Pitch Like a Pro: 3 Ways to Improve your Sales Presentations

The most effective sales presentations aren’t about having the best numbers or even the best product/service. They are about making the audience feel good about choosing you.

That’s where your presentation comes in.

With a few simple techniques, you can learn how to turn a collection of slides into a clear, concise, and moving presentation, one that will set you apart from your competition. So fire up PowerPoint and let’s make some sales!

Sales Presentation Tip #1: Have a Conversation

You’ve probably heard that it’s important to put your audience first, but the truth is you should put your audience first, second, and third.

That’s because a great sales presentation isn’t about you. It isn’t even about your product. It’s about your audience. So every aspect of your presentation — writing, slide layout, data visualization — needs to be created with their unique needs and POV in mind. Here are a few ways you can keep the focus on your audience:

Show them you understand — don’t just regurgitate some facts about their industry, put that information in context to show how your product/solution best addresses their challenges.

Speak their language — if your audience only cares about the numbers, add more data visualizations and infographics. If they want a story, swap out your charts for concise bullet points.

Respect their time — no matter how good your presentation is, there’s always something else your clients need to be doing, so use clear, concise, and direct messaging, and get to your point.

Sales Presentation Tip #2: Tell a Story

Too often, sales presentations are all about the “what”: product details, facts and figures, and other forms of specific information. But our brains aren’t built to remember pieces of information in isolation: they evolved to remember stories. To sell your product/service, you need to get the “why.”

That’s where storytelling helps.

To be clear, when we say storytelling, we aren’t talking about gathering around the campfire. Rather, we mean applying techniques that put your information in context and show change over time.

For example, you might have a slide headline that says “Improvements to the new Widget model.” That seems good, right? Your customers will want to know this! But no one is moved by this type of thinking. Instead, storytelling techniques will help you change your headlines from “features” to “benefits,” which by definition explains how the customer’s experience will improve compared to what they are doing now. And by showing change over time, you just told a story. Cool, right?

Sales Presentation Tip #3: Support Your Story with Visuals

A perfectly designed PowerPoint might not guarantee a win, but a poorly designed presentation will almost certainly lead to a loss. That could mean too many images, too many fonts, too much text on slides, or any visual design choice that gets in the way of the content on your slide. So use visuals as a supporting tool, one that enhances your larger story, rather than competes with it. Here are a few other ways you can build the strength of your slide design:

Be bold — bold, simple slides can both showcase your message and add to your projection of confidence.

Add some drama — adding breaks for powerful imagery can be much more effective than adding a picture on every slide.

Simplify — this could (and should) go along with every type of presentation advice, but less is always more in PowerPoint. Remember, your content is the most important part of your presentation, so don’t let anything distract from it.

You’ve got this

Whether you’re a seasoned seller or a newbie rep, everyone can find ways to improve their sales presentations with these tried and true tips for better PowerPoints. Focus on your audience, hone your content, simplify your designs, and you’ll be ready to win over any room!

Learn more at www.verdanabold.com.