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How to Deliver an Effective Sales Pitch, with Examples

March 5, 2021 - Julian Mayhew

Many people find delivering a sales pitch the most daunting part of becoming an entrepreneur but to generate business you need to effectively sell your products or services.

Delivering a great sales pitch can be the difference between securing a contract and failing to do so, or persuading a business to fund you rather than going it alone.

You’ll have to learn your client’s needs, learn what their problems are, and find a solution that fulfils all of their requirements. Only then can you present the pitch to close the deal. In this article, we discuss how to deliver an effective sales pitch.

Article contents

• Preparing for the pitch

Pitch introduction

During the pitch, ending the pitch.

• How to practice

Sales pitch preparation

Pitch to the right person.

Ensure that you’re pitching to the people that approve purchases; those that make the decisions about buying products or using services. Find out who the decision-makers are in the company and request to pitch to them because it’s a waste of everybody’s time if you’re speaking to the wrong people.

Research the company

The fundamentals of forming an effective sales pitch is understanding your prospect, their company and their industry. Without this you cannot tailor messages to target unique concerns. You need to research your prospect and find out:

• Who are they?
• How long have they worked in this industry?
• What background do they have?
• What does this company do?
• What problems do they have?
• Who are their competitors?

Also research the prospect’s industry to find common problems and think about how your product or service can help. Consider asking contacts, that work in this industry, about the problems as this allows you to hear your target audience describe their industry’s problems in their own words which is incredibly valuable.

Remember that you’re trying to find out what this client’s specific business needs are and how this links with what you’re selling, so ask yourself what will they gain by working with you?

Tailor the pitch to the client

Clients will immediately see through a pitch that has been reworked from an old one. To grab their attention you need to show them that you care about their business and have done the research to tailor your pitch to them. There are four simple ways to do this:

1. Find out what you can online – as described above

Also look up their profiles on LinkedIn and study the company’s website and social media sites.

2. Ask them questions before the pitch

Before you begin writing a pitch you should find out what the  client weaknesses  and needs are. No client will begrudge you doing your homework before the pitch and it will add a huge amount of value to it.

3. Use the client’s own words

Every company has their own jargon and set of ‘sayings’ or ‘mottos’. Integrating these into your pitch will resonate with the client and show that you have tailored the pitch to them.

4. Show empathy

Relating to the problems of the client and showing empathy with them will clearly put you on ‘their side’. This will help you to position yourself as a solution and will increase your chance of pitching successfully.

Anticipate objections

A common point wherein sales pitches fall down is when the solution is challenged. The client may see a problem or want to know more about an aspect of the proposal and you need to be ready to answer these questions quickly and effectively. Failing to do so will make you seem underprepared and unreliable.

Whilst you do want to focus on the highlights of the pitch, you also need to pick it apart and challenge it so that you can identify the weaknesses. Identify at least ten of the most likely reasons why someone might say they don’t need or want your product/service and prepare clear and succinct answers to these.

The  most common sales objections  are: Budget, Authority, Need and Time (BANT).

Rehearse these answers so you don’t have to think of how to articulate them during the pitch. Instead you can focus on answering in a reassuring way whilst maintaining eye contact and using body language to communicate trust and honesty. You’ll be able to sharpen your responses even more based on the feedback received at pitches.

Give the presentation structure

An effective pitch has a structure that makes it easy to follow. A common structure follows this format:

• What the client’s problem is
• The solution
• Agreeing to the next steps with the client

Whatever structure you decide on ensure that it’s simple as you’re less likely to lose the client this way.

Dealing with nerves

Remember that you haven’t been invited to pitch for the purpose of being ridiculed – the clients wants to hear how you can help their company. Plan for  managing your nerves  by:

• Avoiding consuming too much caffeine beforehand as this is a stimulant and can leave you feeling more nervous and shaky.
• Preparing music or a podcast that you can listen to on the way to the pitch.
• Find a  mindfulness exercise  you’d feel comfortable doing as you travel to the venue.
• Master controlled breathing beforehand so you can engage in this right before beginning the pitch.
• If you have time, engage in exercise beforehand. Exercising releases endorphins which reduce stress levels and make you feel better.
• Recognise that it’s unlikely that the clients will know that you’re feeling nervous – you do not look as anxious as you feel. If you’re finding it difficult to hide your nerves you can use this energy to emphasise your emotions, such as, the excitement you feel at one of the product’s features. The emotion you display will hide your nerves.

Learn more about using  AI to practice your sales pitches .

Open the pitch with energy and a strong posture

First impressions  have a huge impact on your sales pitch so shuffling in and looking nervously around as you set up will ensure you lose the client’s attention. Instead, practice maintaining eye contact with each audience member for a few seconds and keep your shoulders open so that you seem friendly and approachable.

Open with enthusiasm and ensure that you speak clearly from the outset – if you’re nervous you may automatically speed up your pitch so if you notice you’re doing this pause, take a few breaths and then continue at a slower rate.

Use your posture to show that you feel confident and comfortable. Stand tall and straight without slouching, keep your feet shoulder-width apart and evenly distribute your weight on both feet. This shows you feel confident in your product/services, it also discourages nervous movements and opens up your diaphragm to help you speak loudly and clearly.

Keep it short

Don’t start the pitch with a long monologue about yourself and the company’s history. This information can be found online and it’s likely that the client has already viewed it. You can provide a brief summary but move on quickly as you have limited time to get to the content the client actually care about.

Use an impressive cover slide

People engage much more with information displayed visually as opposed to just text. It’s therefore vital that you show either clear images, diagrams and other visual material, keeping text to a minimum. A vibrant and  appealing cover slide  will capture their attention right away.

Practice Sales Pitching

Improve your sales pitching skills by practicing in interactive exercises with automated feedback on performance. Learn More

Offer a solution to their needs

A  study has shown that  “only 13% of executive buyers believe that a salesperson can clearly show they understand their business issues and articulate a way to solve them.”

The key element in every sales pitch is offering a solution to the client’s needs – this is where you should focus most of your attention. You need to outline the problems and present the solution as a saleable and actionable product.

You might think that your product is great so you want to talk about all of its features but your client isn’t interested in your product – they’re only interested in what it will do for them. How can you make their life easier, how can you help run their business more effectively and help them be more successful? Translate the features into your client’s benefits.

Focus on confidence when presenting

It’s easy to practice the content of your pitch but you need to work on how you deliver the message. Don’t be doubtful in a pitch, for example, avoid saying “I’m hoping that… I’m aiming for…” Absolutes are better, such as, “It will” – you need to reflect certainty as this shows that you believe in the product so everyone else should as well.

Your body language and voice need to project enthusiasm and confidence. Imagine that somebody who doesn’t understand your language is watching your pitch – they should still get the impression that you have confidence in what you’re saying, know what you’re talking about and enjoy talking about it.

Tips for confident body language:

• Use the power pose (there is some  debate over how effective this is )
• Maintain eye contact with the buyers
• Use gestures to emphasise points
• Match facial expressions with what you’re saying
• Reduce nervous habits
• Slowly and steadily breathe
• Use vocal variety appropriately

For more details read our  8 Elements of Confident Body Language

Example of delivering a confident pitch

MIT’s 100K finale presentation:

MIT’s 100K finale presentation in 2015. The winner was Raptor Maps, a drone-based approach to monitoring crop health and yields. Watch team members Nikhil Vadhavkar and Forrest Meyen deliver the winning sales pitch!

Notice the following:

• How they open the presentation
• Confidence when presenting
• Deal with questions at the end
• Tell a story
• Use positive body language

Use simple language

Your aim is to be clear and easy to understand. Don’t use jargon unless it’s standard in their industry. Remove unnecessary buzzwords, such as “synergy”.

Be genuine and listen

Clients should not feel bullied or forced into a choice and being pushy will guarantee a bad relationship. Go into your pitch focusing on how you can help your prospect because you’re already approaching the pitch in a way of putting their needs first.

The most effective sales pitches facilitate a two-way exchange between the seller and client – it’s more of a conversation. This dialogue helps build better relationships. So try to deliver the pitch in a way that prompts them to share information with you. The following tips can help with this:

• Allow the client to interrupt
• Ensure that you don’t have an exact script because this will come across as insincere – having talking points is fine but a script is not because each interaction will differ and it needs to be tailored to the client
• Ask questions
• Present information in which they can agree or disagree with
• If you’re not comfortable trying to involve the client throughout your pitch, incorporate Q&A afterwards

When your client speaks really listen to them and don’t just wait for them to stop speaking so you can move on to your next talking point. No amount of preparation can replace thoughtful listening. Only then can you suitably address any apprehensions and decide whether your goods are the right match for them.

Also respond with thoughtful follow-up questions as this is crucial to understanding their needs and closing the deal. If you’re listening and asking the right questions you can adjust your message to attract the buyer.

Tell a success story

Clients  love to hear a story  about how you have helped another client and the more detailed you can be with this the better. Don’t give them an overly detailed account of how you helped, but be sure to provide some concrete numbers. Telling them that a similar company invested X and got Y in return will show them that what you are saying really works and has a proven track record.

Providing actual numbers to highlight improvement sounds significantly more impressive, such as this client saw their userbase grow by 3x, or this client increased their revenue by 10% due to our implementation.

Distinguish your product / services from competitors

You should describe how your product or service is different from competitors. It can be useful to ask the client about their experiences with similar products because this has the benefit of leading into why your product/service is unique and it also helps initiate a conversation.

Show value for money

Every client wants to see the value they will get form their investment. Make it clear how what you are offering will benefit the company. Diagrams, headers and testimonials will help you here. Give them impressive figures that they can jot down, remember and come back to when considering the pitch.

Use visual aids carefully

If your product can be demonstrated then show this in your pitch.

Slides can be useful to structure the presentation and show certain aspects of a product’s benefits. But they can also be a distraction as you or your audience may start reading which can reduce the authenticity of your pitch. Also, static visuals can’t match your voice’s enthusiasm. Top salespeople deliver pitches without slides as this leads into conversation faster.

If you feel that you need slides then display a title that conveys the key points of each slide, include a visual element and include no more than three pieces of information on each slide.

Read our article on  using visual aids during a pitch .

Limit your number of solutions

It can be tempting to offer clients a large range of solutions at varying price points to ensure a sale, but this can actually be detrimental to the pitch. Keeping the list of options  down to a minimum  shows that they are well thought through and makes them stand out as the key solutions. If you have a wide range of solutions this may confuse the client.

Use the words of happy customers

Supporting your claims with the words of other clients can go a  long way . Statistics show that 5 reviews is the magic number for increasing online sales and the same principle applies in a sales pitch. Telling the client about a happy customer is one thing, but showing them how happy a customer is in their own words is another thing entirely.

Integrate your most complimentary testimonials into the pitch and you’ll be more likely to convert. Clients will believe the words of others and trust you more when they see how others have praised you in the industry.

Don’t pressure sell

One key thing to avoid in your pitch is the pressure sell. Using tactics like offering a discount if they sign up now will only put prospective clients off and drive your pitch into the ground. It is important that the client sees the purchase as their own decision based on well thought out business principles.

The best you can do is to lay the arguments for a purchase in front of them clearly and allow them to decide that this is the right step to take. As long as your call to action is strong enough then they will make the right decision in the time frame you have outlined for them.

Read more about this in our article:  Powerful Sales Techniques and Tips

Ask if clarification is needed

Sometimes a sales pitch fails because the client was not clear on some key features of your goods. Avoid this by providing them with a chance to ask questions and ask if they need more information on something.

This can also help: prompt a conversation between you and the client which can build better relationships, make you seem more genuine and it gets you to repeat and emphasise the value of what you’re selling.

End with a clear call to action

The final stage in any pitch is to end on a clear call to action. Tell the client what needs to happen in order for them to realise the results that you have discussed. Set some clear timelines of when they can see results if they meet your call to action. If you can tell a client that they can achieve a goal by a certain date then they will recognise that delaying is only to their detriment.

Don’t wait for your prospect to make the call to action – this is your responsibility and not doing this could lead to the relationship or meeting ending before you have met your reason for coming.

Remember to close and agree to next steps

As it’s a dialogue you might forget to close, in fact a study found that 85% of the meetings between sellers and clients end without the seller ever asking for the sale. But closing is crucial.

You’ve done most of the work already, all you need to do now is  ask for their business . Don’t talk yourself out of the sale- ask for their business and don’t add any more information as you’ve already provided this. Avoid filling the silence and allow them to think before they respond. The close should feel like a natural progression from the rest of your pitch so asking for their business will seem like the next logical step.

You may need to negotiate with the client. You may get a “maybe” or a “yes” even if they’ve initially declined. Consider offering samples or trial periods.

After a client has decided to buy they want to get the best deal. There are rules:

• Know your price  – know your numbers beforehand and decide when you have to walk away from the deal. If a client can’t afford to pay what your goods are worth then they might not be right for your business.
• Be quiet  – let them do the talking, by not talking at the right time clients often negotiate on your behalf.

Deal with rejection respectfully and gracefully

You need to be ok with a “no” and go into the next meeting feeling positive and enthusiastic. The number of companies who won’t buy is always larger than the number who will so anticipate rejection, accept it gracefully and thank the buyers for their time.

Ask for referrals

If you have built up a positive relationship with your prospect ask for referrals to other potential clients. Ensure that you ask for a quick email introduction as a name and phone number is unlikely to generate a reply.

If you have been referred your pitch is likely to be well-received as you are already viewed as credible and worth listening to.

Ensure that you have a follow-up in place

80% of all deals are made in the follow-up so when you end the pitch and walk out of the door you want to already have your follow-up or at least a mechanism to follow up in place. If you leave with no means to contact the client then you will effectively be cold calling when you pick up the phone to make contact again.

But if you have a meeting lined up or a call in the diary then you can leave with a clear time frame for them to consider the proposal and reach a conclusion. This will add urgency without pressure and will increase your chances of success.

Send a follow-up email within 24 hours thanking the client for the meeting despite the outcome. If you made plans for next steps, such as setting up another meeting, getting a referral, sending more information etc., then include this in the message.

Continue to follow-up until you get a yes or a definite no. Never interpret a lack of response as a no. You have to be relentless.

Review and amend your pitch

Think about what went well and what didn’t and alter your pitch.

How to practice your sales pitch

Following the steps above will ensure that your sales pitch is clear, direct and effective, but there is still no replacement for practice. Making a sales pitch is much like acting in that you need to convey the message in a certain way to elicit the reaction that you desire. Very few people can make a great sales pitch on the first attempt, so you will need to practice.

Begin with a solid pitch that is ready to present to a client and read it through until you are familiar with each slide. You are then ready to practice.

Practice for a video-based sales pitch

Many people now deliver sales pitches remotely through online video conferencing platforms such as Zoom or Teams. We now have to build relationships with prospects online, understand their needs online, and present our solutions over video.

Video conferencing simulations allow you to practice delivering a sales pitch in a virtual setting.

Learn more about practicing for your video-based pitch:

• Course: Video based sales pitching

Practice in Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual reality allows you to practice different sales pitching techniques in a safe, realistic environment. You can practice high stakes situations, such as pitching to important clients, as often as you like until you are confident with your approach.

Practicing in this way also allows you to receive feedback on your performance. Through speech recognition and motion detection software, you can receive feedback on eye contact, number of hesitation words used, pace of your voice and other metrics.

Benefits of training in VR:

• Load your own presentation slides into the virtual room to practice with
• Instant feedback on your sales pitch
• Eye contact feedback to help you engage with the clients
• Prepare with realistic environments and audience
• Practice high stakes situations as often as you like
• Identify keywords you are saying and how often

Learn more about how you can practice in VR:

• Course: Sales Pitch and Closing with VR

The Perfect Sales Pitch: Examples, Templates, and Best Practices

Overfamiliar, aggressive, awkward — we’ve all been on the receiving end of a terrible sales pitch from a pushy seller.

But sales pitches are so much more than an uncomfortable phone call or an unwarranted email. In fact, a great pitch should make a buyer’s life better by connecting them with products and solutions that solve their most urgent problems.

How can you maximize the potential of your sales pitch? In this guide, we’ll reveal the secrets to ensuring your outreach is pitch-perfect by answering common questions like:

• What is a sales pitch?
• How do you make a sales pitch?
• What needs to be included in a sales pitch?
• What makes a sales pitch bad?
• How to deliver a sales pitch
• Templates for sales pitches that capture attention

Let’s dive in.

WHAT IS A SALES PITCH ?

A sales pitch is a well-crafted sales presentation that connects salespeople with potential buyers. The goal of a sales pitch is to catch a potential customer’s attention and convince them to learn more. Pitches can happen anywhere — via email, social media, or in person. A great sales pitch should pique the buyer’s curiosity and convey clear value.

For more on how to craft the best sales pitch, see what our team of sales experts has to say in the video below

HOW DO YOU MAKE A SUCCESSFUL SALES PITCH?

Creating an effective sales pitch is simple — just follow these five steps.

1. Research, research, and research some more

Great research will help build a foundation of value for your pitch, increasing the likelihood that your buyer will respond. Try to understand to whom you are pitching. What does their company do? What goals might that company have? What buyer persona are they most likely to fit in? Additionally, don’t forget to explore the customer’s story and profile — find out who they are, what their role is, and if you have any shared interests that might help you set the tone for the rest of the customer relationship.

2. Frame it around the customer’s needs , not yours

Talking about your product is the fastest way to get buyers to tune out. A winning sales pitch is about the customer, not you. Think about the functionality of your product and the value it provides for your potential clients. Are you reducing costs? Improving efficiency? Eliminating manual tasks? Buyers will respond more to the benefits of your product pitch than anything else.

3. Choose the right channel

There are many venues through which a sales pitch can be delivered — email, social media, or a phone call. Think about both the customer’s needs and their industry. Think about both the buyer and their industry. Mature, more established industries may respond better to more traditional forms of outreach, like a sales call. On the other hand, a highly innovative or startup company may prefer modern approaches, like a direct message through social media. That said, don’t stress over this stage too much; if you don’t get a response from one channel, it’s totally acceptable to try again via another one.

4. Make it personal

Next, think about personalization. Most reps use automation tools or work off a base pitch template, but that template should change based on how you are delivering your pitch and who it’s going to. For instance, you’d use different language based on whether you’re pitching a prospect via social media than you would through a sales email. You’ll also want to tailor your pitch so that the value and benefits you’re describing map to actual buyer pain points — after all, someone in healthcare will have very different needs than someone in manufacturing.

5. Tell the buyer what you want them to do

Finally, always end with a call to action. What do you want the buyer to do? Call you back or respond with times to meet? It’s critical that you close with a clear next step, so stay away from vague phrases like “What do you think?” Go for strong, timely, actionable phrases instead — check out the examples in the next section for more inspiration.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE INCLUDED IN A SALES PITCH ?

Now that you know how to make a sales pitch, let’s take a closer look at what the pitch itself should say. Regardless of channel, there are three main components to every successful pitch.

Whether it’s the opening line of your cold call or the subject line of your cold email, your hook should capture your buyer’s attention. Great ideas for openings include:

• Asking a question (“How would you like to increase revenue…”)
• Share a data point (“Did you know that 60% of CEOs…”)
• Reference a shared connection (“Saw that you were also a fan of…”)
• Cut to the chase (“I won’t waste your time — just wanted to share…”)
• Mention a recent interaction (“It was great connecting with you at…”)

After your hook, you should quickly explain why you are contacting your buyer and what your product can do for them. Keep this value prop short but enticing. Some key points to hit on include:

• What your product is in plain English — now is not the time for marketing jargon.
• Why the buyer should continue to engage with you using data, case studies, testimonials, or market research.
• How will the buyer personally benefit should they respond? Do this by typing the benefits from the previous bullet to the buyer’s goals or objectives.

Call to Action

Finally, close your call, social, or email pitch out with a call to action, or CTA. Push to include a clear next step your buyer can take, like calling you back or responding with availability. Take a look at these examples:

• When is a good time to chat about this more?
• Would you be open to a call to hear more?
• What is the best way to connect on this?
• Do you have any availability next Tuesday for a quick call?
• How would 15 minutes next week sound?
• Does it make sense to connect for 10 minutes this week?

WHAT MAKES A SALES PITCH BAD?

There are some sales pitch techniques you should avoid at all costs. Before you send your pitch or dial your customer, skim your pitch for any of these red flags:

• “I” statements: Your sales pitch has limited real estate. Don’t waste it on talking about yourself.
• Long pitches: The term “elevator pitch” should be taken literally. You shouldn’t take an hour to deliver your value proposition. A good sales pitch should be delivered in the time it takes a person to go from the lobby to the second floor.
• Product pricing: Getting a buyer to speak about their wallets, or money in general, on the first interaction is a fast way to have them ignore you because you don’t sound interested in them or their journey.
• Complicated explanations of product features or capabilities: During the prospecting stage, buyers aren’t ready to discuss solution details or look through an entire pitch deck.
• Overfamiliar greetings like “How was your weekend?”: Unless you’ve met the prospect before, this will come off as creepy.
• Generic pitches: If this pitch could work for any prospect, then it’s probably not tailored enough to capture a prospect’s attention.
• Promises you can’t keep: It may be tempting to promise buyers the moon, but this approach will ultimately set them up for disappointment; be realistic and let the strength of your product speak for itself.

HOW TO DELIVER A SALES PITCH

Any inside sales rep will tell you that pitching is hard. No matter which channel you work through, engaging with customers is a nerve-wracking experience. But it’s not impossible.

The key to delivering a flawless pitch is to stay confident. And the way to build confidence is through preparation. Here’s how:

• Practice your pitch live before you deliver it . While it may seem silly to recite a pitch to your roommate (or your pet), live practice is one of the most effective ways to work out the kinks in your delivery so you’re fully comfortable speaking in front of prospective clients, even if you’re pitching through a digital channel. — so it’s best to start honing your live pitch delivery skills sooner rather than later.
• Keep buyer profiles on hand. In general, most pitches will be done remotely via phone calls, social media outreach, or email. Take advantage of the fact that your buyer isn’t in the room by keeping your account reach on hand during interactions. Think of these notes as a security blanket. Sure, you could deliver the pitch without them, but in the event that your nerves get the best of you, you can recover quickly and discreetly.
• Know what your next step is. Don’t get caught flat-footed when a customer says “yes” to your pitch. Especially for live interactions, it’s important to know what your next step looks like. In some cases, this may be as simple as asking a buyer for time to set up a demo. But buyers may want to talk shop while they have you — so be prepared to dive deeper. It can help to keep a sales play or discovery call deck on hand to guide you through a more in-depth conversation, should the need arise.

TEMPLATES FOR SALES PITCHES THAT CAPTURE CUSTOMER ATTENTION

There’s no one right away to craft a sales pitch. That said, these sales pitch examples can help your sales team get started — just don’t forget to personalize using the strategies we discussed earlier for the best conversion rates.

1. The Shared Connection

This approach is useful when you and your buyer have something in common outside of work, like a shared hobby or alma mater.

Hi <<>>,

Reaching out as we’re connected on LinkedIn, I found your recent post about the best restaurants in Seattle super handy. Your suggestion to “eat outside our comfort zones” was a great reminder to be more adventurous in my dinner choices.

And in the spirit of trying new things, I wanted to share our latest research with you. I would love to connect to walk you through the report and get a sense of your near-term goals.

Would you be open to this?

2. The Data Dump

Data is a great way to catch buyer attention, especially if it can help them make the case to their team for your product.

The bad news: marketing burn is all too real these days. The good news? Help is on the way. New research shows that our platform can deliver:

• 72% increase in buyer engagement
• 50% in open-rates
• 20% decrease in attrition

How does 15 minutes next week sound to walk through how our customers achieved these numbers with our platform?

3. The Celebratory Moment

Eventually, one of your pitches will coincide with a big moment in a buyer’s life. As long as it’s appropriate, leverage that moment to build a connection.

Congrats on the recent promotion to Senior Program Manager! As you settle into your new role, curious to see how you’re approaching project management?

Did you know that a simple reduction of two manual tasks can win you back five hours a week?

Our platform makes it easier than ever for you to focus on the work that matters. If it makes sense, I would love to connect more on what we could do for you to make your day more efficient.

Do you have time next week?

4. The Incentive Follow-Up

Finally, this is a great template to use when leads are tepid or unresponsive — especially when paired with a personalized message.

With the weather cooling down, wanted to see if you’d be interested in a virtual coffee? Again, I would love to connect on our solution and fill you in on the use cases your peers are currently using our platform to solve. If not, enjoy a coffee on me!

PITCH-PERFECT CUSTOMER OUTREACH

Sales pitches don’t have to be an awkward experience. With these sales pitch ideas and techniques, you should be able to craft a sales pitch that strikes all the right chords with your target audience, ensuring your outreach is pitch-perfect and gets your buyers to the next step of the sales process every time.

Ready to put your pitching skills into action? Explore how Highspot makes engaging customers easier and more effective than ever .

The Highspot Team works to create and promote the Highspot sales enablement platform, which gives businesses a powerful sales advantage to engage in more relevant buyer conversations and achieve their revenue goals. Through AI-powered search, analytics, in-context training, guided selling, and 50+ integrations, the Highspot platform delivers enterprise-ready sales enablement in a modern design that sales reps and marketers love.

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Sales pitch

Last updated: 21 December, 2023

Sales pitch meaning

Recipe for the best sales pitch.

• Know your customers
• Concentrate on communicating
• Outshine the competition
• Tell a story to create a connection
• Be enthusiastic and emotional
• Add confidence to your speech
• Call to action
• Learn from others

What to include in your sales presentation

What are sales presentation tips?

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Crafting a good sales pitch that will encourage your clients to take the next steps with you is tough. Some marketers come up with great sales pitch ideas but forget that it’s not only about figures, results, and facts that you throw at your customer. Rather, there are fundamental elements that need to be included in sales decks.

A sales pitch is a sales representative’s effort to present a product or service to new or existing customers and persuade them to make a purchase.

A sales pitch can vary in length and style depending on the audience, and include an introduction to a product, documents, diagrams, or other advertising media. 

Still, short pitching is better -1-3 minutes will be enough for a perfect pitch to describe the product’s benefits and grab the customer’s attention. In your pitch, you should explain how your product can help people and how they can generate revenue with its help.

Step 1. Know your customers  

Know your buyer persona and find out customers’ needs beforehand and draw attention to the product’s features that can solve their problems. If you can’t clearly understand what they’ll gain with your solution, then they’ll have no reason to buy it. Explain how your product can save time, cut costs, increase profits, etc. Be prepared to give an example of how you already helped someone. 

Step 2. Concentrate on communicating 

A successful sales pitch is a dialogue rather than a monologue. People often ask questions, and it’s a great chance to include them in a discussion and build a relationship with your potential customers. Listen attentively and show how exactly your product offers a solution to their issue. Wendy Weiss, a sales coach, also known as The Queen of Cold Calling, says:

A good pitch is one where you ask questions, listen to the prospects, and offer them a solution to a problem.

Step 3. Outshine the competition

Everybody has a competitor. You’ve got to know your market to show your special secret.

Tell the main feature that makes you different from others. How are you better than your competitors?

Step 4. Tell a story to create a connection  

With the story of your brand and product that supports your statements, you can quickly involve a modern customer to want to know more. When you do this efficiently, you will set a strong connection between you and your customer. Prospects often correlate successful stories to their life, and this brings them more reasons to buy.

Step 5. Be enthusiastic and emotional

Show your passion and dedication to the product. Emotions are contagious. Bring life to your pitch! If you’re not passionate about it, why should anyone else be? 

Step 6. Add confidence to your speech

Assure an audience that your pitch is worth listening to and make people feel confident about purchasing what you’re pitching. Once you’ve created your pitch, practice until you feel confident presenting it in front of customers. Practice makes perfect.

Step 7. Call to action  

Don’t cut your pitch with a simple “Thank you.” Do your best to attract customers’ emotional attention. Build a connection with them so that they are ready to convert and throw money at you before you leave or so that they certainly want to get in touch with you. 

Here’s one of the best sales pitch examples to close a deal. Take a look at the previously outlined points.

Step 8. Learn from others

There’s plenty of useful sales pitch templates, scripts, examples, and success stories on the internet. Get inspiration from what others have created or check out videos where experienced entrepreneurs share their secrets to the perfect sales pitch.

Draw the attention to your visuals that back up your speech. You may use posters, handouts, whiteboards, etc. 

The most commonly used form of visual aid now is a PowerPoint presentation. But be careful with it. Omit long-text slides, as well as bullets and numbers, as they may often distract people from the verbal pitch. Besides, many customers find pitches with slides boring. Just go with a headline or images to keep the audience engaged. 

Present your company logo. A picture’s worth a thousand words. The customer looks at the logo, remembers it, and then focuses on a sales rep, listening to reasons it’s worth attention. 

What are the sales presentation tips?

David Rose, a serial entrepreneur and investor, defines top five presentation tips:

• Never look at the screen. You’re making a connection with people; the screen should be an addition to what you’re doing, not a replacement. 
• Don’t read your speech. 
• The handouts you give are not your presentation. The purpose of your pitch is to attract the customer’s attention. If you want to give more detailed information, prepare handouts.
• Always use a remote control. Don’t disturb people by touching the computer all the time.
• Always use presenter mode. It lets you know exactly where you’re going, helps take your time, and gives you a timer.

Wrapping it up

Use the aforementioned tips to succeed with your pitch. It’s extremely important to present a crystal clear brief outline of your product that will raise customers’ awareness and leave a trace to think and certainly close a sale!

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7 Amazing Sales Presentation Examples (And How to Make Them Your Own)

7 Types of Slides to Include In Your Sales Presentation

Inside the mind of your prospect: change is hard, before-after-bridge: the only formula you need to create a persuasive sales presentation, facebook — how smiles and simplicity make you more memorable, contently — how to build a strong bridge, brick by brick, yesware — how to go above and beyond with your benefits, uber — how to cater your content for readers quick to scan, dealtap — how to use leading questions to your advantage, zuora — how to win over your prospects by feeding them dots, linkedin sales navigator — how to create excitement with color, how to make a sales pitch in 4 straightforward steps, 7 embarrassing pitfalls to avoid in your presentation, over to you.

A brilliant sales presentation has a number of things going for it.

Being product-centered isn’t one of them. Or simply focusing on your sales pitch won’t do the trick.

So what can you do to make your offer compelling?

From different types of slides to persuasive techniques and visuals, we’ve got you covered.

Below, we look at data-backed strategies, examples, and easy steps to build your own sales presentations in minutes.

• Title slide: Company name, topic, tagline
• The “Before” picture: No more than three slides with relevant statistics and graphics.
• The “After” picture: How life looks with your product. Use happy faces.
• Company introduction: Who you are and what you do (as it applies to them).
• The “Bridge” slide: Short outcome statements with icons in circles.
• Social proof slides: Customer logos with the mission statement on one slide. Pull quote on another.
• “We’re here for you” slide: Include a call-to-action and contact information.

Many sales presentations fall flat because they ignore this universal psychological bias: People overvalue the benefits of what they have over what they’re missing.

Harvard Business School professor John T. Gourville calls this the “ 9x Effect .” Left unchecked, it can be disastrous for your business.

According to Gourville, “It’s not enough for a new product simply to be better. Unless the gains far outweigh the losses, customers will not adopt it.”

The good news: You can influence how prospects perceive these gains and losses. One of the best ways to prove value is to contrast life before and after your product.

Luckily, there’s a three-step formula for that.

• Before → Here’s your world…
• After → Imagine what it would be like if…
• Bridge → Here’s how to get there.

Start with a vivid description of the pain, present an enviable world where that problem doesn’t exist, then explain how to get there using your tool.

It’s super simple, and it works for cold emails , drip campaigns , and sales discovery decks. Basically anywhere you need to get people excited about what you have to say.

In fact, a lot of companies are already using this formula to great success. The methods used in the sales presentation examples below will help you do the same.

We’re all drawn to happiness. A study at Harvard tells us that emotion is contagious .

You’ll notice that the “Before” (pre-Digital Age) pictures in Facebook’s slides all display neutral faces. But the cover slide that introduces Facebook and the “After” slides have smiling faces on them.

This is important. The placement of those graphics is an intentional persuasion technique.

Studies by psychologists show that we register smiles faster than any other expression. All it takes is 500 milliseconds (1/20th of a second). And when participants in a study were asked to recall expressions, they consistently remembered happy faces over neutral ones.

What to do about it : Add a happy stock photo to your intro and “After” slides, and keep people in “Before” slides to neutral expressions.

Here are some further techniques used during the sales presentation:

Tactic #1: Use Simple Graphics

Use simple graphics to convey meaning without text.

Example: Slide 2 is a picture of a consumer’s hand holding an iPhone — something we can all relate to.

Why It Works: Pictures are more effective than words — it’s called  Picture Superiority . In presentations, pictures help you create connections with your audience. Instead of spoon-feeding them everything word for word, you let them interpret. This builds trust.

Tactic #2: Use Icons

Use icons to show statistics you’re comparing instead of listing them out.

Example: Slide 18 uses people icons to emphasize how small 38 out of 100 people is compared to 89 out of 100.

Why It Works:  We process visuals 60,000 times faster than text.

Tactic #3: Include Statistics

Include statistics that tie real success to the benefits you mention.

Example: “71% lift driving visits to retailer title pages” (Slide 26).

Why It Works:  Precise details prove that you are telling the truth.

Just like how you can’t drive from Marin County to San Francisco without the Golden Gate, you can’t connect a “Before” to an “After” without a bridge.

Add the mission statement of your company — something Contently does from Slide 1 of their deck. Having a logo-filled Customers slide isn’t unusual for sales presentations, but Contently goes one step further by showing you exactly what they do for these companies.

They then drive home the Before-After-Bridge Formula further with case studies:

Before : Customer’s needs when they came on

After: What your company accomplished for them

Bridge : How they got there (specific actions and outcomes)

Here are some other tactics we pulled from the sales presentation:

Tactic #1: Use Graphics/Diagrams

Use graphics, Venn diagrams, and/or equations to drive home your “Before” picture.

Why It Works:  According to a Cornell study , graphs and equations have persuasive power. They “signal a scientific basis for claims, which grants them greater credibility.”

Tactic #2: Keep Slides That Have Bullets to a Minimum

Keep slides that have bullets to a minimum. No more than one in every five slides.

Why It Works:  According to an experiment by the International Journal of Business Communication , “Subjects exposed to a graphic representation paid significantly more attention to , agreed more with, and better recalled the strategy than did subjects who saw a (textually identical) bulleted list.”

Tactic #3: Use Visual Examples

Follow up your descriptions with visual examples.

Example: After stating “15000+ vetted, ready to work journalists searchable by location, topical experience, and social media influence” on Slide 8, Contently shows what this looks like firsthand on slides 9 and 10.

Why It Works:  The same reason why prospects clamor for demos and car buyers ask for test drives. You’re never truly convinced until you see something for yourself.

Which is more effective for you?

This statement — “On average, Yesware customers save ten hours per week” — or this image:

The graphic shows you what that 10 hours looks like for prospects vs. customers. It also calls out a pain that the product removes: data entry.

Visuals are more effective every time. They fuel retention of a presentation from 10% to 65% .

But it’s not as easy as just including a graphic. You need to keep the design clean.

Can you feel it?

Clutter provokes anxiety and stress because it bombards our minds with excessive visual stimuli, causing our senses to work overtime on stimuli that aren’t important.

Here’s a tip from Yesware’s Graphic Designer, Ginelle DeAntonis:

“Customer logos won’t all necessarily have the same dimensions, but keep them the same size visually so that they all have the same importance. You should also disperse colors throughout, so that you don’t for example end up with a bunch of blue logos next to each other. Organize them in a way that’s easy for the eye, because in the end it’s a lot of information at once.”

Here are more tactics to inspire sales presentation ideas:

Tactic #1: Personalize Your Final Slide

Personalize your final slide with your contact information and a headline that drives emotion.

Example: Our Mid-Market Team Lead Kyle includes his phone number and email address with “We’re Here For You”

Why It Works: These small details show your audience that:

• This is about giving them the end picture, not making a sale
• The end of the presentation doesn’t mean the end of the conversation
• Questions are welcomed

Tactic #2: Pair Outcome Statements With Icons in Circles

Example: Slide 4 does this with seven different “After” outcomes.

Why It Works:  We already know why pictures work, but circles have power , too. They imply completeness, infiniteness, and harmony.

Tactic #3: Include Specific Success Metrics

Don’t just list who you work with; include specific success metrics that hit home what you’ve done for them.

Example: 35% New Business Growth for Boomtrain; 30% Higher Reply Rates for Dyn.

Why It Works:  Social proof drives action. It’s why we wait in lines at restaurants and put ourselves on waitlists for sold-out items.

People can only focus for eight seconds at a time. (Sadly, goldfish have one second on us.)

This means you need to cut to the chase fast.

Uber’s headlines in Slides 2-9 tailor the “After” picture to specific pain points. As a result, there’s no need to explicitly state a “Before.”

Slides 11-13 then continue touching on “Before” problems tangentially with customer quotes:

So instead of self-touting benefits, the brand steps aside to let consumers hear from their peers — something that sways 92% of consumers .

Leading questions may be banned from the courtroom, but they aren’t in the boardroom.

DealTap’s slides ask viewers to choose between two scenarios over and over. Each has an obvious winner:

Ever heard of the Focusing Effect?

It’s part of what makes us tick as humans and what makes this design move effective. We focus on one thing and then ignore the rest. Here, DealTap puts the magnifying glass on paperwork vs. automated transactions.

Easy choice.

Sure, DealTap’s platform might have complexities that rival paperwork, but we don’t think about that. We’re looking at the pile of work one the left and the simpler, single interface on the right.

Here are some other tactics to use in your own sales presentation:

Tactic #1: Tell a Story

Tell a story that flows from one slide to the next.

Example: Here’s the story DealTap tells from slides 4 to 8: “Transactions are complicated” → “Expectations on all sides” → “Too many disconnected tools” → “Slow and error prone process” → “However, there’s an opportunity.

Why It Works:   Storytelling in sales with a clear beginning and end (or in this case, a “Before” and “After”) trigger a trust hormone called Oxytocin.

Tactic #2: This vs. That

If it’s hard to separate out one “Before” and “After” vision with your product or service because you offer many dissimilar benefits, consider a “This vs. That” theme for each.

Why It Works:  It breaks up your points into simple decisions and sets you up to win emotional reactions from your audience with stock photos.

Remember how satisfying it was to play connect the dots? Forming a bigger picture out of disconnected circles.

That’s what you need to make your audience do.

Zuora tells a story by:

• Laying out the reality (the “Before” part of the Before-After-Bridge formula).
• Asking you a question that you want to answer (the “After”)
• Giving you hints to help you connect the dots
• Showing you the common thread (the “Bridge”)

You can achieve this by founding your sales presentation on your audience’s intuitions. Set them up with the closely-set “dots,” then let them make the connection.

Here are more tactical sales presentation ideas to steal for your own use:

Tactic #1: Use Logos and Testimonials

Use logos and  testimonial pull-quotes for your highest-profile customers to strengthen your sales presentation.

Example: Slides 21 to 23 include customer quotes from Schneider Electric, Financial Times, and Box.

Why It Works: It’s called  social proof . Prospects value other people’s opinions and trust reputable sources more than you.

Tactic #2: Include White Space

Pad your images with white space.

Example: Slide 17 includes two simple graphics on a white background to drive home an important concept.

Why It Works:  White space creates separation, balance, and attracts the audience’s eyes to the main focus: your image.

Tactic #3: Incorporate Hard Data

Incorporate hard data with a memorable background to make your data stand out.

Example: Slide 5 includes statistics with a backdrop that stands out. The number and exciting title (‘A Global Phenomenon’) are the main focuses of the slide.

Why It Works:  Vivid backdrops are proven to be memorable and help your audience take away important numbers or data.

Psychology tells us that seeing colors can set our mood .

The color red is proven to increase the pulse and heart rate. Beyond that, it’s associated with being active, aggressive, and outspoken. LinkedIn Sales Navigator uses red on slides to draw attention to main points:

You can use hues in your own slides to guide your audience’s emotions. Green gives peace; grey adds a sense of calm; blue breeds trust. See more here .

Tip: You can grab free photos from Creative Commons and then set them to black & white and add a colored filter on top using a (also free) tool like Canva . Here’s the sizing for your image:

Caveat: Check with your marketing team first to see if you have a specific color palette or brand guidelines to follow.

Here are some other takeaways from LinkedIn’s sales presentation:

Tactic #1: Include a CTA on Final Slide

Include one clear call-to-action on your final slide.

Example: Slide 9 has a “Learn More” CTA button.

Why It Works:  According to the Paradox of Choice , the more options you give, the less likely they are to act.

Step One : Ask marketing for your company’s style guide (color, logo, and font style).

Step Two: Answer these questions to outline the “Before → After → Bridge” formula for your sales pitch :

• What are your ICP’s pain points?
• What end picture resonates with them?
• How does your company come into play?

Step Three: Ask account management/marketing which customers you can mention in your slides (plus where to access any case studies for pull quotes).

Step Four:  Download photos from Creative Commons . Remember: Graphics > Text. Use Canva to edit on your own — free and fast.

What are the sales presentation strategies that work best for your industry and customers? Tweet us:  @Yesware .

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Sales Presentation: Ideas, Examples and Templates to Present Like a Pro

Typically, a sales presentation is understood as a simple pitch, a demo, or a list of facts and figures. A good sales presentation is one that incorporates all of these elements while also being more than the sum of its parts.

A sales presentation is that sensitive, impactful activity that, if it is done at the right time in your sales process , it will get your sales prospect ’s attention, make them eager about your product or services, and make their buying decision in favor of you.

As a sales professional, you will find yourself presenting live in countless scenarios ranging from introducing your product or services at a trade show to upselling your product or services to a client visiting your store. This article is for all you sales professionals out there. The topics it will cover are:

What is a Sales Presentation?

Sales presentation techniques, storytelling and sales presentation, what should you bring to your sales presentation, tips for nailing your sales presentation, sales presentation examples, sales presentation template to present like a pro, how can deskera help your business with sales, key takeaways.

• Related Articles‌‌

An effective sales presentation is one that tells a compelling story, highlights your value proposition, and aligns with your audience’s needs and desires. It ends with a strong call-to-action and leads your prospects to your differentiators rather than leading with them.

A sales presentation is not always the same thing as a sales pitch. This is because while a sales pitch is what your team of sales professionals does all day long on a one-to-one basis on the phone or in person, a sales presentation, in contrast, is a more complicated sales pitch where your sales team is trying to close a more lucrative deal through meetings and demos.

Preparing your sales presentation hence requires an investment of time and effort and needs to be well planned in order to convert your leads into customers, increase sales and therefore increase revenue . Considering the responsibilities, hopes, and pressure that a sales presentation carries, even a salesperson who is great at cold calling and sales pitches can become a victim of workplace stress .

A sales presentation is an art as well as a science. It is an art because it requires you to handle each situation and client creatively- adapting to the environment and molding it so that you can achieve your goals. It is also a science because it does come with some techniques and strategies, which, when incorporated, is sure to bring you higher success rates. The various sales presentation techniques that you can use are:

• Send the Presentation Desk to Your Buyer Before Your Call

The benefit of this would be that if your prospect finds the deck compelling, then they would want to get into all the nitty-gritty details about it even after knowing its main content. This will help you in showing them how the solution you are offering is the best for their problem, the extra benefits that they will be able to get from it, and solve any queries that they might have. This will save everyone’s time, and your customer would move down the sales pipeline faster.

However, if your buyer has not gone through the deck before your call, they will just ask you to start from the beginning. Furthermore, sending the presentation deck to your buyer will show them how valued they are by your business and hence increase customer retention and customer satisfaction.

• Invoking Self-Discovery

The best way to ensure sales and, therefore, gross profits is by making your buyers realize what the problem is and what the solution for the same can be. The solution is where your products or services will come in. The best way to do so is by telling a story to your buyer in which they are the main character. The storytelling will serve all the above-mentioned purposes and also give you a buyer who has a strong sense of customer loyalty that will only get stronger when you are able to ensure their “ voice of the customer .”

• Do Not Skip to Point B. Talk About Point A.

Here, point A is the problem, whereas point B is the solution. When you directly skip to the positive outcomes of a solution, you lose out on the benefits that you would have derived by talking about point A. This is because point A is the problem that your buyer will constantly face unless they bring some change to it.

By talking about their problems repeatedly, you would be using the key sales psychology of how consumers are more likely to prefer loss aversion activities than benefiting activities. Combined with loss aversion tendency would be the sense of urgency that would further secure their purchase with you. Only after they are with you on the urgency stage, talk about the positive outcomes from the solution you are offering. Only now would your solution be truly appreciated hence bringing you your positive cash flow .

• Do Not Lead with Differentiators, Lead to Them

The key to having your buyers appreciate your differentiators-i.e. the unique features of your products or services, is by leading them to it, rather than starting your sales presentation with them. In order to do so, you will have to start by explaining to your buyers the problem that they are facing, the opportunity that they have missed, and then surrounding it with a sense of urgency.

Only when your buyer is clear along these lines should you introduce them to your differentiators. This way, your differentiator will land exactly where it is supposed to, hence taking you one step closer to completing your sales cycle successfully.

• Reveal the Outcome First

Presentations have a tendency to follow logical sequencing. While this makes sense in the academic setting, in the world of sales and customers, where your customers would definitely be busy, you will lose them midway through your sales presentation.

Therefore, start your sales presentation with the final outcome that you are expecting or predicting. The conversation will grow naturally from there. Another sales presentation tactic underlying this is that the best product demos start with the topics that your buyer has highlighted on the discovery call .

Not only should your product demo mirror all the topics highlighted by your buyer, but it should also follow the same prioritized sequence as they want. This is called solution mapping- which will up your sales presentation game by a lot.

• Having a Conversational Presentation

One of the best ways to have increasing sales and therefore increased net sales is by making sure that your sales presentation is an engaging two-way conversation between two people. A two-way dialogue will make the sales pitch more natural, with equal listening happening on both sides- yours and the buyer’s. This real and connected conversation involves the right questions with the right answers, followed by a higher probability of sales taking place.

• Following the 9-Minute Rule

To close your deals , you should follow the 9-minute rule for your sales presentation. This rule tells of how the human brain stops registering information properly from the 9th minute, hence making it important to change the channels in your buyer’s brain by either changing who is talking in the presentation, or in the video, or in the demo. This will reset the time back to zero, giving you more time to carry forward the next part of your presentation.

• Using Relevant Social Proof

When talking with your potential clients, you should know the correct timing for giving social proof. Too soon, and you will lose your client. Additionally, you should also know which social proof would be relevant to give.

For example, if your example involves big brands like Google, it will leave your potential clients impressed but also make them feel that your product or services are not the right fit for them. To prevent this, your social proof should be from the buyer’s tribe. A buyer’s tribe is one with which they share pain points, challenges, and needs.

Even if you tell a different tribe’s story, the pain point should match with your prospect. By sharing these stories, you are making your prospects imagine themselves in the customer’s story and see a solution or a benefit for themselves.

One of the other ways you can give social proof is through social selling on your social media- helping to build a bridge between your company and its leads. After efficient lead management , these would become potential clients who need a sales presentation.

• Use Customer Stories, Not ROI Calculators

As a customer, one processes information in 2 ways- logically and emotionally. If, while doing your sales presentation, you introduce ROI , then you are awakening the logical, analytical brain of your customer. This will make them more likely to argue with your assumptions.

However, if you resort to telling a story in which the customers are able to imagine themselves (hence leading to self-discovery) and have a before and after scenario for the product or service used to make them realize the value offered by your product or service, then this emotional connection is more likely to get them to make a buying decision in your favor.

• Talking About Price After Establishing Value

It is crucial that as a salesperson, you know when to talk about pricing in your sales presentation. When setting the agenda for the call with your prospect, make sure you tell them when to expect a discussion on pricing. This discussion should be scheduled by you after you have shown them the value of your product or services, as only then would they agree to the pricing offered by you without you losing a deal. Also, by doing so, you would be better able to handle sales objections.

Using Your Competitor’s Strength in Your Favor

One of the most common sales presentation tactics involves using your competitor’s weakness and showing your product or service’s strength in exchange. This, however, leaves you vulnerable to attack and debate. The other smarter sales presentation technique involves learning and using your competitor’s strength to prove why their product or service is a poor fit for you.

For instance, when in 1985 the marketing of Burger King and McDonald's was head to head, Burger King used McDonald’s marketing attribution and strength- being a kids friendly place as its weakness by saying, at Burger King, it is the place for adults and real burgers, not just fun food. Burger King’s choice of brand awareness and brand positioning statement made it a winner in this marketing competition.

Talk About Your Competitors Early On

While doing your sales presentation, it is important that you talk about your competitors from the beginning rather than ignoring them completely, only to bring them up later in the conversation. This way, you would be able to influence your prospect’s opinions before they get solidified. Once they are influenced in your favor, they are more likely to stay the same, giving you higher net profits .

As humans, we have a deep relationship with stories. They move us, teach us, and in the context of sales, they persuade us. This is why storytelling is the secret to a successful sales presentation. If you want to win your customers, start with a story that is relevant to them and their problems, especially of an existing customer who faced the same problem as them.

Such a story would lead to your prospects remembering the key points from your sales presentation as well as about your product or services. Thus, this section of the article will help you in building your sales presentation around a story that will grab your prospect’s attention and encourage them to invest in the solution you are offering.

Start With a Problem and a Deadline

Instead of talking directly about the solution you are offering to your prospects, you should start by talking about the problem and the challenges your solution was designed to solve. Your sales presentation should revolve around the value you are offering to your prospect.

When using storytelling, your product or service can become the hero, whereas their pain point can become the villain. It should focus on the change (something that improves their business or life) rather than on the pain point. Additionally, create a sense of urgency around the story- such that if they do not take action now, they will miss an opportunity. Also, involve the consequences in the story that would arise if the prospect does not change.

Talking About the Solution

Once you have highlighted the problem or the challenges, it is time to talk about the product or services that you are offering. These should not be talked about in terms of their features, but rather in terms of how life would become easier and better for your prospect by using your product or service. It should also highlight how they would be able to reduce their account payable and increase their account receivables .

Only after that, start talking about your product or services features and benefits along these lines:

• Positioning your features against the old way of doing things
• Presenting those features as the superpowers that will solve your prospect’s problems and challenges
• Comparing those features with those of the competitor’s

And using a combination of some or all of the above sales presentation techniques.

A sales presentation is perceived to be a daunting task, and the only way to deal with such a task is by being prepared and organized. This is why this section of the article would be discussing all the necessities that you should bring to your sales presentation. They are:

PowerPoint Presentation

Sales presentation tends to include a sales deck to help deliver facts, figures, and statistics that will back your sales presentation and convince your prospects to accept the solution you are offering. To present your sales deck, you can use presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or google slides or Canva presentation, or any digital slides that you feel are a good match to your product or service. Some of the key elements of such a presentation should be:

• A great cover image or opening slide that grabs your audience’s attention.
• Data and key points are represented through charts, graphs, quotes. These can even include metrics like ACV and ARR or other such relevant KPIs .
• Testimonials and case studies from other customers. This shows the proactive customer service you offer, the voice of customers that you secure, how you consider the customer feedback , and how reliable your products, services, and business is.
• Personalize your presentation for each meeting- based on prospect’s brand color or with data specific to their market and industry or with an earlier exchange
• Last slide- which should have a call to action- directs your prospects on what they need to do now.

One of the main things you need to take care of here is not to overwhelm your slides with texts- they should rather have quick skimmable text, with supporting visuals as visuals register more in the human brain. This will also prevent information overload for your prospect.

The Product

The best way to sell a product is by your potential customers seeing them live in action. Product demonstrations hence have always been a vital part of every sales plan- wherever applicable. However, not every product would be perfectly portable. To give a demo for such products would become trickier. Here are some tips you can follow:

• In the case of a physical product, think of the perfect environment for the product’s demo that would show it at its best and do it.
• In the case of a digital product, have technology in hand to show what your product can do. For example, if it is a mobile app- make your prospects download and try it; if it is a website, show it through a projector.
• Lastly, in case your product is not portable- either because it is location-specific or because it is too big to carry around, you will have to use video for your product demo in the sales presentation.‌‌

Based on the nature of your solution and how you are doing your sales presentation, you might have to give handouts to your audience. Your handout can have a QR code from which to download the app or contact information, or sales literature. Your handouts should be simple and to the point and should be given at the end of the presentation so that while you are presenting, they are listening to you and not going through the information you gave them on the handouts.‌‌ You can use QR Code generators to create QR Codes that are dynamic and trackable.

If you are doing a sales presentation, it is quite likely that you are going as a team with two or more sales representatives. Some of the tips you can all follow for the preparation for your sales presentation are:

• Practice- To get the timing right, especially if your presentation has a lot of moving parts.
• Make sure everything is working- so as to avoid going to the meeting with a faulty presentation or a broken sample
• Decide everyone’s roles- so as to avoid on-the-spot confusion and chaos.‌‌

Some of the tips that you should incorporate during your sales presentation to nail it are:‌‌

Confident Body Language

Sales presentations often happen in person, which is why strong, relaxed, and confident body language is essential to make it seem like you know that you are going to close this deal. How you feel about your presentation is how your prospect is going to feel. Some of the things to take care of here are-

• Making and maintaining eye contact as this shows people how invested you are in what you are doing.
• Stand up straight with your shoulders pulled back. This will also have the added benefit of making you feel better than when your shoulders are hunched.
• Keep your chin up, looking straight and making eye contact rather than looking at the floor or randomly around the room.
• Have a good, firm handshake that will result in a good first impression.‌‌

Engaging Your Audience

Sales presentations are more likely to last for long, however the same is not true about your audience’s attention span. To keep them engaged throughout the duration of your sales presentation, you should consider the following:

• The two most important parts of any presentation are the beginning and the end, and hence this is where you should use your strongest material.
• Start your presentation with a brief introduction about yourself and then lead it with either a compelling story as discussed above or with a compelling demo.
• Your product features can make up the middle of your presentation as your prospects might have already researched them, and this part is less likely to be remembered well.
• Finish strong by mentioning how your product solved a problem.

Throughout your sales presentation, you can use humor if it comes naturally to you, matches your brand voice and your buyer personas . Humor will become a good way to connect with your prospects, make everyone relaxed in the room and make the presentation memorable. Lastly, because you are doing a sales presentation and not a sales pitch, it also gives you an opportunity to show off your product and make it memorable.‌‌

Like we discussed above, the sales presentation is an art and a science, and there are some companies who have done exceedingly well in their sales presentations. We will be talking about some of them in this section of the article.‌‌

The highlight of leadnomics’s sales presentation is that they were able to showcase their brand identity during it. To do so, their internet marketing agency hired a designer to create a sales deck that reflects leadnomic’s brand positioning statement through its sleek, techie designs. This meant that while the prospects got to learn about leadnomics and what it has to offer, they also came to know what it stands for as a brand. Such a sales presentation is sure to bring about positive brand awareness.

The Original Comfy

This product was made and pitched by Brian and Michael Speciale on Shark Tank in 2017. They did not have any numbers or inventory, just a big fleecy blanket/hoodie and a video of it being worn everywhere- from a beach to a couch. Their presentation got them an offer of $50,000 for 30% from Barbara Corcoran. When asked about it, she said they had a good product and utmost confidence in it. This highlights how important confidence is while doing your sales presentation.

Single Music

Single Music used icons and visuals throughout its sales deck to communicate its message. Additionally, the information that it added was worth the length of the sales deck that they had gone with- i.e., 28 slides. Through its sales deck, it showed how it allows the artists to monetize their Spotify account, showcased its diverse artist roster, its milestones, and even its key features.‌‌

In a sales deck that Richter made around 2019, it started with an introduction of the problem, followed by a value proposition and then by the solution. They provided an overview of what they have provided to their customers, who their clients are, and what results has their customer base seen. This particular sales deck hence covers all that a sales presentation should cover. Another of its highlights was also how it organized its graphics and logos in an organized and uncluttered manner.

After all that we discussed, it is time to nail your sales presentation with this guide- containing the slides you need to make and tips on how to make them. Click here to get your sales presentation guide and template to present like a pro.‌‌

Deskera is that cloud software that is equipped with meeting all your business needs. When it comes to sales, it is Deskera CRM and Deskera CRM+ that you want to rely upon especially. Deskera CRM helps in importing and managing all your contacts from one place, letting you integrate your emails with its dashboard. You can even automate email marketing, get reminders for sending invoices and set up your schedule.‌‌

Through its dashboard, it will also help you track your deals, monitor sales , and even different KPIs like marketing KPIs . One of the added benefits of Deskera CRM is that it has made the digitization of customer service easier. Additionally, because you can plan your entire team’s work on this software, it increases efficiency and helps in managing workplace stress.‌‌

When it comes to Deskera CRM+, it helps in lead management by allowing to build funnels to convert visitors to leads to paying customers. To do so, you can either select any of the high conversion funnel templates or create from scratch.

Funnels should be created for every marketing campaign like social media marketing , landing pages , performance marketing , and content marketing to test their effectiveness. The funnel dashboard will also help you in measuring the performance KPIs.‌‌

Additionally, you would also be able to automate daily tasks like drip email campaigns, where you would also be able to choose from email marketing templates, choose a target segment, and then track their performance across it.

Through Deskera CRM+, you would be able to segment your leads such that later they get personalized campaigns based on their segment. Such a personalized approach would also help in increasing customer retention, encourage returning customers , and even increase customer loyalty.‌‌

So, with deals being closed faster and more efficiently, your financial statement ’s health will improve as well- hence bringing forward a bright future for your business.‌‌

While it is safer to keep your sales presentation simple and predictable by keeping it about a sales deck and a speech, such a sales presentation would not be a showstopper.

For your sales presentation to make its impact and result in favorable buying decisions- your sales presentation needs to be unique and unforgettable. To ensure this,

• Have a confident body language
• Engage your audience

Use varied combinations of sales presentation techniques based on what suits your audience and business the best. The techniques you can choose from are:

• Using Your Competitor’s Strength in Your Favour
• Talk About Your Competitors Early On‌‌

When using these techniques, always remember to engage in storytelling. As humans, we have a deeper connection to and understanding of stories. When carried out nicely, this will keep your prospects engaged and make them do business with you. Also, make a point of taking questions and follow-ups after your sales presentation.‌‌

What helps in this entire process are the insights as provided by the Deskera CRM and Deskera CRM+ dashboard that helps you understand your prospects better.

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Amazing Persuasive Speech Outline with Sales Presentation Examples

“ Wait… sales presentation? Oh, I’m not a professional salesperson. This may not work for me.”

Whether you are a salesperson or just trying to persuade coworkers to accept your ideas , this process is important to success. By the way, this technique works both in written format and in a speech. The best way to prepare for them is by treating them the same way. Start by creating a speech outline. Obviously, when you create persuasive speeches, you don’t want them to be scripted. A quick outline will typically work much better.

Amazing Persuasive Speech Outline

In the post, How to Design a Speech Quickly , we gave a few tips to create a quick presentation outline. In this session, we add a little more detail about how to make your presentation more persuasive. First things first, erase what you were taught about persuasive essays and public speaking in high school. A great persuasive speech can be broken down into these basic sections. This simple, three-step process will help you persuade even the toughest audiences.

An important part of being persuasive is to show your audience how they can get what they want. It is amazing how so many people will try to be persuasive by being self-centered. By switching the main ideas or focus from your own accolades to helping solve a customer’s needs you’re far more likely to succeed in a sale.

For instance, many salespeople begin their sales presentations by talking about their product or their company. “My company has 20 years of experience in this industry,” or “This product has a number of different features.” Using more appropriate words and following this three-step process will help you think like your audience. When you think like your audience, your audience will more likely agree with your conclusions. They’ll be less driven to throw back an oppositional claim about what you are saying or selling.

Sales Presentation Examples Using the Three-Step Persuasive Speech Outline.

Step 1: change your mindset from a feature/benefit to a problem solver..

That is good, but it fails to identify a problem that the patient might be experiencing that he/she wants to fix. It cuts off the chance for you to reach or solve a clear goal.

A good way instead would be to start with the problem statement. Something like, “If you want to avoid another root canal and crown, try brushing two minutes both in the morning and at night.” Even better would be to make the problem statement relevant to your audience on a daily basis. Show them how you have a relevant solution to their daily lives.

If you are selling a product, think about the customer’s problem, not what your product does. For instance, a feature of a computer might be the speed of the processor. The benefit is a more efficient workday. However, what problem will this increased speed solve? It gets rid of that spinning wheel of death on your computer screen. The point is that when you make the solution personal to the person, you will be more persuasive.

By the way, if you are looking for a shorter, easier version of this technique, try this post. Persuasive Impromptu Speech Strategies .

Step 2: Identify the Three Most Important Problems that Your Product or Idea Solves.

Erase the idea that you need to write out a complete persuasive speech outline template. These three problem statements become the backbone of your persuasive speech outline. An easy way to do this is to just repeat step one a couple of more times instead of moving to the next step. Another way is to ask yourself, “What are the major problems that my product or idea solves?”

For instance, if you are selling a car to someone, these items may be potential problems. “I’m embarrassed to invite friends to ride with me in my old clunker.” “I spend too much money on gasoline.” “My car has been in the shop twice in the last year.” If you know these are the potential problems, you can easily design a series of relevant ideas that solve them.

Step 3: Prove to Your Audience that You Can Solve These Problems.

Be careful, though. Don’t fall into the trap of presenting a list of facts, figures, or statistics. When we present a fact that is 100% true every time, human nature is to become argumentative. Your audience will think, “ I bet I can come up with one situation where that fact isn’t true. ” Instead, look for a real-life example (or story) of a time when you (or someone else) were able to solve the problem.

An effective persuasive argument is to use success stories from other clients or customers.”My car can solve [aforementioned issue] in the following way.” On a foundational level, create audience adaptations based on your arguments.

External Evidence Can Be Thought of as Supporting Material. However, the Best External Evidence Is a Simple Story about a Past Success.

Going back to the problem statements for the car buyer, we just need some good real-life examples of successes.

Persuasive Speech Outline Example: “ I had a customer last week who told me that she and a coworker carpooled to work. She said that she was looking for a car that was more dependable. Although she didn’t come right out and say it, I think she was nervous that she and the coworker would end up stranded on the side of the road. When I handed her the keys to her new car, she smiled and said, ‘I’m driving to work Monday. I can’t wait!’ “

For the gas mileage problem, an example that hits home might be in order. The improved gas mileage of the new car may allow the driver an extra couple of days between fill-ups. Over a year, that could add up to over 10 full tanks of gasoline that you save. This goes back to your audience adaptation, college students and young adults concern themselves with saving money. Money plays an important role in their lives because it allows for activities of high quality or happiness output.

Finally, just the fact that the car is new means that it will likely be more dependable. However, if you can reinforce this with a success story, you will be more persuasive.

Another Persuasive Speech Example: “ One of my customers had a job where he commuted over 50 miles, each way, five days a week. He traded in a four-year-old version of this car and replaced it with the exact same make and model. He had put over 125,000 on the car and never did any maintenance except oil changes. “

Don’t lose credibility by sharing made-up stories, rather think about successes based on factual information.

Put It All Together to Create an Amazing Persuasive Speech Outline

So, start by thinking about the problems that the audience members are experiencing. Next, organize the potential problems into the top three challenges . Finally, use stories and examples to prove that your idea or product can solve these problems. If you do this, you will create a fantastic persuasive speech outline .

Throw out the use of an attention grabber, final section, or particular action. In a conversation or presentation, the attention of the audience is already in your hand. Not all persuasive strategies are necessarily bad, but they limit your conversation to a specific purpose.

If you are looking for a way to design your presentations more quickly and easily, register for a 2-day Fearless Presentations ® class in your area. You will experience the power of these three simple steps first-hand. We’ve trained over 20,000 people in the last 18 years, and we’ve never had even a single person fail to increase confidence dramatically. The process works. It will work for you as well!

For additional details try a few of these other posts:

• How to Write an Effective Persuasive Speech .
• How to Write a Speech in Just a Few Minutes .
• Free Online Speech Creator .

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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

Published: August 17, 2022

While many salespeople focus on making their sales decks flashy, fun, and exciting, they do little to ensure that their presentations address the prospect's top concerns and offer an irresistible solution.

As a result, many presentations are met with wishy-washy responses that drag along the sales process and waste valuable time.

What does a great sales deck look like? We'll take a look at some of the best, and provide tips for creating your own stellar sales deck and presentation.

What is a sales deck?

A sales deck is a slide presentation (e.g., PowerPoint, Keynote, etc.) used to supplement a sales pitch. The sales pitch, given by a salesperson to a prospect, often includes an overview of the product or service, offers a value proposition and solution for the prospect, and includes examples of success stories from other clients.

The primary purpose of a sales deck and presentation is to introduce a solution (ie, your pitch ) that ultimately leads the prospect to purchase from your company.

If you've done everything right during the discovery process — digging deep into your prospect's challenges and understanding exactly what they need — only to get a noncommittal response, then your presentation needs some major adjusting.

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Sales Deck vs Pitch Deck

A sales deck is a pitch meant to convince a prospect to make a purchase by showcasing your product features, benefits, and value proposition.

A pitch deck , on the other hand, is usually created for investors who want to learn more about your company, vision, products, financials, and target audience. Think of the pitch deck more like a synthesized version of your business plan.

Ready to see some sales deck examples? Here are a few of the best, in no particular order.

Sales Deck Examples

• UpstartWorks
• Attention Media
• Leadgeeks.io

1. Leadnomics Sales Deck by Katya Kovalenko

Leadnomics has done something few companies successfully do in presentations: Showcase their brand identity.

The internet marketing agency hired a designer to create a sales deck that reflected their sleek, techie brand.

So while prospects learn about Leadnomics and what it offers, they can also get a peek into what it represents as a brand.

2. UpstartWorks Sales Deck by BrightCarbon

This slide deck for UpstartWorks starts with an image of the road to success, followed by a value proposition and a list of benefits buyers can enjoy from working with the company. They provide an overview of what they deliver to customers, who their clients are, and the results their customer base has seen.

The sales deck touches on all the key points a sales presentation should cover. And when it includes graphics and logos, they are clearly organized and not cluttered.

3. QS Sales Deck by BrightCarbon

QS , a platform that ranks colleges and universities, effectively uses icons and visuals throughout its sales deck to communicate its messages. At just a few slides, this is one of the shortest sales decks featured on this list.

If you’re going to make your sales deck short, make sure the information you include gets straight to the point, and be sure to front-load the most important information.

In terms of content, QS showcases its features, value proposition, and client impact.

4. Attention Media Sales Deck by Slides

Attention Media , a B2B creative agency, hired a presentation design agency to create a sales deck that features statistics and reasons businesses should work with them.

Key figures and messages are either in a bold, large, or bright font to make them stand out from the rest of the text.

While their slide deck is on the shorter side (the typical presentation is around 10 to 15 slides ), they include intriguing visuals and statistics that grab attention and keep viewers interested.

5. Freshworks Sales Deck by BrightCarbon

Freshworks is a B2B software platform that promises an all-in-one package for businesses. Its sales deck emphasizes simple text and organization. The problem and solution are introduced using graphics, which makes the text easier for readers to prioritize.

They include a dedicated slide to their mobile app, one of the product’s key differentiators and most salient benefits. The following slides provide a step-by-step walkthrough of how customers are onboarded and what they can expect on a regular basis.

Since the slides aren’t text-heavy, the salesperson can easily elaborate and answer any questions the prospect might have.

6. Soraa Sales Deck by BrightCarbon

Soraa , a lighting company, starts its sales deck with a visually appealing table of contents that contains three items: “Quality of light,” “Simply perfect light,” and “Why Soraa?”

The brand then dives into what its prospects care about most: How the light will look in their spaces and how they can apply Soraa’s offerings to their specific use case. It sprinkles in the benefits of using Soraaa as a lighting supplier. And it does this all while maintaining its strong branding.

7. Planetly Sales Deck by OCHI Design

The first thing Planetly does in its sales presentation is present an eye-catching statistic about customers wanting more eco-friendly brands. Then, they present the reasons behind that data.

The deck doesn't overwhelm prospects with too much text, opting for more graphics and visuals instead. It introduces a hard-hitting stat about the problem their prospect is facing, engages them by asking a question, and provides a solution to the issue.

The slide deck continues to outline specific product details and what sets the solution apart from others, ultimately leading to a slide that represents the expected outcome for the prospect.

8. MEOM Sales Deck by Katya Kovalenko

What you’ll first notice when scrolling through MEOM's sales deck is that it’s straightforward and easy to scan.

The brand kept it simple with their deck, making it easier for consumers to take in the information. Too often, companies overload their decks with information, and by the end of the presentation, consumers can’t remember anything.

On every slide, MEOM has one main message with supporting information in smaller font. In addition, the brand incorporates a detailed look at one of its staff members — a powerful tool when trying to attract consumers.

9. Leadgeeks.io Sales Deck by Paweł Mikołajek

Sometimes, the best way to explain a concept is through a series of process maps and timelines. In this sales deck, Leadgeeks.io takes this approach to explain its product process and onboarding process.

This method helps consumers visualize how this software will help them reach their goals and how they can adopt it at their business.

10. Accern Sales Deck by Katya Kovalenko

Similar to Leadnomics, software company Accern puts its branding at the forefront of the sales deck.

In addition to the use of design to make the sales deck stand out, Accern also highlights customer case studies in its deck, another form of social proof that shows the success other customers have found with this tool.

Each of these presentations provides a general overview of the products, problems, and solutions, and they can easily be tailored and customized to each prospective company. A custom presentation not only piques the prospect's interest but also increases the likelihood that they'll buy from you.

Curious as to how you can word your presentation during your meeting with prospects? Below, we go over the best examples we’ve seen so far.

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Example Sales Presentation

While there are plenty of videos online on how to deliver a sales presentation, there aren’t quite as many live sales presentations to watch.

That’s because sales presentations are delivered in the privacy of a meeting between the sales rep and the prospect, and are often not recorded with the intention of sharing online.

As a sales rep, though, you have an excellent resource for inspiration: explainer videos. Companies publish explainer videos to pitch their products to qualified leads. (Sound familiar?) Use the below examples to hone your own pitch to buyers, and pay close attention to the structure of each video.

This explainer video for Leadjet starts with an urgent problem: Finding leads on LinkedIn and moving them to a CRM loses valuable time and minimizes lead opportunities. Leadjet then presents its product as the solution.

The video jumps into the benefits users can enjoy, such as synchronizing conversations over both your CRM and LinkedIn, keeping the lead status updated, and adding custom details. In this video, Leadjet follows the ideal sales presentation structure: problem, solution, and benefits.

2. Node Influencer App

The Node influencer app allows small business owners to connect with influencers on social media. It starts its video with a simple question: “Looking to promote your brand with social influencers?” The presentation effectively identifies and addresses the target market before pitching the product to viewers.

This presentation is more tutorial-based, making it ideal inspiration if you’re creating a sales deck for someone who’s closer to making a decision. People most often want to see actionable demos when they’re ready to choose a provider.

This explainer video from Upsend, a former customer service software, begins with a problem: Most customers want instant responses to their queries, but customer service systems can be expensive for new companies. Enter Upsend.

The presenter addresses the target market — startups and small businesses — while assuaging their concerns about budget. In addition, it covers the most important features of the platform and the end result for the user. If Upsend were still available, this would be a product a new business would immediately want to add to their tech stack.

4. Algoplanner

Within a few seconds of the start of this presentation, Algoplanner drives home the critical urgency of adopting a supply chain software. It uses a scary number to pull your attention, citing a possible “loss of millions of dollars” if you fail to adopt the right tool.

It then introduces its product with a breakdown of what the software can do for users. Plus, it provides powerful stats to back up its claims, including that users can reduce automation development costs by 80%. The call to action at the end is powerful and simple, telling viewers to schedule a demo.

Sales Deck Presentation Tips

Ready for your presentation? Sticking to these five simple sales presentation guidelines, recommended by Marc Wayshak , will help you blow your competition away while dramatically increasing your chances of closing the sale.

1. Lead with solutions.

Have you ever met with a prospect who was excited about your product or service – and used your presentation to keep on selling? This is called over-selling, and it's the leading cause of death for sales presentations.

When you start your presentation, first lead with solutions. Don't talk about the benefits of your product's features or tell the prospect how great your company is.

Simply dive into how you're going to solve the deepest frustration your prospect is facing right now.

2. Incorporate case studies.

Once you've addressed the specific solutions you can provide to the prospect, it's time to add some color to your presentation.

Turn your sales presentation into an engaging story by sharing case studies of similar prospects and the results they've achieved with your help.

This step is important for building trust and credibility with the prospect. At the same time, case studies bring your solutions to life in the real world, making your presentation more engaging.

3. Ask for feedback throughout.

Most presentations are a one-way monologue by the salesperson. This approach is boring – and it's certainly no way to connect with a prospect.

Instead, ask short questions throughout your presentation like "Does that make sense?" or "Can you see how this would work for you?" Asking for feedback periodically ensures your prospect stays on the same page.

4. Welcome interruptions.

If you want to close more sales, you have to care about what your prospect is thinking throughout your presentation.

Any interruption is the perfect opportunity to find out. Whenever a prospect interrupts you – either with a verbal remark or subtle shift in their facial expression or posture – stop immediately.

Acknowledge the interruption, and welcome the opportunity to explore it with the prospect. Never ignore signals just to stay on a roll and conclude your point. Invite prospects to ask their questions or share their concerns.

The opportunity to respond to those concerns is always more valuable than whatever you were about to say.

5. Wrap it up quickly.

Your presentation should be ASAP: as short as possible.

It's natural for salespeople to get excited about what they have to share, but this causes most of them to ramble on for far too long.

Prospects only care about themselves and their challenges. Present the information they'll be interested in and nothing more.

Practice your next sales presentation with a colleague or friend and ask for their honest feedback on its length.

Sales Deck Template

Ready to start creating your own sales deck? Get started with these free templates .

It includes ten Powerpoint templates, each with a different focus.

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How to find a sales deck template.

Haven’t found what you’re looking for? Here are additional resources to find a sales deck.

This presentation platform allows you to pick from hundreds of templates and fully customize the template you choose. The best part? It’s free and offers premium packages for teams who want analytics, multiple users, and live video collaboration.

On this graphic design platform, you can search through countless presentation templates and customize them. Canva also offers extensive collaboration features, such as file sharing and commenting.

Get Inspired With These Sales Presentations

When delivering a sales presentation to a prospect, you can do so with the knowledge that thousands and millions of others have been in the same position as you. Luckily, we can see their work online to guide our sales deck creation process. Use these decks to structure your own, and you’ll be well on the road to closing more deals and exceeding your quota.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in April 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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What the New Overtime Rule Means for Workers

One of the basic principles of the American workplace is that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. Simply put, every worker’s time has value. A cornerstone of that promise is the  Fair Labor Standards Act ’s (FLSA) requirement that when most workers work more than 40 hours in a week, they get paid more. The  Department of Labor ’s new overtime regulation is restoring and extending this promise for millions more lower-paid salaried workers in the U.S.

Overtime protections have been a critical part of the FLSA since 1938 and were established to protect workers from exploitation and to benefit workers, their families and our communities. Strong overtime protections help build America’s middle class and ensure that workers are not overworked and underpaid.

Some workers are specifically exempt from the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime protections, including bona fide executive, administrative or professional employees. This exemption, typically referred to as the “EAP” exemption, applies when: 

1. An employee is paid a salary,  

2. The salary is not less than a minimum salary threshold amount, and 

3. The employee primarily performs executive, administrative or professional duties.

While the department increased the minimum salary required for the EAP exemption from overtime pay every 5 to 9 years between 1938 and 1975, long periods between increases to the salary requirement after 1975 have caused an erosion of the real value of the salary threshold, lessening its effectiveness in helping to identify exempt EAP employees.

The department’s new overtime rule was developed based on almost 30 listening sessions across the country and the final rule was issued after reviewing over 33,000 written comments. We heard from a wide variety of members of the public who shared valuable insights to help us develop this Administration’s overtime rule, including from workers who told us: “I would love the opportunity to...be compensated for time worked beyond 40 hours, or alternately be given a raise,” and “I make around $40,000 a year and most week[s] work well over 40 hours (likely in the 45-50 range). This rule change would benefit me greatly and ensure that my time is paid for!” and “Please, I would love to be paid for the extra hours I work!”

The department’s final rule, which will go into effect on July 1, 2024, will increase the standard salary level that helps define and delimit which salaried workers are entitled to overtime pay protections under the FLSA. 

Starting July 1, most salaried workers who earn less than $844 per week will become eligible for overtime pay under the final rule. And on Jan. 1, 2025, most salaried workers who make less than $1,128 per week will become eligible for overtime pay. As these changes occur, job duties will continue to determine overtime exemption status for most salaried employees.

The rule will also increase the total annual compensation requirement for highly compensated employees (who are not entitled to overtime pay under the FLSA if certain requirements are met) from $107,432 per year to $132,964 per year on July 1, 2024, and then set it equal to $151,164 per year on Jan. 1, 2025.

Starting July 1, 2027, these earnings thresholds will be updated every three years so they keep pace with changes in worker salaries, ensuring that employers can adapt more easily because they’ll know when salary updates will happen and how they’ll be calculated.

The final rule will restore and extend the right to overtime pay to many salaried workers, including workers who historically were entitled to overtime pay under the FLSA because of their lower pay or the type of work they performed. 

We urge workers and employers to visit  our website to learn more about the final rule.

Jessica Looman is the administrator for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. Follow the Wage and Hour Division on Twitter at  @WHD_DOL  and  LinkedIn .  Editor's note: This blog was edited to correct a typo (changing "administrator" to "administrative.")

• Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
• Fair Labor Standards Act
• overtime rule

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