quality and effectiveness of your solution.
• Visual aids make complex concepts easier to grasp.
• If applicable, include case studies or testimonials.
• Explain how your product benefits the end user.

Emotion Factor Slide

The emotion factor slide aims to create an emotional connection with your audience. It’s where you share stories, testimonials, or experiences that evoke emotions related to your product or service.

• It humanizes your presentation, making it relatable and memorable.
• It taps into the emotional aspect of decision-making, influencing your audience’s feelings.
• It reinforces the idea that your solution can genuinely improve lives or situations.
• Narrate a real-life scenario that highlights the emotional impact of your solution.
• Share quotes or anecdotes from satisfied customers.
• Paint a picture of the positive future your solution can bring.

The cost slide is where you address pricing and any associated expenses. Being transparent about costs helps build trust and manage expectations.

• It prevents surprises and potential objections related to pricing.
• It allows you to highlight the value your solution offers in relation to its cost.
• It shows respect for your audience’s budget considerations.
• Use straightforward language and visuals to outline pricing structures.
• If applicable, provide different packages or payment plans.
• Explain how the benefits outweigh the costs.

Closing Slide

The closing slide is your final opportunity to persuade your audience to take action. Summarize your key points and encourage your audience to engage or make a decision.

• It reinforces the main takeaways from your presentation.
• It guides your audience toward the desired action, whether it’s making a purchase, scheduling a follow-up, or requesting more information.
• It leaves a lasting impression, ensuring your message lingers in your audience’s minds.
• Tell your audience precisely with CTA what you want them to do next.
• Remind them of the value they’ll receive by taking the desired action.
• Conclude with a motivational message encouraging action.

8 Sales Presentation Tips

Tip 1: know your audience.

Understanding your audience is paramount. Research their demographics, preferences, and challenges. Creating audience personas will guide your content creation. Use relatable language and examples that resonate with your audience.

Tip 2: Practice

Rehearse your presentation multiple times to build confidence and perfect your delivery. Practice in front of a mirror or record yourself for self-assessment. Conduct mock presentations with colleagues for valuable feedback. Memorize key points while maintaining a natural, conversational tone.

Tip 3: Engage with Visuals

Incorporate visuals like images, charts, and graphs to enhance clarity and engagement. High-quality visuals simplify complex information, making your presentation more appealing and memorable. Strike a balance between text and visuals to avoid overwhelming your audience.

Tip 4: Tell a Compelling Story

Weave a captivating narrative throughout your presentation. Start with an engaging opening story or anecdote. Utilize storytelling techniques like conflict, resolution, and character development. Conclude with a memorable takeaway that reinforces your narrative.

Tip 5: Address Objections

Anticipate and proactively address potential objections during your presentation. List common objections related to your offering and prepare persuasive responses. Address objections at relevant points in your presentation to build trust and reduce skepticism.

Tip 6: Use Concise Language

Keep your language concise and avoid jargon. Simplify complex concepts to enhance comprehension. Use straightforward, easy-to-understand language to ensure your message is clear and accessible.

Tip 7: Engage Your Audience

Encourage audience engagement throughout your presentation. Ask questions, seek opinions, or conduct interactive polls. Engaging your audience maintains their interest and involvement in the discussion.

Tip 8: Rehearse Timing and Pacing

Pay attention to timing and pacing. Ensure your presentation flows smoothly within the allotted time. Practice transitions between slides and sections to maintain a seamless and engaging experience for your audience.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Overloading Slides with Text: One of the most common mistakes in sales presentations is the excessive use of text-heavy slides. Use concise bullet points, compelling visuals, and minimal text to convey your message effectively. Emphasize key points, and let your spoken words complement, rather than duplicate, what’s on the slides.
• Neglecting to Rehearse: Failing to practice your presentation can lead to performance anxiety and a lack of confidence when presenting. Rehearsing is essential for refining your delivery, timing, and overall presentation skills.
• Ignoring Audience Engagement: A sales presentation shouldn’t be a one-way conversation. Neglecting to engage with your audience can result in disinterest and detachment. To keep your audience actively involved, encourage questions, ask for opinions, and incorporate interactive elements.
• Not Personalizing the Presentation: Generic, one-size-fits-all presentations rarely resonate with diverse audiences. Personalize your content to address your audience’s specific needs, pain points, and interests to make a lasting impact. Tailor your examples and solutions to their industry or situation, showing that you’ve done your homework and genuinely care about their concerns.
• Being Overly Salesy: A common turn-off in sales presentations comes across as overly aggressive or solely focused on closing a deal. Instead of relentlessly pushing your product or service, prioritize providing value and solving problems for your audience.
• Lacking Clarity and Structure: Presentations that lack a clear structure and logical flow can confuse your audience. Start with a well-defined structure that includes an introduction, main points, and a conclusion.
• Neglecting Visual Appeal: Visual appeal matters in a presentation. Poorly designed slides, inconsistent visuals, or an absence of images can diminish your audience’s interest. Visual aids, when used effectively, enhance understanding and engagement.
• Not Addressing Objections: Ignoring objections until the end of your presentation can leave your audience skeptical. Proactively anticipate common concerns or objections related to your offering and address them as they arise during your presentation.
• Overwhelming with Data: While data can be persuasive, an overload of statistics, charts, and figures can overwhelm or bore your audience. Use data strategically, focusing on the most relevant and compelling points that support your message.
• Exceeding Time Limits: Going over your allotted presentation time can frustrate your audience and disrupt your overall message. Pay attention to pacing and transitions to maintain a smooth flow while staying within the time limits.

How PitchBob Can Help

PitchBob offers a range of tools and services designed to empower entrepreneurs in their sales endeavors:

• AI Pitch Deck Creator: ‍

Use our AI-powered tool to quickly create compelling pitch decks with professional visuals and impactful content. Elevate your presentations, impress potential investors, and increase your chances of securing funding.

• Improve Your Current Pitch Deck: ‍

Receive expert feedback and recommendations to enhance your existing pitch deck , making it more persuasive and engaging. Our expert insights will help you transform your current pitch into a winning one.

• Pitch Deck Evaluation & Feedback Tool: ‍

Get detailed insights into your presentation’s strengths and areas for improvement, ensuring it resonates with your audience. Our tool gives you a clear roadmap for enhancing your pitch’s effectiveness .

• AI VC Coach:

‍ Access personalized coaching to refine your pitch delivery, boost confidence, and convey your message effectively. Our AI VC Coach provides valuable guidance tailored to your unique presentation style.

• AI Business Plan Generator:

Effortlessly generate comprehensive business plans , saving time and ensuring a professional structure. Create strategic business plans that impress stakeholders and guide your company’s growth.

• Investor Outreach:

Connect with potential investors and partners through our extensive network, facilitating introductions and connections. Our platform opens doors to valuable opportunities for your business.

• Sales Outreach:

Streamline sales outreach with our automation solutions, simplifying lead generation and email marketing. Our automation tools empower you to focus on building relationships and closing deals more effectively.

PitchBob’s tools and services are designed to save you time and increase your chances of success. We’re continually innovating to provide even more support to entrepreneurs like you.

In conclusion, a winning sales presentation requires careful planning, a deep understanding of your audience, and the right tools and techniques. By following the structure outlined here and incorporating our tips, you’ll be well on your way to creating presentations that captivate, persuade, and ultimately lead to successful outcomes.

Remember, a great sales presentation isn’t just about showcasing your product; it’s about creating a memorable experience for your audience. Practice, refine, and adapt your approach to improve your presentation skills continually. Now, armed with this knowledge, go out and confidently conquer your next sales presentation!

Disruptive Partners OÜ Harju maakond, Tallinn, Kesklinna linnaosa, Tornimäe tn 3 / 5 / 7, 10145

PitchBob, Inc 2261 Market Street #10281 San Francisco, CA 94114

The Most Persuasive Sales Presentation Structure of All

Updated: January 28, 2020

Published: April 13, 2017

If you’ve ever sat through a presentation that went around the block a few times before finally arriving at its destination, you understand the need for a clear, comprehensible structure for your message.

Structure isn’t just for keeping you, the presenter, from getting lost in the weeds. As a salesperson, you need to organize your message in a way that has the greatest impact on your audience and ultimately encourages them to take action.

Almost any structure will help you get your arms around information, prioritize, and organize it. However, the right structure can set you up for success and increase your odds of winning the business.

The Basic Three-Act Presentation Structure

Breaking content into an opening , a body , and a conclusion is the basis of most presentations, movies, TV shows, and speeches. This basic three-act structure was invented by Aristotle and has stood the test of time. It’s familiar to audiences, digestible, and easy to follow. In fact, if you’ve ever felt uncomfortable or confused watching a movie, it’s often because the writer has broken the three-act structure ( Memento and Inception are two examples).

A three-act structure is a great place to start for just about any presentation. But within this framework there are several variations. For instance, you could sort information chronologically, by process, or priority, and so on.

If your goal is to educate or inform, these variations are fine -- but they're not optimal for persuasion. To do use, that the  Situation , Complication , Resolution  framework.

SCR: The Best Sales Presentation Structure of All

Situation, Complication, Resolution is really just a way of identifying:

• Our present state
• The problem
• What should we do about it

First identified in Barbara Minto’s book The Pyramid Principle , the SCR structure is an effective way of establishing a persuasive case and will be familiar to anyone who consumes movies, TV, or books.

Here’s an example of the SCR structure in a story:

Situation : A girl is kidnapped. If a steep ransom is not paid by midnight, a bomb will explode.

Complication : The girl's family can’t get the money together. No one knows where the bomb is except the hero. The hero is stuck on a remote island.

Resolution : The hero jumps on a plane, finds the girl, detonates the bomb, and saves the world.

If that sounds like the framework of most movies you’ve seen, there’s a good reason. The SCR structure organizes content in a way that takes people on a journey that leads to a natural conclusion. It builds up tension in the audience which increases their attention and their desire for a resolution.

By following this proven structure in sales, you can produce the same effect on your business audience. Let’s look at how you can leverage each act in your sales presentation.

To take someone on a journey, you must first know where that journey begins. In this first act, define the status quo. What is the critical business issue or challenge your prospect is experiencing, how is he addressing it, and what is the impact?

This act lays the groundwork for why your prospect needs to change and assures him you have a clear understanding of his situation. Ending this first act by painting a brief picture of where this journey can lead (i.e., current state versus potential future state) creates an uncomfortable but necessary disparity between where your prospect is and where he wants to be.

Complication

In this act, introduce complications or consequences that are likely to arise as a result of your prospect not taking action, or choosing an inadequate solution to his problem. Create tension which will make sticking with the status quo or putting off a decision less desirable.

Because most people are uncomfortable with indecision, tension taps into our innate human desire to solve the problem. Widening the gap between pain and relief increases your prospect’s urgency to take action.

Finally, when tension is at its peak, relieve that tension by providing a clear solution to the problem and making it easy for your prospect to act upon. While many structures require the presenter to deliver a heavy handed close at this point, in the SCR structure, the resolution comes as a natural conclusion to the journey.

The SCR Presentation in Action

Let’s look at how you might use the three-act SCR structure in a business example.

Situation : An HR department is doing most of their reports manually. This currently takes 1.5 days per week of each HR person’s time.

Complication : The company is growing at a rate of 20% per year. Projected HR workload will escalate to two days per week if nothing changes and the chances for errors will increase. Employee satisfaction will decline and turnover rates will go up.

Resolution : Deploy an HR workforce application that will reduce time spent on current processes from 1.5 days per week to .25 days per week, resulting in greater efficiency, fewer errors, increased satisfaction, and a lower turnover rate.

In sales, you need every advantage you can get. Following the Situation, Complication, Resolution structure gives you a jumpstart on presenting a persuasive case for why your prospect should choose your solution and make the desired change.

Don't forget to share this post!

Related articles.

10 Best Sales Presentations To Inspire Your Sales Deck [+ 5 Tips]

15 Sales Presentation Techniques That Will Help You Close More Deals Today

9 Ways to End Your Sales Presentation With a Bang

7 Apps That Help Salespeople Become Even Better Speakers

7 Secrets of a Winning Capabilities Presentation

Insight Selling: The 8-Slide Framework for a Better Pitch

The Best Work-Appropriate GIFs to Use in Your Next Sales Slide Deck

How to Make a Business Presentation in 7 Easy Steps [Free Business Presentation Templates]

The 8 Types of Presentation Styles: Which Category Do You Fall Into?

How to Handle Difficult Sales Calls Like a Pro

Pro Tactics For Mastering Every Type of Sales Deal

Powerful and easy-to-use sales software that drives productivity, enables customer connection, and supports growing sales orgs

• Sales Career
• Sales Process
• Sales Software
• Sales Management
• Sales Report
• Account Management

How to Craft a Sales Presentation Outline (+ Examples)

Related articles, lead vs prospect vs opportunity: what's the difference, 52 lead generation statistics to consider in 2024, top 14 email nurture campaign best practices.

Selling Signals content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More .

A sales presentation outline is an ideal flow of talking points that guides the creation of the spoken part of a sales presentation, which is often supported by a visual sales deck. To allow for personalization, outlines contain both pre-written language and prompts. Most sellers use outlines as templates for longer, in-depth presentation scripts that they create for each new prospect. The outline ensures that you hit key talking points in the right order.

Sales Presentation Outline Key Components

A typical sales presentation outline for effective lead nurturing includes small talk and introductions, agenda-setting, problem analysis, solution and benefits, social proof, and a call-to-action. Solid outlines will promote around 20–30 minutes of presenting time. Depending on the salesperson and their unique situation, an outline might expand certain components into multiple components, add components, or exclude some entirely.

This outline is what you get when you boil down all the great outlines to their fundamental parts:

Small Talk & Intros

Agenda-setting, problem analysis, solution & benefits, social proof, call-to-action.

For around 3–4 minutes, engage in light conversation and introduce yourself and your company to the prospect. Ask questions about their work, life, vacations, or anything else they’re interested in. Tell them about your credentials and your company’s mission and ideal customers.

In 1–2 minutes give the prospect a high-level overview of what topics you’re going to cover during this presentation. At the end, ask them to confirm that they agree to the structure as you’ve laid it out.

Spend 5–10 minutes analyzing the prospect’s major problem. Name their main pain point or challenge, then state its underlying causes and costs. Also, agitate the pain by explaining the negative consequences of letting it go unsolved.

For 5–10 minutes, introduce your product or service and explain how it works to solve the prospect’s problem. Then state the relevant benefits the prospect will get if they buy the solution and eliminate their issue. Focus on features or services that directly relate to their needs.

Use 3–5 minutes to establish some credibility by sharing customer success stories, case study findings, or testimonials. Choose social proof that involves a customer that has a similar business type as your prospect and experienced similar hurdles and roadblocks.

In 1–2 minutes, summarize what you’ve covered, and then tell the prospect what the next steps would be if they wanted to move forward. Ask them to take these next steps with you, and give them a strong reason to do so.

To see how a salesperson might change the components to fit their specific needs, imagine a software sales rep expanding the “describe your solution and its benefits” section into three parts: “present solution,” “give demo,” and “give user a trial run.” As you create your own general outline, make it work for your most common presenting scenario, and perhaps create a few others for less common scenarios, be it competing against another provider or upselling a client.  

How to Create Your Own Sales Presentation Outline

There are concrete steps to follow to draft a 1–2 page, customizable sales presentation outline that you can use as the ongoing foundation for all your personalized sales presentation scripts. The steps include picking a product or service, adding small talk prompts, writing an introductory statement, and crafting sections for agenda, problem, solution, social proof, and call-to-action. Read on to learn how to do each step. Note that the steps below follow the components above.

1. Pick One Product or Service

Choose one of your product tiers or service lines for your sales presentation outline. This enables you to write more language that you can simply copy and paste into the custom-tailored scripts. For example, in the solution section of the outline, you could write three sentences describing this specific product tier. And you won’t have to change that for each new prospect you present to. This means that you should create one outline for each product or service.

2. Provide Some Conversation Starters for Small Talk

Sometimes small talk flows naturally in the first few minutes of a sales presentation. Other times, you’ll need to get things going with some surefire conversation starters. To avoid encountering any brain freezes or awkward silences, use the small talk section of your outline to list 3–4 potential questions that you can ask your prospects to initiate small talk. Industry news, hobbies, or their current business ventures are often the safest topics.

Here are some examples of customizable questions to put in a sales presentation outline:

• As a {Job Title} , I’d love to hear your thoughts on {Recent Industry News or Event} .
• So you’re from {Location} . Is it fair to assume you’re a {Sports Team} fan?
• Last time we spoke, you were working on {Project} . How’s it going?

While preparing for a presentation, choose the prompt that will work best for the specific prospect. Researching their social profiles will provide you with some guidance. For example, you might find that the prospect has been posting on Twitter about their sports team. If that’s the case, use the sports conversation starter for your personalized sales presentation script.

3. Create Your Introduction Statement

Your introductory statement will likely remain the same for most of your prospects. This is where you tell your prospect about your company and yourself as a representative or owner of that company. This section gives the prospect context, which helps them understand the more complex subject matter you’re going to present to them later on in the presentation.

Here are the barebones of an effective introduction for a sales presentation outline:

• Segue: Transition out of small talk by saying that you want to respect their time, then thank them for attending.
• Your Professional Bio: Tell the prospect your name, title, experience in the industry, and relevant credentials.
• Your Business Bio: Share your business’s name, how long it’s been in business, and one line explaining what the company is (e.g., a renowned real estate brokerage).
• Why Customers Come to You: Name 2–3 of the major challenges that inspire customers to come to you for help.
• Quick Overview of How You Help Them: Briefly explain what your business provides and how it solves these challenges.

When personalizing this part of the outline for a particular prospect, you might change little things to make it more relevant and interesting to them. For example, you could exchange one of the common major customer challenges for one this specific prospect is suffering from. But, for the most part, it won’t change much, so it’s worth committing it to memory. 

Below is an example of an introductory statement you’d find in a sales presentation outline:

“As much as I’d love to keep chatting about {Small Talk Topic} , I want to be respectful of your time and begin the presentation, which I thank you all for attending.

First, I want to share a little about myself. My name is Sam and I’m a sales executive here at Stingray Dealers. I’ve been working in the marine conservation space ever since I graduated college with my marine biology degree four years ago. Since then, I’ve been awarded best aquarium consultant for three years running.

Our 10-year-old company, Stingray Dealers, is a renowned aquarium provider of the rarest and most endangered stingrays.

Aquariums often come to us because they’re sick of getting nothing but round rays from their providers and because they’re struggling to keep their stingray petting area stocked with a variety of rays.

That’s where we come in. Thanks to our cutting-edge diving equipment, relations with wildlife protection agencies abroad, and ray-based sonar, we’re able to provide a steady flow of the most desirable rays in the sea, and at incredibly affordable rates.”

After delivering a solid introduction and providing your prospect with some context, it’s time to set the schedule for the rest of the presentation.

4. Write Your Agenda Section

The agenda section of your sales presentation outline is where you’ll give your prospect the outline of the remainder of the presentation. You’ll set their expectations and give them a sense of direction so that they don’t feel like they’re in the dark. The agenda section includes a segue into the agenda, a structure preview, and a request for the prospect to commit. It should also have plenty of prompts for personalization.

Here are the core parts of any solid agenda section for a sales presentation outline:

• Segue From Introductions: Thank them for listening to your introduction and tell them you’d like to set an agenda for the day.
• Share the Presentation’s Structure: Briefly explain what you’ll cover during the presentation.
• Ask Them to Commit: Check with your audience to see if they’re okay with the agenda you’ve created.

If you wanted to really hook the prospect, you could also make a promise to create some suspense, like “at the end of this presentation I’ll also reveal the most important habit that leads to success in this industry, based on hundreds of interviews with our customers.” Only do this if you do have something absolutely astonishing to share with your prospects. Otherwise, you’ll risk letting them down at the end.

Below is an example of an agenda section you could see in a sales presentation outline:

“Thank you all for listening to my spiel. Now I’d like to get things rolling with an agenda. Over the next 30 minutes, I plan to show you why we’re the right fit to help you {Prospect’s Goal} .

I’ll start by explaining the causes and consequences of your major issue, {Prospect’s Problem} . Next, I’ll give you an overview of our solution, {Your Product or Service} , and explain how it will help you overcome your challenge. From there, I’ll share a few success stories about customers like you, and then we’ll open the floor for questions.

How does that sound?”

After the prospect agrees, you can start to dig into their issue and reveal to them just how serious it is, not to mention how well informed you’re about it.    

5. Craft Your Problem Analysis Section

The problem section of your sales presentation outline is going to change almost entirely from prospect to prospect because each potential customer will have a different combination of issues, related costs, and underlying causes. Nevertheless, your outline should provide some helpful guidance for writing your more detailed script by giving you a structure to follow.

Here are the major components of a problem analysis section:

• Name the Major Problem or Challenge: Describe the most pressing problem that the prospect has shared with you.
• Share the Problem’s Underlying Causes: Based on your analysis, share 2–3 things that you believe are causing or contributing to the issue.
• Describe the Costs of Not Solving the Problem: Share 2–3 negative consequences of letting the problem go unsolved. In other words, irritate the pain.

By proving to the prospect that you’re knowledgeable about the nature of their problem, you’ll win their trust, and they’ll be more likely to give heavy consideration to your proposed solution. Again, this section of the outline is more so steps with a bit of advice than pre-written language. That’s because it has to be extremely flexible.

Here’s an example:

“From our previous discussions, I learned that your company’s major problem is {Major Problem} . Based on our years of experience working with other {Company Type} and what I know about your business processes, it seems like the causes of this issue are {Underlying Causes 1 and 2} . We’ve had customers who came to us a long time after this issue arose and by then they were suffering from {Cost of Not Solving the Problem ASAP} .”

Now that the prospect is convinced that their problem is something they need to solve quickly, it’s time to begin telling them how you’re going to fix it for them. 

6. Draft Your Solution Section

The solution section of your sales presentation outline is where you introduce the product or service that will help your customer solve the problem or challenge you analyzed in the previous section. You tell them what the solution is, how it works, why it solves the issue, and the benefits the prospect will receive if they buy it.

Here are the main subsections of an effective solution section:

• Solution: Name the product or service and tell your prospect the unique selling proposition .
• Why It Solves the Issue: Explain the features or services that will eliminate the main causes of the prospect’s major problem.
• Benefits: Share 2–3 positive results that the prospect will experience if they choose to purchase the solution.

The first paragraph of this section, introducing your service, can be reused without adjustment from customer to customer, especially since this outline is for one specific solution. Of course, the middle bullet, how it relates to the specific prospect’s issue, will change, so that part should include prompts for personalization. When you write a script for a presentation, you may also alter how you describe the solution or which benefits you list based on the prospect’s interests.

You can see what we mean in this sample solution section:

“Stingray Dealers offers an annual stingray replenishment service that comes with ongoing care. Unlike other dealers in the space, we consistently check on the stingrays to ensure they’re happy and well taken care of.

As for your problem with {Prospect Pain Point 1} , {Service 1} will take care of that by {How Service 1 Solves Pain Point 1} . Furthermore, {Service 2} will help you eliminate {Pain Point 2} by {How Service 2 Solves Pain Point 2} .

With us, you’ll experience {Benefit 1 Prospect Desires} and {Benefit 2 Prospect Desires} . We think this will also help you reach your {Want/Need/Goal} .”

At this point, your prospect is probably excited about the idea of working with you, but still a bit hesitant because words are cheap. In the next section, you’ll prove your claims are sound.

7. Create Your Social Proof Section

In your outline document, write a brief transition and then include links to several social proof options, such as case studies, testimonials, or customer success stories, which display customers succeeding with your chosen product or service. This way, when you create a personalized presentation script, you can quickly choose the 1–2 social proof options from the outline that will most relate to and impress your current prospect.

If you want to get ahead of the game, we recommend also writing out a short summary of each success story or case study so that you can easily copy and paste it into your personalized sales presentation script. And for easy reference, consider labeling the social proof based on the type of company rather than the company name. For example, Enterprise Client Case Study will likely mean more to you when drafting a presentation script than Carlisle LLC Case Study.

Here’s an example of what a social proof section might look like in a sales presentation outline:

“So, we’ve told you what we can help you achieve with our stingray replenishment service. I find that it always helps to hear about how others have used the service successfully. So I’d like to briefly walk you through two case studies about clients who, just like you, were {How the Companies in the Stories Are Similar to the Prospect} .

• Aquarium Company Case Study: The Denver aquarium came to us back in May 2022 because attendance was down 31% from last year and they wanted to open a new stingray exhibit and use it as a promotion. We were able to provide them with 6 different types of stingrays, 2 of them extremely rare, and directed them on how to set up the exhibit to optimize the attendee and stingray experiences. Within four months of establishing the exhibit, it had become the most popular at the aquarium, and one year after finishing the exhibit, their ticket sales had increased by 65%.
• Marine Bio Research Facility Case Study: Write a summary like the one in the first bullet point.
• Pet Store Business Case Study: Write a summary like the one in the first bullet point. ”

After sharing some ways that past clients have benefited from your business, it’s time to push the deal forward with a call-to-action.

8. Write Your Call-to-Action

Next, write a call-to-action (CTA) in your outline. In a sales presentation, salespeople typically ask leads if they’re ready to see a proposal. But it differs based on your sales process . Regardless of your ask, it should be clear and straightforward so that your prospects know exactly what you want them to do. It should also be enticing. Give your prospects a reason to take the next steps with you by mentioning the benefit of doing so.

Here are the components of a successful CTA section of an outline:

• Presentation Summary: In a few sentences explain their main issue, the product or service that will enable them to solve it, and the overarching value you’ll deliver.
• Next Steps Request: Tell the prospect what they should do next if they want to continue evaluating you as a provider or partner. 
• Presentation Closing: End the presentation by thanking your prospects for attending, then tell them the floor is open for questions.

Summarizing the presentation and your findings prior to delivering the CTA is important because it reminds prospects about all the great things you can do for them. And the reason for not ending at the CTA is that most buyers expect to be able to ask some questions, but some might not do so unless you give them permission first. The close section allows you to give the green light and end the presentation on an upbeat, less salesly note.

Here’s an example of a call-to-action section in a sales presentation outline:

“Today we’ve learned that Stingray Dealers can help you overcome {Prospect Problem} and give you {Value Proposition} .

If you’re ready to join hundreds of other satisfied businesses and start wowing customers with the most amazing stingrays, please tell me at the end of this presentation. I can then give you pricing and we can go over the best service package for your company.

And with that, I want to end today’s presentation. Thank you all for the gift of your attention. I now want to hear from you. Do you have any questions about our company, service, or anything else?”

Keep in mind that this is for creating an outline that follows our basic sales presentation outline structure. You can include other sections like “pricing” or “industry trends” if that better suits your needs. For other sections to include, see the outlines in our article sales presentation templates .

3 Tailored Sales Presentation Outline Examples

Below are three sales presentation outline examples: brand competition, B2B, and B2C services outlines. Unlike the examples in the steps above, these don’t include pre-written verbiage. Instead, they’re structural outlines that help you see how different presentation situations call for different combinations of sections. In practice, you’d write out pre-written language for each section (bullet) — refer to the section examples in the steps above to see how, then keep reading below.

Sales Presentation Outline for Winning a Competitor’s Customer

Who Should Use It: Sales professionals who are presenting to a prospect that’s currently working with a competing brand.

Why It Works: This outline structure includes sections like “competitor analysis” and “differentiators,” which serve to show the prospect why your solution is a better choice for them than their current provider’s.

• Small Talk and Introductions: Open with some friendly conversation and introduce your company in a way that sets it apart from the specific competitor.
• Agenda: Tell the prospect what you’ll cover today and what you think they’ll get from attending.
• Goal Analysis: Review what the prospect has told you about their current goal and explain why they’re failing to reach it.  
• Competitor Analysis: Share a few reasons why their current provider is incapable of helping them reach this goal.
• Differentiators: Explain a few ways that your company is different from the competitor and why these differences make you better suited to help them.
• Solution and Benefits: Describe your product or service, explain why it’ll help them get what they want, and name 2–3 benefits.
• Customer Switch Success Story: Tell a story about a customer who left the competitor to work with you.
• Call-to-Action: Close out the sales presentation and ask the prospect to take specific next steps with you.

B2B Sales Presentation Outline Example

Who Should Use It: B2B salespeople who want to challenge their prospects to think differently about their industry.

Why It Works: This presentation outline is designed to position you as an industry insider with big ideas that are going to dramatically improve the company’s operations, revenue, or whatever metrics your solution will affect.

• Small Talk and Introductions: Talk a bit, then share a bit about you and your business and ask attendees to introduce themselves by stating their job title and name.
• Agenda: Tell your prospect(s) the structure of the presentation and build up some excitement by promising to share a unique idea for how to capitalize on a trend.
• Industry Trend: Explain an industry shift (e.g., Gen Z starting to buy homes) and how it will impact this specific business and its place in the market.
• Opportunity: Describe an opportunity (e.g., start building relationships with Gen Zers through social) that this shift opens up and stress the importance of seizing it.
• Promised Land: Tell them all the great things that will happen to their business if they successfully take advantage of this opportunity.
• Your Solution: Explain how your solution will help them make the most of the opportunity and reach the promised land.
• Case Studies: Reveal a case study about a company that successfully used your solution to transform their business in a previous period of industry change.
• Call-to-Action: Make a confident statement about your ability to help and ask them to join you. Then open the floor for questions.

B2C Service Sales Presentation Outline Example

Who Should Use It: Sales professionals who are presenting a service such as landscaping, insurance, or financial advisory to individuals.

Why It Works: This sales presentation outline makes the prospect trust you as an expert by giving them transparency into your service and its pricing and by sharing success stories and your professional opinion about their goals.

• Small Talk and Introductions: Talk about the individual’s hobbies or relevant news. Share your credentials or rewards.
• Agenda: Give an overview of the different sections of today’s presentation. Ask them to confirm that this sounds like a solid plan.
• Goal Analysis: Review their reason for evaluating your business and make them feel like you can get them to their goal.
• Challenge Analysis: Describe the major pitfalls you expect they’ll encounter on their way to reaching their goal.
• The Plan/Process: Lay out your plan step by step for how you are going to help them overcome these challenges and reach their destination.
• The Service: Describe your role in this plan and tell them what services you’re going to provide and how the relationship will work.
• Success Stories: Share stories about customers you’ve helped. Pull up evidence to back up your claims, in the form of data, quotes, photos, etc.,
• Pricing: Review the pricing tiers of your service and explain which one you think is best for them based on their situation and needs. Tell them the second best option as well.
• Call-to-Action: Share your unique selling proposition, review the presentation’s key points, and ask them if they’d like to learn more about your service.

When you start with a basic outline like the ones above, and then expand on them by adding exact language and prompts for personalization, you’ll end up with a carefully considered, well-structured sales presentation outline that you can use over and over to succeed.

Top 5 Benefits of Writing a Sales Presentation Outline

Writing and using a sales presentation outline provides you with various benefits, including faster sales presentation preparation, never missing the main points, giving prospects a better experience, making your presentation process testable, and easily training new salespeople. Let’s go over each advantage a bit more in depth.

Save Time Preparing for Sales Presentations

With a sales presentation outline, it’s easy to sit down and craft a more personalized sales presentation script for each particular prospect. You already know what to say, and in what order to say it. Now all you have to do is elaborate on each part of the outline and make it relevant to fit the prospect’s unique situation. This will cut presentation preparation time dramatically.

Always Hit Your Critical Talking Points

Without a sales presentation outline, you might write a script that leaves out a key component, whether that’s a statement about pricing or an introduction to your business. This can hurt your chances of closing the sale. The outline, which tells you what to write, and therefore what to say during your presentation, ensures that you never miss the most important points.

Improve the Prospect’s Experience

When you know the overarching structure of the spoken part of your sales presentation, you can easily share that information with your prospects by putting the outline on one of your sales deck slides you have up during the agenda-setting portion. When prospects know what’s coming and where the conversation is headed, they’ll feel like they have some control.

Create a Testable Sales Presentation Process

When you have a presentation outline that you use repeatedly, you can start to test it against outlines with slight variations. For example, you could give 50 presentations with an introduction section and 50 without, track the average closing rates for the two groups in your CRM software , and find that the outlines with no intro section were 34% more effective at securing a next step. Consistent testing allows you to steadily march towards an optimized outline.

Easily Onboard New Sales Reps

There’s so much to learn when a new rep joins a team, so it’s important to do everything you can to get them up to speed quickly. By handing them a copy of your team’s sales presentation outline, new sales reps can easily learn your team’s sales presentation process. Right away they can start crafting well-structured spoken portions of their sales presentations.

Crafting a sales presentation outline makes the whole sales presentation creation process less time intensive, and it helps the delivery of your presentation come off as more persuasive and deliberate.

Top 4 Tips for Drafting a Sales Presentation Outline

There are some best practices you can follow to produce the best possible sales presentation outline. They include using your customer profile, building more than one outline, studying great sales presentations, and getting peer feedback on your outline. Below we’ll expand on each tip.

Reference Your Customer Profile

Keep a copy of your customer profile next to you or on your computer while you create your sales presentation outline. This ensures that the language you use speaks to your target audience’s specific concerns and interests. Whenever you write a sentence, section, or prompt, ask yourself how your ideal customer would respond.

Create Scenario-Specific Outlines

Consider creating a separate outline for each of your most common presentation scenarios. For example, one salesperson might create a generic outline along with one for upselling current customers and one for stealing prospects from a competitor. Each one might have a different mix of sections. For example, the competitor stealing outline might include a competitor analysis section, whereas the generic presentation outline does not.

Watch Great Sales Presentations for Inspiration

If you’re struggling to figure out the ideal structure or verbiage for your outline, watch some sales presentations online or shadow a fellow rep’s presentation to a prospect. You’ll likely discover new turns of phrase, presentation sections, and rhetorical techniques that you want to include in your own outline. To get started, check out our article breaking down some exceptional sales presentation examples .

Get Feedback on Your Outline

Show your finished outline to 1–2 salespeople you respect and ask them to tell you if anything needs work. We can all too easily fall in love with our creations and become blind to any gaps or errors. Getting feedback will help you fine-tune your outline so that it’s as persuasive as possible.

Creating a sales presentation outline should be a careful and considered process. The outlines will serve as the starting points for every in-depth presentation script you write. An outline is a script’s parent. If the outline is shabby, so is the script, as well as the spoken portions of your presentations.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What’s the difference between a sales presentation outline & sales deck template.

The sales presentation outline is a structure of talking points that guides the verbal part of your sales presentation. The sales deck template, on the other hand, is a set of slides with some pre-written language and some blank prompts — having one enables you to quickly build personalized slide decks, the visual backdrop to sales presentations. Together, the sales presentation outline and sales deck template make up the overall sales presentation template.

Bottom Line: Sales Presentation Outline

Having a sales presentation outline saved on your computer streamlines the preparation process for your sales presentations. Instead of starting from scratch, you have a structure to follow and some pre-written language that works on all prospects. Writing the tailored script will take minutes instead of hours. Next, check out how to create and give a sales presentation , where we teach you how to build out a personalized presentation for one specific prospect.

Get the Latest Articles Delivered to Your Inbox

Check out our recent and related articles on the topic

Learn the differences between leads, prospects, and opportunities. Understand how to turn leads into prospects and opportunities.

Lead generation is an important part of any successful sales strategy. Check out these 52 lead generation statistics to help you get ahead.

Email nurture campaigns are an effective way to engage leads. Learn sales experts' 14 best practices for successful email nurture campaigns.

7 Best Lead Generation Companies in 2024

Looking for the best lead generation companies for prospects? Explore the top seven lead gen companies and learn how they generate leads.

Best Lead Scoring Template for Effective Qualification

Lead scoring is essential for driving effective marketing efforts. Use our lead scoring template to support your goals.

B2B Lead Generation: Process, Benefits & Strategies

B2B lead generation helps you identify, target, and qualify prospects. Learn the process, tools, and benefits for inbound and outbound success.

PPC Lead Generation: How to Generate Quality PPC Leads

Learn the strategies for generating PPC leads. Discover the best practices for successful lead generation campaigns.

Top 6 Lead Nurturing Strategies for 2024

Lead nurturing is essential to customer success. Check out the top six strategies to help drive conversions and get more qualified leads in 2024.

How to Find Decision-Makers in a Company

Finding the right decision-makers in a company can be a challenge. Learn how to identify and reach out to the right people in an organization.

For Sales Manager:

For sales reps:.

• Refer & Earn

Sales Presentation 101: Examples and Ideas That Can Help You Present Like a Pro

Updated On: 14 Apr, 2023

Your sales presentation can make or break a deal.

No, that is not an exaggeration. While it is true that a customer’s final decision depends on many other aspects of the product, one cannot deny that an effective sales presentation significantly influence their decision. If done right and at the right moment, your sales presentation can accelerate the buyer’s decision. 

Making a solid sales presentation requires storytelling skills , a robust structure, and some planning. Your presentation has to provide a unique perspective on the product that the customer wouldn’t have normally thought of. 

Let’s find out what a good sales presentation should look like. From the structure to the key elements every sales presentation needs, we’ll cover everything you need to know. 

What Are the Principles of An Effective Sales Presentation?

• How To Build A Sales Presentation? 

How To Deliver a Sales Presentation

Great sales presentation ideas, what to do after a sales presentation.

• Conclusion 

It is important to understand that a sales presentation is much more than a sales pitch . A sales pitch is an attempt to persuade a buyer to consider your product. It is something that your sales team does every day, in every preliminary interaction with a prospect.

Sales pitches are relatively easy because they are mostly one-to-one, over a call or an email. You only need to convince that one person and when that’s done you successfully close the deal. In a sales presentation though, you have to face more than one decision-maker.

In a nutshell, technically a sales presentation is similar to a sales pitch but far more elaborate and complex.

Sales presentations are driven by certain principles; they are – 

1. Personalization  

A sales presentation cannot be generic. If you wish to connect with your audience and sell them the idea, you have to personalize your presentation to fit their use case.

To do this effectively, learn about the buyer’s primary pain points and focus your presentation on these issues. The buyer needs to feel understood to have trust in your pitch. 

For example when we pitch Kylas to our potential buyers, instead of focusing on our features we rather convey how the tool will benefit their business and fit their use case. This helps user understand in what ways the product/service can help them.

2. Simple and To-The-Point

Time is valuable. Both yours and your audience’s. So your sales presentation has to cut straight to the point. Of course, you would need to give them a brief introduction and context. But don’t beat around the bush or bore your audience with too many industry statistics, jargons or your company history. Grab their attention in as little time as you can. 

3. Focus On the Problem

The sales presentation needs to focus on the problem and not skip to the solution. Through the sales presentation, you need to help the buyer understand their problem even better. When the buyer sees that you know the problem better than they do, they assume that you probably have the best solution too. 

4. Differentiators Are Best Left for the End

A common tendency of sales leaders is to highlight the differentiators from the very start of the sales presentation. This only comes across as desperate and pushing to make a sale. Differentiators should not lead your sales presentations. Your buyer should themselves see how you are different from your competitors. 

Once the buyer gains an insight into the key problems they face, they can be led to the differentiators. At this point, feel free to show them how your product can address the problem that your competitors can’t. 

5. Connect With the Decision-Makers  

If you talk like a sales rep, you will automatically be directed to interact with an equivalent position in the buyer’s company. If you really want to make an impression on the decision-makers, you have to talk in a language that executives would relate to.

Product specs and features are best left to the end-users or IT teams. Decision-makers need to hear how the product will impact the business as a whole. 

6. Conversational  

Don’t make the sales presentation sound like a sales pitch. Presentations need to be more conversational and flow more naturally. Encourage questions and engage in a two-way conversation to ensure that the buyer is equally invested in the presentation. 

How To Build A Sales Presentation?  

Now that you know the underlying principles of a good sales presentation, you need to know how to build one. Every sales presentation needs to have a structure to it. How you open the presentation, what you talk about in the body of the presentation, and how you close it are crucial. 

So what goes into creating a killer sales deck ? Let’s look at the structure of a perfect sales presentation step-by-step. 

1. Here Is How You Should Begin Your Sales Presentation

You always start with a brief introduction of yourself and your company. Once the pleasantries are out of the way, go on to the important part. 

Highlight the Problem  

Every sales presentation needs to have a problem statement. It is the problem that you aim to solve with your product. So without much ado, get to explaining the problem you want to address. It could be a change in the industry that needs organizations to catch up or a specific problem at the buyer’s end that you have identified and can help solve. 

The customer may not be aware that they have a pain point that needs to be addressed. It is your job to make them see where they are lacking. Also, show them what they could achieve if these issues are taken care of. 

Use numbers and figures to quantify the problem. It helps drive home the point better. Say things like, “you are losing X amount in revenue each year” or “Y number of your customers are slipping through the cracks because of this”. 

This helps them understand the scale of the problem. It also creates a sense of urgency as the buyer surely doesn’t want more damage done. Tell the buyer how much more they could lose if they didn’t apply a solution right away. 

2. Body of Sales Presentation  

Now that the buyer is aware they have a problem, it is time to offer a solution. 

2.1 Present the Solution  

At this stage, you need to talk about the product you are offering and how it can help them. Your product could cater to many different users. So you should be careful that the positives you highlight are meaningful and relevant to the current buyer in question. Discuss more on how it helps them solve their specific problem instead of discussing common features. 

But words alone can’t do a good enough job of convincing your buyer. You need to back it up with data. 

2.2 How to Present Sales Data and Performance ?

Presenting sales data and performance reports at a sales presentation is a tricky job. You don’t want your audience dozing off at the sight of all those numbers and figures. But you definitely want them to see what you have achieved so far. 

The golden path here is to only show what is relevant and rely on visual representations. Create charts, graphs, and infographics to support your presentation. Present the results of case studies that show what your customers have gained from using your product.

Use data from customers who have a similar profile as the current buyer. This helps the buyer relate better and see your solution as truly useful. 

For instance, if you are pitching to a startup, you cannot show them what an MNC has gained using your product. The scale and priorities of the two businesses are very different. So, the buyer may not see this as an ideal solution for themselves. 

Use social proof wherever it fits. Share a few customer testimonials or reviews. Again the customer reviews you are sharing should be from companies in the same space as the buyer. 

Keep your data engaging, meaningful, and limited. 

2.3 What Makes a Good Sales Presentation?

A good sales presentation should be short but impactful. Many thought leaders in the industry suggest that your sales presentation  should not be longer than 10 minutes . Within these 10 minutes, you have to cover everything that the buyer can find useful in making a purchase decision. 

Maintain consistency throughout your presentation. Everything from the images you use to the brand colours and logos should be coherent. Make sure you have researched the buyer well enough. Wherever you need to use their brand assets, ensure that you are using the right ones. 

3. How to End a Sales Presentation  

After you have said all that needed to be said, it is time to close your presentation. You can add a final slide highlighting the next steps. This should be more like a call to action. If the buyer decides to move forward with the purchase, what do they need to do? Finally, leave the floor open for questions from the audience. 

Let the buyer come up with their queries and concerns. The answers that you provide at this stage are going to be very crucial to the deal. 

Building a good sales presentation is only the first part of this complex job. How you deliver the presentation plays an even more crucial role in this. Presentation skills are going to matter a lot in how you influence the buyer. 

Here are a few quick tips for the presenter. 

1. Be Confident Inside and Outside

The first thing your audience is going to notice is how confident you are about the whole situation. Your confidence has to reflect in your speech and your body language. If you can deliver the presentation even without the slides, it shows that you know what you are talking about. Avoid looking at the slides every second. 

Stand/ sit straight and be careful about the hand gestures you make. Keep them minimal if you are not sure what to do. Try to look optimistic and in control of the situation. 

2. Modulate your Tone  

The last thing anyone wants from a sales presentation is a boring, monotonous voice just reading out the slides. A lot of your charisma exudes from the way you talk. So use your voice well. Modulate where necessary. Know which points to stress on and where to use a lighter tone. This also helps direct the attention of the audience to the right points. 

3. Look Involved  

If you want your audience to be invested in the presentation, you have to look involved yourself. For instance, if your audience consists of C-suite executives and you are selling a software solution, you need to be dressed for the occasion.

If you are presenting to an audience of young, energetic entrepreneurs running a startup, you will need to exude the same kind of energy. 

When you look involved, your audience automatically trusts you. 

4. Do Not Assume That the Audience Cares About Your Product

The audience does not care about the product you are selling. They only care about the problem they face. So don’t assume that they would be familiar with your product. You need to ensure that everyone is on board when you start your presentation. Look for their reactions during the presentation and see if they are following. 

Change your pace accordingly and let them ask questions mid-way if they need to. 

There are some common sales presentation examples that you can learn from. These templates can help you build on and create a solid sales pitch. 

1. The Product Demo  

One way of going about your sales presentation is by giving a demo of the product you are selling. In this case, you don’t even need those slides. You can give your prospects a taste of what your product offers first-hand. If this is a feasible option, then you should definitely go for it. 

It can be far more engaging than a slideshow. But it may also be a little time-consuming, so you will need to plan well. 

2. The Data-Backed Sales Presentation  

Another very convincing template is the data-driven presentation that offers proof that your solution works. The idea here is not to stuff the presentation with numbers but to show your buyers what you can provide in an engaging way. Create infographics, videos, graphs, and handouts that will keep your audience engaged and informed. 

3. The Minimalistic but Confident Sales Presentation

If you are confident about the product you are selling, you don’t need much, really. You can even present without a slide deck or a demo. Just prepare your pitch well, invite questions from the audience, and offer convincing answers. If you are doing it right, it should be enough to take them further down the sales funnel . This kind of confidence only comes from experience though, so tread very carefully. 

The job does not end with delivering a good sales presentation. You have work even after the presentation is over. Your audience will likely have some questions they want to ask. Also, they won’t be making a purchase decision immediately after your presentation. 

1. Accept Questions  

Always encourage your audience to get back to you with more questions if they need to, even after you have left their office. This keeps the door open for communication. It also helps build a stronger relationship with the prospect. 

2. Follow Up  

If the prospect does not get back, you have to follow up yourself. Give them some time to ponder, and then send a follow-up email or make a call. Ask them if they need any further assistance to help finalize their decision. 

Conclusion  

Though you may think that a sales presentation is just another sales pitch, it is so much more. The power of your sales presentation can only be unleashed if you know how to do it right. The sales presentation gives you the opportunity to share your customers’ stories, highlight your achievements and demonstrate what value you can offer to a prospect.

Letting go of an opportunity like this would be a mistake. So invest some time and effort into making a winning sales presentation and using sales CRM software for your growing business.  

Boost your sales productivity and nail your sales target with customizable sales CRM software .

If you want your business to scale new heights,  Kylas  is the answer for you. Kylas Sales CRM tool can help you streamline your sales by providing you with Custom Sales Insights and more. Contact us today to know more!

Shagun Sharma

Shagun is a content marketer at Kylas, extremely well-versed in all things Marketing. She works closely with the sales team to create best-in-class content for our readers. Her experience combined with her thorough research skills makes all her blogs very in-depth and insightful. In her leisure time, Shagun enjoys hiking, gardening, and immersing herself in music.

• Sales Best Practices
• Sales Productivity
• Sales Techniques

Recommended Articles

Sales Effectiveness

KPIs For Sales: Must-Track Sales Metrics for Your Business Growth

Businesses run on data and metrics. You can only improve various business areas if you know how to measure their…

Published On: December 03, 2021

6 Sales Productivity Tips You Need to Beat the Monday Blues

No one is exempt from Monday blues; no matter how much you love your job, sometimes that start-of-the-week feeling just…

Published On: September 22, 2020

Top 10 Sales Forecasting Tools You Need for Your Business in 2024

Imagine going on a trek in the mountains without any knowledge of the weather conditions or having a guide. That…

Published On: April 23, 2024

5000+ growing businesses have signed up for Kylas!

Existing user? Login here.

An account with the given contact details already exists. Please proceed to log in or try signing up with a different email id or phone number.

By clicking on "Sign up for free", you agree to our terms and you acknowledge having read our privacy policy

Thank you for your interest in Kylas. Our experts will connect with you shortly.

Effective Sales Presentations: 11 Tips to Win Deals + Templates

What makes a sales presentation truly effective?

Is it that secret-sauce font, the comprehensive case studies, intricate graphs, or your shining personality? Or is it… something else?

It might seem like a simple question, but understanding the answer unlocks a world of opportunities for sales reps.

If your sales presentations are truly effective, they should accomplish these 4 things:

• Give prospects confidence in your brand
• Develop a deep relationship and mutual understanding of needs and priorities
• Convince potential customers of the value of your product
• Give clear direction for the next conversation

How many of your recent sales meetings have fallen short of these results?

A study by Forrester of more than 300 C-level buyers found that many reps are lacking key information for a successful sales meeting:

Put simply, most salespeople go into meetings:

• Unprepared for questions
• Without knowledge of the business or industry they’re selling to
• Without understanding the prospect’s situation and problems
• Without relevant social proof

Want to avoid falling into the trap of generic, ineffective sales presentations?

While preparing for and delivering a really good sales presentation isn’t an exact science, the following best practices will lead you to better results.

Let’s dive into the top methods sales professionals are using to nail their presentations and deliver killer sales pitches .

How to Prepare the Perfect Sales Pitch Presentation

Think you can get away with giving a great sales presentation on the fly? Think again. A PowerPoint presentation that was thrown together over lunch is not going to impress your decision-makers.

Preparation is a key aspect of every effective sales presentation.

Here are five ways you can prepare for success:

1. Set a Clear Agenda

Your sales presentation is built to guide the conversation and gives you a structure to work with throughout the meeting. But the prospect doesn’t know how your presentation is structured.

Does this situation sound familiar?

Prospect: “This is really interesting, but how does your product solve XYZ?”

You : “Actually, we’ll talk about that in a few slides. Anyway, as I was saying…”

These kinds of interruptions are common, and the popular response of “We’ll get to that” doesn’t normally go over very well with prospects.

Here’s how to avoid this: Set a clear agenda for the conversation, and share that with your prospects.

This could mean sharing an outline of the presentation topics you’ve prepared, or it can mean sharing the whole sales presentation with your prospect.

This way, your prospect can review the information before your meeting, see where you’ll cover certain topics, and save their questions for the right moment.

2. Adapt Your Script and Presentation

Above, we saw that 77 percent of reps enter meetings without a clear understanding of the issues that their prospect is facing, or areas where they can help.

There are two clear ways to fix this problem:

First, do your homework. The more you know about your potential client's business and current situation, the better. Also, try to understand their industry and target audience, read up on current news in the sector, and get a feel for the particular pain points this person is likely feeling the most.

Second, base your presentation and accompanying sales script on your ideal customer profile. If your sales team has multiple ideal customer profiles to sell to, discover which profile this prospect fits into and base your arguments, questions, and main points on the specific needs of this profile.

3. Pick Three Main Points for Each Prospect

No matter how many crazy statistics and fun features you throw at your prospect, they’re still only human. Shocking, we know.

In other words, they’ll probably forget at least half of what you say.

To create effective sales presentations that your prospects will remember, focus on three main bullet points that you want to highlight.

This isn’t a number we pulled from a hat. It’s based on an experiment performed by Kurt A. Carlson and Suzanne B. Shu. Their study found that, when your audience knows you’re trying to persuade them, the ideal number of positive claims to make is three. After four claims, your audience will start to become more and more skeptical of anything you say.

The title of their paper is a catchy phrase to help you remember this principle: Three Charms but Four Alarms .

So, go through your slides and pick three key points that you want your prospect to remember. Maybe these will be product features or maybe not, but once again, base these points on the real, felt needs of your prospect. You’ll see better results.

During the presentation, draw your audience's attention to these points as you introduce new ideas. Phrases like these draw attention at the right moments:

• Here’s the point…
• This is crucial…
• But this is what matters…
• But it gets even better...
• This next point is really important...
• This is what XYZ could mean for you, Jack…

And make sure these key points lead directly where you want them to—to your call to action. If they aren’t leading you to that, what’s the point?

For more, check out this video, where I talked in-depth about captivating and directing your prospect's attention during a sales conversation. Remember: whether you're delivering in-person or via video conferencing, maintaining eye contact and using body language to draw attention to main points works.

4. Use Visuals to Show, Not Tell

A sales deck can have several different functions. For example, if your sales deck is going to be read and discussed among stakeholders at your prospect’s company, it will need to include text that explains the visuals presented.

However, if you’re giving a sales presentation with that deck, it doesn’t need all that text.

To prepare a sales presentation for a product or service, make sure you include infographics and visuals that complement what you’re saying. You can use Canva or even a responsive whiteboard to do this.

Think of your slides as visual aids that give more meaning and context to your words.

These visuals can help to:

• Simplify complex processes
• Provide a clearer understanding of data/metrics
• Add credence to your words
• Keep your audience engaged
• Help your audience remember main points (this one is backed by science )

In short, for an effective sales presentation, keep your script and your slides separate. Use your words to add meaning to the visuals, and use your visuals to maximize the power of your words. With this approach, you will elevate your value proposition —and increase your close rate.

5. Show Them You Know Their Pain

Using a narrative in your presentation shows that you’re sympathetic to the problems your prospects are facing and that you know how to solve them.

So, what’s the narrative for your product?

Generally, the story you tell with your presentation will follow this pattern:

• There is a problem caused by a shift in the market, a change in the company’s circumstances, or the world situation
• That problem is solved, the business is saved, and your product is the hero

A compelling narrative that captures the feelings and frustrations of your prospect shows them that you understand them, you’re on the same page, and you’re here to help.

Maybe this is the story of how your product was born, to solve a problem internally at your own company. Maybe it’s the story of one of your successful customers. Or maybe it’s just a narrative that they can relate to and see themselves in.

In any case, using stories instead of just facts makes your presentation more memorable. According to one study, people only retain about 5-10 percent of the statistical information they hear. But they’ll remember 65-70 percent of the information they hear as stories.

Take advantage of this fact: Turn your data into a narrative.

Once you’ve prepared your sales deck and accompanying script, you’re ready to nail your next sales presentation.

Or are you?

Day-Of Sales Presentation Tips: Nail Your Next Sales Presentation

Ready for the big day? Here are six more tips you can use while actively presenting to your prospect, to give a truly effective sales presentation.

6. Open With Your Biggest Selling Point (Don’t Save it for the End)

Many sales reps like to save their product’s biggest selling point for the very end of their presentation, as if they’re coming to some grand crescendo.

But your prospect didn’t come to this meeting hoping to hear the Philharmonic Orchestra play Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. So, don’t play this pitch deck like another day at the theater.

Instead, open with your big selling points. Dazzle your prospects from the get-go, and you’ll have them hooked to the end.

To be counted among the Sales Success Stories and Stars of your organization… just go for it. Get the show on the road with a big opening. Leave them in (happy) tears.

7. Ask Open-Ended Questions

To understand your prospects and to keep them engaged with your presentation, questions are essential.

But wait, if you’re giving a sales presentation, aren’t you the one that’s supposed to be doing the talking? You answer the questions, right?

True. But, how do you know if your prospect is paying attention? How can you highlight the relevant points in your presentation if you don’t know what interests them?

To engage your prospect and draw them into your presentation, ask questions like:

• Can you walk me through how your team handles [problem]?
• Have you found any clever workarounds for when [issue] happens?
• What would your ideal solution to this problem look like?
• How would you expect a solution to this problem to affect your team?

It’s true; you’ve probably asked a lot of similar questions during the qualifying stage . But with these questions, you can lead the conversation and keep your prospect engaged with what you’re saying.

Open-ended questions will also help you with the next tip:

8. Build Context Around Your Biggest Value Points and Differentiators

The same questions we shared above can help add context to what you’re saying.

Don’t just tell the prospect: “ Our product helps you solve X problem. ”

Add meaning to that value point by asking questions:

• How often do you face X problem?
• How much time/money do you lose when this happens?
• How does X problem affect the morale/productivity of your team?

When you have the numbers clear, reiterate the problem: “ So, you lose $X every week because of this problem. That’s more than $Y per year that’s going down the drain until you solve this issue. ”

Then, bring in your value point: “With our product, you could save $Z every year by eliminating this problem for your team.”

The same method works for highlighting your key differentiators.

Instead of telling prospects that your product is the best because it’s the only one that does X, lead prospects to the features and benefits that set your product apart with open-ended questions.

This creates value and context around a problem that only your product can solve.

9. Make Social Proof Engaging: Mirror the Prospect’s Situation

This data blew our minds and will probably blow yours, too: According to studies from our friends at Gong , sellers who use social proof in their sales calls have a 22 percent lower close rate .

Have you noticed a similar pattern with social proof in your sales presentations?

We all know that social proof is a powerful tool in the hands of sales reps and marketers. No need to throw out all your social media customer quotes or company testimonials. But, it must be used correctly to work effectively.

Otherwise, you could actually hurt your chances of closing.

So, what’s the correct way to use social proof in your presentations?

Favor customers that are part of this prospect’s tribe .

For example, imagine you’re selling to an SMB, and you tell them that Facebook is your customer. They’ll be impressed, sure… but they’ll also start to wonder if your product is really a good fit for their small business.

Instead, when selling to SMBs, talk about your other SMB customers. Use examples of happy customers who are in the same field or industry. Or, find customer stories that mirror this prospect—with similar pain points.

With tribal social proof, you’ll gain the respect of prospects while demonstrating that you truly “get” them.

10. Never Talk Price Before Value

Chances are, you’re talking price somewhere in this sales presentation. At this stage in the sales pipeline , it’s normal that your prospect is ready to hear what your solution will cost.

But don’t open the conversation like this.

Sometimes, you get into a room (whether in-person or virtual) with your main point of contact and important stakeholders, and the first thing they want to know is: “How much will this cost us?”

One of the golden rules of sales is this: Never talk price before value .

If you fold to the pressure and start off by talking about the price of your solution, your audience will view your product as a commodity, not as a valuable solution to their problem.

When stakeholders push you for a number, don’t be afraid to push back. If they’re insistent, turn the question back around on them:

“Before we talk about price, let me ask you this: How much will it cost your company if you don’t get these issues solved by next quarter?”

By focusing on the real monetary value that your product provides, you’ll help position your product as a premium solution, not a wholesale band-aid.

11. Keep It Less Than 10 Minutes

Did you know that every presenter at Apple’s product launches speaks for just 10 minutes or less?

This is because science tells us that the brain gets bored easily—our attention spans just can’t expand beyond a certain point. However, you can reengage your audience by introducing a change every 10 minutes.

Apply this principle to your keynote sales presentations: If you’re presenting longer than 10 minutes, the prospect’s interest will steadily decline. Wrap it up.

Our friends at Gong found that there’s a sweet spot for winning sales presentations: 9.1 minutes. It’s like the ideal elevator pitch for sales presentations.

So, stick to this rule of thumb: Keep your presentations under 10 minutes.

Sales Presentation Templates: Use These Sales Pitch Decks to Win More Deals

Want to build a stellar sales pitch presentation? Steal these presentation templates and customize them to your business—including stunning visuals, striking text, and a presentation process that wins deals.

Get the Powerpoint or Keynote version of these templates, and start creating your own effective sales presentations!

Ready to Give the Best Sales Presentation Ever?

You’ve got all the pro tips you need to nail your next presentation.

In the end, you want to demonstrate that you understand your prospect’s needs and concerns. Show you “get” them by adding a compelling narrative and including customer stories that mirror their own situation.

An effective presentation must also be engaging, which is why it’s essential to highlight three main points and add context with open-ended questions.

With this info, you’re ready to deliver a winning sales presentation. ( Psst... don't forget to use our sales presentation templates to get started!)

But what happens next? There are still some unaccounted-for areas of the sales process. If you want to really crush the follow-up and close more deals, you need a CRM to help you do it.

Close CRM does all this—and so much more. Watch our demo or try Close free for 14 days.

More articles from The Close Blog

Discover our latest free sales tools powered by AI

Learn from the sales pros with our free sales guides.

Learn new skills, connect in real time, and grow your career in the Salesblazer Community.

Prep, Present, and Follow Through: How To Nail Your Next Sales Presentation

Audrey Harris

Share article.

When it comes to building an effective sales presentation, no one-size-fits-all sales deck exists.

Every sales presentation you deliver to a prospect should be personalized and tailored just for them. Successful selling today is about establishing yourself as a trusted advisor. Cookie-cutter messages won’t do that. So how should you get started?

High-performing sellers close more deals by focusing on their prospects, rather than their products. Follow these sales presentation tips before, during, and after your next meeting to make it more resonant (and hopefully, more lucrative). These tips work whether you’re building customer relationships remotely or in person.

Deliver polished presentations that address your prospect’s biggest pain points

Use generative AI, powered by Einstein, to help you draft an engaging, tailored talk track for your next sales presentation, perfectly aligning product value to specific prospect needs.

Step 1: Research the company and your contact

An effective sales presentation starts long before the actual presentation. The first step is to learn who your prospect is and the challenges they face; then you can use those insights to show how you can help them succeed.

In particular, you should research the company, the challenges it faces, and the contacts who will hear your presentation.

Learn more about the company’s past, present, and future

First, consult your CRM platform. Find other accounts from the prospect’s industry and see what their customer journeys looked like. Their client information and case history will help you learn what products and services they use most and how your company serves them well. The information in your CRM platform can give you insights and tips that will help you win deals like the one you’re currently working on. Take a look, too, at the sales pipeline for that particular industry. Your CRM system is a tool specifically used to help you sell successfully and should be used throughout the sales process.

Once you have that preliminary information, head to the company website and research what the prospect’s company does, how big it is, and what products or services it offers. Then, dig deeper. Make a note of their mission, values, and corporate culture. Also try to learn more about the company’s history and any news items involving the company. Look into the company’s annual report to get a good idea of where it might be headed in the future.

Your presentation should focus on using insights from your research to show a deep understanding of the company and why your product or service can help it grow.

Consider the company’s challenges

As you learn about the company, pay special attention to the challenges it faces that are relevant to your product or service offerings. Remember these issues so you can use them as conversation starters during your sales presentation. Then you can offer advice — or insights — about how they could better face those challenges.

This type of approach is called insight selling: You as a salesperson bring unique, tailored insights to a prospect to solve their problems.

For example, if you sell a marketing tool, you may notice in your research that your lead is currently using the same ads across social media, search, and display networks. Your insight might be, “I see that your company is using the same ad copy across several platforms. How have those ads been performing for you? Have you been able to reach your sales or traffic goals?” Their answer may change aspects of your sales presentation or may make it even stronger.

Learn more about your audience

When it comes to communication, knowing who will be in the room is critical. If your prospect is the Director of Production, your most effective sales presentation may focus on metrics that can determine how to improve output. If your prospect will be presenting the information to a decision maker, offer resources to help make it easier for them.

Step 2: Prepare for your sales presentation

After gathering insights about the company and your contacts, you are ready to put together your presentation. Whether you use a sales presentation template that your workplace provides or you start from scratch, use these sales presentation tips to build a more compelling pitch.

Focus on the challenges your prospects face, not just your benefits

Salespeople should present themselves as a trusted advisor, not just a company representative. Look for ways to create a dialogue with the prospect and share how you can help their company work more efficiently, provide better service, or solve the challenges holding them back.

Keep your presentation simple

Sales template decks can be useful, but they can also overwhelm prospects if they’re too long. Instead of a 50-slide canned presentation, focus on keeping the slide deck relatively simple and highlighting engaging images and key statistics. This will make it easier to use a storytelling approach, rather than just reading off a slide.

Practice your presentation

You want to prepare, but you don’t want to come across as robotic or scripted. Practice what you’ll say and how you’ll answer questions, and make sure you’ve memorized important statistics or metrics. Build time into the presentation so you can share personal anecdotes or pause for questions.

Keep your delivery style confident, but agile. You may find that one point you thought would be critical doesn’t have as much impact with your prospect as you’d hoped, but a different point unexpectedly piques their interest. Keeping your talk track fluid will make it easier to shift gears if you need to.

Step 3: Nail your sales presentation

Presentation day has arrived. You’ve done your research, nailed the perfect storytelling approach, and trimmed down your slide deck. Now is your time to shine. Here are a few sales presentation tips to help your pitch end in a sale.

End the meeting with your presentation; don’t begin with it

You’ve likely had conversations with your contact and know them well enough, but in this presentation you’ll potentially meet additional people who make decisions. Take the time to get to know each attendee.

Building a rapport with your audience before pitching is a no-brainer. But avoid too much small talk; it can come across as inauthentic or like a waste of the customer’s time. Instead, time permitting, try to use the beginning of the meeting asking questions about day-to-day operations and goals. Ask specific questions that demonstrate your knowledge of their company and industry, and use the answers to shape your narrative. Then, during your presentation, tie back to topics the prospect brought up and focus on how you, the trusted advisor, can help.

Ask questions during the presentation to encourage a dialogue

Getting feedback from your prospect during the actual presentation is the best sales presentation technique of all. This allows you to change your focus in the moment, rather than spending your presentation talking about challenges and solutions that might be unimportant to your prospect.

After you make a key point, ask your prospect a question like, “Does this make sense in your industry?” or “Can you see this applying to your company?” This prompts the prospect to either agree or start a dialogue about pain points and how your products and services can better serve them.

If they agree with you, then you know you’re on the right track and that your suggestions are up to date. On the other hand, if they have clarifications, this lets you adjust your presentation — and follow-up efforts — to better fit their position.

Include proof that shows how your products and services have helped others

Step 4: Prioritize the follow-up just as much as the presentation

The actual sales presentation is just one part of your sales process, and it doesn’t guarantee a signed contract or even further contact with you. The final piece of your sales presentation is a well-planned follow-up, and it’s just as important as the presentation itself.

The most effective follow-up format will depend on your prospect, their needs, and how they best retain information. For example, you may follow up by:

• Emailing your slide deck and asking to schedule a follow-up call. Just remember to avoid the “Just following up” email and make sure your email offers the recipient value.
• Scheduling follow-up emails to reiterate key points in your presentation. A sales automation tool automates emails to share product information and set reminders for you to connect. It helps make sure no prospects fall through the cracks.
• Preparing personalized content that highlights the main points from your sales presentation and includes videos of products in action, testimonials, or other helpful collateral.
• Sending an additional resource about a topic they mentioned during your meeting, whether it pertained to your presentation or not.

Your sales presentation doesn’t end when you walk out the door or end the meeting. As you research and present your pitch, consider what the best follow-up approach will be. Then, take the time to create a well-considered follow-up strategy.

You can make your next sales presentation your best

Preparation and practice are key to successful sales presentations. But there’s so much more to a great presentation than well-designed slides or new research. The heart of a great sales presentation is the relationship between you and your customer, and that’s built on unique insights focused on your potential customer’s challenges and needs.

When you focus on helping, rather than pitching, your sales presentation is more likely to be a hit. That’s a win-win for you and your customer.

Just For You

What Is a Salesperson? (And How to Be a Good One)

6 Tips for Selling to the CFO

Explore related content by topic

• Business as a Platform for Change
• Customer Relationships
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Personalization
• Sales Strategy
• Sales Representative

Audrey is a senior product marketer for Core Sales Cloud (Salesforce Automation), and a customer advocate who has spent her career delivering B2B technology. An engineer turned marketer, she is passionate about business efficiency, philanthropy, and mentorship.

Get the latest articles in your inbox.

A Day in the Life of an Effective Sales Compensation Manager

Leveraging Your Revenue Operations Org Chart for Success

What Is a Value Chain? Definition, Benefits, and Examples

What Is Inside Sales? A Complete Guide

Direct Selling Explained: A Comprehensive Guide

The Manager’s Guide to Communicating Compensation Changes to Employees

Partner Relationship Management Software: A Complete Guide

How to be Indispensable as an Incentive Compensation Manager

New to Salesforce?

• What is Salesforce?
• Best CRM software
• Explore all products
• What is cloud computing
• Customer success
• Product pricing

About Salesforce

• Salesforce.org
• Sustainability

Popular Links

• Salesforce Mobile
• AppExchange
• CRM software
• Salesforce LIVE
• Salesforce for startups
• América Latina (Español)
• Brasil (Português)
• Canada (English)
• Canada (Français)
• United States (English)

Europe, Middle East, and Africa

• España (Español)
• Deutschland (Deutsch)
• France (Français)
• Italia (Italiano)
• Nederland (Nederlands)
• Sverige (Svenska)
• United Kingdom (English)
• All other countries (English)

Asia Pacific

• Australia (English)
• India (English)
• Malaysia (English)
• ประเทศไทย (ไทย)

© Copyright 2024 Salesforce, Inc. All rights reserved.  Various trademarks held by their respective owners. Salesforce, Inc. Salesforce Tower, 415 Mission Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105, United States

Generate Leads

Find quality leads and discover new lead sources

• Email Finder
• LI Prospect Finder
• Chrome Extension
• Email Verifier

Close Deals

Automate outreach with personalized emails to grow sales

• LinkedIn Automation
• Email Deliverability Check
• Email Warm-up
• Gmail Email Tracker

Manage Sales

Keep your lead base organized and your clients buying

Serve your clients warm leads and watch your ROI soar

Snovio Academy

Expert-led crash courses on growing sales.

Case Studies

Stories of growth from real businesses who use Snov.io

News, analysis, growth tips, tutorials and more

Sales Cheats

First-aid solutions to the most common sales problems

Help Center

Find answers to all your Snov.io questions with detailed guides

Beginner-friendly articles on all things sales and marketing

Security Center

See which audits and certifications ensure top-level protection of your data

Integrations

Sync Snov.io with over 5,000 of your favorite tools and apps

• Pipedrive Integration
• Hubspot integration

Integrate Snov.io features directly into your platform

Sales presentation

Last updated: 11 November, 2023

What is a sales presentation?

What makes a good sales presentation, how to make a sales presentation, checkout our sales pipeline templates freebies.

Did you know people process visuals nearly 60,000 times faster than text? Our eyes are a predominant perceptual system for information coming from the outside world to the brain. Nearly 90% of the data we receive comes from observing, and images are stored in our memory for a very long time. 

It’s no coincidence that any advertisement, be it a video or a banner, includes both a verbal message and a visual aid. Marketers and sales reps exploit this quality of human memory to boost communication and close more deals. 

In particular — by creating effective sales presentations .

A sales presentation is a short presentation of your solution to prospects or existing customers that aims to persuade them to make a purchase.

The answer is simple. A winning sales presentation:

• Helps convince the client of the brilliance of your solution.
• Doesn’t simply describe a product or service but draws attention to the features that can solve the customer’s problems.
• Is not overloaded with facts and statistics.
• Doesn’t make your potential clients want to doze off (a boring sales presentation is a sales killer).
• Persuades the prospect that no one else on the market can satisfy their needs as well as your company can.

But what exactly should it include to get your prospects’ attention, establish good relationships with them, and accelerate the sales process?

We wish there were a recipe for a sales presentation, but there’s no one-size-fits-all recommendation about its ingredients: wording, style, format, or length. 

Still, there are some tips to help your presentation end in a sale: 

1. It’s all about the balanced layout

If you use PowerPoint or other presentation software, it’s better not to put multiple graphs, images, text, and statistics onto one slide. Your audience needs time to focus and concentrate. It hurts when you try processing the slide below, doesn’t it? 

Find the right balance between statistics and visual components. Charts, tables, and bulleted points are great, but if your presentation consists of grouped facts only, it won’t win the heart of your listener.

3 elements are just enough. If there’s more, break the slide into multiple slides instead!

Besides, as a speaker, make sure you don’t seem offhand or uninformed. Clients, especially in the B2B market , appreciate precision and professionalism. For them, the presentation packed with Google images just won’t do.

All the material presented should be of high quality and serve a point.

2. Make it short and sweet

Like any meeting, a sales presentation follows a clear agenda. Nothing will distract a client from the deal more than a prolonged conference that makes them want to escape the room. 

Here’s what works best for us: arranging 20 minutes for the speech plus 10-15 minutes for the Q&A section. This way, a sales presentation won’t take more than 30-35 minutes . It can be even shorter than that. After all, there’s a reason TED talks are 18-minute long.

If you think this time isn’t enough, schedule follow-ups, subsequent sales pitches , or agree to continue via email or phone. 

3. Work on the slide deck

Avoid adding meaningless slides; use an interactive presentation maker instead, to keep your audience engaged.

There are three conventional ones: a title, table of contents, and a “Thank you” slide. Apart from these, it’s up to you how many to include in the sales presentation. Typically, it takes from 1.5 to 3 per single key point. If we consider a 30-minute duration, that’ll sum up into 10-20 slides .

4. Start a sales presentation with a self-introduction and small talk

This is an act of courtesy to introduce oneself and briefly tell who you are. In particular, when you meet new people. Unfortunately, due to the stress, some speakers forget about it.

No less important is to catch the audience’s attention from the very beginning. A story from one’s life, a joke, a surprising fact — whichever magnet you choose, make sure it corresponds to the time and place. By the way, if you want to get inspired, check out these best TED talks ever .

5. End your speech by wrapping up and outlining further steps

Although a sales presentation may not result in a closed deal or a revenue boost (it can but on rare occasions), this is a business process. So, apart from having a good pastime with clients, a sales rep has to mildly yet distinctly drop a hint about how it’s better to proceed with the deal.

Define the purpose

Your speaking style will depend on what you’re trying to accomplish. Remember outstanding demonstrations of Apple’s new launches held by Steve Jobs? Each of these is an example of a winning sales presentation. 

The speaker aimed to persuade buyers that the product was so one of a kind, that it was a matter of life-and-death to purchase it. A speech was corresponding: the majority of time was devoted to demonstrating new UI / UX features, and less attention was paid to the technical side.

To succeed with the presentation, ask yourself what exactly you need to convey:

• Explain unique selling points
• Focus on money benefits
• Position your brand to competitors
• Create urgency around the deal, etc.

Adjust your sales presentation based on the audience

Does your audience consist of decision-makers , stakeholders, ordinary employees, or all three at once? What industry do your clients operate in? How old are these people? Is the audience multilingual? Any details are important because they will determine:

• The language and wording you choose
• Jokes you can or can’t tell
• Images you should and shouldn’t use, etc.

Consider means available

Your presentation may be doomed to fail if you don’t consider technical issues. Imagine, you expected to display a growth graph on the big white screen but were provided with a TV screen instead. Your audience won’t be able to see anything, and half of the speech will be lost.

Prepare key points & season them with data

It’s important to have a good understanding of what you are about to present. Let the numbers speak for themselves: prepare a few metrics or statistics and mention these during storytelling. However, don’t turn a presentation into a report — 2 or 3 graphs, tables, or diagrams will be more than enough.

If you plan to share the presentation among participants, you can include links to resources. This way, people interested in more details can retrieve the data.

Design the sales presentation structure

Use a “10-20-30” formula: 

• No more than 10 slides
• 20 minutes to speak
• No font smaller than 30 pt.

A good idea is to google some pre-designed sales presentation templates. This will save time on formatting plus give you useful ideas about the overall structure. Below are websites that might be helpful:

• Freecreatives

If you are in doubt, break your speech down into minute detail and align it with the sales presentation. Also, prepare cheat sheets — the latest price list, full specifications, etc. This way, you will be able to fend off any questions from the public.

Wrapping up

A good sales presentation fits the audience. Put yourself in the client’s shoes and wonder, what would YOU want to listen about? What facts might comfort you, and what questions might arise? With the customer in mind and with thorough preparation, your presentation will be a sure hit.

No credit card required

Become one of our successful clients

With over 100,000 thriving companies on board, Snov.io continues helping businesses grow. Here's what our users say about their experience.

"Our sales revenue has grown by 18% since we started using Snov.io"

Joey Mallat

"With Snov.io we discovered new ways of lead generation."

Ramzi Barkat

"Snov.io helped us collect more than 80,000 leads in a month, accelerating our search for emails while reducing the cost per lead."

Dmitry Chervonyi

"We needed something that would help us automate, send emails just in time, yet feel personalized and human. We started looking for a solution, and we found Snov.io."

Sofiia Shvets

"Snov.io’s Email Finder reduced the time it took us to find email addresses by almost 50% and the lead generation efforts by 20%."

Jaswant Singh

"One of our clients got 23 email meetings scheduled from just 117 emails sent with Snov.io."

Deepak Shukla

"We needed an additional contact channel, and discovering Snov.io has allowed us to boost our conversion rate, both contact-to-reply and contact-to-call."

Kirill Rozhkovskiy

"The open rate for the emails sent to leads collected and verified with Snov.io tools went from 25% to 73% in just one month, which resulted in 95 business meetings with potential customers. "

Ricard Colom

🌴🥥 If you like piña coladas, closing deals every day... get 25% off ANY annual plan 🍹😎

MEMBERSHIP UNLOCKS OVER 2,000 TOOLS, RESOURCES & MORE!

Not a member? Sample unlocked content here.

Key Components of a Killer Sales Presentation

The Makeup of a Top Pitch

Have you ever been blown away by a great sales presentation? You left feeling inspired, empowered, and that you should definitely buy that product.

The good news is that it is possible for almost any sales professional to deliver that level of sales pitch. Putting together and presenting a great pitch is more of a craft than a talent, and there are key elements that will elevate your sales presentations. Here is what you need to do to start delivering killer sales presentations.

1. Research, Research, and More Research!

The secret to success in almost any situation is preparation. You wouldn’t attempt to run a marathon without training first, and you should never attempt to pitch a product without understanding how it will make the lives of your prospects better. Do thorough research on your prospect and   listen carefully during conversations so that you can identify all of the information you need for the sale - their pain points, their budget, the people involved in the purchase decision, and anything else you need. This level of research will ensure that you focus on the right points during your pitch, which will help to  build rapport and close the deal faster.

2. Define the Problem

Nobody likes to be “sold to”. If you jump straight into your solution, your sales pitch will come across as salesy and pushy. Before outlining your solution, carefully outline your prospects problem. Address the challenges they are facing, and why their current solutions aren’t working. This will drive home that they really do need a new product and prep them for your explanation of your product.

3. Tell a Story

Stories aren’t new - people have used stories to share information for thousands of years. However, few sales people think to utilize this method of sharing information in their pitches.

Stories tend to follow a fairly   simple arc format that is easy to fit into your pitch:

• The exposition (this is likely the problem your prospects are facing)
• The rising action (pain of challenges is becoming more acute)
• Climax (your solution)
• Resolution (outcomes your prospects can expect)

You can use anecdotes throughout your pitch, or you can use one specific storyline throughout the entire pitch.

4. Focus on Benefits

Don’t make your prospects fill in the gaps;   explain the benefits of your solution clearly. It’s all to common for sales people to list product features without outlining what these features actually do. With good research, you will understand what your prospects are looking to accomplish. Match the features of your solution to the particular challenges your prospects are looking to solve, explaining how the features alleviate their pain.

With these tips, your sales presentations will go from stiff to stimulating. Your prospects will understand more clearly why they need your product, and they will feel the sense to urgency to close the deal faster.

This content is exclusive for CPSA members

Already a member? Login to see full the article.

Related Resources

Membership unlocks over 2,000 tools, resources & more, latest resources.

• The Effort Heuristic Ben Wise & Darren Chiu, CAPTIVATE
• Sales Industry Trends and Challenges Nancy Dewar, CSP, Director of Professional Development, CPSA

Most Popular

Recommended resources.

• How to Negotiate with Different Personality Types Canadian Professional Sales Association
• 5 Ways You Can Benefit from Sales Training Canadian Professional Sales Association
• Good Questioning Skills Canadian Professional Sales Association

• Privacy Policy ●
• Terms & Conditions ●
• Member Code of Ethics ●

How to create an effective Sales Presentation

Sales presentations are one of the most effective tools to increase sales. Here’s everything you need to know to create a powerful one

If you are a salesperson, you are likely to be constantly thinking about how to increase sales. You may wonder what are the ideas, concepts or tools that could help you do that.

What if I tell you that there is one magical tool you can use to increase sales?

This is my number one tool to increase B2B sales. I have used it in multiple organisations as well as in channel & reseller sales with fantastic success – great sales and revenue results.

This magical tool is: The Sales Presentation . 

In this article, I will in detail share everything I know about this tool. I will discuss the following topics:

Why the sales presentation is important

• What are the components of a great sales presentation

How do you create a really good sales story? 

An example of a successful sales story , five steps to build the perfect pitch, what presentations often do wrong, you need to transfer knowledge .

While working with your sales team, it is important to transfer information and knowledge to them as efficiently as possible. If you can educate your sales persons about your product or solution and train them to present it at the same time, they can start selling it immediately, saving valuable time.

All salespersons need to learn a sales pitch 

To grow your business to increase sales, you need a sales pitch. All salespeople should have a consistent sales pitch. It is best if the sales leadership creates the best sales pitch they possibly can and then trains every sales person to present that pitch to your end customers. In doing this, you ensure that you make the sales person’s job easier, enabling them to make more sales.

A presentation is easy to consume 

A sales presentation made using PowerPoint or Google slides is fantastic because if done well, it allows the receiver to easily understand the story you are telling. It is easier for a person to comprehend information presented slide-by-slide than to process a mass of text contained in a brochure or email. Once your sales person understands your story, it’s not only easier for them to tell the story to others, they will also be hugely motivated to do so.

A presentation is easy to update 

Products change, offerings change, we make things better, and with all this we must update our sales presentation and sales materials. Presentations are way easier to change than, say, brochures. We can quickly add a slide, remove a slide, change some text or replace a graphic.

Presentations are easy to send to prospects 

After sales people hold a call or a meeting with a prospect, presentations are great to send as follow up material. If you want to be extra helpful you can provide the deck in original PPT format via a link so the prospect can use your slides when creating internal presentations about your solution. 

Prospects can share presentations internally  

When sales people have meetings with prospective customers, many times there are people such as colleagues or decision-makers who cannot attend the meeting, and it might be difficult or time-consuming for you to deliver the sales pitch to them at another time. A really well-done presentation that you send your prospect via email is easily shared with bosses, colleagues or senior company leadership. That way, your sales pitch can reach them without you even being present.

What are the components of a great sales presentation?

I believe a great presentation is all about the story. Looking at it technically, however, a great sales presentation comprises two main parts – the core pitch and the appendix.

‍Part 1: THE CORE PITCH – A great core pitch must tell a great and focused story. To tell a great story, you will need to understand your B2B customer, your end customer and your product or solution really well. For this, you will need to create detailed customer profiles , build a proper value proposition and do your research on the market.

PART 2: THE APPENDIX –  Because the core pitch must be focused on the story you are telling, any other information (which is important but doesn’t really contribute to the story) must go in the appendix.

‍ Why a great story makes a great presentation

So here’s the thing, if you are selling a B2B solution, you are probably spending a lot of time getting that one meeting with a prospective customer where you can explain what value you can deliver to them. But the prospect is probably meeting several of your competitors too, so you need to think of what you can do to stand out.

The presentation is the number one factor as to why a customer chooses one vendor over others , says a Gartner research report.

So, if you want to stand out, you must have a presentation that stands head and shoulders above that presented by your competitors.

‍How do you ensure your presentation stands out from that of your competitors?

You create an amazing sales story that focuses on value propositions. 

Creating a really good sales story is an art form and takes time and energy. One of the best presentations I ever made was developed over 45 iterations.

It led to fantastic results – the company managed to find partners all over the world for a new product and closed deals with over 100 of the world’s biggest telecom operators – with a minimal budget. But that’s not all, our partners were willing to pay our company a $20,000 recoupable guarantee to close a deal. I wrote this article on that project: How I built a hugely successful partner program and you can too (in-depth).

When I am building my sales story, I work with the following outline:

BUILD THE FOUNDATION

• Agree: One or several slides that state something we can all agree on. This could be something about the field of business you are in, the industry, a problem or something else that is connected to what you do.
• Explain the problem: In a few slides, explain the problem without mentioning or discussing your product or solution. The problem description should be high level. 
• What could be a solution: One slide where you explain what the solution could be without mentioning your product or service. 

EXPLAIN YOUR SOLUTION AND VALUE PROPOSITION 

• Your offering: One slide with text and an image that explains your offering in one sentence.
• Value proposition: Next, explain your value proposition in several slides. While you draft it, remind yourself that you are explaining your product or solution’s value proposition – that is the value it brings to the customer – and NOT its features and functions. 
• Explanations: It all depends on your offering, but make sure you subsequently add explanations about the features or functions of your product or service. 
• Why choose us? Answer this question here. Create one or several slides that explain how you are different and why you should be the chosen vendor.
• The value we offer you: Conclude by reiterating the value you offer the prospect. 
• Company info: Add some slides with information about your company.
• Case studies: It’s always great to add examples of how you delivered value to customers.
• Typical questions: Create slides that answer the most common questions you get from prospects. Preferably address one question in each slide. 

I also think you should read this article that really helped me polish my sales pitches: The Greatest Sales Pitch I’ve Seen All Year – The Mission – Medium .

I created a sales story for Appland , a company that offers a mobile games subscription service. The B2B customers in this case were telecom operators around the world, and mobile phone users were the end customers. 

Appland built a channel partner program so that its partners could help them sell its Games Clubs to mobile phone operators in their countries who would include the product in their offerings to their customers. The program was so successful that in just three years, the Sweden-based company had signed on over 100 of the world’s biggest telecom operators as its customers.

This was how I structured the story for Appland’s channel partners according to the pointers I gave in the previous section: 

• Slide 1 (Agree): We all want quality content. Subscription streaming services like Spotify, Netflix and HBO show us that people want really good content and are prepared to pay for it. 
• Slide 2 (Agree): People love to play mobile phone games. 82% of all apps sold in Google Play and Apple App Store are games. Revenue generated by mobile games is an astonishing $40 billion per year. 
• Slide 3 (Agree): Over 1.8 billion people on the planet play mobile phone games. 
• Slide 4 (Problem): But you know what? These games have become boring. 
• Slide 5 (Problem): If you get a free mobile game it will nag you to buy coins and berries. You see advertisements on it all the time. Some games suddenly stop and make you wait three days before you can play them again. Some games implement a type of gameplay where you have to constantly wait for stuff. 
• Slide 6 (Problem): This “harassment” happens because it is the only way for a game developer to make money. 
• Slide 7 (Solution): We need to bring back the fun in games. 
• Slide 8 (Solution): We can do this by creating a business model that makes it easier for developers to make money and for consumers to get amazing content so that they can play without being nagged to buy things.

EXPLAINING THE SOLUTION 

• Slide 9 (Our offering): Let us introduce the Games Club – a service that offers subscribers 400 of the world’s best games.
• Slide 10 (Value proposition): The games are the absolute best of the millions on offer. Users get free in-app purchases and the service lets users play games for as long as they like. Customers are offered a free trial and there are no advertisements or interruptions.
• Slide 11-16 (Value proposition): Details of the super popular games that billions of people are playing, all of which are included in the Games Club subscription.
• Slide 17 (Explanation): A summary of all the content of the games on offer and also data on how popular the games are.

CONCLUSION 

• Slide 18 (Our Secret Sauce): Consumers can play games offline in a model where they pay a low price and can play as much as they like. In addition, there is a digital rights management system that will lock all games installed when users unsubscribe to the service. 
• Slide 19 (Conclusion/The value we offer you): The Games Club is a high-quality service and together we can launch and market the solution to your customers. The value you get is a revenue share of the service, your branding and you will have an amazing offering for your consumers. 

This summary is slightly simplified but I hope it still works as a good example of how we can build a story. As you see, I did not talk about the features and functions of the service. I discussed value for users and values for the prospect Appland wanted to work together with. 

You now know how to create a really good sales story. Next, you need to put together a convincing pitch. How do you do that?

My approach to create the perfect pitch are these five steps.

Step 1: Create detailed customer profiles

If you don’t understand your customers well – B2B as well as end customers – you will never be able to craft a good message and presentation to attract them to your product or solution. Click here to learn How to create customer profiles / buyer personas for B2B Sales .

Step 2: Build a proper Value Proposition

You need to create a really good value proposition for your product or service. Click here to learn How to Create a Strong Value Proposition for B2B .

Step 3: Do research 

To find a really good story you need to do research. You need to understand the industry, the problems there and how you can connect this to your product or service. You need to dig and find that story. 

Step 4: Build an outstanding presentation 

I think there are many ways to design a good sales presentation. It all depends on how it will be used. Will it only be used for presentations or will it be sent to clients via email? Do you think the prospect will forward the presentation to colleagues? All these questions need to be considered when you draft your presentation.

As I mentioned earlier, I design presentations with two major sections. The first section contains my “Core pitch”, which can be between 10-45 slides. (I try to restrict the presentation to a maximum of 25 slides). The second section is the “Appendix” where I put all other slides.

Here are my general rules when I work on each slide:

• Only one message or story per slide.
• A super headline, sub headline, additional mini headlines and possibly a little text. You can see an example below. In this slide, you can quickly read and understand the consumer value proposition of the Games Subscription Club I wrote about earlier. 

• A slide can also only have an image and a little bit of text.

• It is ok to be succinct and not give out all details. If information is missing, the prospect will ask for it. 
• I always make sure to use standard fonts in presentations. Many people will use your presentation to present your pitch to their colleagues or customers and missing fonts can complicate matters.
• It should be easy for both internal and external personnel to make changes in the text.
• There should be “master slides” that make it easy for any channel partners to change the company logo and so on.
• The end slide should have contact information.
• The presentation should have divider slides so it is easy for the prospect to understand when you move to another section.
• Create BIG message slides for important conclusions.

• Make sure the design of the slides changes constantly so the prospect stays active and interested. 
• I add page numbers to the slides so it is easy to reference in discussions. 

Step 5: Continue to improve 

Version 1 of your presentation will not be perfect. Continue to improve your presentation as you learn new things. The sales presentation I created for Appland was on version 45 when I left the company. To create a really good story we need to test, evaluate and improve and this process never ends. 

So, you now know how to create a compelling sales story that will form a part of your presentation’s pitch.

Before we conclude, let’s talk about what people often do wrong while drafting their presentations.

I have seen a lot of sales presentations over the last 20 years and there is always room for improvement. Here are the most common mistakes I see:

• Egocentric: Presentations are often egocentric and all about the company and your product. The problem with this is that the customer doesn’t really care about you or your product or service. Customers care about themselves and they want you to tell them how you can make their lives better.
• Too much text: No one wants to read a mass of text. A presentation should be as succinct as possible or it will risk confusing people. Each slide should address one idea or point. When you have too many ideas on one slide, instead of paying attention to your next point, people are more likely to be distracted trying to digest what you said in your previous one.
• No storytelling: Humans love to be told stories. Presentations that are only a list of features and functions don’t command as much interest as those that tell a story of how the product or solution can add value to a customer’s life.
• Lack of value propositions: A presentation should be about the values that you offer to the customer. 
• Bad and ugly design: People like to look at things that attract them, and those things are usually well designed. You may not be an ace designer but there are plenty of designers you can find on freelancing platforms such as Upwork who will help make your presentation look professional.
• Difficult to understand: Some presentations use difficult language and also lack a structure, which makes them difficult to understand. 

You now know why the sales presentation is important, what makes a great sales presentation, five steps to build the perfect pitch and what sales presentations often do wrong.

I hope this article has given you the inspiration to create your own storytelling-based sales presentation that you can share with your sales team as one of the best sales tools you ever created. Go ahead and do it. Good luck!

Enjoying our articles & blog posts?

Don't forget to subscribe to our Newsletter 🤓

Growth Plays

Up Strategy Lab venture NuLink Gears Up for Major Exchanges: Bybit, KuCoin, and Gate Listings Announced

NuLink Elevates Web3 Security: Upcoming Token Listing and Strategic Investment Secured

Up Strategy Lab venture NuLink Secures $11.4M to Lead Next-Gen Data Protection Efforts

NuLink has raised $1.6 million in its strategy round. The firm will use the funds to advance its technology, expand capabilities, and educate and train.

Up Strategy Lab venture Hardskills.io secures investment to enhance global access to deep tech experts

Chatarina Schneider of Jovitech Invest to join as the new Chairperson of the board

Drop us a message

Not sure what to write? ‍ Tell us about your company, where you're from and how you would like to collaborate.

We deliver real strategies, hands-on practical knowledge and clear actions to help you scale your business and level-up. Visiting address: Nordhemsgatan 56 | 413 09 | Göteborg | Sweden Correspondence address: 🏢 Andra Långgatan 7A, 413 03 | Göteborg  | Sweden

UP STRATEGY LAB © 2018 - 2022 | UPSTRAT LAB AB | Org. nr.: 559172-7218

• Foam Inserts
• Integration
• Road Case Designer
• Consumer Products
• OEM & Industrial
• Presentation
• Sales & Marketing
• Berry Compliance
• Sustainability
• Product Managers
• Marketing Managers
• Lead Engineers
• Sourcing Managers
• Our Process
• Case Studies
• Catalog / Tracing Mat Request

Case innovations Blog

Have something in mind, filter by topic.

• Custom Case Design & Engineering (52)
• Custom Case Manufacturing (44)
• Consumer Products (9)
• Shipping (8)
• Medical & Pharmaceutical (7)
• Aerospace (6)
• OEM & Industrial (5)
• Sales & Marketing (5)
• Cases By Source News (3)
• Trade Show (3)
• Broadcast & Communications (2)
• Presentation (1)

What Are the Principles of Effective Sales Presentations?

Presentation Sales & Marketing

Prospects tend to sit through a lot of sales presentations — from traditional in-person meetings to online meetings, the latter of which is increasingly used due to remote working environments and travel restrictions. Even as the format of sales presentations evolves, this part remains true: when a business comes to a prospect with a sales pitch, the right elements need to be there for it to be effective.

So what are the right ingredients in this recipe for sales success? Here are the principles we think matter most.

1. Personalize the Presentation to Your Prospect

Think back to your initial conversations with a prospect, or the details they provided via an online form. Perhaps they mentioned an interest in a specific product line, or maybe they made note of the pain points that brought them to your business in the first place. Whatever the case may be, let these insights be a guiding force in the direction of your sales presentation. When your audience feels more understood by your brand, they are far more likely to take you up on your sales offer.

2. Keep Things Simple & Direct

Businesses have a lot they want to share about their product, but it’s how this information is communicated that can make or break a successful sales presentation. Whereas a 30-slide presentation that goes into deep detail is likely to overwhelm your audience and cause them to tune out, a visually-driven presentation that focuses on key data and messaging is much more apt to keep prospects engaged. The more efficient you can be in the delivery of a presentation, the more time you’ll have to create meaningful dialogue with prospective buyers.

3. Let the Audience Ask Questions

Questions are bound to arise as prospects tune into a sales presentation — and when they do, there should be an opportunity to voice them. While this has traditionally come in the form of a Q&A session at the end of the presentation, taking questions during a presentation can provide clarity to prospects throughout the pitch and give you (the speaker) a better gauge of when to pivot the conversation, if needed. Meanwhile, you can close your sales presentation in a more meaningful way — whether that’s a recap of your main points, a concise story or a call to action.

4. Pair Conversation with Tangible Items

It’s one thing to hear about your product(s). It’s another to see it firsthand. With a custom case designed to fit the dimensions and technical needs of your products, you can securely take your product samples with you to sales presentations — even when dealing with products as delicate as spinal implants . Upon arrival to doctor’s offices (or wherever your destination may be) or through the computer screen, you’ll be able to efficiently showcase your products to busy communities and further establish your credibility as a brand with a polished, professional look.

Make your sales presentation cases as compelling as your product. With the help of Cases By Source, we’ll design and manufacture a solution that is sure to enhance your presentations. To get started, schedule your free consultation .

Leave a Comment

• Create Account
• Sales Login
• Glossary of Case Terms
• Contract ID # 47QSMS24D00AW
• Federal ID # 22-3749518
• SAM UEI # ZETCDELLDNS7
• Cage Code # 3AYH1
• Apply for GSA discount

Cases By Source 40 Whitney Road Mahwah, NJ 07430 888-515-5255

Subscribe to Our Blog

©Copyright 2024 Cases By Source

• Accessibility Statement

7 Key Components of a Successful Sales Deck (With Examples)

Highlight your startup’s products and services with great graphics and compelling storytelling.

A startup sales deck can be the difference between winning and losing a deal. It showcases the uniqueness of your offerings, demonstrates your understanding of clients’ needs and establishes your business as competent and prepared. Moreover, a well-crafted startup sales deck can help your prospects easily understand the value your products and services provide, even when things get technical. 

What Is a Sales Deck?

A sales deck is a presentation to prospective buyers or business partners on a company’s offerings. It is designed to prove the benefits, USPs and potential of a business and its products or services. Sales decks typically include text, images and graphics in the form of a slideshow or scrollable document.

All in all, a startup sales deck is an irreplaceable tool to directly inform, engage and impress prospective customers . If you play your cards right, this will ultimately elevate your brand image and boost your conversion rates.

Let’s look at the key components of a sales deck, then examine the best way to combine them to make an outstanding sales deck that boosts your conversions.

More From Vikas Agrawal 5 Ways to Get More Social Media Video Views

7 Components of a Sales Deck

Here are seven key components that effective sales pitch decks include, no matter the size and type of the business.

Clear value proposition

Articulate the unique value your offering brings to the market and how it stands apart from the competition. This may include factors such as cost effectiveness, time savings, increased revenue or improved customer satisfaction. Be clear, concise and specific about the unique value you provide to your prospects and why they require your offering immediately.

Product features and benefits

Showcase the most important and appealing features of your product or service. Focus on the aspects that directly address the problems faced by your prospects. Clearly explain how these features translate into tangible benefits that improve their situation, and always tie these benefits back to your overall value proposition.

Empathy for prospects

Demonstrate genuine understanding and compassion for your prospects’ pain points, challenges and frustrations. Show them that you’ve considered their perspective and that you’re presenting your solution not just to make a sale but to genuinely help them overcome their problems.

Compelling storytelling

Weave your sales deck into a cohesive narrative that engages your audience and keeps them invested throughout your presentation. Start with an introduction that addresses the problem your prospect faces, followed by the solution you offer. Conclude with the benefits and results they can expect. A well-structured story creates an emotional connection and helps your audience remember your message more effectively.

Social proof

Harness the power of testimonials, case studies and success stories from satisfied customers to validate your product or service. Prospects are more likely to trust your offering if they see that it has worked for others in similar situations. Make sure your social proof is relatable, authentic and specific.

Scannable slides

Design slides to be visually appealing, simple and easy to comprehend at a glance. Use minimal text, clean layouts and meaningful visuals, such as charts or infographics, to convey your message. Blank space is your ally in keeping your audience focused on your presentation. Clutter only distracts.

Call to action

Conclude your sales deck with a strong, persuasive call to action that guides prospects on their next steps. This can include scheduling a follow-up meeting, signing up for a demo or making a purchase. Make it easy for your prospects to take action and ensure they understand the urgency of moving forward.

How to Combine the Components Into a Deck

The real trick lies in combining these parts to create a special sales pitch that outshines your competition. For this purpose, you can use a slide show creator or explainer video tool  or work with a sales deck design agency and let it take care of all the hassles. Here’s how you should structure and explain the discussed components while building the presentation.

Introduce the problem your prospect faces

Clearly define the issue and demonstrate your understanding of its impact on their business or personal life. Use data, anecdotes or real-life examples to illustrate the severity of the problem.

Present your product as the solution

Explain how your offering directly addresses the pain points you’ve outlined and why it’s the best option for your prospect. Be specific about the advantages your solution provides over competing alternatives.

Showcase your product

Highlight the most important aspects of your product or service and how they translate into tangible benefits for your prospects. Remember to tie these benefits back to the overall value proposition you’ve established.

Support your claims

Share relatable stories from satisfied customers that demonstrate the effectiveness of your product or service. Include specific details, such as quantifiable results, to make your social proof more convincing.

Use compelling storytelling

Weave the various components of your presentation into a cohesive narrative that resonates with your audience. Structure your story with a beginning (introduction of the problem), middle (presentation of your solution) and end (benefits and results).

3 Examples of Effective Sales Decks

Here are three successful sales pitch deck examples  along with the key characteristics that give them an exceptionally persuasive punch.  

Spendesk, a spend management platform, offers users visibility into company spending to save time and money. To assure potential buyers of its value, Spendesk starts its presentation with an overview of its fast growth and showcases well-known brands using the platform. To display traction and build credibility, include a logo slide and testimonial quotes from reputable customers, as demonstrated in the sales deck template.

Oliva provides workshops aimed at tackling teams’ most critical issues. Its sales deck emphasizes the significance of visuals and design in creating an effective sales presentation. The impact of a presentation depends on both the content and its presentation style. It also features an aesthetic GIF that captures attention, while the cohesive and soothing design elements mirror the company’s mission and the solutions it offers.

This Leadjet sales video addresses the pressing issue of lost time and opportunities when transferring LinkedIn leads to a CRM. It presents Leadjet as the solution and highlights its benefits, such as synchronized conversations, updated lead statuses and custom detail addition. The video effectively follows the optimal sales presentation structure of problems, solutions and benefits.

Read More About Sales Presentations Giving a Virtual Sales Pitch? 10 Ways to Set Yourself Up for Success.

Why Sales Decks Are Important

A powerful startup sales deck is instrumental in winning over prospects and driving sales. Focus on the components and process we’ve discussed here to create a compelling startup sales deck that resonates with your target audience and builds a strong brand.

However, creating a pitch deck is not a one-time affair.  The most successful startup sales decks evolve and improve over time.  Continuously refine and optimize your sales deck based on feedback and performance to ensure that it remains a powerful tool in your sales arsenal.

Recent Customer Relationship Management Articles

Chapter 10 The Presentation: The Power of Solving Problems

Preparation: your key to success, learning objective.

• Learn how to prepare for a sales presentation.

You’ve made it! After all your hard work you have reached the point in the selling process where the qualifying, researching, and planning stages pay off. Finally, your story and the customer’s story are about to connect in an exciting way. Most salespeople think of the presentation as the best part of the selling process. It’s the opportunity to show the prospect that you know your stuff—and the chance to deliver value by putting your problem solving skills to work. So get ready, visualize the best possible outcome to your sales presentation, and take the necessary steps to make this outcome a reality.

Keep Your Eye on the Prize

As excited as you might be about your product, or as eager as you are to demonstrate your solution, keep in mind that your sales presentation is primarily about building a relationship and beginning a partnership, especially in the business-to-business (B2B) arena. When Selena Lo, CEO of Ruckus Wireless, is gearing up for a sales presentation, she focuses her final preparations on making it personal. Lo’s company specializes in wireless routers that handle video, voice, and data capabilities for businesses. When she identifies a prospect, Lo’s first priority is finding the person she refers to as “the fox”: her ally in the prospect company who wants to see technological changes take place in his organization. Lo gives this relationship special attention, often inviting this individual out to dinner before the presentation to win his loyalty and get any additional details about his company.

Several days before the presentation, Lo researches everyone who will be in the meeting. She reads their bios and googles them to find out their employment histories. “You don’t want someone to think you checked out their entire past,” says Lo, but “you try to strike up more links between you and that person.” She prepares the seating arrangement for the sales meeting strategically, making sure that she will be sitting directly across from the highest-ranking person there so that she can make eye contact. On the day of the presentation, she asks a member of her sales team to write down each person’s name when they walk in the door—and to make a point of using the names during the presentation. [1] Lo’s efforts to give the sales presentation a personal touch are a reminder that in relationship selling, you can never lose sight of the most important thing: your customer. Coach yourself on this on the day of your presentation and keep it in mind in the days leading up to it. What can you do to personalize this presentation and show your customers that it’s all about their organization?

Taking a customer-centric approach lies at the heart of delivering value. In these terms, value isn’t about offering a good price. It’s not just about solving the customer’s problems either. As Tom Reilly, author of Value-Added Selling: How to Sell More Profitably, Confidently, and Professionally by Competing on Value, Not Price , explains it, delivering value means that you “define value in customer terms, ask questions, listen to customers, and put the spotlight on customer-centric solutions.” [2]  This might mean that it takes more than one meeting to close your sale; you might need several visits to adequately respond to your customer’s needs. According to one study, “Today’s presentations typically are conducted over several meetings, with the salesperson often doing more listening than talking.” [3] Make it your goal to see that you and your prospect get what you want out of the meeting.

It’s a good idea to visualize this outcome before going into the meeting. Review your precall objectives. What will it look like to achieve these objectives? What steps will you and your prospect have to take? How will it feel when you both have achieved your goals? This isn’t just about calming your nerves; visualizing the outcome you want is actually a powerful tool to help you achieve that outcome. For one thing, it’s another form of planning. If you mentally run through a “movie” of the sales presentation, allowing yourself to picture your reactions and the steps you will take to close in on your objective, you will be better prepared when the meeting takes place. [4] Each step of the presentation will come naturally to you because you have already mentally rehearsed, and you will be better positioned to sell adaptively because you have already imagined a number of possible scenarios and customer responses.

For another thing, mental rehearsal fools your subconscious mind into believing you have already achieved your goals. Sales trainer and CEO Brian Tracy says, “Your subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between a real experience and one that you vividly imagine,” so if you imagine a successful presentation and its outcome several times before your actual presentation, you will be as calm and confident as if you had already closed the sale. You will smile more easily, you will speak more slowly and clearly, and you will command attention. In addition, if your subconscious mind believes you have already been in this situation before, it will direct you to say and do the things you need to achieve your objective. [5]

The Power to Adapt

The sales presentation is where adaptive selling makes all the difference. Up until this point, you have researched and prepared and developed a solution that you think will meet your prospect’s needs, but walking into the presentation and delivering on that preparation requires a different set of skills. Among other things, it requires flexibility and the ability to think on your feet. The best salespeople adapt their presentations to their prospect’s reactions, and they go in knowing they may have to adapt to surprises for which they were unable to prepare (maybe the building has a power outage during the slideshow, for instance, or maybe one of the people from the customer organization decides to send another employee in his place at the last minute). These top-performing salespeople know that keeping a customer-centric focus, visualizing a successful outcome, and mentally rehearsing your presentation before you deliver it will give you the power to adapt with confidence and ease.

Adapting is all about listening. As Paul Blake noted in the video ride-along at the beginning of the chapter, your sales presentation is really a compilation of all the listening you have done to this point. And listening doesn’t stop there. It’s impossible to adapt if you’re not listening. When you are creating your presentation, keep in mind that it is not a one-way communication. Presentations are for listening, adapting, and solving problems.

Listen and Sell

This video highlights the power of listening and tips to listen effectively during your presentation.

Logistics Matter

There’s nothing worse than putting hours into preparing a killer sales presentation, only to blow your chances because you forgot to bring an important part of your demonstration or because you got lost on your way to the meeting. Don’t let disorganization hold you back: take charge of the details so that your only concern on the day of the presentation is the delivery.

The Night Before

The evening before your meeting, read over your precall objectives; practice your presentation a number of times out loud; and walk through your mental rehearsal, visualizing success. You can’t practice too many times. The content of your presentation should be second nature by the time you get up in front of your audience so that you can focus your energy on your prospect. Rehearsal is one of the best ways to calm your nerves so that you can focus on delivering your presentation naturally and connecting with your prospect.

Power Player: Lessons in Selling from Successful Salespeople

Rehearse Your Way

Andres Mendes, global CIO of Special Olympics International, says that rehearsing out loud makes him too nervous; he likes to leave room for spontaneity and adaptation. Mendes develops the big themes of the presentation and maps these out into PowerPoint slides that tell the whole story. “I time the slides to move exactly at my pace, so I rehearse the mechanics and make sure those are right,” he says. [6]

CIO Magazine columnist Martha Heller, on the other hand, likes to rehearse in the traditional style, delivering the presentation out loud and pacing the room as if she were in front of an audience. She never rehearses the opening though. She likes to adapt her comments to the immediate situation and energy in the room. [7]

The bottom line? While nearly all top-performing salespeople rehearse, not all approach rehearsal in the same way. Find the style of rehearsal that works best for you. Additionally, don’t let your rehearsal lock you into delivering a rigidly defined set of remarks. You have to leave room for flexibility and adaptation.

The night before, you should also get together all the materials you’ll need for your presentation—handouts, files, product samples, and contracts—and have them ready to go for the following morning. This will save you time tracking down loose supplies at the last minute, when you’re trying to get out the door to make it to your meeting. It’s also a good idea to set out your clothes the night before for the same reason.

If you are planning to use multimedia equipment in your presentation, make sure in advance that your prospect will have everything you’ll need to make it run. If you aren’t sure, bring everything (e.g., cables, adapters, remotes) with you. And of course, make sure you know how to use all your equipment. When Keith Waldon, CEO of Earth Preserv, was preparing for a meeting with JCPenney, one of his biggest prospects, he spent hours rehearsing with his multimedia equipment. The technology was a key element of his presentation, and he wanted to make sure everything would work perfectly for the big day. “I had to learn how to use all the remote-control equipment,” he says. Waldon also brought a technical assistant with him as backup to safeguard against any glitches. [8]

Getting There

It might surprise you to know how often salespeople show up late to their own presentations because they get lost on the way to the meeting. When you are traveling to an unfamiliar place for your appointment, get directions in advance, and allow extra travel time in case of traffic delays or wrong turns. Make sure you also research the parking situation beforehand. If your prospect is a large corporation with its own complex, are there reserved employee lots and visitor lots? Will you have to walk a considerable distance from your car to the meeting room? If you’ll be meeting in an urban area, is street parking available, or will you have to find a parking garage? You don’t want to arrive on time only to get delayed because you spent twenty minutes driving around in search of a parking spot. It’s a good idea to make a “test” trip in advance of your meeting. That will help avoid surprises with traffic, parking, security, or other areas that might cause a delay. If something unavoidable does come up to set you back, make sure you call ahead to let your customer know you will be arriving late.

Besides the extra time you allow for travel, plan to arrive at the meeting a little early. Not only does this convey professionalism, but it also gives you the time to mentally prepare once you arrive and to set up any equipment you’ll be using. It’s a good idea to allow time to stop in the restroom and take one last look to be sure you’re at your best (and it’s a good time to use a breath mint). Finally, bring something to read in case you have to wait: a business magazine, a newspaper like the Wall Street Journal , or maybe a Kindle.

Figure 10.1 Prepresentation Checklist

Key Takeaways

• When preparing for your sales presentation, stay focused on the essentials: your relationship with the prospect and your precall objectives.
• Practice mental rehearsal by visualizing the best possible outcome to the sales presentation.
• Delivering value to the customer means practicing adaptive selling and listening to the customer to understand her needs. Keep this in mind before and during the presentation.
• The night before your presentation, make sure you have all the logistics worked out: your equipment, your wardrobe, directions to the location, and parking information.
• You are preparing for a presentation with three executives to be considered for the internship or job you really want. List the steps you would take to rehearse your sales presentation, making sure to leave room for adaptability.
• You are preparing a presentation for representatives from a large department store who are considering buying your line of men’s shoes. There will be six representatives present, none of whom you have met in person before. You have heard from your original contact at the company that one person in the group is against purchasing your product because he believes he already has something in the line that has the same look. List some things you can do to prepare for this presentation that will address the prospect’s concerns.
• Assume you are a real estate agent and you are selling the dorm room, apartment, or home in which you live. Create a short sales presentation. Rehearse it so that the presentation takes only three minutes. What is the way that works best for you to rehearse?
• Assume you are sales rep for a major telecommunications company and you are preparing a presentation for a buying group at a national retailer. Identify four sources you would use to personalize the presentation to the people in the room. How would you research each of the appropriate people?
• Stephanie Clifford, “Find the Fox,” Inc. , February 1, 2007, http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070201/features-sales-performance-lo.html (accessed May 16, 2010). ↵
• Tom Reilly, Value-Added Selling: How to Sell More Profitably, Confidently, and Professionally by Competing on Value, Not Price , 2nd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002), 23–24. ↵
• William C. Moncrief and Greg W. Marshall, “The Evolution of the Seven Steps of Selling,” Industrial Marketing Management 34, no. 1 (2005): 18. ↵
• Richard White, “Déjà Vu,” Pro Excellence, http://www.pro-excellence.com/html/resources.html (accessed May 16, 2010). ↵
• Brian Tracy, Advanced Selling Strategies (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 80. ↵
• Maryfran Johnson, “Rehearsing Success,” CIO Magazine , June 10, 2009, http://www.cio.com/article/494729/Why_Even_Successful_Speakers_Need_To_Practice (accessed May 16, 2010). ↵
• Susan Greco, “Anatomy of a Launch: The Five-Hour Multimedia Sales Presentation,” Inc. , October 1, 1995, http://www.inc.com/magazine/19951001/2441.html (accessed May 16, 2010). ↵
• Powerful Selling. Authored by : Anonymous. Provided by : Anonymous. Located at : http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/powerful-selling/ . License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Want To Close More Sales? THEN L-I-S-T-E-N UP!. Authored by : Chuck Bauer. Located at : https://youtu.be/VbuKVirVj60 . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License