How to make a sales presentation?

Businesses and individuals are pitched all-year-long by sleazy folks who just have one goal: close the sale, no matter what. To do that, they walk in, ask stupid questions, while trying to sell themselves. They make a sales presentation and extensively use the world “we” to talk about their company, products and so on. Sounds familiar?

And yes my friend, it’s almost always about them, and rarely about us. So what happens next is predictable: we – the clients – politely say “we’ll be in touch”, run away, and never come back.

Are you wondering why? Just imagine two people: a meat lover and a weirdo vegan. The weirdo vegan tells the meat lover that he knows where the best steakhouse in town is. I’m sure you can hear his voice resonating in your head: “Hey man, you should definitely go there, I mean, they got the best beef tenderloin ever”…

Put yourself into the meat lover’s shoes: would you trust the vegan guy? Of course not! Why? Because he’s clueless.

The same thing happens in business. If you’re a company, you don’t want any sales rep to tell you what you should do with your money – unless he brings rock-solid solutions to your problems.

The best sales advice

You’re not gonna like it, but if you’re willing to start making some solid sales presentations that’ll help you generate more business, you’ll have to print the next sentence in your brain. Nobody cares about you. I repeat, nobody cares about you.  People care about how YOU can solve their problems and deliver the outcomes they are interested in. To grab prospects attention and close more sales, you need to bring consistent, clear solutions to their problems.

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Clients don’t care about you, they care about how you can solve their problems.
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Easier said than done, right?

To help you with that, I’ve created an infographic that breaks down the key elements of a highly effective sales presentation.  Follow them, and you’ll be set to get your value proposition across, communicate a compelling message and convert more prospects.

The Anatomy of A Perfect Sales Presentation

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Let’s recall how this all works:

The first secret, which isn’t really a secret, is to craft great cover slides. You only have one chance to make a first good impression. Tie in your industry and core message to a key visual that will summarize it all.

• This stellar blog post lists 14 great, untapped, stock photo websites.

• How to design a great cover slide

Can you guess a simple way you can convert prospects into real clients? It’s through your value proposition.

If you don’t create value and clearly communicate it, why would people to care about what you have to say and do business with you? Your Value Proposition tells the reason why clients should turn to you over your competitors. Your Value Proposition should be a sentence that tells your prospects the reason they should buy from you and not your competitors. For instance:

Recommended Reading:

• Patel, Neil. 2014. Quicksprout. The Formula For A Perfect Headline. 

• ConversionXL. 2012. Useful Value Proposition Examples (and How to Create a Good One).

• Rieck, Dean. 2009. Copyblogger. 9 Proven Headlines Formulas That Sell Like Crazy
  

• Here is a list of SWOT analysis on popular brands for you to check.

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Stories create “sticky” memories by attaching emotions to things that happen.

Communication expert Garr Reynolds says that the biggest element a story has is conflict (i.e. our expectations vs. cold reality). The conflict could also be between what your clients couldn’t do before using your product… and what they can do now.

If you take a close look at Airbnb’s first pitch deck , there’s clearly a conflict between what the market is offering (standard hotels that leave you disconnected from the local culture) and what people are willing to do (book a room through a local host, become one, find cheaper, authentic accommodations).

The “cold reality” (what the market was offering BEFORE Airbnb came in):

The “expectations” (what happens AFTER Airbnb arrives in the market):

According to psychology professor Robert Cialdini, we prefer to say yes to those we know and like.

It’s the liking principle: we like those who are similar to us, give us complements, and cooperate with us toward common goals.  So how do you apply that when it comes to talking about YOU? Well, to present your team, you could humanize qualities of managers and employees or emphasize on what your staff loves to do, etc.

Here is an example of Qunb team presentations that leverage the use of Cialdini’s liking principle:

(Highly) Recommended Reading:

• Health, Chip and Dan. 2010. Made to Stick. This book reveals the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make them stickier. A must have. Check out Made to Stick SUCCESs Model here and download the first chapter of their book here.

• Freytag’s pyramid | Nineteenth Century German novelist saw common patterns in the plots of stories and novels and developed a diagram to analyze them. See this quick example of Freytag’s principles applied to the movie TAKEN.

• Joe Gebbia – Airbnb Story (Video)

• Dooley, Roger. 2012. Forbes. What Your ‘About Us’ Page Is Missing. Great case study.

• University of Berkeley. Robert Cialdini’s Principles of Persuasion.
  

• Calacanis, Jason. 2015. How to give a great presentation.

Not every business pitch presentation is about a problem that needs to be dealt with, but many are. If you recall Airbnb’s first pitch deck example, you understand that the start up had deeply identified the pain points of its market before offering solutions that made sense. So, how do you identify the pain points of your clients?

Here are a few questions you want to answer:

• What pain do you alleviate? (i.e. slow sales, bad operational efficiency, low online visibility, etc). You will then tie them to your solutions (point 5).

• What are your customer’s top 3 priorities and challenges? (i.e. increase sales by x%…)

• What are the top 3 success metrics they measure? (i.e. Google Analytics sessions, goal conversion rates…)

Recommended Reading:

• Port, Michael. 2010 Book Yourself Solid. An extremely detailed step-by-step system that helps you to get more clients and stand out in your industry. Easy to read, highly actionable and strongly recommended for  small businesses, entrepreneurs and freelancers.

• RMIT University. Identifying Customer Needs (The RATER model).

Now that you’ve identified and listed your customer’s problems, you’re going to break them down into solutions (i.e. your product offerings). What you are going to do is package your offer in a way that shows how you solve your client problems and BENEFIT to them. But not so fast… People are often confused between features and benefits… and that’s why you might have heard once this random guy telling you:

Hey, I got a 15mbps high-speed internet that loads data at a phenomenal speed of 1.875 megabytes per second, isn’t that amazing?!!!!

Well, it might be. But guess what, many people have NO CLUE of what mbps is and how 1.875 megabytes can benefit to them. The mbps are features and features are things. Benefits are what the results that come from doing these things. And that’s what you want to focus on when talking to your prospects.

Client problem	Product features	Product benefits
Bad web browsing experience	15 mbps high-speed internet	Streaming videos without interruption
Low sales conversions after  meetings with prospects	A 20 slides deck compelling sales PowerPoint presentation	Impress customers, get your message and value proposition across, close the sale and stand out in a crowded market.

But hold your horses a minute…

I am not telling you to ERASE your product features from your slides and just focus on the benefits they bring. You have to find a right balance which is to show prospects HOW your offerings are going to help them accomplish something they want to. Don’t expect them to know how good you are because they don’t, you have to show them.

For instance, let’s say you are a Conversion Optimization agency targeting e-commerce startups. Here’s how you could package your offer:

We provide an insanely detailed analytics health checkup to identify where your website is leaking money, create specific treatments and run optimization tests in order to help you increase your revenue.

Here’s how I recommend to package your offer on your sales presentation slides:

Deliverable [product + features]	Benefits [explain how your deliverable is going to help your client do something he wants to] .
Conversion optimization services (i.e. an insanely detailed web analytics health checkup)	We help you identify where your website is leaking money, create optimized treatments and run optimization tests in order to help you increase your revenue.
Online marketing services (i.e. SEO strategy)	We help you grow your website traffic so you can increase your online visibility / website rankings and generate more leads in an aggressive industry.

Have you noticed how it works? Here are two quick formulas I used to build up this offerings package:

Show your clients what you’re offering to do to help them achieve what they care about: be concrete (what you offer, to the point), specific (features) and provide value (benefits).

Of course, every company can pretend to have stellar products. But when it comes to making real sales, prospects will closely look at you. The proofs you’ll provide in your sales presentation are elements that must answer to this question:

Who the hell are you and why should I trust you?

According to Nielsen, testimonials & word of mouth are the driving force behind 20 to 50% of all purchasing decisions. That’s HUGE. To get customer testimonials, be creative. You can entice them to provide feedback on your website (via discounts, vouchers, contest to win “X”).

Here are other proofs you can include in your sales deck:

• Expert quotes: what your industry key influencers have to say about <your industry>, <trends>, <products>, <you>.

• Research data: check out .edu websites, magazines and research journals that release data, insights angled toward the market you are serving. Use the following search strings on Google: site: .edu + <keyword> or intitle: research journal + <keyword>.

• Competitor analysis: are you better than your competition? You’d better be because your customers will compare you. You could make a table listing yours vs. your competitor’s key features and benefits in order to show how you are better than them.

• Extra benefits: offer relevant proposals, money back guarantees…. to demonstrate that you’re SO confident about your products quality. If you don’t believe in it, why would others do?

Recommended Reading:

• If you’d like to go deeper on the customers testimonial topic, make sure to read this extremely actionable post on ConversionXL:  How & Why You Should Invest In Getting Good Testimonials w/ Examples.

A call to action is very similar to asking for the sale but in print form. A call to action is a simple command that directs customers to take some sort of action (buy, sign up, or start a free trial).

Create a sense of urgency	Get 50% off while supplies last!Limited-time offer! Buy now!Let us start working for you today
Offer a guarantee	Try risk-free for 30 days. Money back / forever guarantee / free shipping Return within 90 days for a full refund. No questions asked.
Make a compelling offer	Order today and get free shipping.Free delivery on orders over $X   Free installation included with all premium packages. Order now &  get a free <product> valued at <price>

Recommended Reading:

• KISSmetrics. 10 Ways to “Guarantee” More Sales and Conversions.

• Aragon, Kathryn. 2013. CrazyEgg. 21 Call to Action Examples and 3 Rules for Effective CTAs. 

Infographic resources

• 40% of people respond better to visual information than plain text

• Stories make up at least 65% of the content of the most successful TED presentations

• Airbnb’s first pitch extract

Conclusion: How to make a sales presentation?

What matters the most in your sales presentation is your clients. You must deeply understand their pain points (problems) and aspirations (desires). It’s the key to package an irresistible offer that is concrete, measurable and valuable for them. Always start asking yourself: who are my clients? What do they fear, what do they want?

Pinpoint their burning desires, offer them deliverables that allow them to get the results they want, and you’ll be set to deliver a great sales presentation that will help you generate more business.

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The Anatomy Of A Perfect Sales Presentation [Infographic]
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