A sales presentation provides an opportunity for you to wow an audience with your product or service. It could be delivered to several members of one company or it could be a larger presentation at a trade show.
This sales presentation template will assist you in the step by step process of creating your presentation.
Record the details of the presentation below.
Your elevator pitch is a short, sharp summary of your company and what value you provide. This should take between 15 and 30 seconds to deliver and should leave the listener with an understanding of what you do, and with plenty of questions about the details.
Constructing an elevator pitch requires a few key steps:
You can find some examples of elevator pitches and how to build them here:
Idealist Careers - A Quick Guide to Writing Your Elevator Pitch With Examples
Mind Tools - Elevator Pitch
How to Write a Powerful Elevator Pitch
Your product solves a problem, and hopefully, you're pitching this presentation to people faced with this problem.
Describe the problem they're facing. Try to write it as concisely as possible and then expand on certain aspects. Different clients may use the same product for different purposes, so be sure you understand the specific problem facing your audience.
You can draw on this as you write your presentation. Record the problem in the form field below.
A value proposition is a one-sentence summary of the value your product/service provides to customers. It provides a reason why someone should choose you.
Writing three concise value propositions will help you avoid rambling about why your product is good and cut straight to telling the audience the three most important reasons they should buy it.
Record your 3 value propositions in the form fields below.
You can find some examples of value propositions here:
ConversionXL - How To Create A Useful Value Proposition
HubSpot - How to Write a Great Value Proposition
HelpScout - How to Write a Value Proposition That Works
You could write three horrible statements about your competition in an attempt to smear them, however, this will probably make you look worse than them. Instead, focus on three things which you see as competitive advantages.
Do you undercut the competition on price while still providing the same level of service?
Do you provide added functionalities which others in the sector don't offer?
Use our Sales Competitive Analysis Checklist to gather important information on a particular competitor and to identify your competitive advantages.
You're selling your core services, but are there further benefits to the relationship which you can offer?
Perhaps you have complementary services which can benefit the audience? This might be services which you regard internally as part of your upsell. Added value you can bring which the audience may not have expected.
Record in the field below.
If you're giving a large presentation then hopefully you've already had a number of happy customers. Look through your previous records and find examples of times you have provided significant value to your clients. If you can demonstrate this in regards to return on investment, then your point will come across stronger.
If possible, use familiar companies or competitors which operate in a similar space to that of your audience. This makes the examples feel more grounded and directly relevant to their needs. If you can get direct quotes from existing clients, then use them.
The template you choose determines your branding. You should avoid something too detailed and avoid something too simple. If possible, you should use a professionally designed template specific to your company. However, lots of companies don't have an in-house designer or haven't employed a freelance designer to create all of their materials.
You can use standard software like Powerpoint or Google Slides, or design software like Photoshop or Canva. You can also find a range of templates online:
Everyone seems to have a different opinion about the best way to structure a presentation.
Salesforce recommends an audience-centric approach and has a suggested slide layout of how they would approach this here.
Similarly, BrightCarbon encourages the centrality of the audience and keeping the presentation as concise as possible.
For a very simple and visual overview, WikiHow also has a useful guide of walkthrough steps.
If you want more in-depth insight into creating a sales presentation, HubSpot has produced an ebook which can guide you through the process.
Use the information gathered in the preparation to populate your slides.
Remember to keep your writing concise, and stick to the most important content. You'll have the freedom to discuss the details as you deliver the presentation so let the content of the slides act as visual aids for you as well as the audience.
Add any important data that backs up your points (e.g. statistics on company growth)
Including images and videos in your presentation is a simple way to keep the audience's focus. This provides you the opportunity to add a product demo if you can. Videos can demonstrate a product and its value quickly and in a way which is easy for the audience to digest.
For each slide, write down a series of bulletpoints outlining points for discussion. This will help you structure your presentation delivery so that you're not covering topics at the beginning which you wanted to deliver at the end.
Working with bullet points allows you to go without a script. Scripts either result in you reading your presentation or can leave you flustered when you forget the next line. You want to be relaxed while presenting and a loose structure guided by the slides with a selection of broad points you've pre-learned can help you deliver fluidly.
The bullet points might be to mention a topic which you don't want to put on the slide or to mention a statistic or relationship with another company.
Record your bullet points below.
Present the slides to yourself a few times to check that it reads through well. This will give you an idea of how long the presentation will take in its raw form. You can then practice this until you have the length correct for the amount of time allocated.
Rehearsing the presentation will also help you verify that you have included all necessary information.
If you need to add or reduce the number of slides then you still have time to do so.
It's important to have a second pair of eyes on any work before presenting to the client. The presentation is no different. Send your slides to a colleague and if there is time practice it in front of them to get their opinion.
Feedback will help you hone your presentation before you deliver the pitch.
You can use the email template below to send your presentation to a colleague.
Finally, take the feedback from your colleague(s) and your own critique from performing it through a few times, and update the document to reflect the improvements.
Congratulations. Your presentation is complete.
Upload your slides in the form fields below.
For guidance on delivering your presentation, you can use our Sales Pitch Planning Checklist.
