beginning sales presentation

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Blog Marketing

15 Sales Presentation Examples to Drive Sales

By Danesh Ramuthi , Oct 31, 2023

A sales presentation is not merely a brief introduction to a product or service. It’s a meticulously constructed sales pitch tailored to showcase the unique features and key elements of what’s being offered and to resonate deeply with the prospective customers. 

But what stands out in the best sales presentation is their ability to weave an engaging story, integrating customer testimonials, success stories and sales performances to maintain the audience’s attention span and to persuade them to take action. 

The right tools, like those provided by Venngage presentation Maker and its sales presentation templates , can greatly aid in this endeavor. The aim is to have a presentation memorable enough that it lingers in the minds of potential clients long after the pitch. 

Its ultimate aim is not just to inform but to persuasively secure the audience’s commitment.

Click to jump ahead:

6 Sales presentation examples

What to include and how to create a sales presentation, sales presentation vs pitch deck.

• Final thoughts

A sales presentation can be the differentiating factor that turns a potential client into a loyal customer. The manner in which a brand or individual presents their value proposition, product, or service can significantly impact the buying decisions of their audience.

Hence, drawing inspiration from various sales presentation examples can be an instrumental step in crafting the perfect pitch.

Let’s explore a few examples of sales presentations that cater to different needs and can be highly effective when used in the right context.

Clean sales presentation examples

The concept of a “clean” sales presentation reflects more than just its visual aesthetic; it captures an ethos of straightforward, concise and effective communication. A clean presentation offers a professional and efficient way to present your sales pitch, making it especially favorable for brands or individuals looking to be perceived as trustworthy and reliable.

Every slide in such a presentation is meticulously designed to be aesthetically pleasing, balancing visuals and text in a manner that complements rather than competes.

Its visual appeal is undeniably a draw, but the real power of a clean sales presentation lies in its ability to be engaging enough to hold your audience’s attention. By minimizing distractions, the message you’re trying to convey becomes the focal point. This ensures that your audience remains engaged, absorbing the key points without being overwhelmed.

A clean design also lends itself well to integrating various elements such as graphs, charts and images, ensuring they’re presented in a clear and cohesive manner. In a business environment where attention spans are continually challenged, a clean presentation stands as an oasis of clarity, ensuring that your audience walks away with a clear understanding of what you offer and why it matters to them.

Minimalist sales presentation examples

Minimalism, as a design and communication philosophy, revolves around the principle of ‘less is more’. It’s a bold statement in restraint and purpose. In the context of sales presentations, a minimalist approach can be incredibly powerful.

It ensures that your content, stripped of any unnecessary embellishments, remains at the forefront. The primary objective is to let the core message shine, ensuring that every slide, every graphic and every word serves a precise purpose.

This design aesthetic brings with it a sense of sophistication and crispness that can be a potent tool in capturing your audience’s attention. There’s an inherent elegance in simplicity which can elevate your presentation, making it memorable.

But beyond just the visual appeal, the minimalist design is strategic. With fewer elements on a slide, the audience can focus more intently on the message, leading to better retention and engagement. It’s a brilliant way to ensure that your message doesn’t just reach your audience, but truly resonates with them.

Every slide is crafted to ensure that the audience’s focus never wavers from the central narrative, making it an excellent choice for brands or individuals seeking to create a profound impact with their pitches.

Simple sales presentation examples

A simple sales presentation provides a clear and unobstructed pathway to your main message, ensuring that the audience’s focus remains undivided. Perfect for highlighting key information, it ensures that your products or services are front and center, unobscured by excessive design elements or verbose content.

But the beauty of a simple design is in its flexibility. With platforms like Venngage , you have the freedom to customize it according to your brand voice and identity. Whether it’s adjusting text sizes, incorporating vibrant colors or selecting standout photos or icons from expansive free stock libraries, the power to enhance and personalize your presentation lies at your fingertips.

Creating your ideal design becomes a seamless process, ensuring that while the presentation remains simple, it is every bit as effective and captivating.

Professional sales presentation example

A professional sales presentation is meticulously crafted, reflecting the brand’s guidelines, voice and core values. It goes beyond just key features or product benefits; it encapsulates the brand’s ethos, presenting a cohesive narrative that resonates deeply with its target audience.

For sales professionals, it’s more than just a slide deck; it’s an embodiment of the brand’s identity, from the great cover image to the clear call to action at its conclusion.

These presentations are tailored to address potential pain points, include sales performances, and present solutions in a compelling and engaging story format. 

Integrating elements like customer success stories and key insights, ensuring that the presentation is not just good, but memorable.

Sales performance sales presentation example

A company’s sales performance presentation is vital to evaluate, refine and boost their sales process. It’s more than just numbers on a slide deck; it’s a comprehensive look into the effectiveness of sales campaigns, strategies and the sales team as a whole.

This type of sales presentation provides key insights into what’s working, what isn’t and where there’s potential for growth.

It’s an invaluable tool for sales professionals, often serving as a roadmap guiding future sales pitches and marketing campaigns.

An effective sales performance presentation might begin with a compelling cover slide, reflecting the brand’s identity, followed by a brief introduction to set the context. From there, it delves into specifics: from the sales metrics, customer feedback and more.

Ultimately, this presentation is a call to action for the sales team, ensuring they are equipped with the best tools, strategies and knowledge to convert prospective customers into paying ones, driving more deals and growing the business.

Testimonial-based sales presentation examples

Leveraging the voices of satisfied customers, a testimonial-based sales presentation seamlessly blends social proof with the brand’s value proposition. It’s a testament to the real-world impact of a product or service, often making it one of the most effective sales presentation examples. 

By centering on customer testimonials, it taps into the compelling stories of those who have experienced firsthand the benefits of what’s being offered.

As the presentation unfolds, the audience is introduced to various customer’s stories, each underscoring the product’s unique features or addressing potential pain points.

These success stories serve dual purposes: they not only captivate the audience’s attention but also preemptively handle sales objections by showcasing how other customers overcame similar challenges.

Sales professionals can further augment the presentation with key insights derived from these testimonials, tailoring their sales pitch to resonate deeply with their potential clients.

Creating a good sales presentation is like putting together a puzzle. Each piece needs to fit just right for the whole picture to make sense. 

So, what are these pieces and how do you put them together? 

Here, I’ll break down the must-have parts of a sales presentation and give you simple steps to build one. 

What to include in a sales presentation?

With so much information to convey and a limited time to engage your audience in your sales presentation, where do you start?

Here, we’re going to explore the essential components of a successful sales presentation, ensuring you craft a compelling narrative that resonates with your prospects.

• A captivating opening slide: First impressions matter. Start with a great cover image or slide that grabs your audience’s attention instantly. Your opening should set the tone, making prospects curious about what’s to come.
• Data-driven slides: Incorporate key points using charts, graphs, infographics and quotes. Instead of flooding your slides with redundant information, use them as a tool to visually represent data. Metrics from your sales dashboard or third-party sources can be particularly illuminating.
• Social proof through testimonials: Weave in testimonials and case studies from satisfied customers. These success stories, especially from those in the same industry as your prospects, act as powerful endorsements, bolstering the credibility of your claims.
• Competitive context: Being proactive is the hallmark of savvy sales professionals. Address how your product or service fares against competitors, presenting a comparative analysis. 
• Customized content: While using a foundational slide deck can be helpful, personalizing your presentation for each meeting can make all the difference. Whether it’s integrating the prospect’s brand colors, industry-specific data or referencing a past interaction, tailored content makes your audience feel acknowledged.
• Clear path to the future: End by offering a glimpse into the next steps. This can include a direct call to action or an overview of the onboarding process. Highlight the unique value your company brings post-sale, such as exceptional training or standout customer support.
• Keep it simple: Remember, simplicity is key. Avoid overcrowding your slides with excessive text. Visual data should take center stage, aiding in comprehension and retention. 

Related: 120+ Presentation Ideas, Topics & Example

How to create a sales presentation? 

Crafting a good sales presentation is an art that blends structure, content and design. 

A successful sales presentation not only tells but also sells, capturing the audience’s attention while conveying the main message effectively. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide to ensure that your sales deck becomes a winning sales presentation.

1. Find out your ideal audience

The first step to any effective sales pitch is understanding your audience. Are you presenting to prospective customers, potential clients or an internet marketing agency? Recognize their pain points, buying process and interests to craft a message that resonates. This understanding ensures that your presentation is memorable and speaks directly to their unique needs.

2. Pick a platform to Use

Depending on your target audience and the complexity of your sales literature, you might opt for Venngage presentation maker, PowerPoint templates, Google Slides or any tools that you are comfortable with. Choose a tool that complements your brand identity and aids in keeping your audience’s attention span engaged.

3. Write the ‘About Us’ section

Here’s where you build trust. Give a brief introduction about your organization, its values and achievements. Highlight key elements that set you apart, be it a compelling story of your brand’s inception, a lucrative deal you managed to seal, or an instance where an internet marketing agency hired you for their needs.

4. Present facts and data

Dive deep into sales performance metrics, client satisfaction scores and feedback. Use charts, graphs and infographics to visually represent these facts. Testimonials and customer success stories provide that added layer of social proof. By showcasing concrete examples, like a customer’s story or feedback, you give your audience solid reasons to trust your product or service.

5. Finish with a memorable conclusion & CTA

Now that you’ve laid out all the information, conclude with a bang. Reiterate the value proposition and key insights you want your audience to remember. Perhaps share a compelling marketing campaign or a unique feature of your offering.

End with a clear call to action, directing your prospects on what to do next, whether it’s downloading further assistance material, getting in touch for more deals or moving further down the sales funnel .

Related: 8 Types of Presentations You Should Know [+Examples & Tips]

Sales presentation and the pitch deck may seem similar at first glance but their goals, focuses, and best-use scenarios differ considerably. Here’s a succinct breakdown of the two:

Sales Presentation:

• What is it? An in-depth dialogue designed to persuade potential clients to make a purchase.
• Focuses on: Brand identity, social proof, detailed product features, addressing customer pain points, and guiding to the buying process.
• Best for: Detailed interactions, longer meetings and thorough discussions with potential customers.
• Example: A sales rep detailing a marketing campaign to a potential client.

Pitch Deck:

• What is it? Pitch deck is a presentation to help potential investors learn more about your business. The main goal isn’t to secure funding but to pique interest for a follow-up meeting.
• Focuses on: Brand voice, key features, growth potential and an intriguing idea that captures the investor’s interest.
• Best for: Initial investor meetings, quick pitches, showcasing company potential.
• Example: A startup introducing its unique value proposition and growth trajectory to prospective investors.

Shared traits: Both aim to create interest and engagement with the audience. The primary difference lies in the intent and the audience: one is for selling a product/service and the other is for igniting investor interest.

Related: How to Create an Effective Pitch Deck Design [+Examples]

Final thoughts 

Sales presentations are the heart and soul of many businesses. They are the bridge between a potential customer’s needs and the solution your product or service offers. The examples provided—from clean, minimalist to professional styles—offer a spectrum of how you can approach your next sales presentation.

Remember, it’s not just about the aesthetics or the data; it’s about the narrative, the story you tell, and the connection you establish. And while sales presentations and pitch decks have their distinct purposes, the objective remains consistent: to engage, persuade and drive action.

If you’re gearing up for your next sales presentation, don’t start from scratch. Utilize Venngage presentation Maker and explore our comprehensive collection of sales presentation templates .

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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A sales presentation is the act of verbally explaining a product or service and delivering your sales pitch to a potential buyer, usually with the assistance of a sales deck. The ultimate goal of the presentation is to convince the buyer to take next steps with you, such as accepting a proposal. To accomplish this, sales reps follow a key outline that includes sections like the prospect's pain point, how the product or service solves this problem, and a strong call-to-action.

For help crafting your presentation, hire a design expert on Fiverr to custom create an appealing slide deck and write the talking points that will present your offering in the most professional way possible. Freelance gigs start at only five dollars — take a look at your best options below:

How Do Sales Presentations Work?

Salespeople typically give a 20- to 30-minute sales presentation as a  lead nurturing  activity once a lead has been qualified as a high-value prospect — by this point, you've determined it's time to show them in detail the value of your product or service and recommend next steps. The stage of your sales pipeline in which the presentation occurs depends on your business, but it's usually done toward the end of your  sales process  as one of the final steps before deal closing.

As you build your presentation's talking points, you'll follow an outline that typically begins with small talk and introductions, then moves on to agenda-setting. The outline will then dive into the problem, your solution and the benefits that it brings, and stories about a current customer who had a similar issue before working with you. Finally, you'll end with a concrete CTA to entice your prospect to move forward with you.

Keeping this outline in mind, there are steps you can follow to first plan the sections of a general outline and then personalize them to each unique prospect, plus templates and software you can use to build a supporting sales deck. It also helps to consider tips to prepare for and deliver the presentation and take a look at examples of quality presentations to emulate.

This article addresses how to create your entire presentation, including building a visual sales deck and creating and delivering your talking points. If you’re looking specifically to learn how to craft a written slideshow, check out our article on creating a sales deck .

Free Sales Presentation Template

So that you don't necessarily need to start from scratch, we've gathered several sales presentation templates for various scenarios and created our own free general sales deck template to help you create a slideshow to complement your presentation. This deck template can act as a base for you or a Fiverr freelancer to customize into your own deck according your needs and presentation outline. It also comes with recommendations for specific written content to put on each slide.

Now that you have a template to work from, let’s look at the key elements all salespeople should use to structure their sales presentation.

Common Sections of an Effective Sales Presentation

Regardless of your business or customer, there are some common elements to include in your sales presentation to make it as effective as possible. Where in the presentation or deck you place each element is up to you, as there are slight strategic advantages to different arrangements, but the outline below is the best place to start so you can sucessfully give a presentation and communicate your sales pitch .

Here is the common structure of a sales presentation, plus how to communicate each section: 

Small Talk & Intros

Solution & benefits, social proof.

As people enter the meeting, take five minutes to build rapport and engage your prospect in light conversation by asking them personal or professional questions like “Last time we spoke, you were working on {project} . How’s that been going?” Small talk like this gets everyone comfortable and in a good mood.

After the conversation has run its course, thank your audience for attending, then briefly introduce (or reintroduce) yourself and state your company's elevator pitch . Bring up relevant credentials or experiences that will paint you as the right person or team to help them in this area. Then, ask each person in the audience (if there are five or fewer) to say their name and job title. All of this should take another 3–5 minutes.

Before you start flipping through slides, set the agenda in three sentences so the audience knows what to expect. When they know what’s coming, they're on the lookout for the elements and topics you mentioned. This increases their comprehension and engagement. Plus, stating an agenda makes you look organized and professional.

Use the "purpose, benefit, check" method when setting the agenda:

• State the Meeting’s Purpose: Preview the main topics you'll be covering. “We’re here to go over how {product or service} can help you overcome {problem or challenge} .”
• List the Benefits of Attending:  Explain how the prospect will benefit from being here. “Besides learning about our solution and how to use it to reach your goals, you’ll also come away with valuable industry insights that will change the way you think about {topic} .”
• Check for Alignment:  Make sure you’re all on the same page with a simple check. “Does that sound like a plan?”

Once your prospect agrees, you can dive into the problem.

Talk about your prospect’s problem that you found during your discovery call or another method. Mention what you believe is causing it and the negative consequences the prospect will experience if they let it remain unsolved (including any relevant statistics). Because the problem is likely why your potential customer is in the meeting, dedicate five minutes to laying out their pain point and discussing it a bit if your prospect has anything to add.

This could sound like "During our discovery call, you said you're trying to reach {goal} but you've been experiencing {challenge} . It sounded like your main concern is {implications} , and the problem is stemming from {issues/pain points} . Anything I'm missing?"

In a few sentences, tease three benefits they could enjoy if they simply solved this problem. Paint this better world as desirable and free of the pains caused by their current problem. Then, introduce your product or service and take two minutes to explain how it solves the problem and helps reach the promised land.

For example, "If you were to solve this pain point, you could {benefit 1} . {Product or service} is designed to {high-level purpose/benefit 2} for {role or company type} so they can {more impactful action/benefit 3} . Specifically, it does this by {product/service overview} ."

If you'd like to dive deeper into how your product works, you could extend this to a 15- to 20-minute product demo instead of a two-minute overview. Plan this beforehand so as not to run over the time you've allotted.

If there are specific ways in which customers similar to the prospect have used the solution to their advantage, share them in the presentation. This can include social proof like testimonials, case studies, and anecdotes to show how buyers love your solution.

A good way to state this is "One of our longest clients is {similar company} , which {brief, relevant company description} . Before working with us, they were also having {similar problem} , but they've solved it by using our {feature and brief explanation} . I could see your team loving {feature} , too."

Your relationship with the prospect, the amount of people in the room, and the price of your product or service will determine how you end your presentation and make your ask. If you're presenting a pricey B2B solution to three executives, your CTA will be different than if you’re presenting a B2C product to a 1,000-person audience.

Here are three ways to close your presentation:

• Strong CTA:  Make a direct ask like “Over 500 satisfied clients are currently using our solution to {function/benefit} . Are you ready to join them?” or “Are you ready for us to draft up a proposal so you can rid yourself of {pain point} once and for all?”
• Open-Ended Question:  Ask an open-ended question that will prompt them to think about and discuss their key takeaways. For instance, you might ask, “How did I change the way you think about {topic} ?” Higher-priced items that need further evaluation use this.
• Objection-Response Question:  If you sense any objections lurking behind their eyes, ask, “Based on what you’ve just heard, what would hold you back from buying today?” Then, you can address the concern or hesitation while you have them in the room.

In almost all cases, it makes sense to end your spoken presentation by inviting the prospect to ask questions, either before or after you give a CTA such as accepting a business proposal .

As we've shown above using bolded prompts, it's a good idea to create a standard outline of your presentation and generally what you'd like to say to every prospect, then use that as a script template and leave room for personalization to each prospect. This helps you stay on track and sound confident while making the prospect feel as if the presentation were developed just for them.

How to Create a Winning Sales Presentation

Before delivering your sales presentation to a room full of buyers, you have some preparation to do. This includes creating the bones of your presentation, personalizing it to your prospect, and designing a sales deck to support your talking points. Check out the slider below for an overview of each step, or dive right into steps and how to do each.

Craft a General Presentation

First write an outline of the sections and topics you want to cover in every presentation, including a script template to guide your words. 

Personalize the Presentation

Learn about the attendees via a discovery call and independent research, and tailor your presentation to the prospect.

Gather Supporting Materials

Gather relevant marketing messaging, photos, data, and anything else you’ll need to deliver your personalized presentation.

Create a Personalized Sales Deck

Build out the visual slideshow you’ll use during your presentation. 

1. Write Your General Presentation Outline & Script

First, incorporate the common sections of a sales presentation outline — write the main points you want to hit and a general sales script of the words you want to say, but leave room for personalization to each prospect. You can either write this outline from scratch or start with a sales presentation template .

Here is a potential outline of the spoken portion of a sales presentation: 

• Small Talk and Introductions:  Build rapport, thank your prospect for attending, and introduce yourself and your business using an elevator pitch.
• Agenda-Setting: Remind the prospect of the purpose of the meeting and why it's good they're attending. Get their buy-in to move on and talk about the problem.
• Your Prospect’s Main Problem:  Summarize the prospect's problem that you learned about during discovery, plus the implications of leaving it unsolved.
• Solution and Benefits:  Talk about a better world in which the problem is gone, using about three benefits. Reveal your product or service and pitch how it solves the problem.
• Social Proof:  Share a case study, testimonial, and/or anecdote from a company or person that's similar to your prospect to help prove you can help them.  
• Call-to-Action:  Wrap up with a closing statement that includes a CTA inviting them to begin this partnership or take another action.

The outline of a sales presentation will vary across different businesses and presentation situations. Generally, though, you’ll be presenting your product or service in front of a group of decision makers in an office room, so the above is a potential sales presentation outline of the main points to hit for this situation. You can always modify your general outline later on.

If you include some of the above elements within stories, your audience will be more engaged and interested. For example, when giving your company overview, tell a brief story about the issue or opportunity that prompted your founder to create the business and how it's changed over the years to reach its current state.

2. Personalize the Presentation

Once you've developed a general presentation structure that you can reuse for each prospect, use a discovery call and online research to learn about the specific prospect to whom you're presenting. This will help you craft a personalized presentation that captures your audience’s attention and makes them feel understood. It will also ensure the lead is qualified before you start building a presentation for them.

Research these three areas to fill in the blanks within your presentation: 

• Your Prospect’s Business:  Learn about their company size, mission, sector, and goals, plus their internal processes. This will help you plan your small talk and select relevant social proof. 
• Your Prospect’s Problem:  Learn all about their pain point and its associated consequences. If you know the specifics, you can bring up targeted problem insights and solutions. 
• Who Is Attending:  If the decision maker(s) are from high-level management, focus on how you’ll help them achieve long-term goals. If they'll use your solution day-to-day, focus on efficiencies and problem-solving.

While this is most helpful to personalize the general sections you planned out in the previous step, it can also help you to add more sections or modify your outline if needed. It'll also support the next step in which you gather relevant information that will impress your prospect and make the presentation feel even more personalized.

3. Gather Supporting Materials

Now that you’re familiar with your prospect and their needs, begin gathering the materials for the elements you want to include in your sales presentation. You can get these online, in your CRM , or directly from your data, marketing, and/or customer success team.

The best personalized presentation materials and information to gather include: 

• Case Studies or Testimonials: Find a great story or review from your current customers who are similar to the prospect.
• Client or Product Photos:  Highlight clients using the product or service by gathering photos from marketing or the client themselves.
• Data or Statistics: Collect ROI, industry trends, or other data that supports your claims about the prospect's problem or your solution.
• Marketing Messaging:  From your marketing team or your content, find the solution's benefits, unique selling proposition , and story details that will be most relevant to this prospect.
• Props or Demonstrations:  If your product lends itself to physical or virtual demonstrations, gather the required materials or set up the virtual environment. 
• Graphs:  Create graphs that back your claims, illustrate trends, and supplement your stories. If you say Facebook ad prices are trending upwards, show a graph of this. 

Because you might have to get this material from another department or person or even create it yourself, it’s best to handle this at least two or three days before you plan to begin building your sales deck so you can plug them in immediately when you create the deck.

4. Create a Personalized Sales Deck

A sales deck is the slideshow that acts as a visual backdrop and guide for your sales presentation, usually created using  sales presentation software  like PowerPoint. If you choose to use a deck with your spoken presentation, make it about 10 slides in length, light on text (fewer than 30 words per slide), heavy on images, diagrams, and other visuals, and personalized to the prospect's situation so they feel understood and can imagine how your solution will help them.

These are a few ways to personalize the sales deck for your prospect:

• Add Them to the Cover Slide: Your cover slide should include your company name and logo, but adding your prospect's will help them feel more engaged at the start of the presentation.
• Include Components of Their Current Situation: When talking about the problem and its implications, add related images and light text to your problem slide to drive the point home. 
• Highlight Specific Use Cases:  Think of ways you envision your prospect using your solution to their benefit, and add related images or videos of those features to the solution slide. 
• Add Similar Customers' Images or Logos:  When you talk about a case study or testimonial of a company like your prospect, show images of them to promote legitimacy.

Just like your presentation outline, consider creating a general version of your sales deck and leaving a few prompts that you can simply personalize for each prospect. This will help you keep the overall structure that you know to be effective while also helping the deck feel as if you crafted it especially for the prospect.

Additional Reading:

For help on creating the best sales deck for your presentation, check out our detailed article on  how to create a sales deck . There, you'll find key steps as well as templates and examples to craft the best one possible.

How to Properly Deliver Your Sales Presentation

An effective sales presentation is personalized to your prospect and makes them active participants, sparking questions from them and prompting run-off conversations about their specific interests. This helps you build a relationship. Let’s go over some key tips for delivering a sales presentation that wins over your audience.

Start With Highly Personalized Small Talk

Depending on your prospect, you may want to begin your sales presentation with a rapport-building question that asks about their personal life such as “How was the football game last weekend?,” or they may respond better to a more professional question like “I saw you opened a new office in {location} . Congrats! How's it progressing?” Starting off the presentation with the right type of small talk can help your prospect relax and drop their “No one can sell me!” attitude.

Use a Conversational Tone

Resist the urge to speak too formally. It's important to be respectful of your prospect, but positioning yourself as their peer will help them picture you as both a subject matter expert and a quality potential partner. Stick to simple language and try to sound more casual so your prospects see you as a pleasant person to work with rather than a stuffy salesperson.

Switch Speakers Often

If you’re presenting with multiple people, it makes sense to switch speakers whenever you move on to the next main point. When assigning main points to different team members, take into account their levels of expertise and enthusiasm for given topics. For example, if one of them spent days analyzing the prospect’s main problem, let them take that part. Genuine confidence is powerful. For this reason, also let your best closer make the closing statement.

Encourage Questions Throughout

Consider building in extra time so you can encourage your audience at the beginning of your presentation to ask questions and make comments while you’re presenting. This makes your presentation more of a conversation and lifts the audience's engagement level and comprehension. Say something like, “Don’t be afraid to ask questions or make comments throughout. If there’s something you want to discuss in greater detail, let me know.”

Follow Typical Presentation Best Practices

As you go through the outline and any supporting materials (e.g., a slide deck) you've created, keep in mind the communication tactics that help your presentation go smoothly. Here are some best practices for delivering your sales presentation in a way that both captivates and sells the audience:

• Leverage Body Language Tactics:  Put your shoulders back, smile, and feel free to move around naturally. Use your hands to emphasize key points or transitions. The Presentation Training Institute has additional tips on  body language for presenters . 
• Maintain Eye Contact:  Alternate eye contact between the people in the room. Try your best not to leave anyone out for too long. 
• Keep Things Moving and Changing:  Don’t spend more than a few minutes discussing a slide. When you frequently change the visual stimuli, you maintain the audience’s attention.
• Be Confident:  Avoid apologizing if you make a mistake. This indicates nervousness or discomfort. Instead, take it in stride and keep presenting with confidence.

Learning these presentation tips can also help you be a better salesperson in general since they can be applied outside of presentations, as well.

Go Off Script When Needed

The presentation outline, the sales deck, and any sort of script that you write all contribute to a well-organized presentation, but a truly professional presenter knows that it's important to be flexible throughout the presentation. If your prospect asks a question that you were planning to answer later in the presentation or not at all, consider taking a moment to address their curiosity or concern. This will help them feel more engaged and view you as a helpful potential partner.

Ultimately, go with the flow. Expect the unexpected to occur, like a confusing question from the audience. If you lack the knowledge on the specific subject, say you’ll do some research and send them the answer in a follow-up email. They’ll understand.

Top 3 Sales Presentation Software

Most of your prospects will better follow what you're saying and understand your product and what it does if they can view a visual slide deck as you speak. While there are many sales presentation software options out there, we've found Visme, Google Slides, and Prezi to be some of the best ones in terms of key factors like cost and features. We've briefly covered each platform below:

Google Slides

Visme is an online software that allows you to create, store, and share visual materials such as sales presentations and infographics. Its searchable library contains over a thousand presentation layouts and themes to get you started, and its free educational resources such as tutorials, webinars, and courses make it a great option for those new to sales presentations. Visme has a free version and available upgrades.

Google Slides is a free slideshow tool that helps you create simple, professional-looking sales decks to accompany your verbal presentation. Start with one of their templates, then invite your team members to collaborate on the slides in real time. Slides is a great option for Google Suite users since it integrates seamlessly with other Google apps.

Prezi is a highly interactive presentation builder that uses features such as zooming in and out to keep the viewer engaged. Because the zoom function is nonlinear, you can bounce between slides as your prospect asks questions, helping you to keep the conversation flowing and give the buyer more control than they'd normally have in a typical presentation. The basic platform is free, but you can upgrade for more functionality.

When choosing the right platform for you, consider factors such as your budget and any particular features you need. Also think about the number of employees who will use it, their level of experience with presentation software, and whether they'll use the software for their own individual presentations or collaborate on a presentation as a team.

For more on these platforms plus additional options, read our independent editorial review of the best presentation software available. In the article, we cover their pricing, core features, ease of use, and more, plus each option's primary use case.

3 Best Sales Presentation Examples From Top Companies

You can learn a lot about sales decks and presentation skills by reading through exceptional sales decks and watching great sales presenters. Here are example sales presentations from Facebook, Zuora, and Steve Jobs (Apple), and what makes them so successful. Click the images below to see each example presentation.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator Presentation

First off, LinkedIn does a great job of using color to create a visually appealing slideshow of their LinkedIn Sales Navigator product. As for the presentation, they begin with an elevator pitch that gives context to the prospect. Then they talk about the current environment of their customers (salespeople), emphasizing that sellers in this age need to be focused, informed, and trusted.

After backing this claim with data, they introduce their solution and describe how it can help them be more focused, informed, and trusted, dedicating one slide to each attribute. They repeat these three words throughout the presentation so that they stick in the prospect’s mind. This is a good example of using three key benefits and the power of repetition.

Zuora Sales Presentation

Zuora  does a fantastic job in this sales deck of using little text and still making a big impact. The presentation begins with an explanation of a big change (the new subscription economy) in the customer’s industry. This hooks the audience immediately, since it’s top of mind.

Zuora then goes on to explain how there will be winners and losers in this economy and offers case studies of companies who have used this change to their advantage. Then, they show how their solution can help the prospect do the same.

Steve Jobs Sales Presentation

In this presentation, Steve Jobs introduces the first  Apple  iPhone. The presentation is an illustration not only of what it means to present with confidence, wit, and charm, but also of solid presentation structure. Steve begins by building credibility, listing past successes. He then describes the problem with current smartphones — their static, plastic keyboards. After dismantling the competition, he introduces the solution to the problem and its many benefits.

Examples such as these are a great place to get inspired and think of similar ideas for your own presentation outline or presenting style. Seek out as many sales presentation examples as you need, then pick a few key tips to keep in mind as you get ready to host your next few sales presentations.

Top 4 Sales Presentation Tips

We listed best practices for delivery above, but there are also best practices for preparation that can help you get your presentation in good shape before your attendees arrive in person or virtually. These include planning a certain closing technique, rehearsing your presentation, sharing your sales deck in advance, and testing the technology. Keep these four main tips in mind, especially after you finish creating your presentation and start getting ready to deliver it.

Plan a Personalized Closing Technique

It's important to personalize your sales closing technique to your prospect. As you personalize your CTA, consider the relationship you have with the prospect plus what's realistic.

For example, if you have great rapport with them and you think they might buy soon, you can try an assumptive close, using language that assumes they'll make a purchase. If you don't know them as well or they seem like a tougher client, you may want to try using an inoffensive close to reiterate your product's benefits and ask if they'd be open to receiving a business proposal .

Rehearse Your Presentation

Practice your sales presentation at least five times all the way through. Do it alone first and then in front of others so they can spot your weak points. The reason you are rehearsing is to memorize the material enough so you can field questions and comments throughout the presentation, then easily get right back on the track.

For instance, if a CEO in the audience says “That’s a super cool idea” during your presentation, you won’t have to bulldoze to the next slide in order to keep your rhythm and memory if you’ve rehearsed properly. You can pause and discuss it before picking up where you left off.

Share Your Sales Deck Beforehand

Share your sales deck with the attendees two days before the meeting. In most cases, they will look it over and build interest. Some won’t read it, but it’s courteous to give them the option. Most importantly, emailing your deck to the attendees will also help them prepare any questions, so the discussions will be top-notch.

If you know a lot about the prospect’s current situation, day-to-day, and goals, take this approach a step further and send them a written vision statement that explains how you see this product or service changing their life or business. It can be as short as a single paragraph or as long as a page. It’s meant to show the prospect that your presentation will be personalized to their needs.

Prepare & Test the Technology

Your presentation could be in-person in an office or meeting room or virtual via a conferencing platform like Zoom. In both cases, it’s crucial to prepare the environment and smooth out any wrinkles by testing the technology. If in person, make sure your screen and projector or laptop and the necessary cords are functioning properly. If virtual, test the conferencing software, your mic, and your webcam. In both cases, ensure your slideshow is ready to go.

You'll naturally come up with additional best practices as you give more presentations, but even implementing these four can drastically change the success of your presentations.

For more information on creating and optimizing your sales presentation, check out our article on the top  sales presentation tips and ideas  from verified experts.

Bottom Line: Sales Presentation

Your audience should come out of your sales presentation different than they were at the beginning. Give them insights about their industry, a deeper understanding of their problem or challenge, and ideas about how they can reach their goals and dreams with the help of your product or service. If you follow the steps and tips we’ve presented to you today, you should be able to do just that.

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A step-by-step guide to craft a winning sales presentation outline 

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera February 08, 2023

Creating an effective sales presentation outline is crucial if you want to impress and persuade potential customers to purchase your products or services. Whether you’re part of a small startup or a large corporation, a well-crafted presentation can help you make a powerful and convincing case for your offering.

Crafting a successful sales presentation can be a challenging task. With the right knowledge and tools, you can create a winning presentation that communicates the value of your product or service while saving time in the process. Whether you’re giving a presentation in person or online, the key is to keep your audience engaged and interested in what you have to say. In this article, we’ll go over the basic structure of a sales presentation, offer tips for making as effective a sales presentation outline as possible, and provide some great sales presentation templates and examples you can use for inspiration.

The structure of a sales presentation

• Introduction

The introduction of your sales presentation should grab your audience’s attention. It also should give them a sense of what they can expect from the rest of the presentation. Start by introducing yourself and your company, and then provide a brief overview of the product or service you’re going to be discussing. This is also a good opportunity to establish a connection with your audience by finding common ground or addressing any pain points they may be facing.

• Problem Statement

After the introduction, it’s important to clearly define the problem or challenge that your product or service is designed to solve. This will help your audience understand the need for what you’re offering. It’ll also set the stage for the next section of the presentation.

Now that you’ve clearly defined the problem, it’s time to introduce your solution. This is where you’ll provide detailed information about your product or service, including its features, benefits, and any relevant case studies or testimonials. It’s also the time to address any potential objections or concerns that your audience may have.

• Demonstration

If possible, include a live demonstration or visual aids like images, videos, or diagrams in your presentation. This will help your audience see how your product or service works in action and will provide a better sense of its value.

• Call to Action

The final step of your sales presentation is to ask for the sale. This can be as simple as asking for the order or booking a follow-up meeting. Be sure to remind your audience of the benefits of your product or service, and make it easy for them to take the next step.

Sales presentation outline tips

When crafting your sales presentation outline, there are a few things you have to keep in mind to make the presentation a true success. Take note of the following sales presentation structure tips that’ll help you create a presentation that stands out and makes an impact. 

Start your presentation right

The first impression is everything. Grab your audience’s attention with a compelling start of the presentation – introduce a shocking statistic, tell a story, or display a capturing visual. This way you’ll catch people’s interest right from the start. 

Support your claims

Use data and customer testimonials to support your claims about the key problem or pain point your product or service tackles.

Make an impact with data visualizations

Add interactive visuals such as graphics and charts to display statistics and other data in an engaging manner. Use Prezi Design to create these visuals. Also, use dynamic visuals, images, and videos – that’ll make the presentation more engaging and interactive.

Have a well-defined structure

Make sure to use a clear and consistent structure throughout the presentation, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. You want your presentation to feel like a story that’s well-formatted and thought-out. 

Highlight your USP

Clearly define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and highlight it throughout the presentation. Emphasize your USP using bold statements, impactful data, and eye-catching visuals.

Use storytelling techniques

Make your presentation more engaging and memorable by applying storytelling techniques. Swap your slide-based presentation for a Prezi presentation that elevates the storytelling experience. The non-linear format allows you to jump between topics instead of going through slides. This way your presentation will feel more like a conversation rather than a speech, making it a much more engaging and interactive experience.

Practice to make it perfect

Practice your delivery and timing to ensure that you stay within the allotted time and keep the audience engaged. This will help you define your sales presentation structure as you’ll notice what presentation parts take longer to discuss and where you need to add more content or context.

End your sales presentation on a memorable note

End your presentation with a clear call to action that leaves a lasting impact. Apply visuals, like images, data visualizations, videos, and animations to catch people’s attention. Also, remember to include contact information so the audience can follow up with you.

By incorporating the tips outlined above, you’ll be well on your way to creating an effective sales presentation that’ll help you close more deals. Remember that each presentation is unique and needs to be tailored based on the audience and context.

Great sales presentation examples

Developing a powerful sales presentation from scratch can be challenging. Seeking inspiration from existing successful examples can assist in creating a presentation that’ll leave a lasting impression on your audience. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of great sales presentation examples that score in presentation design and structure. 

Sales presentation on communicating key business elements

This presentation examines how to better define the purpose, vision, mission, values, and key business metrics. It’s a great example of a visually appealing and engaging sales presentation structure that scores in presentation design. It’s easy to navigate the presentation as you can zoom in and out of topics. Also, the visualization of a table as topic placement creates a compelling layout. The overall structure of the presentation has a natural and logical flow, going from background information to an action-based plan. 

Salesforce presentation

If you’ve ever wondered how to turn your workforce into salesforce, this presentation provides a clear guide that makes it easy for you to dig deep into this topic. The visual format clearly represents the topic and captures attention with the highlighted title and topics. 

Also, when viewing this presentation, you can zoom in and out on topics, deciding what you want to read about first. The layout is simple and straightforward, leaving no room for confusion. The presentation is structured to introduce the topic first, then go to 3 main talking points, and finally lead to tips that leave the audience with an action plan in mind. The presentation design also helps to navigate and understand the content better.  

Sales kickoff presentation

What makes a good sales kickoff? This presentation provides a step-by-step guide to having a great sales kickoff using powerful visuals and a well-defined structure. 

The steps are visualized as American football icons and illustrate the order in which they should be discussed. This provides an engaging viewing experience with a clearly defined outline that navigates the audience throughout the presentation

Creating an effective sales presentation outline is crucial for impressing and persuading potential customers to purchase your products or services. Crafting an effective sales presentation involves understanding your audience’s needs and customizing the presentation to suit them. The basic structure of a sales presentation includes an introduction, problem statement, solution, demonstration, and call to action. To make your presentation a success, it is important to start with a compelling introduction, support your claims with data and customer testimonials, use data visualization to make an impact, and have a well-defined structure. By following the tips and using the examples provided in this article, you can create a winning sales presentation that effectively communicates the value of your idea, product, or service and keeps your audience engaged and interested.

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How To Begin Your Sales Presentation

Learning how to begin your sales presentation is one of the most important skills in any telesales job.

Not only does an effective intro help you connect with potential clients, but it’s also key to setting the tone and staying organized throughout your entire pitch.

But getting off on the right foot can be tricky, particularly if you’re still relatively new to telemarketing or don’t have enough experience crafting engaging dialogue.

Thankfully, there are some tried-and-true strategies that can steer any beginning salesperson in the right direction; routing them closer toward success instead of failure!

So if you’re ready to start making selling a breeze rather than a burden, read on for our top advice about how to ace every single part of your initial introduction.

• Why Are First Impressions So Important
• The Importance of a Captivating Beginning to Your Sales Presentation

The Impact of Prior Preparation for a Strong Sales Presentation

Start with an icebreaker, introduce yourself, ensure your presentation is professionally designed, tailor content to your audience, set the scene with an agenda, regularly engage your audience and read the room, leverage storytelling techniques, prepare for questions.

• Practice Active Listening

Focus on Building Relationships as Part of Your Presentation

Summarise and recap at the end of every sales presentation, what are the main consequences of winging your sales presentation, why are first impressions so important.

A strong first impression is essential when starting a sales presentation, as it can set the tone for the rest of your pitch. Almost everyone has heard this, but why are first impressions so important? 

In the modern sales landscape, there tends to be less face-to-face time with clients, so it can be hard to make that initial impression without a physical presence.

This change in how sales operate has also heightened the importance of those first few moments of contact . 

Studies have shown that we form judgments about others in an incredibly short period of time and that our first thoughts about someone tend to heavily influence how we interact with them afterward, regardless of any information we later learn about them.

This is why establishing rapport from the get-go is essential.

You want to show your clients that you are reliable and trustworthy in order to nurture a positive relationship right off the bat; this goes beyond what simply lies on the surface but should also extend to your style of communication and your ability to patiently answer any questions they may have. It all adds up.

The Importance of a Captivating Beginning to Your Sales Presentation?

You only have 60 seconds to get your audience’s attention , capture their interest and set the stage for a productive conversation.

Sounds like a lot of pressure doesn’t it?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone! Whether you are in an asynchronous sales environment or one more traditional and face-to-face, it’s important to effectively deliver an engaging intro that sets up the key facts while still keeping it interesting. 

It’s all about finding ways to grab your audience’s attention up front and make sure they stay captivated throughout your presentation.

This might sound incredibly challenging and is but in the long run it’s been shown to help improve overall sales success and increase the likelihood that leads will convert into paying customers.  

Every sales representative knows that a thorough level of preparation is crucial for success in sales, and making sure that your first impression starts strong is no exception.

Prior planning in your sales presentation can help to set the stage for gaining the trust of customers before you even step foot into their homes, or office spaces, appear on their computer screen or connect with them via the phone. 

Developing an understanding of the customer beforehand by researching them and having a detailed plan regarding what will be discussed during your presentation can really help to make an overwhelming task feel much simpler and less daunting. 

Taking the time to think through different scenarios and sales presenation examples before they happen can give you a wealth of knowledge on how best to tackle a situation so you don’t have to worry about what’s next while meeting with people.

Not only will this give you more confidence when going into sales presentations, but it’ll also breed trust, and respect, and have potential buyers feeling comfortable enough to consider signing up with you.

Top 9 Tips For Delivering an Effective Sales Presentation

Sales presentations can be intimidating. It’s a chance to wow your audience, showcase your amazing product and make a memorable impact.

Lucky for you, with a few helpful tricks in your pocket, you’ll have the confidence and expertise to deliver a solid presentation that will have your audience hooked. Here are the top 9 tips for nailing your next sales presentation.

Starting off a sales presentation can be tricky, but by using an icebreaker you can often help the conversation flow more naturally.

An icebreaker helps set the stage for a successful sales pitch and get both parties talking, collaborating and on the same wavelength. 

When selecting an icebreaker, take into account who you’re speaking to. Remember that this is a dialogue so pick an icebreaker that gets everyone involved in the conversation yet still takes into account cultural and personal differences .

Choose something fun, positive and relevant to your products or services. Having a laugh during the conversation will often help people to feel comfortable entering into negotiations and taking part in discussions, making it much more likely for everyone to have a successful outcome.

An introduction is an important part of any sales presentation, and in a sales context knowing how to start your presentation can make or break it.

It’s important to introduce yourself with confidence while providing the customer with pertinent information that will help guide the rest of the call. 

Here are a few tips you should consider while introducing yourself: Keep a friendly and warm attitude, regardless of the circumstances; offer your name and the company you represent; establish credibility by mentioning past experience and relevant successes; be straightforward about your intentions for the call, and keep things brief. 

In-depth introductions can be particularly difficult when dealing with skeptical customers, but if handled properly a good intro can demonstrate organization and result in higher quality conversations . The more comfortable you are introducing yourself, the better.

Presentations are vital tools to create a lasting, positive impression on those attending the meeting. Therefore, it’s important to ensure your presentation is professionally designed and organized and that you don’t drown your audience in a sea of words or overly busy templates or slides. 

Consider using effective yet subtle graphics to highlight key points, as well as icons to add visual interest and catch the eyes of those people in attendance.

This can demonstrate your professionalism, boost audience engagement and help illustrate complex ideas. Investing time into creating an attractive presentation will pay dividends in the long run by keeping your audience involved and attentive throughout the presentation.

One of the key elements of a great sales presentation is tailoring your content to your target audience .

Doing so enables you to completely engage with them, ultimately leading to a better outcome than if you relied solely on scripted responses and generic information. 

Consider who will be present during your presentation and research relevant topics that they may find intriguing or be familiar with already.

This type of consideration will arm you with an excellent icebreaker and initial point for further conversations about how you can add value to their business. 

To take full advantage of this approach, make sure your content is tailored to the specific customer, industry trends, current events, products/services offered and anything else you can use to start engaging in an effective dialogue.

With the right preparation, each participant should leave your presentation feeling enlightened and inspired.

Setting an agenda at the start of your presentation or even the first slide is one of the best ways to ensure that you and your customer are on the same page . An agenda will provide crucial clarity for both parties, so it’s essential to get it right. 

Before you start to talk about certain features or benefits, make sure that everyone knows why you are having this conversation, what topics will be discussed, and how long each part needs.

Reiterating those objectives can remind decision-makers of why they need your product at this time in order to solve their problem.

This makes touching upon their pain points easier and allows you to focus on displaying the goods in a manner that supports those objectives. 

Remember: setting an agenda won’t just help steer you in the right direction, it’ll also give everyone in the meeting a sense of control over proceedings and help to create a friendly atmosphere wherein more meaningful conversations can take place.

Engaging with your audience is one of the most important elements of a successful sales presentation. Reaching out and listening to your prospects , not just telling them what you already know, is key to any successful telesales presentation. 

Utilise polls, questionnaires, and interactive activities that involve your audience and will help spark conversations during your presentation.

Additionally, you should be aware of the atmosphere in the room during the call in order to adjust your approach; so be careful not to talk over people, discourage discussion or ignore body language indications that may signal a person’s level of engagement. 

It’s essential to pay attention and remain open-minded to feedback from both prospects and colleagues, who can offer valuable insights into why certain approaches work better than others.

Nothing grabs an audience’s attention more than a compelling story.

It evokes emotion, engages us on a deeper level, and makes it easier to remember the message. In fact, according to the Hollywood Reporter, storytelling can be up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone . 

Leveraging storytelling techniques is a great way for sales representatives to begin their presentations as there’s something visceral about telling anecdotes and personal narratives that will hook their listeners in right away.

Instead of dumping a bunch of facts and stats into your sales pitch, strive to craft stories that make people connect with you and your message, because when your prospects are emotionally invested in your presentation they’ll be much more likely to take action .

Once you’ve finished presenting your sales pitch, it’s important to be ready to answer any questions. Whether they’re asked out of genuine curiosity or a mysterious need to derail the entire discussion, being ready and armed with good responses will help you calmly address them. 

It can also make your potential customer feel respected and reassured that their concerns are taken seriously.

Pay attention to the tone and body language used in the query, as it can influence how you respond. 

With telesales especially, first impressions matter. Doing even a bit of research into the company beforehand will give you an edge if more obscure questions come up so make sure to take advantage of it.

That way, when it comes time for Q\&A during your presentation, you’ll have no problem dazzling them with answers befitting an expert presenter. 

Practise Active Listening

Being a successful sales presenter means more than memorizing your script and speaking quickly. You need to truly listen to the person you’re talking to if you want to make the sale.

This is known as active listening and it is essential to engage your audience and understand their needs so you can tailor your presentation accordingly. 

Active listening in sales presentations involves embracing silences, asking open-ended questions, paraphrasing what was said before, mirroring body language, showing recognition of input from the customer, avoiding interruptions and allowing for equal participation in the conversation.

Practicing these techniques can be challenging but it’s worth it to master them; not only does active listening improve relationships between the customer and the business, it increases the likelihood of making a sale by offering a more personalized experience .

Building relationships with potential customers is an integral part of any successful sales presentation. Most sales representatives recognize the value of it and have found ways to incorporate relationship-building into their presentations.

The best way for salespeople to build trust and authenticity with their customers i s by being professional and offering friendly service with a sincere interest in their customer’s well-being. 

Instead of solely focusing on the product benefits, emphasize the value that a great relationship provides because strong connections are crucial when it comes to sales success.

Be genuine, ask relevant questions, encourage meaningful dialogue, practice active listening and really focus on getting to know your customers before diving into the main content or purpose of the presentation.

Doing so will improve engagement, increase emotional connection and boost client satisfaction; ultimately resulting in higher conversion rates.

There’s always that awkward and nerve-racking moment when you reach the end of your sales presentation.

You can feel the anticipation hanging in the air as everyone in the room waits to find out how it’s all going to wrap up. This is where summarising and recapping becomes essential. 

Doing a quick summary at the end of your presentation has several benefits , such as reinforcing any main points, emphasizing what sets you apart from competitors and further building upon your credibility with potential buyers.

As a sales professional, leveraging this technique will leave a lasting impression that not only conveys the value of your product or service but also gives clients more confidence in you and your brand. 

Spending the extra few minutes at the end to tie up loose ends could be one of the most important steps you take in order to close more deals.

Simply putting it, winging your sales presentation can be a substantial risk. It ruins your credibility as a sales expert and implies to clients that you simply don’t know what you’re doing.

Your presentation ends up feeling chaotic and disordered, with no clear direction or goal, which makes it difficult for even experienced sales professionals to feel confident about their performance. 

Winging your presentation might also come off as unprofessional in front of your client, and presenting yourself in an organized manner is essential to garnering trust from them.

This kind of lackadaisical attitude may also affect the way your clients perceive the company you represent. 

All things taken into account, it’s best not to take the risk when it comes to making sure everything from your opening statement to closing remarks have been thoroughly planned out in advance. Preparation is key for any successful sales presentation.

In summary, giving a successful sales presentation isn’t about luck; it’s more about establishing yourself as a professional and reliable authority in the field.

Taking the time to make a good first impression, speaking genuinely, preparing adequately and recapping effectively are all key elements of performing a winning sales pitch. 

Applying these tips to your sales presentations will give you an advantage over winging it.

So take a good look at your workflow background information and get rehearsing! Good luck out there!

Instant demos and screen sharing by CrankWheel

Home Blog Presentation Ideas How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test

How to Start a Presentation: 5 Strong Opening Slides and 12 Tricks To Test

Knowing how to start a presentation is crucial: if you fail to capture the audience’s attention right off the bat, your entire presentation will flop. Few listeners will stick with you to the end and retain what you have told.

That is mildly unpleasant when you are doing an in-house presentation in front of your colleagues. But it can become utterly embarrassing when you present in front of larger audiences (e.g., at a conference) or worse – delivering a sales presentation to prospective customers.

Here is how most of us begin a presentation: give an awkward greeting, thank everyone for coming, clear our throats, tap the mic, and humbly start to mumble about our subject. The problem with such an opening performance? It effectively kills and buries even the best messages.

Table of Contents

• The Classic Trick: Open a Presentation with an Introduction
• Open a Presentation with a Hook
• Begin with a Captivating Visual
• Ask a “What if…” Question
• Use the Word “Imagine”
• Leverage The Curiosity Gap
• The Power of Silence
• Facts as Weapons of Communication
• Fact vs. Myths
• The Power of Music
• Physical Activity
• Acknowledging a Person

How to Start a PowerPoint Presentation The Right Way

Let’s say you have all of your presentation slides polished up (in case you don’t, check our quick & effective PowerPoint presentation design tips first). Your presentation has a clear storyline and agenda. Main ideas are broken into bite-sized statements for your slides and complemented with visuals. All you have left is to figure out how you begin presenting.

The best way is to appeal to and invoke certain emotions in your audience – curiosity, surprise, fear, or good old amusements. Also, it is recommended to present your main idea in the first 30 seconds of the presentation. And here’s how it’s done.

1. The Classic Trick: Open a Presentation with an Introduction

When you don’t feel like reinventing the wheel, use a classic trick from the book – start with a quick personal introduction. Don’t want to sound as boring as everyone else with your humble “Hi, I’m John, the head of the Customer Support Department”? Great, because we are all about promoting effective presentation techniques (hint: using a dull welcome slide isn’t one of them).

Here’s how to introduce yourself in a presentation the right way.

a. Use a link-back memory formula

To ace a presentation, you need to connect with your audience. The best way to do so is by throwing in a simple story showing who you are, where you came from, and why your words matter.

The human brain loves a good story, and we are more inclined to listen and retain the information told this way. Besides, when we can relate to the narrator (or story hero), we create an emotional bond with them, and, again – become more receptive, and less skeptical of the information that is about to be delivered.

So here are your presentation introduction lines:

My name is Joanne, and I’m the Head of Marketing at company XYZ. Five years ago I was working as a waitress, earning $10/hour and collecting rejection letters from editors. About ten letters every week landed to my mailbox. You see, I love words, but decent publisher thought mine were good enough. Except for the restaurant owner. I was very good at up-selling and recommending dishes to the customers. My boss even bumped my salary to $15/hour as a token of appreciation for my skill. And this made me realize: I should ditch creative writing and focus on copywriting instead. After loads of trial and error back in the day, I learned how to write persuasive copy. I was no longer getting rejection letters. I was receiving thousands of emails saying that someone just bought another product from our company. My sales copy pages generated over $1,500,000 in revenue over last year. And I want to teach you how to do the same”

b. Test the Stereotype Formula

This one’s simple and effective as well. Introduce yourself by sharing an obvious stereotype about your profession. This cue will help you connect with your audience better, make them chuckle a bit, and set a lighter mood for the speech to follow.

Here’s how you can frame your intro:

“My name is ___, and I am a lead software engineer at our platform [Your Job Title]. And yes, I’m that nerdy type who never liked presenting in front of large groups of people. I would rather stay in my den and write code all day long. [Stereotype]. But hey, since I have mustered enough courage…let’s talk today about the new product features my team is about to release….”

After sharing a quick, self-deprecating line, you transition back to your topic, reinforcing the audience’s attention . Both of these formulas help you set the “mood” for your further presentation, so try using them interchangeably on different occasions.

2. Open a Presentation with a Hook

Wow your audience straight off the bat by sharing something they would not expect to hear. This may be one of the popular first-time presentation tips but don’t rush to discard it.

Because here’s the thing: psychologically , we are more inclined to pay attention whenever presented with an unexpected cue. When we know what will happen next – someone flips the switch, and lights turn on – we don’t really pay much attention to that action.

But when we don’t know what to expect next – e.g., someone flips the switch and a bell starts ringing – we are likely to pay more attention to what will happen next. The same goes for words: everyone loves stories with unpredictable twists. So begin your presentation with a PowerPoint introduction slide or a line that no one expects to hear.

Here are a few hook examples you can swipe:

a. Open with a provocative statement

It creates an instant jolt and makes the audience intrigued to hear what you are about to say next – pedal back, continue with the provocation, or do something else that they will not expect.

“You will live seven and a half minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.”

That’s how Jane McGonigal opens one of her TED talks . Shocking and intriguing, right?

b. Ask a rhetorical, thought-provoking question

Seasoned presenters know that one good practice is to ask a question at the beginning of a presentation to increase audience engagement. Rhetorical questions have a great persuasive effect – instead of answering aloud, your audience will silently start musing over it during your presentation. They aroused curiosity and motivated the audience to remain attentive, as they did want to learn your answer to this question.

To reinforce your message throughout the presentation, you can further use the Rhetorical Triangle Concept – a rhetorical approach to building a persuasive argument based on Aristotle’s teachings.

c. Use a bold number, factor stat

A clean slide with some mind-boggling stat makes an undeniably strong impact. Here are a few opening statement examples you can use along with your slide:

• Shock them: “We are effectively wasting over $1.2 billion per year on producing clothes no one will ever purchase”
• Create empathy: “Are you among the 20% of people with undiagnosed ADHD?”
• Call to arms: “58% of marketing budgets are wasted due to poor landing page design. Let’s change this!”
• Spark curiosity: “Did you know that companies who invested in speech recognition have seen a 13% increase in ROI within just 3 years?”

3. Begin with a Captivating Visual

Compelling visuals are the ABC of presentation design – use them strategically to make an interesting statement at the beginning and throughout your presentation. Your first presentation slide can be text-free. Communicate your idea with a visual instead – a photo, a chart, an infographic, or another graphics asset.

Visuals are a powerful medium for communication as our brain needs just 13 milliseconds to render what our eyes see, whereas text comprehension requires more cognitive effort.

Relevant images add additional aesthetic appeal to your deck, bolster the audience’s imagination, and make your key message instantly more memorable.

Here’s an intro slide example. You want to make a strong presentation introduction to global pollution.  Use the following slide to reinforce the statement you share:

“Seven of nine snow samples taken on land in Antarctica found chemicals known as PFAs, which are used in industrial products and can harm wildlife”

Source: Reuters

4. Ask a “What if…” Question

The “what if” combo carries massive power. It gives your audience a sense of what will happen if they choose to listen to you and follow your advice.  Here are a few presentations with starting sentences + slides to illustrate this option:

Alternatively, you can work your way to this point using different questions:

• Ask the audience about their “Why.” Why are they attending this event, or why do they find this topic relevant?
• Use “How” as your question hook if you plan to introduce a potential solution to a problem.
• If your presentation has a persuasion factor associated, use “When” as a question to trigger the interest of the audience on, for example, when they are planning to take action regarding the topic being presented (if we talk about an inspirational presentation).

5. Use the Word “Imagine”

“Imagine,” “Picture This,” and “Think of” are better word choices for when you plan to begin your presentation with a quick story.

Our brain loves interacting with stories. In fact, a captivating story makes us more collaborative. Scientists have discovered that stories with tension during narrative make us:

• Pay more attention,
• Share emotions with the characters and even mimic the feelings and behaviors of those characters afterward.

That’s why good action movies often feel empowering and make us want to change the world too. By incorporating a good, persuasive story with a relatable hero, you can also create that “bond” with your audience and make them more perceptive to your pitch – donate money to support the cause; explore the solution you are offering, and so on.

6. Leverage The Curiosity Gap

The curiosity gap is another psychological trick frequently used by marketers to solicit more clicks, reads, and other interactions from the audience. In essence, it’s the trick you see behind all those clickbait, Buzzfeed-style headlines:

Not everyone is a fan of such titles. But the truth is – they do the trick and instantly capture attention. The curiosity gap sparks our desire to dig deeper into the matter. We are explicitly told that we don’t know something important, and now we crave to change that. Curiosity is an incredibly strong driving force for action – think Eve, think Pandora’s Box.

So consider incorporating these attention grabbers for your presentation speech to shock the audience. You can open with one, or strategically weave them in the middle of your presentation when you feel like your audience is getting tired and may lose their focus.

Here’s how you can use the curiosity gap during your presentation:

• Start telling a story, pause in the middle, and delay the conclusion of it.
• Withhold the key information (e.g., the best solution to the problem you have described) for a bit – but not for too long, as this can reduce the initial curiosity.
• Introduce an idea or concept and link it with an unexpected outcome or subject – this is the best opening for a presentation tip.

7. The Power of Silence

What would you do if you attended a presentation in which the speaker remains silent for 30 seconds after the presentation starts? Just the presenter, standing in front of the audience, in absolute silence.

Most likely, your mind starts racing with thoughts, expecting something of vital importance to be disclosed. The surprise factor with this effect is for us to acknowledge things we tend to take for granted.

It is a powerful resource to introduce a product or to start an inspirational presentation if followed by a fact.

8. Facts as Weapons of Communication

In some niches, using statistics as the icebreaker is the best method to retain the audience’s interest.

Say your presentation is about climate change. Why not introduce a not-so-common fact, such as the amount of wool that can be produced out of oceanic plastic waste per month? And since you have to base your introduction on facts, research manufacturers that work with Oceanic fabrics from recycled plastic bottles .

Using facts helps to build a better narrative, and also gives leverage to your presentation as you are speaking not just from emotional elements but from actually recorded data backed up by research.

9. Fact vs. Myths

Related to our previous point, we make quite an interesting speech if we contrast a fact vs. a myth in a non-conventional way: using a myth to question a well-accepted fact, then introducing a new point of view or theory, backed on sufficient research, that proves the fact wrong. This technique, when used in niches related to academia, can significantly increase the audience’s interest, and it will highlight your presentation as innovative.

Another approach is to debunk a myth using a fact. This contrast immediately piques interest because it promises to overturn commonly held beliefs, and people naturally find it compelling when their existing knowledge is put to the test. An example of this is when a nutritionist wishes to speak about how to lose weight via diet, and debunks the myth that all carbohydrates are “bad”.

10. The Power of Music

Think about a presentation that discusses the benefits of using alternative therapies to treat anxiety, reducing the need to rely on benzodiazepines. Rather than going technical and introducing facts, the presenter can play a soothing tune and invite the audience to follow an exercise that teaches how to practice breathing meditation . Perhaps, in less than 2 minutes, the presenter can accomplish the goal of exposing the advantages of this practice with a live case study fueled by the proper ambiance (due to the music played in the beginning).

11. Physical Activity

Let’s picture ourselves in an in-company presentation about workspace wellness. For this company, the sedentary lifestyle their employees engage in is a worrying factor, so they brought a personal trainer to coach the employees on a basic flexibility routine they can practice in 5 minutes after a couple of hours of desk time.

“Before we dive in, let’s all stand up for a moment.” This simple instruction breaks the ice and creates a moment of shared experience among the attendees. You could then lead them through a brief stretching routine, saying something like, “Let’s reach up high, and stretch out those muscles that get so tight sitting at our desks all day.” With this action, you’re not just talking about workplace wellness, you’re giving them a direct, personal experience of it.

This approach has several advantages. Firstly, it infuses energy into the room and increases the oxygen flow to the brain, potentially boosting the audience’s concentration and retention. Secondly, it sets a precedent that your presentation is not going to be a standard lecture, but rather an interactive experience. This can raise the level of anticipation for what’s to come, and make the presentation a topic for future conversation between coworkers.

12. Acknowledging a Person

How many times have you heard the phrase: “Before we begin, I’d like to dedicate a few words to …” . The speaker could be referring to a mentor figure, a prominent person in the local community, or a group of people who performed charity work or obtained a prize for their hard work and dedication. Whichever is the reason behind this, acknowledgment is a powerful force to use as a method of starting a presentation. It builds a connection with the audience, it speaks about your values and who you admire, and it can transmit what the conversation is going to be about based on who the acknowledged person is.

Closing Thoughts

Now you know how to start your presentation – you have the opening lines, you have the slides to use, and you can browse even more attractive PowerPoint presentation slides and templates on our website. Also, we recommend you visit our article on how to make a PowerPoint Presentation to get familiarized with the best tactics for professional presentation design and delivery, or if you need to save time preparing your presentation, we highly recommend you check our AI Presentation Maker to pair these concepts with cutting-edge slide design powered by AI.

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Sales presentation

Last updated: 11 November, 2023

What is a sales presentation?

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

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

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

In particular — by creating effective sales presentations .

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

The answer is simple. A winning sales presentation:

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

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

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

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

1. It’s all about the balanced layout

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

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

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

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

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

2. Make it short and sweet

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

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

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

3. Work on the slide deck

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Define the purpose

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

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

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

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

Adjust your sales presentation based on the audience

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

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

Consider means available

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

Prepare key points & season them with data

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

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

Design the sales presentation structure

Use a “10-20-30” formula: 

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

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

• Freecreatives

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

Wrapping up

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

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What Is a Sales Presentation? Definition, Tips, and Follow-Up Tasks

Sales presentations let you communicate with customers in a highly memorable and persuasive way. But exactly what is a sales presentation? 

A sales presentation involves more than just a simple pitch; it’s a more complex method of explaining your product or service to a customer and demonstrating its value. 

In this article, we will explain how presentations fit into the sales process, discuss ways to make them more effective, and cover crucial follow-up tasks.

Key Takeaways

• A sales presentation is a pitch or demonstration given by a salesperson to potential customers to persuade them to buy a product or service.
• Sales presentations demonstrate the value your product offers the customer through in-depth information, data, customer reviews, visual aids, videos, statistics, demonstrations, and more.
• Key sales presentation tips include researching customer needs, tailoring the presentation to each customer, and pitching a compelling story.
• After a presentation, you should thank the attendees, follow up with additional information that addresses any objections or questions, schedule a follow-up phone call or meeting, and keep in touch to help solidify the sale.

What Does a Sales Presentation Mean?

How do sales presentations fit into the sales process, sales presentations vs. sales pitch, start by researching, craft a strong introduction, tailor your presentation to the customer journey, highlight key points backed by data, bring your product or a visual aid, use a template, what to do immediately after a sales presentation.

A sales presentation is a pitch or demonstration given by a salesperson to potential customers in order to persuade them to buy a product or service. But a sales presentation is more than just a sales pitch. It takes your customer on an experience that aids them in understanding how you can meet their needs and requirements.

Presentations also offer the opportunity to explore and build customer relationships by providing tangible success stories or positive customer reviews that can help boost your credibility. However, presenting this information to customers effectively and captivatingly is crucial for your success.

Sales presentations are typically used when introducing products or services to prospective clients to facilitate better business deals. This could involve giving further background about your company’s offerings and showcasing awards your company’s work or product range has received. A well-crafted sales presentation will let your potential buyers know why they need what you’re offering.

Sales presentations are part of the larger sales process that typically happens toward the end of the sales cycle . The sales process begins with a sales rep researching a potential customer’s needs and preferences, preparing your product or service to meet their needs, and building a relationship with your customer over time.

In the early stages of the sales process, you might communicate with your customer over email or through website visits. Later on, you might have meetings or other more direct communications.

As you near the end of the sales cycle, the time for delivering a sales presentation approaches. This is when your customer has already established that you have something of value to offer, and they’re ready to learn more.

Your presentation should provide a detailed overview of how your products can meet their current needs while enabling them to easily view features and benefits in one place.

It’s common for people to think that a sales pitch and a sales presentation are the same thing. However, while they may seem similar, these two approaches have significant differences.

Sales pitches are often standardized, are not tailored to the unique needs of a specific customer, and don’t require any research into the customer’s pain points. For example, a sales pitch is usually characterized by one-way communication. During a sales pitch, you are focused solely on selling your product or service to the customer without any exploration of their needs or interests.

A sales presentation, on the other hand, encourages a more interactive dialogue with customers. It allows them to ask questions and provides more in-depth information about why your product would benefit them specifically. It’s not as much about “selling” as about introducing products based on customer insights to establish value in their eyes.

How to Create an Effective Sales Presentation

When creating an effective sales presentation, there are several factors to consider. A successful sales presentation should be tailored specifically for each customer and allow them to experience meaningful engagement with your product.

It should build on your customer’s needs and interests to showcase how you can meet them without focusing too much on selling points. Additionally, research plays a key role in any sales process, and having data about industry trends or statistics that support your claims can add credibility to your proposal. Here are some tips on the best way to develop a winning sales presentation.

Researching before you start is essential for a good sales presentation. While the information in your presentation will vary depending on the client and situation, it’s important to include enough data and industry stats relevant to the customer’s needs. This data should be targeted towards the specific aspects of your product that can address your customer’s problem areas.

Also, digging further into case studies or positive reviews from existing customers is great for transforming a one-off sale into an ongoing business relationship. You should back up everything you say with credible sources during your sales pitch for a greater impact on viewers’ buying decision process. Newspaper articles, past client testimonials, or information from trusted online sources can all be good places to find data that backs up the claims in your presentation.

Starting a sales presentation with an introduction and some small talk is important for building rapport and trust. This also allows you to warm up the room while giving your customers a chance to get comfortable with you as well. Ensure the conversation’s tone matches your presentation’s purpose, too. Keep it upbeat yet professional, and aim to get out of any awkward silences quickly.

Develop your sales presentation with the customer journey in mind. This means considering your customer’s objectives and using them as a guideline for crafting your story. By paying attention to what your target audience needs, you not only increase the potential of closing a deal but also make customers feel understood.

But don’t take too long to get into specific details about your product. Oftentimes, getting directly to the point of how your product can solve their problem is much more effective and persuasive than offering generic explanations about what you do.

Remember the Power of Storytelling

Storytelling can be incredibly effective when it comes to sales presentations. Focus on telling stories that convey how your company or products have successfully helped other customers meet their needs. This can help your customer understand why they need what you’re offering.

Talking about your product’s challenges and solutions in simple yet compelling language is also important. Remember that a sales presentation isn’t just reciting facts and data points — illustrate the solutions you offer in a memorable way.

Focus Your Presentation on the Customer’s Problem

When creating a sales presentation, keeping the customer’s problem in your mind is important. You should provide solutions that address their pain points and benefit their specific situation.

A good sales presentation will spotlight the features of your product that provide quick and simple problem-solving for the customer. By doing this, you can position your offering as something your customer needs rather than something that’s merely nice to have.

Ways to Improve Your Sales Presentations

Besides doing the required research beforehand, there are some sales presentation techniques you can use to ensure everything runs smoothly and effectively. Here are a few ideas.

As mentioned before, having data that backs up the key points you make in your presentation is critical. These points should include quick summaries or facts about product insights, as well as any relevant customer feedback to give viewers a clear idea of how your offering can meet their needs.

Having your product there for customers to see during your sales presentation can be very persuasive. If it’s too difficult or impossible to bring your product to the presentation, you should still bring visual aids.

For example, you can provide a link with interesting animations of your product’s features, display quotes from previous customers, showcase awards you’ve won, or show videos of your previous work and how it benefitted the customer.

Create a sales presentation template that can be used across different customer sessions to speed up the process. Start by making a sales presentation outline that applies to all customers, and then tailor it to each customer as needed.

Having a consistent format and look to all your presentations will save time and reduce the effort needed to develop new slides so you can focus on crafting content specifically for each customer. An effective template will also ensure brand consistency and professionalism linked with your company’s name.

Assess Your Body Language

When delivering a presentation, body language is just as important as words. Having good posture shows confidence in your presentation and can help keep your customers engaged. Avoid crossing your arms or moving around too much, as this can cause viewers to be distracted. It’s a good idea to record yourself practicing your presentation in advance to see how you appear to others.

Ask for Input

Feedback is essential for sharpening your skills as a presenter and gaining confidence in your sales presentations. Asking your customers or sales team members for feedback on your sales deck and presentation is a great way to get honest and productive input. They may suggest changes that could bring greater clarity to your presentation or help you develop a more effective sales deck in the future.

Highlight Value Before Going Into Pricing

A professional sales presentation should focus heavily on value. Highlight how customers stand to benefit from your product, as this is crucial for getting them to purchase with confidence. You will be much more successful if you demonstrate how valuable your product is before you tell the customer how much it will cost them. 

If you’re selling something expensive, packaging additional services or features in one bundle at no extra cost can be useful for reassuring your customer that the price is worth it. This could include offers such as introducing discounts for first-time buyers or offering free maintenance contracts over a set period.

Outline Next Steps

To give your customer a clear idea of where you want things to go, always remember to end your presentation with a quick overview. This can include summarizing your value proposition and the advantages that customers can gain from using your product. Clearly outline any details about follow-up steps to set client expectations up correctly.

Increase Audience Engagement

Tricks such as incorporating polls and games during your presentation can help people remember the key points you want to present. It’s another way for sales reps to make a memorable impression on viewers and engage them with your product even after the meeting has ended.

Also, remember that the most effective sales presentations use an impactful sales deck that allows you to paint a memorable story for the customer. Build opportunities for interaction into your presentation itself.

After a successful sales presentation, it is important for a salesperson to follow-up with their client. This follow-up should be swift and thorough to ensure that the customer remembers their experience and continues to do business with the salesperson. The follow-up can include sending an email or letter summarizing the conversation and outlining any next steps, such as setting up another meeting or contract signing. Be sure to address any specific questions or concerns the prospect expressed during the presentation as well.

Additionally, it is important for the salesperson to keep in touch with their customer after the initial sale. This can be done by sending periodic updates on new products or services, providing tips on how best to use purchased products, and offering other relevant insights that could help strengthen the customer relationship.

Finally, regular check-ins will help cement loyalty while helping to identify opportunities for future sales. When executed correctly, these follow-up tasks can contribute heavily to long-term success in sales.

Sales presentations are an important element of the sales journey and require thoughtful preparation. Now that we’ve answered the question of what is a sales presentation, you can use these tips to improve your interactions with customers. Through data-backed storytelling and consideration of the customer’s journey, you stand a great chance of successfully selling your product.

Always remember that these sales presentation techniques should help make the sale come alive for viewers so they can better envision value in what you have to offer. By following our sales presentation tips, you’ll be well on your way to delivering a successful sales presentation every time!

Jane Mitchell is a sales expert with over 17 years in the industry, extending her knowledge to diverse sectors and providing optimal business growth solutions. Her knack for crafting unique sales strategies is unmatched. Jane fuels her wanderlust by traveling the world, having reached the prestigious Million Miler status with Delta Airlines.

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Four Tips to Make Your Sales Presentation a Winner

Being prepared and not being boring can go a long way toward persuading a potential customer to buy into what you’re offering.

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“I am CEO of an educational sales organization, and we need to transform our telemarketing staff into salespeople who go out into the field, make presentations and do lunch-and-learn new product seminars with potential customers. May I legally change their job duties? Would I be required to provide training for them, and if so, what type? Thanks, ‘Walter.’”

“Yes to both questions,” says Southern California labor lawyer Daniel Klingenberger . “If employers prefer sales presentations face-to-face with existing or prospective customers, they can establish those job requirements. They would be well advised to provide appropriate sales or presentation skills training to these employees.”

I also consulted on this topic with Terri Sjodin , principal and founder of Sjodin Communications in Newport Beach, Calif. “Dennis,” she says, “you would be surprised at how often these same issues come up as employees have gone from home-based to virtual and now are sent out into the field.”

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Sjodin, a New York Times bestselling author and a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows, has dedicated her professional life to helping people become effective speakers. Her most recent book is Presentation Ready: Improve Your Sales Presentation Outcomes and Avoid the Twelve Most Common Mistakes .

How to build presentation skills

“Most people want to improve their presentations,” she says, “but don’t know where to start. Understanding the most common mistakes — and figuring out how to avoid them — is critical because you can’t course-correct what you don’t recognize as a problem.”

She provided some confidence-boosting insights to help Walter’s sales professionals get started on learning good presentation skills.

Don’t wing it. Failing to prepare reveals a lack of product knowledge.

Winging it is improvising, ad-libbing or generally conducting a presentation without much preparation. It is among the top mistakes salespeople reported making that had likely ruined transactions.

Goal-oriented, persuasive presentations that need a customer’s buy-in risk failure if you are not well prepared, if you haven’t done your homework and if you don’t know your company’s product or service well. Listeners easily sense a lack of preparation where the speaker appears disorganized, unskilled and distracted.

This can have a greater cost than one lost sale; it puts the employer’s reputation at risk.

Don’t be boring. Being informative has its limits.

The 2023 State of Sales Presentations Research Study from Sjodin’s company revealed that being boring is the most common mistake presenters recognized in others. This can happen for a host of reasons, including sharing too many facts and figures.

A good presentation is much more than just delivering information; you need your message to land, to create a connection with the listener.

This is accomplished by crafting a message that is engaging, interesting and amplified by stories listeners will tune in to emotionally, making the product or service relevant — something they can visualize owning or using. “Your enthusiasm is vital!” Sjodin says.

While it is important to provide a factual basis for why someone should purchase your product, you don’t want customers to feel as if they are being asked to drink from a fire hydrant. “Buying decisions are seldom based on a massive amount of detail but are strongly linked to positive feelings the audience has about the speaker,” Sjodin points out.

Do be the first person in the room and know who your audience is.

“Audience analysis refers to knowing who will be in the audience,” Sjodin notes. “This intelligence is golden, as the more you know about your listeners, the better able you should be to fine-tune the presentation. But sometimes you will have no idea who will be present, and they might have no idea who you are.”

The solution is to be the first person in the room. By greeting listeners as they come in, you can exchange a few words and, time permitting, ask them what they might like to know about your product or service. “In so doing, your presentation has already begun, and you have likely won a friend,” Sjodin says.

Keep in mind that for a lunch-and-learn seminar, the food is important.

Lunch-and-learn seminars are popular in the investment world. “A common mistake,” Sjodin says, “is for the financial adviser to lecture while guests are eating. Few will pay attention!”

Sjodin recommends that, prior to lunch, open the session with a few welcoming remarks, advising that lunch will be served in a moment and that afterward the presentation will begin.

“In summary,” Sjodin notes, “providing your team with presentation skills training will

boost their comfort with the new job responsibilities and help them to succeed.”

In Presentation Ready , Sjodin puts her all into helping readers become more effective in the world of sales. It is a shot of confidence-building Vitamin B-12 and the ideal gift for employees preparing for a required change in performance skills.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield, Calif., and welcomes comments and questions from readers, which may be faxed to (661) 323-7993, or e-mailed to [email protected] . And be sure to visit dennisbeaver.com .

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After attending Loyola University School of Law, H. Dennis Beaver joined California's Kern County District Attorney's Office, where he established a Consumer Fraud section. He is in the general practice of law and writes a syndicated newspaper column, " You and the Law ." Through his column he offers readers in need of down-to-earth advice his help free of charge. "I know it sounds corny, but I just love to be able to use my education and experience to help, simply to help. When a reader contacts me, it is a gift." 

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

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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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How to Start a Presentation [+ Examples]

Published: September 13, 2023

The first step in mastering the art of delivering powerful presentations is understanding how to start a presentation properly.

In this post, you'll discover strategies for crafting a solid presentation opening, designing an impactful opening slide, and delivering a memorable presentation.

Table of Contents

Why Your Presentation Opening Matters

How to start a presentation, opening slide examples, best practices for starting a presentation.

The opening of your presentation sets the tone for your entire session.

Within the first few minutes, most of your audience will decide whether they find your expertise, experience, and topic compelling enough to warrant their attention.

Think of it this way: Your opening is a preview of your presentation like a trailer is a preview of a movie. If the five-minute trailer isn’t engaging or impactful, why should the audience bother sitting through the half-hour movie?

Your opening shapes the expectations of your audience and entices them to stay engaged throughout the session.

And although you’ll still need to work to maintain their attention, getting it right from the start will spare you the challenge of re-engaging a disinterested audience right from the beginning of your presentation.

This opening statement is powerful because rather than lead with his “credentials” or “accolades,” as the audience most likely expects, he defies that expectation.

He creates a sense of intrigue that instantly piques the audience's curiosity and compels them to pay closer attention.

Infuse humor.

In Tom Thum's TedTalk titled Beatbox Brilliance , he sets a lighthearted tone by stepping on stage wearing oversized sunglasses and declaring, “My name is Tom, and I've come here today to come clean about what I do for money.”

As you might expect, this humorous approach not only elicits laughter but also surprises the audience, who are intrigued and pleasantly surprised at the tone he sets for the presentation.

Ask a question.

Graham Shaw's presentation titled “ Why people believe they can’t draw - and how to prove they can ” begins with, “Hi, I've got a question for you - how many people here would say they can draw?”

Seeing as this is a relatively lighthearted question that’s simple to answer, the audience responds immediately.

Now, what makes this a powerful opening technique is that Graham then goes on to say:

“When people say they can’t draw, I think it's more to do with beliefs rather than talent and ability. When you say you can’t draw, that’s just an illusion, and today I’d like to prove that to you.”

By immediately challenging a widely held belief among the audience and promising to debunk it during the presentation, he employs a powerful technique that keeps the audience fully engaged.

This approach makes the audience feel “invested” in the outcome of the presentation and curious as to whether he can back up his claim.

2. Tell your audience why they should be listening to you.

Getting your audience’s attention is just one part of the equation. Once you have it, you must also explain why they should “keep” listening to you. Here are some ways to do this:

Highlight relevant personal experience.

In Phil Waknell’s opening section, he talks about how he’s spent the last ten years helping conference speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs prepare and deliver powerful presentations .

This immediately signals to the audience that he’s someone worth listening to and positions him as a credible source of insights based on the wealth of experience he has gathered.

Highlight your expertise.

During the opening section of Dr. Lara Boyd’s presentation titled “ After watching this, your brain will not be the same ,” she says, “I’m Dr. Lara Boyd, and I’m a brain researcher here at the University of British Columbia.”

Sharing her credentials as a brain researcher is crucial to gaining her audience's trust — especially considering the technicality of her topic.

But even while creating presentations outside fields like brain research, sharing qualifications and credentials in your opening section can be a powerful technique.

This helps you position yourself as a credible authority and reinforcing your audience's confidence in your ability to deliver valuable information.

Tell your audience what’s in it for them.

In Mel Robbins’ opening section for her presentation titled “ How to stop screwing yourself over ,” she ends her introduction by saying:

“I’m here for you. I’m going to tell you everything I know in less than 18 minutes about how to get what you want.”

Although she started the section by highlighting her experiences and expertise, she went further by explicitly stating the benefits her audience can expect from her presentation.

Doing this is a great way to create a compelling reason for your audience to invest their time and attention and emphasize the value of the presentation you’re about to deliver.

3. Introduce your topic.

If your topic is relatively simple to grasp or your audience is particularly knowledgeable, introducing your topic can be as easy as “Today, I’m going to be talking to you about how we’ve built a six-figure software company in 6 months.”

However, if your topic is more complex or unfamiliar to the audience, you must do a bit more heavy lifting in your opening section.

For example, Sam Bern’s “ My philosophy for a happy life ” presentation discusses how he lives a happy life despite having Progeria disease.

However, because this condition might be unfamiliar to some audience members, he takes some time in his opening section to talk about the illness before delving into the meat of his presentation.

Similarly, if you’re presenting on a complex topic or to an audience that isn’t knowledgeable, it’s essential to consider this when crafting your opening section.

4. Leverage storytelling.

Stories can create immersive experiences that captivate the audience and convey a core message.

For example, in the opening section of Sam Bern's presentation, he tells a story about his struggles while trying to achieve his goal of becoming a drummer in his school marching band, despite living with Progeria disease.

This sets the tone for his entire presentation by conveying an inspiring message of fighting against and succeeding despite the odds.

Another great example is the opening section of Josh Kaufman’s presentation, titled “ The First 20 Hours — how to learn anything ,” where he tells a story about his experience as a time-strapped first-time parent.

This story enhances the presentation as Josh eventually shares that this experience triggered his interest in studying how to become an efficient learner.

Finally, Amy Morins’s presentation “ The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong ” is another excellent example of leveraging storytelling.

Amy starts her presentation with a thought-provoking story about observing a Facebook friend's seemingly perfect life.

She then highlights how such comparisons can lead to negative thought patterns and emphasizes the importance of cultivating mental resilience.

This relatable story not only resonates with her audience but also sets the stage for her message on building inner strength.

All these presentations are great examples that highlight how incorporating story-telling in your openings can be a powerful tool for creating memorable and impactful presentations.

Your presentation slides play a crucial role in determining the impact and effectiveness of your presentation.

In this section, you’ll find examples of 8 powerful opening slides across various use cases that not just support but enhance the presentation openings:

1. “ Blackboard is Getting an Upgrade ”

Although these are very different methods of injecting humor at the start of a presentation, they show how infusing humor can be a powerful tool for adding a touch of personality and creating a more enjoyable presentation for the audience.

4. Keep it short and sweet.

While it's important not to rush through the start of your presentation, keeping your opening concise is equally important. But remember, concise does not mean sacrificing substance; it simply means delivering information efficiently.

Essentially, you want an opening section that allows you to create a solid initial impression without losing the audience's interest.

So, how long should this opening secretion be?

Most successful presentation openings are under three minutes, and many are shorter, often clocking in at under one minute.

5. Embrace authenticity.

Contrary to popular belief, there isn't a specific personality that makes someone a better presenter. In fact, the most impactful presentations have been delivered by individuals with diverse characters.

Take, for instance, the contrasting styles of Tom Thum’s irreverent humor and animated mannerisms and Sam Bern, who adopts a relaxed and conversational approach. Despite their differences, both speakers have garnered millions of views for their talks.

So, rather than emulating or mimicking their presentations, the key takeaway is to embrace authenticity.

Allow your personality to shine through, lean on your strengths, and be human in your delivery.

Mastering the Art of Captivating Presentations

Starting a presentation is a skill that is as much an art as it is a science. Thankfully, it is also a skill that can be learned and honed.

By implementing the strategies in this guide and refining them through experience, you’ll become a master at delivering impactful presentations that command attention and leave a lasting impression.

All from the moment you step onto the stage.

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Block lets Square merchants convert a part of their daily sales to bitcoin

Block , the company behind Square, Cash App and other services, announced a new program today allowing merchants using Square’s solutions to convert a percentage of their daily sales to bitcoin.

The feature, rolling out in the U.S. starting today, will transfer 1-10% of Square sellers’ daily sales to their personal Cash App account. This amount will convert into bitcoin at the end of the day. Merchants will receive a confirmation of the conversion when the transaction is complete.

Block said that the bitcoin conversion feature will be available to all sole proprietors or single-member LLCs in the coming months. The company takes a 1% cut from every conversion made by the seller. Merchants can send bitcoin to other wallets or sell them at any time from their Cash App account.

“Block believes that bitcoin is an instrument of economic empowerment and provides a way for people around the world, including business owners, to participate in a global monetary system,” the company said in a statement.

“According to direct feedback from Square sellers, many are interested in bitcoin and believe it presents a wide range of use cases, such as long-term savings and diversifying their businesses’ holdings.”

When we asked Block about sellers’ conversion patterns and average returns, the company said it had just tested the bitcoin conversion feature with a small set of merchants and had no definitive data.

Block has tried to make it easy for users to buy bitcoin across its platforms. For instance, the company integrated its self-custodial wallet Bitkey with Cash App and Coinbase to allow holders to trade bitcoin easily.

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S-400 missile defense systems to start defending Moscow July 1

RIA Novosti ,

MOSCOW: S-400 missile defense systems will be put on combat duty around Moscow July 1, the commander of the Russian Air Force said Monday.

The S-400 Triumf (NATO codename SA-21 Growler) is a new air defense missile system developed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau as an upgrade of the S-300 family.

“On July 1, one battalion of S-400 missile defense systems will be put on combat duty to defend the airspace of Moscow and Central Russia,” Colonel-General Alexander Zelin said.

Zelin said the battalion is at an Air Force range, and after range practice, the battalion, based in the Moscow Region town of Elektrostal, east of the capital, will go on active duty.

It has been designed to intercept and destroy airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 kilometers (250 miles), or twice the range of the MIM-104 Patriot, and 2.5 times that of the S-300PMU-2.

In April, Colonel-General Yury Solovyov, commander of the Air Defense Forces Special Command (former Moscow Military District Air Defense Command), said the system could also be used for limited purposes in missile and space defense, but that it is not intended to destroy intercontinental ballistic missiles.

However, he said the system is highly capable of destroying stealth aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles with an effective range of up to 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) and a speed of up to 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) per second.

The Russian Air Defense Forces, which are part of the Air Force, currently deploy more than 30 regiments equipped with S-300 missile complexes, which will be gradually replaced with S-400 systems.

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What are you looking for?

Some topics you might be interested in, sgs first quarter 2024 sales update, strong start to the year strategy 2027 on track.

• Organic *  sales growth of 7.1%, at the top end of guidance
• New CEO and streamlined Executive Committee appointed
• Management incentives implemented, fully aligned with Group targets
• Restructuring plan launched
• Pipeline of bolt-on acquisitions expanding

Successful scrip dividend

• Outlook 2024 confirmed

Géraldine Picaud, CEO, commented:

“Today, we are delighted to report our quarterly sales for the first time. The strength of our organic growth reflects the soundness and diversity of our portfolio of activities. We have started to execute Strategy 2027 to firm up this growth momentum, streamline the organization and generate a strong financial performance. I am confident that with the energy and passion of our experienced teams across the globe, we will deliver on our promises.”

First quarter 2024 sales review

Sales reached CHF 1 577 million in the first quarter of 2024. Strong organic * growth of 7.1% offset most of the negative currency effect of 8.6%. In reported terms, sales were down 2.1% compared to prior year.

Sustainability, digital trust, supply chain services and increased regulations supported the strong organic growth, in line with industry megatrends. All divisions and regions contributed to this positive performance.

Strategy 2027: Accelerating growth, building trust

Strategy 2027 – ‘Accelerating growth, building trust’ was announced on 26 January 2024 and execution is on track.

Géraldine Picaud was appointed CEO on 26 March 2024 and announced a streamlined Executive Committee on the same day. Management incentives fully aligned with Group targets were implemented to promote a culture of accountability and performance across the network. The CHF 100 million restructuring plan was launched and execution is underway to reach the new run rate at the end of 2025. M&A was relaunched as a key growth lever and the Group is expanding its pipeline of bolt-on targets, with a view to accelerate acquisitions in leading-edge activities across the network. The scrip dividend was successful, unlocking additional firepower to drive shareholder returns through accelerated, sustainable growth.

• M&A relaunched

SGS has reached an agreement to acquire ArcLight Wireless Inc., a world-class leader in systems engineering, network services, technical outsourcing and field testing for the wireless industry, headquartered in North Carolina, United States. The company has 75 full-time employees.

This acquisition, which will be effective 1 May 2024, is positioned within the digital megatrend. It allows SGS to reinforce its presence in North America and to strengthen the Group’s leadership in the dynamic connectivity industry.

The company’s Annual General Meeting held on 26 March 2024 had offered its shareholders the possibility to receive the 2023 dividend in cash or in new SGS shares.

As announced on 22 April 2024, 64.87% of the dividend for the financial year 2023 was elected to be paid in the form of new SGS shares, with the remaining 35.13% to be paid out in cash. The delivery of the new shares and the payment of the total CHF 207.3 million cash dividend took place on 25 April 2024.

This represents a clear endorsement of Strategy 2027 and allows SGS to reward the loyalty of its shareholders while redirecting close to CHF 400 million of cash towards attractive growth opportunities.

Outlook 2024

The Group confirms its targets for 2024:

• Mid to high single-digit organic *  growth
• Improvement in adjusted operating income * margin on sales
• Strong free cash flow * generation

Mid-term 2027 objectives

Strategy 2027 will shift gears towards growth of the top and bottom line. The Group confirms the following objectives over the next four years:

• Organic * sales growth of 5% to 7% annually
• Significant improvement of at least 1.5 percentage points in adjusted operating income * margin on sales by 2027
• Cash conversion * to exceed 50% by 2027

A live webcast for analysts and investors will be held today at 10:00 am CET. A recording of the webcast will be available later in the day.

* Please refer to Alternative Performance Measures – Appendix to the Q1 2024 sales update press release.

We are SGS – the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company. We are recognized as the global benchmark for sustainability, quality and integrity. Our 99,600 employees operate a network of 2,600 offices and laboratories around the world.

For further information, please contact:

Media & Investors

Ariel Bauer

Livia Baratta

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Géraldine Picaud, CEO of SGS, Announces New Executive Committee

Sgs publishes 2023 integrated report, news & insights.

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