Slide decks that sell: how to nail presentations for sales

Presentations for sale pitches involve more than a mere simple pitch – you need to know how to convey excitement and help persuade buyers as this will enable you to land deals.

In this blog post, we’ll go through some of the best sales presentation examples. Having these examples will provide you with a solid foundation as to what makes a great product presentation.

Ranging from speech tactics to body language tools, we’ll give you everything you need to nail your presentation the first time.

What are presentations for sale pitches?

Presentations for sale pitches are when your selling team presents a product that you offer to a prospect. However, sometimes there are a few key differences between sales presentations for sales pitches and just pitches.

For example, presentations for sale pitches are usually done over Zoom or with clients. On the other hand, a sales presentation - which is still part of a sales pitch - usually involves sales trying to close a profitable deal.

Due to this, this usually requires a lot of in-depth planning to make the best sales presentation possible.

How to use storytelling in a company sales presentation

Storytelling is a great tactic to use when creating presentations. Specifically, stories have always enabled people to relate to your company and its values.

By telling a story, you are enabling your audience to relate, or at the very least remember your message if it is framed in an engaging way. For example, starting in media res (in the middle of the action) ensures that you’ll get into the action straight away, capturing your audience’s attention instantly.

Freytag’s pyramid is also a great structure to use in narrative storytelling. This pyramid outlines that a story must have rising action, which then reaches a climax before providing a resolution.

Also, by using anecdotes, drama and emotive language, you will strike a chord with your audience making them as engaged as possible in your pitch.

How to use presentations to make sales

When planning the best sales presentation possible, it’s important to start with a problem and a deadline. This step is important to consider before creating a solution as you will have a clear structure to work within your presentation.

Your presentation should focus on articulating how your solution solves your customer's problems. For instance, if your customer is struggling to consistently communicate with their customers and can’t forecast revenue, a CRM is a good option.

Once you’ve realized your product’s ability to solve a problem, it’s important to create a sense of urgency around the product.

By doing this, you’ll create a narrative that suggests there will be consequences if the prospect doesn’t buy your solution.

Focus on the outcomes to make effective sales presentations

Taking an outcome-led approach will lead to more effective sales presentations. This doesn’t just mean showcasing the product’s benefits either.

Instead, this requires placing your product in the lives of those you are pitching to. Contextualizing this into your customer’s specific circumstances means you’ll be able to reduce any objections your audience may have, helping them truly understand the benefits of your product.

After this, draw real-life examples, such as testimonials or case studies, of how the product you’re pitching will fit into your customers’ lives, and once again, articulate the benefits and value.

Here are some presentation tips that’ll make for one of the best sales presentation pitches:

• Show how your product is innovative to the old way of doing something and highlight these as important features that’ll solve a variety of products.
• Compare your features to competitors’ products and their features
• Quantify the need for your features

Become great at effective sales presentations

While the content of your presentation will differ depending on your subject, there are some crucial things to consider To truly make an effective sales presentation. Make sure that you include:

An eye-catching cover image or opening slide.

• Your data visualized. This will help prospects envision what message you’re putting across.
• Testimonials and case studies from other customers. This will back up your business claims.
• Customized content that isn’t taken from somewhere online. Being personal is a great way to make a good impression.
• A clear structure with some next steps.
• Not too much text as this can be overwhelming for your audience.

What else should you bring to presentations for sale pitches?

When organizing what should be brought to a sales pitch, there are some other things that you should consider preparing, as well as your pitch deck:

A visual of your product

Having a visual of your product is a great way to ensure that the people you are pitching to, can see it in action. When offering visuals of your product your clients will be able to interact and resonate with the message you’re trying to convey. This can be a bit trickier with a digital product, so ensure that you have the technology on hand and that it is ready to be demoed in the presentation.

Leave behinds

Having something tangible to hand out could boost the impact of your presentation. This could either be something physical or if you’re offering a digital product, a QR code. Either way, make sure whatever you leave packs a punch and will be memorable for your audience.

Tailoring your presentations for sales pitches

Whoever your audience is, it’s important to know their painpoints and why this would make them interested in your product. Tailoring your pitch to what your audience values is important as each industry will view challenges differently, so having a clear understanding of their issues is essential.

How to create effective sales presentations

Here are a few tips to make your presentations for sale pitches as effective as possible:

Plan ahead

Planning for a solo presentation or a team presentation means you’ll avoid any potential hiccups before they occur. By doing this, you’re ensuring that you can focus on presenting, rather than sorting out any errors mid-presentation.

Practice, practice, practice

The saying practice makes perfect is certainly true for presentations! Ironing out specific details of your presentation will make pitching enjoyable, rather than stressful.

Make sure everything works

Avoid any technical issues before the presentation starts by making sure your technology works correctly before the pitch starts.

Decide on everyone’s roles

For team pitches, everyone needs to have allocated roles in your pitch deck so your narrative is as clear as possible. Focus on your content rather than your delivery.

Know your attendees

This additional step centers around doing some research on the people that you’re pitching to. What have they been posting about on LinkedIn?

Besides the commercial painpoints that you’ve scoped out in earlier messaging - what are this person’s very specific issues? Think then about how you’d incorporate that into your deck.

Practice confident body language

Strong body language is important to practice as it exudes confidence, even if you are nervous (which by the way, is completely normal!). Here are a few tips to convey confidence:

• Eye contact: Even in virtual meetings, maintaining eye contact is a great way to engage the people you are speaking to
• Have a strong posture: Simply straightening your back can make you both seem confident and also feel confident in what you’re saying.
• Have a strong handshake: Offering a firm handshake will mean you’ll impress your audience as you will exude confidence.

Engage your audience

There are several ways you can keep your audience engaged and these include:

• Understanding and catering to your audience’s attention span: Use your strongest material at the start and end of your presentation as this will remind your audience of the purpose of your deck. Ensure that you initially briefly introduce yourself, and then if you’ve put together a demo, this is also a good thing to start with. Finish strong, personable and offer to answer any questions.
• Be funny: Humor can relax everyone in the room and can create an environment that is calm, and light-hearted but also informative. Building this rapport will make your audience feel more at home.

After presentations for sale pitches

It’s important to know how to close the deal in a way that will improve your chances of success. There are a few tips to utilize when your presentation winds down:

Take questions

If someone asks a question in the middle of your presentation, try not to be alarmed as this means the person asking the question is absorbing what you are saying.

However, if you think that your audience asking questions in the middle of a presentation would be too distracting, it’s also fine to request questions at the end of the session.

It’s important to feel confident in your presentation, therefore, setting boundaries within your presentation for external engagement is completely fine, and often expected.

Follow up

It’s crucially important to follow up on your presentations for sale pitches. Do this by offering a free trial of your product, for example, or scheduling another meeting.

By scheduling the next steps immediately, there’s a clear expectation of what will happen once your initial meeting has ended.

It’s also polite to thank your clients for coming to your presentation either during the presentation or online. Thanking your audience online can be done via LinkedIn.

Simply search your attendees and drop them a thank you message. Doing this will make them feel valued but you will also put yourself front and centre of their mind.

Best sales presentation examples

A great product presentation example for sale pitches is when Scrub Daddy pitched their product on Shark Tank.

In 2012, Aaron Krause, the founder of Scrub Daddy, presented his pitch to the investors by highlighting how the product changes shape depending on the water’s temperature.

Not only did he show how the product changed shape, but he also put the cleaning into action, showing just how effective his product was. This tactic paid off as Scrub Daddy partnered with Lori Greiner for $200,000, in return for 20% of the business.

Since then, this product is now viewed as one of the most popular products that was pitched on Shark Tank.

A lot of this popularity was pinned on the presentation’s ability to work in action, meaning that the proof is really in the product.

Go the extra mile

While doing what is known can often feel like the safe option, a pitch deck and a speech may simply not sell anymore which is why presentations for sale pitches are so favorable.

Using our tips, and repeatedly practicing means that when a sales presentation is done well, you will open as many business prospects as possible.

A key takeaway is to show customers how you can skyrocket their business and become a new partner which they simply cannot pass up. With this thought in mind, make a sales presentation that will interest your customers in a way they can’t resist.

To wrap up

A well-executed sales presentation will give you a great shot at impressing your audience and landing the deal. Our sales presentation examples should give you what you need to smash your next sales pitch.

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