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Prep, Present, and Follow Through: How To Nail Your Next Sales Presentation

Audrey Harris

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When it comes to building an effective sales presentation, no one-size-fits-all sales deck exists.

Every sales presentation you deliver to a prospect should be personalized and tailored just for them. Successful selling today is about establishing yourself as a trusted advisor. Cookie-cutter messages won’t do that. So how should you get started?

High-performing sellers close more deals by focusing on their prospects, rather than their products. Follow these sales presentation tips before, during, and after your next meeting to make it more resonant (and hopefully, more lucrative). These tips work whether you’re building customer relationships remotely or in person.

Deliver polished presentations that address your prospect’s biggest pain points

Use generative AI, powered by Einstein, to help you draft an engaging, tailored talk track for your next sales presentation, perfectly aligning product value to specific prospect needs.

Step 1: Research the company and your contact

An effective sales presentation starts long before the actual presentation. The first step is to learn who your prospect is and the challenges they face; then you can use those insights to show how you can help them succeed.

In particular, you should research the company, the challenges it faces, and the contacts who will hear your presentation.

Learn more about the company’s past, present, and future

First, consult your CRM platform. Find other accounts from the prospect’s industry and see what their customer journeys looked like. Their client information and case history will help you learn what products and services they use most and how your company serves them well. The information in your CRM platform can give you insights and tips that will help you win deals like the one you’re currently working on. Take a look, too, at the sales pipeline for that particular industry. Your CRM system is a tool specifically used to help you sell successfully and should be used throughout the sales process.

Once you have that preliminary information, head to the company website and research what the prospect’s company does, how big it is, and what products or services it offers. Then, dig deeper. Make a note of their mission, values, and corporate culture. Also try to learn more about the company’s history and any news items involving the company. Look into the company’s annual report to get a good idea of where it might be headed in the future.

Your presentation should focus on using insights from your research to show a deep understanding of the company and why your product or service can help it grow.

Consider the company’s challenges

As you learn about the company, pay special attention to the challenges it faces that are relevant to your product or service offerings. Remember these issues so you can use them as conversation starters during your sales presentation. Then you can offer advice — or insights — about how they could better face those challenges.

This type of approach is called insight selling : You as a salesperson bring unique, tailored insights to a prospect to solve their problems.

For example, if you sell a marketing tool, you may notice in your research that your lead is currently using the same ads across social media, search, and display networks. Your insight might be, “I see that your company is using the same ad copy across several platforms. How have those ads been performing for you? Have you been able to reach your sales or traffic goals?” Their answer may change aspects of your sales presentation or may make it even stronger.

Learn more about your audience

When it comes to communication, knowing who will be in the room is critical. If your prospect is the Director of Production, your most effective sales presentation may focus on metrics that can determine how to improve output. If your prospect will be presenting the information to a decision maker, offer resources to help make it easier for them.

Step 2: Prepare for your sales presentation

After gathering insights about the company and your contacts, you are ready to put together your presentation. Whether you use a sales presentation template that your workplace provides or you start from scratch, use these sales presentation tips to build a more compelling pitch.

Focus on the challenges your prospects face, not just your benefits

Salespeople should present themselves as a trusted advisor, not just a company representative. Look for ways to create a dialogue with the prospect and share how you can help their company work more efficiently, provide better service, or solve the challenges holding them back.

Keep your presentation simple

Sales template decks can be useful, but they can also overwhelm prospects if they’re too long. Instead of a 50-slide canned presentation, focus on keeping the slide deck relatively simple and highlighting engaging images and key statistics. This will make it easier to use a storytelling approach, rather than just reading off a slide.

Practice your presentation

You want to prepare, but you don’t want to come across as robotic or scripted. Practice what you’ll say and how you’ll answer questions, and make sure you’ve memorized important statistics or metrics. Build time into the presentation so you can share personal anecdotes or pause for questions.

Keep your delivery style confident, but agile. You may find that one point you thought would be critical doesn’t have as much impact with your prospect as you’d hoped, but a different point unexpectedly piques their interest. Keeping your talk track fluid will make it easier to shift gears if you need to.

Step 3: Nail your sales presentation

Presentation day has arrived. You’ve done your research, nailed the perfect storytelling approach, and trimmed down your slide deck. Now is your time to shine. Here are a few sales presentation tips to help your pitch end in a sale.

End the meeting with your presentation; don’t begin with it

You’ve likely had conversations with your contact and know them well enough, but in this presentation you’ll potentially meet additional people who make decisions. Take the time to get to know each attendee.

Building a rapport with your audience before pitching is a no-brainer. But avoid too much small talk; it can come across as inauthentic or like a waste of the customer’s time. Instead, time permitting, try to use the beginning of the meeting asking questions about day-to-day operations and goals. Ask specific questions that demonstrate your knowledge of their company and industry, and use the answers to shape your narrative. Then, during your presentation, tie back to topics the prospect brought up and focus on how you, the trusted advisor, can help.

Ask questions during the presentation to encourage a dialogue

Getting feedback from your prospect during the actual presentation is the best sales presentation technique of all. This allows you to change your focus in the moment, rather than spending your presentation talking about challenges and solutions that might be unimportant to your prospect.

After you make a key point, ask your prospect a question like, “Does this make sense in your industry?” or “Can you see this applying to your company?” This prompts the prospect to either agree or start a dialogue about pain points and how your products and services can better serve them.

If they agree with you, then you know you’re on the right track and that your suggestions are up to date. On the other hand, if they have clarifications, this lets you adjust your presentation — and follow-up efforts — to better fit their position.

Include proof that shows how your products and services have helped others

Step 4: Prioritize the follow-up just as much as the presentation

The actual sales presentation is just one part of your sales process, and it doesn’t guarantee a signed contract or even further contact with you. The final piece of your sales presentation is a well-planned follow-up, and it’s just as important as the presentation itself.

The most effective follow-up format will depend on your prospect, their needs, and how they best retain information. For example, you may follow up by:

• Emailing your slide deck and asking to schedule a follow-up call. Just remember to avoid the “Just following up” email and make sure your email offers the recipient value.
• Scheduling follow-up emails to reiterate key points in your presentation. A sales automation tool automates emails to share product information and set reminders for you to connect. It helps make sure no prospects fall through the cracks.
• Preparing personalized content that highlights the main points from your sales presentation and includes videos of products in action, testimonials, or other helpful collateral.
• Sending an additional resource about a topic they mentioned during your meeting, whether it pertained to your presentation or not.

Your sales presentation doesn’t end when you walk out the door or end the meeting. As you research and present your pitch, consider what the best follow-up approach will be. Then, take the time to create a well-considered follow-up strategy.

You can make your next sales presentation your best

Preparation and practice are key to successful sales presentations. But there’s so much more to a great presentation than well-designed slides or new research. The heart of a great sales presentation is the relationship between you and your customer, and that’s built on unique insights focused on your potential customer’s challenges and needs.

When you focus on helping, rather than pitching, your sales presentation is more likely to be a hit. That’s a win-win for you and your customer.

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Audrey is a senior product marketer for Core Sales Cloud (Salesforce Automation), and a customer advocate who has spent her career delivering B2B technology. An engineer turned marketer, she is passionate about business efficiency, philanthropy, and mentorship.

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23 Foolproof Sales Presentation Tips to Help You Close More Deals

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Enjoy reading this blog post written by our experts or partners.

If you want to see what Databox can do for you, click here .

Are you intimidated by sales presentations and not sure how to best prepare for them?

Should you talk formally or informally? Should you talk about your product, or not talk about your product at all? What are the best practices to ensure every sales presentation results in, well, sales?

You’re not alone. 

Nearly 57% of B2B prospects and customers feel that their sales teams are not prepared for the first meeting.

While sales presentations can seem intimidating the first few times you participate in them, once you get the hang of them and create an efficient, thorough process, you’ll be able to glide through them a lot easier and a lot more successfully.

In this guide, we’re going to discuss,

• What is a sales presentation?
• 6 types of sales pitches and presentations.
• What should be included in a sales presentation?
• 23 sales presentations tips to help you close more deals

So let’s dive right in.

What is a Sales Presentation?

A sales presentation is similar to an in-depth sales pitch where companies promote a product\service they’re trying to sell to potential clients.

However, it’s usually more complicated and comprehensive than a regular sales pitch. There are multiple PowerPoint presentations involved , meetings, and lots of prior prep time to ensure you’re hitting all the right persuasion notes. 

Related : 12 Most Helpful Sales Report Templates for Teams

6 Types of Sales Pitches and Presentations

Contrary to popular opinion, a full sales presentation is not always necessary or even appropriate. Different situations call for different types of sales presentations and different approaches to selling your product\service.

There are several important sales presentations and pitches that all sales representatives and companies should be well versed in. Let’s take a closer look.

• The one-word pitch
• The social media pitch
• The elevator pitch
• A full-blown sales presentation
• Written sales presentations

Related : 42 Free Sales Dashboard Templates For Tracking & Improving Sales Performance

The One Word Pitch 

Can you boil down your brand’s value proposition to one word? Just like Google’s one word is ‘Search’ and Barack Obama’s was ‘Hope’, what’s your brand’s one-word pitch?

The Social Media Pitch

Sales reps using social selling are 50% more likely to meet or exceed their sales quota. 

With over 3.5 billion social media users worldwide, companies need to have a concrete, pithy sales pitch for their social media profiles. One that not only instantly tells your social media followers and potential customers what your brand is all about but can also withstand the test of ever-changing algorithms. 

An elevator pitch is a quick speech that instantly tells your potential clients what your brand’s all about and what solutions you offer.

It works especially well when you’re not formally trying to close deals, such as during networking events and similar functions. It can also be used during cold calls. 

A Full-Blown Sales Presentation

A full sales presentation usually happens in a meeting room with 1 or several clients and includes PowerPoint presentations slides , sales decks, handouts, and a fully prepped team. It also requires a value-heavy pitch, solutions your company is offering, and so on. 

Written Sales Presentations

68% of B2B businesses use landing pages to garner a new sales lead for future conversion. 

Written sales presentations, like landing pages, are getting really popular in this digital-first world. A high-converting written sales presentation usually starts with addressing the problem and presenting its solution, and outlining the benefits of the brand’s product\service. And the best sales pages have several complimentary graphics accompanying the text, as well. 

Webinars are sales presentations conducted via the internet. Usually conducted in real-time, it gives interested prospects the opportunity to get their questions answered on the spot, and similarly, it helps brands persuade prospects to convert.

What Should Be Included In a Sales Presentation?

An effective sales presentation should focus more on the benefits and solutions it offers, instead of its product\service’s features. 

After all, 88% of executive buyers want a conversation, not a presentation

Your sales presentations should also consist of:

• Testimonials from previous clients and customers
• Data, like graphs, charts, quotes, backing up your claims
• Customized content targeted to your prospective client
• A call to action, which usually includes next steps for the clients

Related : SMART Sales Goal Examples from 30+ Sales Professionals

23 Sales Presentation Tips to Help You Close More Deals

Now we’re on the most exciting part – tips and tricks to close more sales deals. To help you ace your next sales presentations, we asked 42 sales pro their best sales presentation tips. 

And here’s what they said.

Express your interest in working together

• Give hard copies of the sales presentation 

Leverage stories

Encourage questions, highlight case studies, make data a part of your presentation, outline your value proposition, follow up with your prospect, prepare yourself and your team, highlight client’s goals.

• Incorporate videos

Drive the no’s

• Don’t hard sell

Prime your prospects before selling

Solve your prospects problems, wear your confidence.

• Personalize it for your client

Know their competitors

Keep it succinct.

• Make it conversational
• Sell your brand, not your product

Demonstrate your product\service

End with a clear cta.

Related : The 37 Sales KPIs Every Sales Leader Should Be Measuring

PRO TIP: How to Set SMART Goals for Your Sales Team’s Performance

To decide which goals meet the SMART criteria, sales managers need to look at sales analytics for their teams and monitor sales KPIs, for example:

• Average Time to Close Deal
• New Deals Amount
• Number of Customers
• Average Revenue per New Customer

Based on these metrics, and in light of other revenue-based and activity-based goals, you can identify and set desired goals for future performance, but how to get this information?

Now you can benefit from the experience of our sales experts, who have put together a great Databox template showing an overview of your sales team’s performance. It’s simple to implement and start using as a standalone dashboard or in sales reports, and best of all, it’s free!

You can easily set it up in just a few clicks – no coding required.

To set up this Sales Analytics Overview Dashboard , follow these 3 simple steps:

Step 1: Get the template 

Step 2: Connect your HubSpot account with Databox. 

Step 3: Watch your dashboard populate in seconds.

“Too often we just assume that, of course, the leads or prospects we’re reaching out to, or following up with, know that of course, we want their business. 

We don’t explicitly tell them, though, and that can be a very powerful thing to do. Something as simple as: ‘I’m really hoping to have the opportunity to work with you ,’ can make a big difference. It’s worked for me!” Explains Linda Pophal of Strategic Communications .

Give hard copies of the sales presentation

Dustin Singer of Dustin Buys Houses shares, “One of our most effective sales presentation techniques for increasing conversions is on top of giving an excellent presentation, we leave the client with a print presentation. This presentation goes into detail about who we are, what we do, how we can help them, the steps and process of working with us, and what next steps would be if they decide to work with us. 

This also includes their offer price, and terms and details of the proposed contract along with all of our contact information. It allows us to leave our sales presentation with them, so if they don’t convert over the initial meeting, we impress them with important information for the client to refer to as we work them through the sales funnel. 

We’ve received feedback about how our print presentations presented us as more professional than our competitors, and they felt more comfortable with working with us because of it.”

You can also turn that hard copy into an engagement exercise for your prospects. 

As Jeff Brandeis of Brandeis Training Solutions explains, “When presenting remotely, we typically provide a PDF that has incomplete sentences. We encourage people to fill in the blanks. People remember things when they write things down. Providing them a template to fill in separates our presentation from others.”

“Tell a story. No one wants to listen to stats on every slide. And your prospects can see right through your ‘visualize success’ ideas.

Instead, include a narrative with characters, setting, and plot. Make sure your prospects can empathize with the character. THEY need to be the hero—not you.” Says TJ Kelly of FreeDrumlineBeats.com .

Bradley Keys of PatchMD explains why stories work so well. “Stories give us an emotional connection, and it will be more effective if it is relatable to their situation. Share stories about how your products worked successfully for your clients. It is one of the leading sales strategies to help you improve your presentation and close deals. Statistics are useful, but make sure that it is not overwhelming – they are easily forgotten. Learn to play emotions when presenting as it helps to become more personal.” Shares Keys.

Nathan Binford of MarketChorus explains the benefits of using The Challenger Sale, a sales presentation methodology based on selling through constructive tension. 

“Learn and use a sales presentation methodology like The Challenger Sale to craft a compelling narrative every time you build a pitch. I’m a big fan of The Challenger Sale specifically because it forces you to ‘walk in your prospect’s shoes’ and emphasizes the importance of shocking your audience out of status quo thinking and into a receptive state.” Says Binford.

Luke Smith of We Buy Property In Kentucky recommends, “After your presentation, allow questions to be asked. As the customer or client gets the answers that meet their needs (for us – they layout terms they need for us to buy their house), I will say, “It sounds like we have a rough outline for a deal. What would you like to happen now?”

More often than not, they ask me about signing a contract to get everything started. This has allowed me to close numerous deals without the awkward transition to the close. The buyer is closing me rather than me pulling them to the closing table.”

The best way to encourage questions is by adopting the 60-second rule.

“To be more effective during a sales presentation, you must consider this — the 60-second rule. It’s simple; all you have to do is NEVER speak without entertaining questions or interruption for more than a minute.

Ditch your monologue and stop bombarding your audience with information. If you have been talking for more than 60 seconds without any interruption, it is most likely that your audience is no longer interested.

Keep in mind to engage with your audience throughout your presentation. Try to incorporate open-ended questions within your presentation to keep it conversational.

It’s easy to keep talking but always pay close attention to when to stop. By following this tip, you will increase your chances of securing deals.” Explains Dan Nolan of Camping Console .

“Drown your prospect in successful case studies for businesses like theirs. That’s my number one sales presentation tactic. It should be so obvious that you’ve done the work before, you’ve transformed situations from bad to great, and you’re certain you can do the same for them if they buy. 

For example, if you’re a B2B sales organization with a software company on the call, show them three case studies of the work you’ve done for other software companies. By doing you, their confidence rises and the doubt. that so often stops a sale, goes away.” Shares Brian Robben of Robben Media .

Brandon Amoroso of electrIQ marketing shares his experience of closing sales deals by highlighting success stories. Amoroso says, “Demonstrating our success rate at the end of a presentation through different case studies has helped our company demonstrate our knowledge in the marketing field.

We showcase studies that resemble the potential client and show them some of the ways we will carry out duties if they choose to partner with us. In doing this, we reassure them that they will be diligent with our time, communicate with them constantly, and work towards getting similar or greater results than those shown in the case study.”

Catriona Jasica of Top Vouchers Code agrees and believes success stories are essential to closing deals. 

“It takes real skills for the salespeople to be efficient enough and close a deal through their presentation. One of them is sticking to your success stories.

Sharing the statistics is surely vital to show your company’s growth, but your attendees are most likely to forget those figures. What will stick to their minds are the success stories you share in the presentation.

Let them know about your product and how it has worked wonders for your company and helped it flourish. Think of a compelling story, present it, and build an emotional connection with the clients. This undoubtedly helps you outstandingly to close the deal in the end.” Says Jasica.

Growth Hackers ’ Jonathan Aufray agrees and adds, “To increase your probability of closing a deal, you want to show your prospect how your solution helped similar people/companies in their industry. Showing them a case study on what you implemented, achieved, and accomplished for another client is definitely one of the best sales presentation techniques out there.”

David Garcia of ScoutLogic believes data is as important as success stories to seal the deal. “The most effective sales presentation technique that increases your chances of closing a deal is a quantitative analysis demonstrating the economic benefits of your solution. If you are running an enterprise sales cycle, by that point, you should understand the client’s pain points, the client’s personal win, and should be able to articulate the unique economic value only your solution will bring.” 

Trenton Erker of Clarity Online advises sales presenters to “Know the numbers in your industry and theirs. It’s compelling, authoritative, and adds to your charisma, your product/service, your company, your industry, everything. People trust industry authorities. They’ll also know you care.”

Susanne Pope of Whiterock Locators agrees with the two and says, “Including succinct and relevant data to drive your point across is one of the most effective presentation techniques that will increase your probability of closing a deal.

Anyone can make bold claims, but having the data to back up those claims will drive the nail in the coffin, so to speak. It’s also important that the data you’re presenting is clearly communicated in its relevance to the goods/services you’re pitching.

If you have data that the audience cannot make sense of, your odds of closing lessen. You also want to ensure you don’t overload your audience with data. The most critical data sets will do, but always be prepared to present more data should someone in the audience ask for it.”

Greg Taft, a Realtor , shares, “I would say the one item that gets me the most traction both from my pitch books from my private equity career and in my listing presentations to clients selling their homes is a strong value proposition.

The value proposition needs to be tangible and measurable. It is hard to put a number on intellectual property or intangible assets, but you have to. As an example, you can talk to a home seller about selling their home, but why are you the right agent for them?

You have to show that you are better than average, whether that be your homes are selling for more than they are worth, or your full marketing package is selling homes x days faster, etc. If you are just average, they will just shop for the cheapest rather than the most value.”

“Fundamentals win championships, and the same goes for sales professionals when they’re working to gain a new client. If there was one piece of advice I’d bestow upon someone new to the sales profession, it would be to follow up with your prospect . 

48% of salespeople never follow up with a prospect. Only 25% of salespeople make a second contact. Those alarming numbers, especially considering that 80% of sales are made between the fifth to twelfth contact. So if there was one technique that will increase your close rate on a macro scale, it would have to be to follow up with your prospect.” Explains Evan Donahue of JMJ Phillip .

Related : 36 Practical Tips for Writing A Great Sales Follow Up Email

When asked the most important sales presentation tip that helps close more deals, Nathan Bliss of Kinsta says,

“Prepare. There is no replacement for being prepared to go into a discovery or demo call. Know all that you can about that potential customer and their business. Make some assumptions about what you think might be important to them based on your experience, but test those assumptions with effective questioning while you are on the call.”

“I always state the potential client’s goals before I go into anything. They’ve told me what they want to achieve in a pre-call, but I reiterate that in my words, while I also hint at how we’ll get there by way of our services. Then I ask them, ‘Are we in agreement?’

If we don’t establish that agreement before I start the rest of the presentation, we can run into many swings and misses during the rest of the presentation.

That question helps me understand that my pitch is spot on, or tells me if I need to pivot some of my discussion points or commentary that are coming in the next several slides.” Shares Tracy Beach of Portent .

Incorporate videos 

“One unique and effective technique I use to help me close more deals is creating asynchronous video content, also known as recorded video, video messages, screen shares, or video voicemail.

By using a free screen-share or recording tool like Vidyard, you can turn your bland ol’ slide presentation into an interactive video that explains all the details that the recipient needs to hear.

Instead of the old methods of sharing PDF’s and hoping your customer champion will sell your pitch internally (which can become a risky game of telephone), instead, turn that PDF or presentation into an interactive video and send it via email (or any other channel) to your recipient.

This ensures that your message is heard the way you intended it to be heard. It also gives the recipient a simple way to float the video around to the decision-makers within their organization so they can get buy-in to push deals across the line. Think about using asynchronous videos to explain proposals, quotes, customer stories, demos, etc. Video works!” Says Jacob Fernandes of Vidyard .

Deepak Shukla of Pearl Lemon Sales agrees and adds, “A growing trend in sales and marketing is Explanation Videos. Expounding on your product’s value in a down-to-earth, relatable way helps build personal connections with potential clients.

It also prevents user bounce rates and increases your SEO ranking – meaning your client finds you easier and is more likely to stay on your page. All of these things contribute to vastly improving your chances of closing that sale!”

“I have found asking questions to drive the ‘No’ instead of the ‘Yes’ leads to more sales. By asking questions, the prospect has to answer ‘No’ opens up the door to get the ‘Yes’ at the close.

The ‘No’ questions are designed to get the prospect to tell you where they are coming up short or items they are missing. Asking these questions and actually listening will give you the upper hand when going through your sales conversation by letting you know their pain points without asking the standard ‘Yes’ questions.

So switch the way you direct your conversations from the ‘Yes’ questions to the ‘No’ questions, and you will see more success at the closing.” Explains Eric Bergman of Serendipit Consulting

Don’t hard-sell

Boxroom Office ’s Neil Roach believes that hard selling never works in a sales presentation. 

Roach says, “People know when they’re being sold to. Instead, your focus should be on solving whatever problem that person has and the most affordable way for them.

Far too many salespeople are trained to go in hard and basically talk the prospect into submission.

That approach shows a lack of finesse and a real lack of understanding of human psychology. Basically, it’s the path to most resistance, by its very nature.

The salespeople I’ve trained always focus on what the customer needs but rarely what the customer wants. If, for example, a customer wants a $1,000 smartphone, you should ask them what they need it for? If it’s “…just for calls and texts,” guide them to something more affordable.

That will cause one of two outcomes.

• 1. The customer will either buy the $1,000 phone on the spot because they know you’re not trying to strongarm them.
• 2. They’ll buy the cheaper phone, but tell everyone they meet how helpful you were and didn’t try to push the sale on them.

Either way, your business, and your reputation, and your sales figures will benefit.”

Lauren Shroll of Outside The Box opines, “When you work from specific questions and comments that put pressure on that meeting to convert, your leads who are not specifically in that small percentage of users ready to convert at the time of the call, are going to be turned off to a conversation that is already primed for someone who wants to buy.

Your ideal sales conversation should prime the user to buy, both at the time of the call and in future retargeting, by including invitations.

This means that you are inviting the user to share their concerns, preview the product, opt-in to email updates, and effectively gear the user to feel that it’s a perfect fit for their specific needs.

This is the case even if they are converting in the next 12-24 months. Your conversation should aim to make the user feel that they are comfortable making a purchase decision, but not necessarily focused on the present moment.”

And did this strategy work for her? 

Shroll shares her experience and adds, “Using this approach has helped massively with one of the software companies I work alongside.

Even in the midst of a pandemic, we have enrolled three major clients in a program that equated to several hundred users.

The reason? We primed the sales call toward “continuing the conversation” to fit our leads at any stage of their buying journey.

A conversation that started as a sales call twelve months ago turned into a neatly closed deal in the most uncertain of times to achieve an amazing return on investment.

If you do include a quote in your story, please let me know when it’s published so that I can promote it across social media channels.”

“The most effective sales presentations that help us close deals all follow one formula: Educate the prospect on a pain that they have, leverage data that is unique to them to support the pain point, then solve the problem.

If you are using a sales deck, it should follow this framework without talking about your own product until the solution section.

If you are doing a live demo, you should break this same approach into sections based on the solution you are providing.

And every solution should first be teed up by education, specific pain for the client, then solution.

Following the formula in every presentation is the key to closing.” Says Zach Rego of Unstack .

Samantha Kohn of AutoVerify recommends taking a customer-in approach in your sales presentations. “You can increase your probability of closing a deal by taking a customer-in approach (rather than a product-out approach) in your sales presentations.

Instead of starting by explaining how great your product is, consider beginning with a discussion of the pain-points your customers are trying to solve.”

Osiris Parikh of Lilius says one of the most important sales techniques is to tailor solutions to the needs of a prospective client. Parikh explains, “Asking questions and showing genuine interest in helping them, rather than seeming like a robot reading from a script, allows for greater rapport and ultimately better solutions aligned to their situation. The chances of a sale only increase from there.”

Lynell Ross of Education Advocates agrees with them and gives some practical tips. “Stress how your product or service will make your customer’s life easier.

Most customers are stressed out and have a million things on their plate. Just as important as the money they’ll save by going with you or the upgrade in quality they’ll achieve is the ease with which they’ll do it.

Even if not relevant to your product or service’s substantive qualities, stress the importance of how your company or service will remove work and time from the customer’s plate, streamline their processes, and make them more efficient.

Reference the type of lift similarly positioned customers have experienced, and use data for that where available.”

“When presenting pitches to potential clients, confidence is everything because you are what you’re selling. How you handle yourself is as important as the presentation itself.” Says Jolene Caufield of Healthy Howard .

And the best way to do that is by showing your stuff. 

Adam Smartschan of Altitude Marketing explains, “Do your research and present it in an attractive fashion. The more you show you know your stuff, the more a prospect will be willing to work with you.

Don’t just tell them their competitors are doing it better. Show them what their competitors are doing, and explain why – then tell them how you’ll help them win.”

Richard Latimer of Veritas Homebuyers explains what works best for him in sales presentations. “The best presentation technique that I employ frequently is physical cues. This includes my posture, use of hands, eye contact, and tone of voice.

Having an upright yet relaxed posture helps make your counterpart feel at ease, using your hands helps illustrate your meanings, eye contact promotes trust, and your tone of voice should guide your counterpart through the presentation.” Shares Latimer.

Paige Arnof-Fenn of Mavens & Moguls also shares her experience and says, “Before a sales pitch I always take a few deep breaths and remind myself I know this topic well, I try to make eye contact with at least a few people in the room as I speak and share stories from my experience to make my points.

I also try to smile a lot. That usually helps me relax and get started, and once I start talking, I am usually good to go.

I have presented successfully virtually, too, via video, online, and phone. With social distancing video presentations are a popular reality now and should be treated just as important as face to face meetings.”

Personalize it for the client

“One important tip is to personalize your sales presentation for your customer.

Most presentations are all about the company presenting them, which is quite backward since the prospect really doesn’t care about you (sorry). They care about their business and their own goals.

In some cases, your audience will connect the dots between the solution you offer and the problems they have, but it’s much more effective to do your research ahead of time and connect those dots between your customer’s unique problem and your proposed solution inside of the presentation.” Recommends Spencer Smith of IRC Sales Solutions .

Syed Irfan Ajmal who is a Growth Marketing Consultant at Physicians Thrive , says personalization of any sales presentation is actually easier than it looks. 

He shared a sales presentation example that helped him to win a 5-figure marketing contract. He shares the following:

• “1. Provide a forecast (traffic, leads, revenue) based on existing keyword rankings data of the client.

This visual example shows how the client stands to earn $49K to $99K per month by applying only 2 simple SEO/Content-Marketing strategies. 

• 2. Provide a comparison (in simple tabular format) of the client with the top 3-5 of their key competitors.
• 3. Provide specific content ideas (personalized for the client’s niche) that they can employ to attract more backlinks.

This visual example shows the specific ideas meant for a company working in the Household Industry. ”

Knowing your client’s competitors, what’s working for them and what’s not can easily make or break your sales pitch. 

Lenny Liebmann says, “I do research on my prospective client’s competitors. I make sure to include a passing reference to one or more of those competitors in my press. That way, the client gets the sense that I really understand their market and their challenges — as opposed to just peddling them something based on some sort of questionably universal value proposition.”

Digital Debut ’s Deniz Doganay also recommends keeping a close eye on your prospect’s competitors. “Actually, take the time to look at leading competitors of your potential client and point out the things they are doing well and what you plan to do to best them. Be very transparent in your company processes and policies as well, so the client knows exactly what to expect when entering an agreement with you.” Advises Doganay.

Mike Charles of Lookout Lofts believes short and to-the-point presentations are always better. “The 9-minute rule! Keeping your presentation to 9 minutes or less is a great rule of thumb to follow for keeping your audience engaged. If you are using slides, do not spend more than 2-3 minutes on each slide. This number is based on research that has shown audiences start to lose their attention around minute 11.”

Make it conversational 

Edwin Rubio of Vapor Empire says, “The more conversational of a pitch, the less of a sales presentation it will feel like. Everything will come more naturally by having an open dialogue because you are building the trust and rapport that many need to feel engaged and comfortable with making a purchase.” 

Melanie Musson of CarInsuranceCompanies.net agrees with Rubio and adds, “Think about the presentation as a conversation. Keep the client engaged and actively involved in the dialogue. If you do the presentation as a monologue, you’ll risk losing their attention.”

Sell your brand, not just the product

“I could write paragraphs about this. I witnessed first-hand how a sales process when well executed, will allow you to position a very normal product as the best in class. It’s all in selling on the brand and the solution.

Presentations that focus on the features and what features will do to you are losing presentations, in my opinion.

In our internal training process, we have a whole day about ‘Establishing Mastery’. Sales peeps and engineers have to establish mastery right after positioning the brand. You position the brand by talking about your internal values, how you run your business, what your vision is. And yes, this is no BS cause what you’re doing here is establishing trust with the company in front of you that you will be able to solve any problem that arises just because you are running a good business.

And that’s the key; customers should be buying the brand and not the product. First-hand. Now, of course, your product should be a real, reliable, and sustainable product that lives up to the expectations.

Once trust in the brand is established, then you dive into establishing mastery by showcasing that you know the ins and outs of the industry you are solving problems for, you understand actual use cases.

Always pull examples about current clients you have that are similar to the prospects you’re speaking to. This helps with social proofing as well as indicating to the prospect that you’ve been there, done that.” Explains Bob Sabra of Hovi .

Quincy Smith of Mira advises businesses always to show how their product\service works during a presentation to close more deals. 

“I’ve had great success by demonstrating the tools we use to complete whatever project it is we’re pitching. For example, when we show clients SEO tools and how we actually have search data on what terms they could be targeting, most of them have no idea that type of information was out there!

Experience and reputation will get you pretty far, but if you can give a little over-the-shoulder look at how you will perform your job, then you can really stand out!” Says Smith.

Alexandra Zamolo of Beekeeper believes the same and adds, “It’s always best to showcase exactly how the product or software will actually work in the exact manner in which the potential customer intends to make use of it. While most examples are great to illustrate features, a demo with more customization to the user’s exact needs will always provide better results.”

And don’t waste all your hard work by not having a clear, targeted Call to Action at the end of your presentation. 

“Every presentation or post should end with a ‘Call to Action’. The action could be anything from scheduling a meeting to submitting a query/feedback or anything else you feel is appropriate. It is important because, after the sales presentation, people are influenced. So before giving them some more time to think, it is better to involve them in some action!” Explains Adam Rowles of Inbound Marketing Agency .

Wrapping up

Sales presentations are an essential part of scaling your business. There’s no escaping them. So embrace them and try to incorporate all these tips into your next sales presentations.

As Mudassir Ahmed of Blogging Explained sums up all of them and says, “Spend less time talking about your company profile. And talk about R.O.I, how your prospect will see a return on their investment with your deal. But don’t go way deeper, awakening their logical nerves by which critical debates could happen.

Give a glimpse and value touch by adding your customers’ success stories or even case studies. You make sure to get the prospect to see himself/herself in your story and talk about the value they would get. That’s probably called human-centric marketing, where you invoke prospects’ senses with an emotion.

It also helps budget-hesitant prospects to get clear insights about their investment and ROI and make a positive decision about the deal.

Do your research and be ready to impress the prospect with this factor. The key is to be conversational rather than presentational.”

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Blog Marketing 15 Sales Presentation Examples to Drive Sales

15 Sales Presentation Examples to Drive Sales

Written 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 .

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The Most Effective Sales Presentation Tips & Techniques

Selling is difficult, but sales presentations can help. This article demystifies the art of creating a winning sales presentation that connects with your customers and increases your revenue.

Dag Hendrik Lerdal

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Selling is difficult, but one of the most effective tools sales reps have in their back pocket is the sales presentation. When done right, it’s the key to landing more deals and generating higher revenue for your business. 

However, it takes more than throwing together a couple of PowerPoint slides and calling it a day. It requires compelling content and engaging delivery to close the deal. 

In this article, we will demystify the art of creating a winning sales presentation that connects with your customers and ultimately drives more sales. 

Understanding Sales Presentations

Before we get into what makes a sales presentation “good,” let’s first make sure we’re on the same page about what a sales presentation is. At its core, a sales presentation is a meeting between your sales team and the key stakeholders of your target client company. 

The ultimate goal is to convince them that your product/service is the best solution for their business needs. This means you need a clear understanding of their business challenges, solutions, and goals. 

What sets a sales presentation apart from a typical sales pitch is the scope and resource requirement.

Sales presentations are usually geared toward going after big-ticket deals and generally have multiple stakeholders that will have the final say. Also, sales presentations will often have a product/service demo so the target customer can see your offering in action.

With so much on the line and so much to gain, a sales presentation also requires more time, money, and effort in preparing and planning to make sure everything goes smoothly.

What Makes a Winning Sales Presentation?

Beyond the speech and visuals, there are five core components that elevate a sales presentation from “nay” to “yay.” These five elements include:

1. Doing Your Homework

Knowledge is power, and it’s even more true when it comes to creating a sales presentation that actually closes deals. You need to clearly understand what challenges and pain points concern your prospects. Then, you can tailor your sales presentation to present how your solution adds value and helps them address these issues.

It requires you to do extensive research into your target company and their industry:

• What unique challenges do they face?
• What are some issues they might have to deal with later?
• How can you help them become more competitive?

By digging deep, you can provide a custom solution that can ultimately get them on board.

2. Telling a Story

Use the art of storytelling to your advantage. Stories are a great tool for helping your prospects visualize and internalize how your solution will work for them. Of course, that doesn’t mean you need to be Stephen King – you can rely on anecdotes from real clients.

However, make sure to keep your story concise and focus on the key points. Showing the real-world potential of your offering carries more weight and helps your prospect see its value.

I love this breakdown by Consultant’s Mind:  

3. Highlighting the Value Proposition

Yes, your product has X awesome features and can do this and that. But honestly, your prospect doesn’t care about those. They want to hear what your product can do for them. 

How is it going to solve their problems? How will it make their life easier?

That’s what you want the core of your sales presentation to answer. It doesn’t need to be overly complicated, either. 

You can simply say, “[Product X] will help [Company A] solve [Pain Point 1] and [Pain Point 2] by doing [Benefit 1], [Benefit 2], and [Benefit 3].”

4. Providing Credibility in Your Sales Presentation

Of course, you can’t just say, “X will do Y,” without having proof to back up your claim. That’s where social proof and data come into play.

Leverage past happy clients to give testimonials to show your product/service provides tangible benefits.

You can also use research data such as statistics, quotes from experts, and product comparisons to give your presentation more weight. For example, saying “X can cut downtime by X%” is more actionable than “Y saves you time.”

5. Including a CTA

Finally, your sales presentation needs a call to action. A CTA pushes the prospect to make the next move by telling them what they should do. It can be contacting you for more info, signing up for a demo, making a purchase, and anything similar. 

The goal is to make sure the prospect has a clear idea of what they need to do to move things forward.

13 Effective Sales Presentation Tips & Techniques

Now, let’s move into the meat and potatoes of this article: 13 actionable tips and tricks you can implement into your next sales presentation.

1. Presenting with Confidence in Sales

In the sales world, confidence speaks volumes. No one wants to be stuck dealing with a boring presentation. Plus, when your voice is shaky, and you’re stumbling over words, it puts you and your company in a bad light.

So, how do you deliver your presentation confidently? The key is being well-prepared and knowing your stuff. You need to know your sales material and product like the back of your hand. We recommend practicing your sales presentation as much as you can. 

If you want to test yourself, do your presentation without using any of your slides. If you can do that, then you can be confident you can knock it out of the park when it’s go-time. 

2. The Five-Second Rule

While sales presentations are considerably longer than a typical sales pitch, the five-second rule still applies. In the digital age, where attention is a commodity, you have around five seconds to capture your target’s attention.

That means the first few words of your presentation need to be impactful. Try opening up with a shocking industry stat like, “Did you know X costs businesses like yours millions every year?”

Whatever you do, remember to make it relevant to your prospect and their goals or challenges. Once you have them on the hook, you can then guide them to the key aspects of your presentation and how your offering is the right fit for them.

3. Leverage Technology like SlideDog in Your Sales Presentations

Gone are the days of boring PowerPoints and WordArt. Take advantage of tools like SlideDog to kick your sales presentation into high gear. 

With SlideDog , you can combine all of your sales materials and assets into a powerful, engaging presentation to really wow your prospects.

SlideDog is especially helpful when you need to hop between slides and other assets like your website or SaaS product during the presentation. It’s also great when there are multiple sales reps that need to speak because you can seamlessly swap between their presentation media.

Try SlideDog today for free on Windows and turn your presentations into multimedia experiences!

4. Make Sure You Sound, Look, and Act the Part During Your Sales Presentation

Depending on your prospect, your attire, jargon, and attitude needs to match what your audience will expect.

If you’re dealing with CEOs, CFOs, and other executives, then business wear and a professional tone is probably the right choice. If you’re presenting to tech bros in a more casual environment, then your presentation should reflect that. 

When you take this approach, it builds trust and shows that you truly understand them and their industry.

Of course, you don’t need to do it all yourself. Rely on your teammates and their expertise in different areas to create a presentation that connects with each individual in your audience.

As an added bonus, swapping between presenters keeps things fresh and engaging for the audience. 

5. Learn to Handle Objections

Objection handling is a core skill every salesperson needs to learn. There are common objections that pop up, regardless of what you’re selling. 

Typically, prospects have objections that fall into one of four categories:

• Urgency/time

Your goal is to understand your prospect’s reasons for their objections and respond accordingly. 

By using past objections from clients and a deep understanding of the industry, you can frame your sales presentation to pre-emptively address these concerns. Just check out this example from Smartwriter :

6. Physically Demo Your Product/Service

Actions speak louder than words, and you should apply this principle to your sales presentation. Providing physical demonstrations gives your audience a real-world example of what your product can do, and they can more easily envision themselves using it.

Plus, it adds a bit of interactivity to your presentation. It also gives your audience a chance to ask pertinent questions during the demo. This is also a great place to throw in examples of how your product/service has helped previous and current clients.

If you have a tablet or other devices you can share with your audience, it’s an opportunity for them to get hands-on experience with your offering.

7. Make Your Presentation Flow

Your presentation needs a logical and seamless flow as you transition between slides and key points.

First, verbal transitions are a must – in fact, I just used two examples with “first” and “in fact.”  There are a plethora of transitions you probably learned in school, such as “conversely,” “furthermore,” and “therefore,” to name a few. 

However, more advanced transition strategies involve using your body language, speech cadence, emphasis, visual aids, and questions to make it easier for prospects to follow along and understand how everything connects together.

8. Ensure Key Decision-Makers & Stakeholders are Involved

The last thing you want to hear after giving a kickass presentation is, “Let me speak with the district manager and get back to you.”

Make sure the key stakeholders and the person who can say “yes” are at your sales presentation.

On that same note, you want all of them to get hands-on experience with your product/service. Get them involved because when they can picture in their mind how easy your product is to use or how it resolves their issues, it makes it much easier for them to sign off on it. 

9. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for the Deal

After you’ve given your stellar presentation and the customer understands how and why your product benefits them, simply ask them if they are ready to move forward. 

There are many different approaches you can take when asking for a sale. You can use FOMO or “fear of missing out,” which plays on the prospect’s emotion of missing out on a good deal or letting their competition get ahead.

Or you can use an analytical approach where you lay out the pros and cons of your solution. Another method is sweetening the deal with a now-or-never discount or freebie.

There are a ton of different close tactics you can use, so find one that will work best for this particular prospect.

9. Don’t Take the First No for the Final Answer

The best salespeople know that it takes two, three, or more tries to close a deal. If you’ve tried to close the deal and got hit with an objection (see tip 5), then give a thoughtful response and follow up with your attempt to close the deal again.

You might need to wait a while. In this case, work on building your relationship and rapport with the prospect.

That way, when they are ready to pull the trigger, you and your product will be the first solution that comes to mind.

10. Keep Your Presentation Tight and Concise

You don’t want to waste your audience’s time, especially when speaking to executives. Make sure your presentation gets straight to the point. Every word, slide, and media should have a clear point and reason for being there. Even your pauses need to be impactful and poignant.

That’s where practicing and rehearsing your presentation is paramount. You can better control the tempo when you know your presentation inside and out. Create an outline and write out the key points you want your prospects to understand.

In your initial meeting and setting up the presentation time, take notes so you have a clear understanding of what your prospects need to know.

11. Own Your Presentation

You need to take the lead and exude confidence during your presentation. Yes, that sounds like a no-brainer since you’re the one giving the presentation.

You don’t want to say “sorry” or “I apologize,” even if it’s warranted. 

For example, if your slides aren’t showing properly, don’t say, “I’m sorry for the technical issues.”

Instead, you say, “I will be starting the presentation shortly.” 

Another point to keep in mind is to stay away from the ums and uhs in your speech. Not only is it unprofessional, but it gives the impression that you aren’t confident in what you have to say.

Finally, don’t tell your audience what you “think”; tell them what you know. You know your product will solve their problems. You know what benefits your service has to offer.

12. Leave a Lasting Impression

Make your presentation memorable. That doesn’t mean you should expect your audience to remember every minute detail. However, there are things you can do to make sure the key points stay in their mind long after your presentation is over.

One tactic is to use repetition. The details, benefits, and solutions you want them to retain should be mentioned 3 or more times. When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad 2, his presentation repeated the idea of “thinner, faster, lighter.”

Another strategy is the visual aids you use throughout your presentation that revolve around your key points. People hold images in their minds more easily than complex ideas.

Finally, you can use text formatting in your slides to highlight what you want your audience to walk away with. This includes bullet points or bolding and underlining keywords that make those pop out.

13. Expect (and Prepare for) the Unexpected

Lastly, our last tip is to understand that you can’t prepare for every eventuality – but you give yourself a better chance for success by expecting and respecting the unexpected. 

There might be technical issues. You might get asked tough questions you aren’t ready for. However, the best presenters roll with the punch and come out swinging.

If you take to heart all of the previous tips, you will be ready to face any challenges that pop up during your presentation.

Wrapping up

Sales presentations can be difficult to master, but when you get them right, they unlock a treasure trove of opportunity.  Remember, a successful presentation starts well before you’re in the room, with your slides behind you and your prospects in front.

Be confident, do your research, and take advantage of tools like SlideDog to elevate your presentation to the next level.

And with these tips and techniques in your arsenal, you’re ready to have a successful and fruitful quarter. Happy presenting!

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How to Smash Your Next Sales Presentation [15 Tips and Tricks]

We all know that sales presentations are a love-it-or-hate-it part of B2B sales .

You might consider yourself a natural presenter, and love slaving over PowerPoint, thriving on every moment of the experience.

Others? Dread it like a trip to the dentist.

Luckily building and delivering an effective and truly great sales presentation is something that can be taught.

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to smash your next sales presentation. From must-have slides to sales presentation tips and examples, you’ll find out all it takes to captivate your prospects and close deals.

Let’s start with the basics:

What is a sales presentation?

At its simplest, a sales presentation is a collection of slides that tells a story through visual elements and text.

Teamed with a salesperson’s narration (either in person or via video), its aim is to convey a product or service’s value proposition, and ultimately convert potential clients into paying customers.

A successful sales presentation will resonate with your prospect – linking in with their current needs and challenges, and positioning your company as the ideal solution. Here’s a great structure for one:

Knowing this formula will put you ahead of some of the competition, but how do you make sure you beat them all ?

What slides make up a good sales presentation?

1) The cover slide

Too many reps make the mistake of creating a generic cover slide for their sales deck. Our view? This is a big waste of valuable real estate.

Come on, this is where you make your first impression. You want to reel your prospect IN.

Whilst it might not be a clincher on its own, it can start to get across your main point: the value of your product.

Let’s go with an example.

You’ve immediately suggested some of the benefits and value your software offers before you’ve even reached the first “real” slide of your PowerPoint presentation.

So, now you have your prospect’s attention. Nice work – now it’s time to build on that.

2) The context slide

The context slide: where you set the stage with information on the trends and pressure points that are spurring change in your prospect’s market.

It’s all about setting your prospect up, hinting at the pain points you’ll touch on next. Build tension, and in turn, interest.

Your context slide might include the following snippets:

• Work is becoming increasingly remote and dispersed.
• Collaboration occurs across countries and continents.
• As the pace of work increases and competition rises, slowing down is not an option if you want to succeed.

3) The problem slides

Next, you’ll want to dedicate a few slides of your sales presentation to covering the problem, or a key pain point.

You’ll need more than one slide to do this because problems – especially big, business-critical ones – are complex and interconnected.

What’s more, prospects don’t always see the full range or depth of the problems they’re experiencing – it’s all too easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day, isn’t it?

According to the principle of loss aversion , people will work twice as hard to avoid loss as they will to gain a benefit. So, by painting a clear picture of the problems your prospect faces (and will continue to face in the future), you can motivate them to seek a solution.

Example time:

Let’s examine this through the lens of our fictional company, Projector.

Sure, your prospect knows they don’t currently have dedicated project management software. They might know it’s difficult for their teams and departments to keep tabs on work or communicate on progress, but have they considered anything like:

• How this impacts productivity
• How many hours their team loses every week, month, and year due to low productivity
• Connecting the dots between low productivity and less revenue
• How needless meetings and excessive communication apps can actually make things worse

You get the idea.

4. The “enviable future” slide

Cool, so you’ve hit them where it hurts (their pain points), the next step is to portray how it could be if the problem no longer existed.

From there, provide solutions to prove this is actually possible. Something like this…

Projector enables:

• Centralized communication to eliminate unnecessary video calls, email threads, and text messages
• A visual way to monitor progress and identify bottlenecks, so nothing slows you down
• A single source of truth for all of your resources and deliverables, so you never need to go searching for the latest version
• Customizable workflows to meet the needs of any project

The secret is to instill a true sense of longing for all of these benefits. This can help secure the ultimate buying decision.

5) The bridge slide

Next up in your sales pitch is the bridge slide. This slide provides the path to a problem-less world, and how your solution can get them there.

The bridge slide is a great opportunity to include the first touch of social proof, because people (and businesses) often copy how others behave – especially if they see proof of positive results.

In sales, it means demonstrating that someone relevant to your prospect (like a close competitor or a category leader they respect) has gotten real value from your solution. The implication is that:

• Your prospect could too
• If they don’t, they’ll be missing out on a real competitive advantage

This comes to life through a customer quote, stat, full case study, or all of the above on how a customer improved a business metric while using your solution.

See what we did there?

6) The solution slides

Like the problem slides, you’ll want to include more than one slide dedicated to describing the solution in your sales presentation.

The first of your solution slides should give a brief, clear explanation of what your product or service does.

This likely won’t be the first time your prospect is hearing about your offering, so there’s no need to cover every single detail. Try to boil down your product or service – as it relates to your prospect’s unique needs – into one to three clear sentences , and include a few visuals of your product in action where you can.

The next of the solution slides should focus on the value your offering will bring to the prospect. Make sure your value proposition ties directly back to the “enviable future” you previously outlined, so it’s clear your offering is the key.

Once again, social proof – like testimonials and customer stories with results from clients – can really lift these slides and grab your prospects attention.

“Projector helped my team cut back on 70% of emails and eliminated the need for weekly team sync meetings. Now everyone’s status and progress is clearly visible to the whole team on Projector’s platform.”

“With full visibility into our marketing campaign budgets, we can quickly reallocate spend and optimize our campaigns. This quarter alone, we’ve increased inbound leads by 200%!”

Those are some pretty compelling stats (even if it is a fictitious company).

7) The closing slide

You’ll want to end your deck on a short slide with a powerful statement that helps ignite a sense of urgency in your prospect.

Like we said before, visuals of your solution’s success will always make an impact; a nice little upward trending graph or a video testimonial of a loyal customer, perhaps.

If your final slide touches on both the emotional impact of resolving the pain point and the potential business gains, you’ve hit the mark. Not only will your prospect want to stop losing out on productivity, revenue, or whatever else they’re losing, they’ll want to reap the benefits of your great offering.

Powerful sales presentation templates to learn from

Explanations are good, and fictional decks are nice, but we all know learning by example is the best way to gain new skills.

You can find examples of sales presentation decks and PowerPoint templates scattered all over the web, but below we’ve sorted the wheat from the chaff just for you.

Get ready to borrow from the best:

• 21 incredible sales deck examples guaranteed to get buy-in
• 9 incredible sales presentation examples that succeed
• 10 best sales presentation to inspire your sales deck

6 sales presentation tips to help you crush your pitch

After you’ve crafted your narrative, built your slide deck, and got your design looking slick, it’s time to practice delivery.

The way you deliver your sales pitch is key to your prospect’s engagement, understanding, and their interest in continuing the process.

Here are six tips to help you communicate best.

1) Don’t talk for too long

There’s no specific winning length for a sales presentation, but data suggest that keeping under 10 minutes is smart.

According to a study from Gong (which analyzed 121,828 web-based sales meetings), successful presentations in intro meetings lasted on average 9.1 minutes . The unsuccessful presentation? 11.4 minutes .

This mirrors neuroscience research which found that human attention begins to wander when a listener hears a single voice for 10 minutes.

It’s actually why Apple doesn’t let its keynote presentations run for more than 10 minutes without introducing a change (like a switch to video, a demo, or just a new speaker).

2) Rely on data and insights

Now, we might be biased, but this one is really important. ☝️

If you want to drive a business decision, you need to prove there’s a problem, and what the impact of the solution would be – all using real numbers.

A sprinkle of competitor analysis , a measure of revenue forecasting ( if they close a deal with you), and a dash of ‘what could be’ goodness is the magic recipe.

If you’re able to confidently recall some persuasive, meaningful figures and drop them in where relevant, you could be in for the win.

3) Clearly illustrate the problems

The challenges you’re describing might be big, messy, and complex. But your sales presentation and pitch needs to be concise and digestible. Don’t overload slides with text.

Choose the most relevant information and illustrate it in a logical, clear way.

When crafting your problem slides and thinking about how to deliver the information, keep the following pointers in mind:

• Use numbers and data to back it up : As mentioned, data is key. Connect each main problem to tangible losses, like revenue, human capital costs, customer churn, etc.
• Focus on the strongest (most painful) points: Your goal is to distill a web of problems into a few core examples.
• Paint a telling picture: Think charts, graphs, stats, and images.

4) Personalize it

Even the most pixel-perfect PowerPoint presentation won’t get you anywhere if it looks like you’re just going through the motions.

What we mean is: your sales presentation needs to feel like it’s been specially crafted with them in mind – even if you know the majority of it stays the same from week to week.

Dropping in meaningful insights about their business is a great way to do this. These could relate to their own performance in the marketplace, to their competitors’ performance, or to an opportunity you’ve spotted for them.

Ideally you’ll be telling them something about their business that they don’t already know, and guess what? Your product can help them to exploit, navigate, or overcome it.

A tool like Similarweb Sales Intelligence can generate attention-grabbing and compelling data like that. It helps to inform any sales conversation you have, thanks to traffic and engagement data on over 100 million companies worldwide.

The Sales Intelligence Insights Generator allows you and your sales team to automatically find “insight nuggets” to either include on slides or incorporate into your dialogue. This is the secret to a consultative selling approach, which we won’t shut up about (and for good reason).

With an effortless way to source the freshest data tailored to your specific audience, building and delivering a successful sales presentation can become your most powerful selling strategy yet.

5) Welcome interruptions

It’s easy to get fixated on landing your key points while presenting. So fixated, in fact, that you don’t give your prospect a chance to get a word in.

Encourage your prospect to speak up with questions or comments throughout the presentation. Make this clear at the start, and keep an eye out for any hints through body language that suggests a question or observation is brewing.

A sales presentation that feels more like a dialogue will be far more effective and memorable. Here’s why:

️ People like to talk: When you give your prospects a chance to get their two cents in, you’ll make them happy – and will help them to remember the conversation more fondly.

✍️ You can learn along the way : If your prospect says something super interesting and relevant, you can use that information to tailor and refine your presentation on the fly (and maybe use it in your next pitch).

⚡ It helps keep their mind engaged: As mentioned, when people take turns speaking, their brains automatically reset – and that makes it easier to have longer conversations, instead of listening to one long monologue.

What’s more, interruptions also help relieve you of some of the pressure of talking non-stop. Win-win.

6) Be confident

If you typically hate delivering a sales pitch, then you might be rolling your eyes at this tip. We know it can be hard to just ‘become confident’ if that’s not how you really feel.

But there are things you can do that really will boost your confidence, helping you deliver a better presentation:

• Prepare : Get to know your slide deck back to front, memorizing all the numbers and stats you need to highlight.
• Practice your script : But also anticipate where questions or comments might come up.
• Listen to successful presentations: Make the most of your company’s recording software or find successful pitches on YouTube, and try to analyze what made these meetings, pitches, or persuasive presentations succeed.
• Make sure you’re super-familiar with your product: If you don’t fully understand your product, you’ll have a hard time getting someone else to. Practice presenting to a colleague to identify the holes in your own understanding as you speak.

How do you do a sales presentation?

Two good tips are to keep it short and tell a story.

What should a sales presentation include?

Include an introduction and presentation of the problem or pain point, before getting to the solution (hint hint, your product).

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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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Top 21 Sales Presentation Tips & Ideas From Experts

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Sales presentations are persuasive meetings designed to explain the value of your product or service and convince prospects to take the next step in your sales process. By properly preparing for the presentation, strengthening your presenting skills, and following some key best practices, you'll find it easier to win over your prospects. We've compiled sales experts' unique and creative sales presentation tips that have brought them the most success in their careers.

• Tips for Preparing Your Sales Presentation: Read more below.
• Tips for Giving Your Sales Presentation: Read more below.
• Tips for Closing Your Sales Presentation: Read more below.

For a professionally-designed sales presentation deck, check out Fiverr, a marketplace of experts offering sales presentation design services starting at just five dollars . There, you'll find gig-based design packages for sales presentations created in PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote and more. Check out the top sales presentation design options today:

Tips for Preparing Your Sales Presentation

When getting your sales presentation ready for your prospect, there are some tips and tricks to help set yourself up for success. Learn from the pros how to properly prepare for a sales presentation.

Joseph Schulman

Institutional Sales, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

Set an Agenda Like a Leader

"Having an agenda allows you to have a solid sequential flow to your presentation in any line of business, and it is clearly evident that when you have an agenda planned out before a meeting, you are more confident in what you are trying to convey to whomever is sitting across from you at the table — or in recent events, whomever is in the Zoom. I like to over-prepare for meetings because you never know if you will be given another opportunity, so you want to make every chance you get your absolute best version of yourself."

— Joseph Schulman, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

Lorie Carson

Founder & Marketing Manager, Real People Finder

Keep Your Sales Deck Light on Text

" Keep your sales deck light on text to avoid people getting bored. Short, captivating bullet points will do just fine. Rehearse your sales presentation often to gain more confidence in your ability to present with few words on the screen. When you can say your sales pitch confidently, you'll be able to make an impact on your attendees."

— Lorie Carson, Real People Finder

Gerrid Smith

Chief Marketing Officer, Joy Organics

Add Images Instead of Text

"What's the quickest method to turn a prospect off? Reading a slideshow. Create slides that support your sales message without drawing attention away from you. Because the human brain processes pictures 60,000 times quicker than words, infographics, charts, and short movies are far more effective in conveying your message."

— Gerrid Smith, Joy Organics

If you're looking for an engaging and well-designed sales presentation, check out the top freelance designers on Fiverr, a marketplace of gig-based experts. There you'll find pre-set sales presentation design packages for PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote, and more. Prices start at five dollars :

Chris Gadek

Vice President of Growth, AdQuick

Tell a Story With Your Presentation

"Stories are a powerful presentation tool to create an emotional resonance with your product and your brand. Every story has a hero, a conflict, and a resolution. And having a similar framework in your sales presentation will tell a story that builds tension and holds interest. Use cases are prime storytelling material as they paint a picture of how your customers achieve success through your solution. Sharing a relevant customer use case in your presentation also provides the kind of social proof that encourages leads to take action."

— Chris Gadek, AdQuick

Jason McMahon

Digital Strategist, Bambrick

Personalize the Presentation

"Content that is personalized for your intended audience is found in the most effective sales presentations. There are a few easy rules to follow to reduce the amount of time it takes to personalize a presentation for a specific meeting. The first one is to only customize a few slides at a time, usually the first few in your deck. You should also concentrate on a few popular methods for incorporating buyer-specific information into your sales presentation. You can provide information unique to the buyer's function or industry-specific data. You might add data gathered during your sales cycle's needs assessment or discovery phase. Finally, before the meeting, make sure you have a system in place for personalizing the presentation. Too many salespeople get right into their pitch without giving personalization any attention."

— Jason McMahon, Bambrick

Ryan Cartwright

Head of Sales, Spacelift

Use Transition Slides to Build Anticipation

" You should always add the transition to the text on a slide. Transition helps in hiding the complete picture from the viewer. It takes them to the conclusion step by step — keeping them interested in listening to you in anticipation of the next point. For example, if you have multiple points on the slide, showing them one by one will keep the focus on the conversation on the recently visible point. This way, the viewer will not get distracted by all the text on the slide."

— Ryan Cartwright, Spacelift

SEO Expert, First Page Digital

Practice, Practice, Practice

"Practicing your presentation will help you stay on track and avoid wandering off topic. Make a list of the key points you want your audience to take away from your presentation. Taking notes during the meeting will help you recall what your prospect is searching for — certain items they refer to can help you improve your presentation."

— Shane Liuw, First Page Digital

Susan Carin

Marketing Manager, Drsono

Share Your Sales Deck With Attendees

"You might think that sending out a customer the deck before a call is like disclosing whodunnit on the cover of a murder story. No person's going to pay attention to the rest of the book, right? Wrong.  If your deck is engaging, prospects will want to enter it with you, even if they know the bottom line. If you wish to see how closely your customer took note of your deck, start your call with, 'Based on the information in the deck I sent, where should we begin?' Do not stress if they did not examine it — they'll just inform you to take it from the top. Absolutely nothing's lost other than their opportunity to delve into a deeper conversation faster. That's what you want: a top-tier discussion, immediately. You can enter into one much quicker if your buyer has seen your deck and is ready to speak about it. "

— Susan Carin, Drsono

Business Development Executive & Co-Founder, YardsNearMe

Express Your Desire to Create a Partnership

" Practice expressing the need to build a partnership in your sales presentation. This is the most crucial step in the whole strategic planning process because this step involves thorough research. You need to analyze the company's risks beforehand and build an anticipation model by demonstrating strategic partnering."

— Alex Haley, YardsNearMe

Tips for Giving Your Sales Presentation

When giving your sales presentation, experienced sales professionals suggest taking certain actions to get your point across and sell your product effectively. Read the expert tips below.

Daniel Foley

Marketing & SEO Specialist, Scooter.guide

Showcase Your Industry Knowledge & Expertise

"Begin the discussion by asking questions about day-to-day activities and objectives. Use the replies to develop your narrative by asking specific questions that demonstrate your expertise in their organization and industry. Then, during your presentation, refer back to the issues raised by the prospect and emphasize how you, as a trusted advisor, can assist."

— Daniel Foley, Scooter.guide

David Floyd

Owner, ThePestInformer

Analyze Their Main Problem In Depth

" You may have a habit of launching right into your pitch at the outset of a meeting. Of course, you've done your study and have a meeting scheduled with this prospect, so you're ready. However, learning about your prospect does not end when the presentation begins. So start by asking some questions to find or confirm pain areas and better understand the problems your prospect may be facing. If you've already had a comprehensive talk, confirming what you know and asking if there's anything else you should know demonstrates that you care about the prospect and appreciate their time enough to pay attention to the details."

— David Floyd, ThePestInformer

Padmaja Santhanam

Growth Manager, FirstPrinciples

Make a Strong Introductory Pitch

"Start the presentation with a solid introductory pitch. It helps organize your thoughts and present your ideas in a streamlined and persuasive way. Be passionate about your product or service, but ensure to keep emotions in check. Be prepared to answer any questions your potential buyers may have and consider using facts and figures to support your argument or points of view. Showcase how your product or service can benefit the people in the room and offer ways they can get started using it right away."

— Padmaja Santhanam, FirstPrinciples

Werner Jorgensen

Sales & Marketing Manager, Heatxperts

Be Engaging & Flexible While Presenting

"Do not speak monotonously or make people feel as if you have a memorized speech. Although it is a good idea to practice your presentation beforehand, do not memorize it word for word. It will be a serious turn-off for the audience and will reflect poorly on your creativity. While giving a sales presentation, be calm and prepared. Even if you are giving the same presentation to 30 different people, make it new every time."

— Werner Jorgensen, Heatxperts

Sumeer Kaur

Founder & CEO, Lashkaraa

Be Authentic During the Presentation

"Stay true to who you are during a sales presentation. People can read through anything that isn't 100% genuine, so don't pretend to be who you think they are looking for; instead, be exactly who you are. If you are analytical and data-driven, focus on that strength. If you are innovative, creative, and passionate, lead with that. Know what you are selling and why, then approach it in your unique way, and focus on why you believe in it. People are buying not just the product or service but into you as the seller, so be authentic."

— Sumeer Kaur, Lashkaraa

Digital Marketing Consultant & Founder, johntorres.com

Use Success Stories in the Presentation

"Use storytelling to help your audience relate to your sales pitch. We all yearn to belong. But we prefer to associate it with success stories. The more successful the salesperson's story is, the more the audience feel endeared to them — and the brands/products they're associated with."

— Jon Torres, johntorres.com

Jenna Carson

Financial Partner, Money Lucid

Add a Big Moment in the Middle

"Have a 'WOW' moment in the middle of the presentation, as people's minds start to lose focus. This is a great way to realign people's attention towards you. A 'WOW' moment could be a great statistic, or some service you offer that they weren't expecting and matches their needs. Following this big mid-presentation moment, reduce the amount of text on your presentation as a way to keep up momentum and stop people from getting bored."

— Jenna Carson, Money Lucid

Greg Cammarata

Account Executive, demandDrive

Ask Open-Ended Questions Throughout

"I ask prospects questions throughout our call/presentation to see if what I’m saying aligns with what they are looking for. If you’re consultative and politely direct, I believe objections will also reveal themselves throughout the conversation."

— Greg Cammarata, demandDrive

Founder & Managing Partner, Funnel Clarity

Get Audience Reactions

" Ask your audience for reactions about every 10 minutes of presentation time. Avoid asking ‘Do you have any questions?’ That is a conversation killer. Ask instead, ‘What have you found most intriguing?' "

— Tom Snyder, Funnel Clarity

Jeff Johnson

Acquisition & Sales Manager, Simple Homebuyers

Demonstrate the Solution In Action

"The best sales presentation tip is demonstrating the solution in action. It allows the audience member to assess the functionality of your product/service in a real-world context. This strategy would allow an individual to build an interpersonal connection with the audience members, leading them to make a favorable buying decision. A solution-oriented demonstration helps individuals visualize how the product would make their lives easier."

— Jeff Johnson, Simple Homebuyers

Tips for Closing Your Sales Presentation

After giving your sales presentation, follow these expert tips to help wrap up the conversation and get the prospect to agree to next steps, such as receiving a business proposal .

Connor Buckley

Account Executive, Salesforce

Search for Objections After Presenting

"Open-ended questions are absolutely critical for uncovering a prospect's pain by getting them to open up about current processes and ‘unload’ rather than simply say yes or no. Asking ‘How do you envision yourself using this solution?’ is going to lead to a much stronger discovery than ‘Is this something your team would find useful?’ Pair this with mirroring/labeling and you can really get someone to open up about what their needs or objections are."

— Connor Buckley, Salesforce

Co-Founder, RevenueGeeks

Follow Up After the Presentation

"Follow up on your presentation and ask for feedback. Try to time this no more than three to five days after you presented the presentation in question. Following up on your presentations allows you to steer prospects toward making a purchase. If you ask for honest feedback, it can also help you find areas where you need to change in order to be more successful."

— Adam Wood, RevenueGeeks

Bottom Line: Sales Presentation Tips

The sales presentation can make or break your deal. If you spend the time you have with your prospects touting your features or client list, you could bore them and unintentionally send them to the competition. Instead, spend 80% of your time talking about them, their needs, their problems, and their potential future, and try the expert tips that you believe will help you keep your prospects engaged and interested so you can successfully  nurture your leads  to deal close.

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9 sales presentation tips that great salespeople swear by.

• Stick’s 200+ interviews of top sales and marketing pros
• Using the top sales presentation examples, here’s what we learned:

Part One: How to Build a Powerful Sales Presentation

Sales Story = Change + Pain + Gain + Proof.

1. Start with change.

2 . Show them their pain.

3. Share a glimpse of the gain.

4. Provide proof.

• Showing value (“ Similar Company X was like you, but then they achieved these results” )
• Showing volume (“ 10,000+ companies have joined”)

Part Two: How to Deliver Your Sales Presentation

“Take the same product and present it directly to the prospect by talking about it and then take that same product and present it using visual aids.

You will find that, not only do you close a higher percentage of prospects, but they will actually pay more money for the same product.”

1. Replace text with visuals.

“Human PSE is truly Olympian. Tests performed years ago showed that people could remember more than 2500 pictures with at least 90 percent accuracy several days post-exposure, even though subjects saw each picture for about 10 seconds. Accuracy rates a year later still hovered around 63 percent….

Sprinkled throughout these experiments were comparisons with other forms of communication, usually text or oral presentations. The usual result was PSE demolishes them both.”

2. Keep it to 9 minutes.

3. Author your own content.

Part three: following up after your sales presentation, 1. turn discovery into custom content..

2. Build your champion’s buying guide for them.

3. Build it in their brand.

Conclusion: The Ultimate Sales Presentation

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Selling to Executives: 10 Essential Sales Presentation Tips (Sales Deck Ideas Included!)

• February 1, 2021

The Executive Suite is considered one of the most challenging (and important) groups in an organization to sell to.

It can be tough to get their attention, and once you do, giving a sales presentation to this experienced audience can also be tough.

So how do you make sure your sales presentation is what stands out amid their sea of competing priorities? In this article, I’ll share some essential sales presentation tips to help you nail your next presentation.

As a CMO, I usually receive over 80 calls or messages per day from people looking to sell something to my organization — meaning I’ve seen my fair share of ill-prepared sales presentations.

Over the last two decades, I have presented to boards of directors,  pitched to executives , and given keynotes at conferences. Some have been received with great enthusiasm, while others have fallen completely flat, but all have provided lessons learned.

Table of Contents

What should a sales presentation include, 10 sales presentation tips for selling to executives, sales presentation styles, sales deck ideas, your turn: what are your best sales presentation tips.

A well-planned sales presentation should tell a compelling and believable story. It must call to attention your proposition while also aligning with your audience’s needs and wants. As a good salesperson, you should get their point across as accurately and concisely as possible.

A sales presentation example identifies the problem but also provides solutions. It is crucial to make the audience or prospect understand the problem, not just by telling them. The idea is to connect with the audience and fully immerse them in the process such that they connect with the problem on their own.

A good sales presentation should also follow the rules of logic and flow seamlessly. As a salesperson, you should be able to transition from one point to the next. The trick is to start with the outcome first, then work your way forward from there. Start with the big reveal, then gradually work the conversation from there.

Here are my top sales presentation tips for selling to executives and, ultimately, closing more deals.

• Be confident.
• Make sure your presentation fails the Airport Test.
• Look and sound the part.
• Don’t assume they know what you do.
• Don’t assume they care what you do.
• Leverage neuroscience.
• Write out your “clicks.”
• Break expectations.
• Own your presentation.
• Anticipate (and embrace) the unexpected.

1. Be confident

The most effective sales presentation is one that you can deliver confidently. There’s nothing worse than sitting through a bland presentation, especially in sales, where low energy is often associated with low confidence.

For better or for worse, it’s better to be confident than competent when selling to executives, so make sure you’re really comfortable with the material you’re presenting.

A good confidence check is to try telling your story without slides. If you can’t tell the story without slides, then you can’t tell the story. Remember, your slide deck is there as a tool to enhance you, not vice versa.

2. Make sure your presentation fails “the airport test”

Let’s say you accidentally left a copy of your printed presentation at the gate in the airport. If I were to walk over, go through the deck and have no trouble interpreting what you’re trying to say, your presentation isn’t a presentation, it’s a report.

A sales presentation is meant to be seen and experienced through the lens of the presenter, not read like a report by the audience.

Sales presentations need a presenter, reports don’t. So, be mindful of how much content you’re putting on your slides and make your presence a necessary component of the presentation.

Related:  Create a Sales Deck That Doesn’t Read Like a Report

3. Look (and sound) the part

What are you wearing? How do you sound? What perceptions are you creating with your appearance and delivery? When selling to executives, it matters!

If you are selling medical devices in a highly technical field, is your audience expecting someone in a lab coat and using words that most people need to look up in a dictionary? Sales presentation success is all about meeting the expectations of the audience — from appearances to your voice and tone.

Use language that your prospects can understand, something they’re familiar with. It’s an excellent way to build trust with your audience. For more tips on how to use language to your advantage,  read this article .

One way to overcome this is to partner with another presenter. Switching presenters not only allows you to leverage a subject matter expert to ensure you resonate with each person in the room, but it also helps to combat viewer fatigue and reinvigorate the audience.

Even better, create a conversation throughout your presentation, engaging your co-presenters and the room on a consistent basis.

4. Never assume the audience knows what you do

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve witnessed this, and it’s painful every single time. A salesperson will be part-way through a presentation when someone in the audience will interrupt and say, “Hold on a sec. This sounds great, but can you remind me what it is you do again?”

We tend to assume that the person we’re presenting to knows what we do. But here’s the thing: Your audience leaves your meeting and moves on with their lives.

I promise you that they’re not spending much time reflecting on what your company does or what you have said to them in the past. Besides, many of them will hear from other competitors in the space and it’s easy to forget who said what.

So, do yourself (and everyone else in the room) a favor and offer a quick overview of your company at the start.

5. Never assume the audience cares what you do

Building off of my previous point, the audience may not know what you do, and they often don’t care what you do. All they really care about is this: What’s the mutually agreed-upon problem? And how are you going to help them solve it?

When selling to executives (or anyone, for that matter), before you dive into the meat of your presentation, make sure you’ve been really clear about the agenda, goal, and topics you’re going to be covering.

Then stop talking and check-in.

Make sure everyone is on board with hearing what you’ve prepared. Throughout the presentation, pay close attention to audio and visual cues for audience engagement. It is especially important to regularly check in with executives because we will quickly disengage if we feel the meeting is no longer of value.

Not in-person? Leverage video conferencing software and voice intelligence software that can help showcase sentiment. Get our best sales tool recommendations here .

While being able to set the goals and read the room is important, the best reps by far do one thing better than the rest — pre-call prep.

They don’t treat every sales presentation the same. They know who is in the room, what they know, who is on their side, and what the goals are. And they know how to tailor their presentation and sell to the executives in the room. When selling to executives, this is vital.

6. Blind them with neuroscience

Want to become a better presenter? Do some research on neuroscience. Our understanding of the human brain has improved so much in recent years that some of the best presenters out there have developed formulas for how they connect with their audience.

Take Apple for example . No Apple presenter speaks for more than 10 minutes straight. They use minimal slides and pause frequently. All of this is designed to overcome the short attention spans of the audience and to ensure each portion of the presentation has the maximum impact possible.

How can you bring Apple’s presentation tips into your own presentations?

• Keep things changing.
• Don’t let the presentation get into a routine where your audience can zone out.
• And introduce other speakers early and often.

7. Write out your “clicks”

The best sales presentations flow naturally. One of the most common mistakes I’ve seen is when a presenter treats every slide as a brand new adventure.

The Information Gap theory says that our mind always wants to fill the gap between existing knowledge and new information. I use verbal transitions as a way to make my slides flow and help an audience to understand how it’s all linked together.

To prepare for transitions between slides and ideas, I write out *CLICK* in the speaker’s notes of the presentation whenever I plan to advance a slide. It helps make the transitions really smooth.

I may pose a question on one slide, click, and have the answer populated on the next to create curiosity and hold attention. There’s no mystery to what’s coming or how I plan to get there.

8. Don’t be afraid to speak right to left

Everyone has expectations of presentations. Break them. In doing so you can not only help drive engagement but also show that you are in control of the presentation and drive the slides.

For example, data points.

Most people expect them to go top to bottom, or left to right:

Change it. Talk about your middle point first and in doing so, the room’s attention will turn to you rather than reading the slides.

Another way to shake up a presentation is to simply step away from your slides.

One of my favorite things to witness is when a sales rep walks over to a whiteboard and begins to map out their story. They are not only able to control the room, but also show that they have the expertise and confidence to tell their story without slides.

9. Be the owner of your presentation

This seems obvious because you’re the one presenting, but make sure to take the lead and own what you’re delivering.

Here are a few specific sales presentation tips for owning your delivery:

Tell the audience what’s important and what to focus on. Don’t put things on your slides that you’re not prepared to discuss or that you’re not comfortable talking about. If it’s on the slide, it’s fair game for conversation, so be careful.

Stop apologizing. When you say “sorry” a lot, you convey the opposite of confidence. For example, instead of saying, “Sorry, we’re having tech issues,” try, “We’ll get started in a couple of minutes.”

Don’t think, know. Saying “I think” makes you sound like you don’t know what you’re talking about. The person who “thinks” this software is a good fit for you doesn’t make you feel particularly reassured. Either know and be sure or tell the audience that you’ll find out and get back to them.

GTTFP, or get to the freaking point. Some background information can be helpful, but ultimately be very clear about the message you need to deliver — and then deliver it. Once you’ve made your point, move on.

10. Anticipate and embrace the unexpected

My final sales presentation tip is to fully embrace the room.

Sales presentations are meant to build engagement with the audience, and hopefully, get agreement to continue the conversation or make a decision. This means that things rarely go exactly as planned. You will have questions, objections, comments, and delays.

It should be a miracle if you make it through your slides. In fact, with executives, if you make it through your slides, it probably means the room was not fully engaged.

To make sure that I have time to address everything, I always try to anticipate responses and prepare for them ahead of time. If I know there is going to be a challenge, I confront it early on, sometimes even starting the presentation with it.

By the time you get to an executive, they typically have the final say and are looking at these meetings as an evaluation of risk. So confront and settle any risks or objections early. Be confident, don’t hide anything.

These are sales presentation ideas adopted by the speaker during the sales pitch. Different sales personnel use different presentation styles. Below are some examples of sales presentation techniques.

1. The visual style

The visual style uses PowerPoint slides to complement the sales pitch. This sales presentation technique is excellent for a large audience as it keeps them engaged. It’s also perfect for salespeople who have many essential talking points. A famous Visual style presenter is  Steve Jobs , one of the co-founders of Apple.

2. Freeform Style

The Freeform technique doesn’t use slides. It relies on the presenter’s ability to illustrate their points as clearly as possible within a short period. It works best for sales professionals who know their talking points by heart and are pressed for time.

3. Connector style

In this sales presentation example, the presenter relies on the audience through free-form question and answer sessions. Presenters who use this style encourage the audience’s reaction and feedback to their content. This type of speaking allows your listeners to connect with you while also allowing a dialogue-oriented presentation instead of a one-sided one.

A great example of a connector style presenter is  Connie Dieken , the founder of The Dieken Group, which specializes in executive coaching and consulting.

A sales deck is a slide presentation, PowerPoint,  Keynote , etc., that is used to supplement a sales presentation. It consists of a product overview, a sales proposition, and a solution for the prospect. Examples include:

1. LeadCrunch sales deck

The LeadCrunch sales deck features statistics and charts that showcase how a business can optimize its sales and marketing efforts. Here, the presenter uses various features such as bold, italics, and different colors to make critical terms and numbers stand out.

2. Richter sales deck

The Richter Sales Deck  follows a systematic approach: the problem, value proposition, and finally, the solution. The salesperson introduces the problem, followed by what they can deliver to the prospect. The best part of the Ritcher sales deck is, it covers all the core areas a salesperson should include in a precise and methodical approach.

3. Relink sales deck

The  Relink Sales Deck is the perfect tool for describing how machine learning and Artificial Intelligence impact various industries. Its focal point is how HR is affected by these technological advancements. The sales deck’s main features include use of large fonts and icons as well as consistent color schemes.

Giving a sales presentation to an experienced audience can be challenging. Here are a couple of sales presentation ideas to remember. Be confident. A good confidence check is to try to tell your story without slides.

Another crucial sales presentation technique is to look and sound the part. What you wear and how you sound all play a vital role in creating the kind of perception you want from your audience. Create a conversation throughout your presentation and consistently engage the room.

While making a sales presentation, it is important to always keep in mind that the audience neither knows nor cares what you do. Do yourself a favor and give a quick overview of your company at the beginning—also, keenly lookout for audio and visual cues for audience engagement.

Don’t be afraid to speak right to left. This shows you are in control of the presentation and drives the slides. Own your presentation. Guide the audience to the critical bits while getting to the point. Be clear and concise with your message.

After sharing what I’ve learned from giving countless presentations and selling to executives, I hope these tips keep cringe-worthy presentations out of your future and help you close more deals.

But we’d like to hear from you!

What are your best sales presentation tips? What are your best tips for selling to executives? Share your ideas in the comments.

Keith Messick

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Expert Advice: 19 Ways to Nail Your Next Sales Presentation

Are your sales presentations falling flat?

We asked some of our favorite sales experts to give us their best advice for making tired presentations more engaging, relevant, and effective. Put these 19 simple sales presentation tips into action and watch your close rate explode.

Timing is everything / Make it a dialogue

Stop presenting so soon. Just because a prospect wants a demo or presentation doesn’t make it the right time to do it. If you haven’t done good discovery work to uncover their issues—desired outcomes, frustrations, specific challenges, initiatives, etc.—then you have no right to be doing a presentation.

My second tip is a bit contrarian. Nowhere is it written that a presentation must be a monologue. [ Tweet this! ] Put up a slide titled “Our Understanding of Your Situation” listing several of the prospect’s key issues and turn the “presentation” into a dialogue. You’ll be amazed how much the prospect will appreciate you making the meeting about them and not your offerings.

Mike Weinberg, Sales consultant, coach, and speaker; author of Sales Management. Simplified.

Use your prospect’s language

Every industry has its own specific language, terminology, or jargon. Your industry does too. Too bad your prospects don’t generally use or understand that language. [ Tweet this! ]

Improve your sales presentations by speaking about the #1 challenge your prospects face, using the language they use to describe that challenge. When you do this, your prospects will “get it.” More importantly, they will think that you “get it” as well.

Wendy Weiss, President of ColdCallingResults.com

Start with the right mindset / Create a mental model

“ Selling is a transference of feeling. ”—Zig Ziglar [ Tweet this! ]

Because of this simple truth, you need to create the right mindset before your presentation and the best way to do this is to invest time at the start of each day listening to or reading inspirational and educational material that will help you transfer the right feelings to the prospect.

Once you have your thinking right, invest 60 seconds creating a Mental Model of how your sales presentation will go. Create a picture in your mind of what you are going to say, the questions you will ask, the responses the prospect will have, and the questions you need to answer . Do this simple routine and your clarity and confidence will help you meet the prospect’s needs and win the business.

Tom Ziglar, President, Ziglar Inc.

Meet before the meeting / Stop talking and listen

Prospective clients care most about their particular situation. Research the company and industry first and then hold an initial meeting to verify facts so that you may accurately tailor the presentation to their needs and interests. [ Tweet this! ] One size never fits all.

Most sales reps kill the sale due to providing the same presentation to everyone without prior knowledge of needs and interests, and they incessantly talk without listening to input provided from those in the room.

Elinor Stutz, CEO of SmoothSale™, author of Nice Girls DO Get the Sale

Use a shared agenda / Focus on the slides that matter

The #1 thing in the world that everyone loves talking about is themselves, which is also the #1 problem in Sales— we all love talking about ourselves and clients don’t care. [ Tweet this! ] This I why I recommend using a shared agenda to guide your presentations or demos, starting with a quick intro from everyone that includes what their priorities are and what they want to get out of the presentation.

Then, don’t dive immediately into your background, history, client list, and awards. Instead, focus on what you know about them and try to get clarity on their priorities. After that, take the 20+ slides you have in your demo or presentation and focus on the 5–10 that are most relevant to them based on what they told you their priorities were.

John Barrows, Owner, JBarrows Sales Training

Invest in your training / Don’t read off the PowerPoint / Keep it open-ended

1) Take an online course on presenting PowerPoints. If you aren’t going to invest in yourself to get better, why should anyone else? [ Tweet this! ] It’s OK to ask your company to pay for it, but if they won’t, you still want the skills, right?

2) Stop reading the PowerPoint—people can read. What you say should not be on the PowerPoint.

3) Stop asking “Does that make sense?” It’s the dumbest question ever to ask during your presentation. Instead, engage your prospects with open-ended invitations like: – “Hey, I have been talking for a while. I’d like to shut up and hear what you are thinking.” – “I’d like to stop here and see what use-cases you may be envisioning as you think about all of this.”

Richard Harris, Founder of The Harris Consulting Group; Director of Sales Consulting and Training for SalesHacker

Lead with questions to discover your prospect’s pain points

The biggest mistake any sales rep can make is walking in to the client presentation and immediately flipping open their PowerPoint. Not only is this an intrinsically boring approach for both you and your potential client, it doesn’t give you a chance to learn anything about them. So when you get to the end of your presentation and they say, “Well thanks for coming in …,” you have no response other than to thank them and walk out, without an order or a next step.

The alternative is to begin the appointment by asking probing questions about what they’re struggling with. [ Tweet this! ] Be listening for the ways in which their problems are specifically addressed by individual slides within your presentation. So when they’re done talking, you can say, “I heard you say that your biggest problem is ___. We hear that from a lot of our clients, which is why we’ve developed ___, which addresses that problem in these three unique ways. Allow me to show you some of the data here on this slide.”

Julia Kline, Sales, leadership, and mindset coach; author of Heal Your Sales Wounds

Preparation makes you relevant

Sales reps need to focus more on being relevant than consultative. The consultative sale means you spend more time asking questions which most often you can find the answers to online or if you study their competition.

You need to show up with case studies, ideas, and research. Your clients do not have time for needs assessments and hundreds of questions. [ Tweet this! ] Use the tools at your fingertips and come to your next presentation ready to prove that you are an expert in your field and you are prepared for the meeting.

Ryan Dohrn, Sales coach and keynote speaker; publisher of SalesTrainingWorld.com

Develop an “internal knowledge base”

Know your audience and the answers to any possible questions or objections they can pose. [ Tweet this! ] Your team should share the questions previously asked and have an internal knowledge base for the answers that you can study.

If you’re presenting to an organization that’s not that evolved yet, practice it on 10 different allies in the space and record their questions.

Max Altschuler, CEO of Sales Hacker and Revenue Summit, author of Hacking Sales

It’s not a “presentation” / Sell them what they want

Stop thinking about it like it’s a presentation—that encourages salespeople to think it’s all about them when, in reality, it’s all about your prospect! Ask questions and get your prospect to talk to you first.

After you finish listening to them, make sure you tailor your presentation to focus on what they tell you they want to hear about. Stop selling your personal favorite benefits and sell them theirs . [ Tweet this! ]

Stephanie Scheller, CEO, Scheller Enterprises, LLC

Start drawing your solution, and let the buyer finish it

As many of the other contributors have discussed, the ideal presentation should be a dialogue, not a monologue. You want to engage the buyer’s energy and attention. They don’t have it all figured out yet. The point of the presentation is not just to confirm what they need to buy. A presentation should also continue the discovery process.

To make that happen, ditch your slide deck. Trust me, no one wants to see it. Or hear you present it. [ Tweet this! ]

Instead, use a whiteboard for your presentation. Start drawing out a flowchart or system diagram for your proposed solution. But don’t draw out the entire diagram. Map out maybe 10% of it. Then, to paraphrase Dan Roam’s recommendation in his great book Draw to Win , invite the buyer up to the board to take over from you and draw out the rest of the solution as they see it. The level of engagement with your “presentation” will go through the roof.

The net result will be a jointly created solution in which the buyer has a feeling of ownership . Through this collaboration you’ll have delivered value to the buyer in terms of helping them clarify their needs and objectives and how you will help the buyer satisfy them.

Andy Paul, Sales acceleration coach, host of the Accelerate! sales podcast

Be authentic

Tell your story to allow your audience to connect with you on another level. Think of the presentation the same way you think of your content. Don’t fill it with self-promotion or product reviews.

Know your audience so you can meet their needs with quality, in-depth analysis no one else can. Be authentic and honest to build trust with your audience. [ Tweet this! ]

Vladimir Gendelman, Founder and CEO, Company Folders, Inc.

For more expert advice, read 14 things successful sales reps do every week

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Reviving the Power of B2B Sales Presentations: Strategies for 2024

Elevate your B2B sales strategy by mastering the art of the impactful presentation.

In the past, your prospective clients would require you to provide a presentation. Most of these sales presentations were so similar that any competitor in your industry could use the exact same slide deck by simply swapping out the logo and company name. To present, you would need to build a slide deck you believed would cause your client to buy from you instead of from one of the other salespeople competing for the business. Like everything in sales, at some point, these overly long presentations became tiresome to contacts, who started asking salespeople to put away their laptops and forget about the PowerPoints.

Just like certain styles fall out of fashion only to become popular again in the future, it seems that buyers and decision-makers are once again looking for a presentation to go with a proposal. A number of salespeople report that their prospective clients have requested a presentation in a conference room where the task force sits around a large conference table with a projector pointed at a screen.

One group of salespeople was asked to present. Their slide deck was quite long, and the decision-makers sat through the entire thing. They were impressed with how thorough the presentation was compared to what was shared by another group of salespeople who showed up with a single slide. The contacts thanked the team with the long presentation, and said that the other group that presented made the decision makers ask all the questions.

Stories like this are becoming more and more common. Another group had a different client ask for a presentation, and afterwards the main contact asked for a copy of it. Another contact asked a salesperson to provide a copy of their presentation without presenting it.

Recognizing Buyer Intent in Sales Presentations

If you pay attention to shifts in how buyers make a change in their business, you will notice they are trying to make a rare decision they intend to get right on the first attempt. Without talking to the prospective clients who asked for presentations, we can be certain that they are trying to make the best decision, one that will ensure they are able to acquire their desired outcome.

We hear a lot about buyers doing their own research on sales organizations. For years, we have been told that buyers are no longer interested in meeting with salespeople. Now that that’s changing, we have evidence that doing their own research isn’t working for them. If this trend continues, buyers and decision makers may want to spend more time trying to choose the right strategic partner, one they trust to be able to improve their results.

Delivering Certainty amidst Uncertainty

In a time of great uncertainty, decision makers seek certainty. The request for a sales presentation suggests that decision-makers and their stakeholders are trying to understand how you and your company deliver the results they need.

The request for a sales presentation means a number of your competitors will also participate in this contest. The winner is likely to be the one that solves the problem of certainty and proves they are the right fit.

Essential Components for Effective Sales Presentations

The first thing you should establish is that you invite your contacts to ask questions as you work through the sales presentation. You want to answer as many questions as possible.

Most sales presentations start with some information about your company. You should try your best to limit this to a very few minutes. Too much time here means you will have less time for the topics your contacts find more helpful. One of our clients spends two minutes on their company, which should be plenty of time to cover this information in a way that is relevant to your contacts.

If you are following the legacy approach, you will have a slide that shows the logos of a large number of your largest clients. This is designed to prove that your contact can trust you with their business. This, like other strategies, screams an answer to the question “Why us?” You should limit the time you spend on this part of your presentation as well because prospective clients are more interested in hearing about what you can do to help them with their problems.

Finally, you are supposed to introduce your solution, which is what you are going to sell to your prospective client. However, you may do better to postpone discussion of your solution and instead spend some time talking about the client’s problem, proving you understand it better than your contacts do. In doing so, you are likely to score points. It is important that early in the sales presentation you establish why the client should change because this sets up the next topic.

If I were your sales manager, I would have you transition from the client’s problem to the future state your contacts are pursuing. This is a better introduction to your solution because it allows you to present your solution as the bridge between the client’s current problems and the results they need. Once you have described the client’s desired future state, you can present your solution.

Depending on what you sell and how you deliver it, you may want to include a section of your presentation that addresses the milestones you and your prospective client will work through together. You are also going to describe the investment the client will need to make. You might also build an FAQ section to handle the questions you expect your contacts to ask. You would do well to leave as much time as possible for questions.

After reading this article, spend some time with your sales presentation and determine what your client needs to see and hear for you to give them the confidence and certainty they need to move forward and prefer to buy from you.

Written and edited by human brains and human hands.

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How to Present to an Audience That Knows More Than You

• Deborah Grayson Riegel

Lean into being a facilitator — not an expert.

What happens when you have to give a presentation to an audience that might have some professionals who have more expertise on the topic than you do? While it can be intimidating, it can also be an opportunity to leverage their deep and diverse expertise in service of the group’s learning. And it’s an opportunity to exercise some intellectual humility, which includes having respect for other viewpoints, not being intellectually overconfident, separating your ego from your intellect, and being willing to revise your own viewpoint — especially in the face of new information. This article offers several tips for how you might approach a roomful of experts, including how to invite them into the discussion without allowing them to completely take over, as well as how to pivot on the proposed topic when necessary.

I was five years into my executive coaching practice when I was invited to lead a workshop on “Coaching Skills for Human Resource Leaders” at a global conference. As the room filled up with participants, I identified a few colleagues who had already been coaching professionally for more than a decade. I felt self-doubt start to kick in: Why were they even here? What did they come to learn? Why do they want to hear from me?

• Deborah Grayson Riegel is a professional speaker and facilitator, as well as a communication and presentation skills coach. She teaches leadership communication at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and has taught for Wharton Business School, Columbia Business School’s Women in Leadership Program, and Peking University’s International MBA Program. She is the author of Overcoming Overthinking: 36 Ways to Tame Anxiety for Work, School, and Life and the best-selling Go To Help: 31 Strategies to Offer, Ask for, and Accept Help .

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Sales team from good to great?

• May 1, 2024

Coaching is the difference between good and great.

If you want to take your sales team from good to great, it’s time to coach them. Or set them up with a sales coach.

But what does a sales coach do? How are they different from a sales manager? And is it worth investing in one?

You’ll find the answers waiting at the end of the list.

But before you scroll away, here’s the sales statistic of the week:

A HubSpot report reveals that 71% of modern consumers gather information on their own before talking to a sales rep.

This means your sales rep must offer something more than Google.

With that out the way, here’s all the sales goodness of this week.

Top 10 Game-Changing Online Sales Channels in 2024

Looking for a sales channel that works for your business and drives the highest return on investment (ROI) for you? If yes, then this post is a must-read.

It talks about the ten most effective online sales channels in 2024, which include:

• Social media
• Marketplaces
• Partnerships
• Video marketing
• B2B sales channels
• Email (go Mailshake!)
• Mobile apps
• Direct engagement and support

For each sales channel, you will learn what it is, how it works, and how to implement it in your business for successful results.

The Total Guide to Sales Prospecting with Strategies for Success

Sales prospecting is about finding the right clients for your business and connecting with them successfully. If you can’t nail it, there’s no guarantee your product or service will ever sell. That’s why:

• 70% of B2B companies consider sales prospecting the most effective tool to generate sales and revenue.
• 80% of B2B buyers prefer engaging with salespeople who act as trusted advisors.
• 61% of high-growth companies have integrated AI-based sales prospecting tools.

In this guide, you’ll explore all about sales prospecting. From what it is to 11 proven sales techniques, you will find everything important to understand and practice this concept for your business.

10 Sales Optimization Strategies to Get More Revenue in 2024

The market keeps evolving. And you must be prepared to handle these changes by constantly evaluating and improving your sales process. This post tells you exactly how to do that. Give it a read and learn:

• What sales process optimization is and its types
• How the sales process optimization helps your business
• The ten best sales optimization strategies to increase revenue in 2024

You will also learn about the top eight sales optimization tools that can help you with the process. The author has highlighted the core features of each tool so you can make a decision easily.

25 Sales Email Tips to Crush Your Quota (+ Templates)

Email marketing ROI is $36 for each $1 spent. Plus, data shows:

• Four billion people use email daily—the number is expected to reach 4.6 billion by 2025
• The average email open rate is 46% to 50%
• 87% of brands agree that emails are very crucial for their business sales
• 60% of buyers say that email marketing influenced their purchase

Want to make the most of this effective sales channel? Check out this guide—it includes 25 amazing tips for writing the best sales emails. You will also receive free professionally-designed email templates.

11 Essential Sales Presentation Tips to Close the Deal Faster

Presentations make everyone nervous. Will I be able to not mumble? Will the audience judge me for my dress? Will I come across as an expert on my product or just another cheesy salesman with no depth of knowledge?

If these are the questions on your mind every time a presentation is around the corner, it’s time to master this skill so you can goodbye to the anxiety forever.

Explore 11 sales presentation tips in this guide that will help you close like a pro and never become nervous about a presentation again.

15 Sales Coaching Tips That Actually Work

Do you want to guide and support your sales team toward betterment? Are you willing to help them understand their strengths and use them to improve sales performance? If yes, then this detailed post is a goldmine.

It explains what sales coaching is, its importance, and how a sales coach differs from a sales manager. It also goes through the common sales coaching challenges and 15 effective techniques and tips to overcome them.

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Walmart Releases Q1 FY25 Earnings

May 16, 2024

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We're building on our strengths ..

"Our team delivered a great quarter. Around the world, our goal is simple - we’re focused on saving our customers both money and time. It’s inspiring to see how our associates are simultaneously executing the fundamentals and innovating to make shopping with us more enjoyable and convenient. We’re people-led and tech-powered, and that combination is propelling our business."

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Global eCommerce sales

Strength in store-fulfilled pickup and delivery

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Return on investment 6

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And, we're delivering

solid earnings growth .

We’re building customer trust by designing convenient, enjoyable omnichannel experiences that deliver what our customers want and need. We’re focused on the clear drivers of value, which is sustaining strength across multiple areas of the business. We’re maintaining the pace of our investments, using automation and operating discipline to drive higher returns.

Our strong results this quarter clearly demonstrate the power of our global omni-retail capabilities and the team’s ability to execute with discipline. As we continue to reshape our business model, we’re focused on strategically investing in areas that reinforce our purpose and growth strategy.

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1  Adjusted EPS is a non-GAAP measure. See additional information at the end of the release regarding non-GAAP financial measures. 2  Adjusted Operating Income is a non-GAAP measure. See additional information at the end of the release regarding non-GAAP financial measures. 3  Comp sales for the 13-week period ended April 26th, 2024 compared to the 13-week period ended April 28th, 2023, and excludes fuel. 4  Constant Currency is a non-GAAP measure. See additional information at the end of the release regarding non-GAAP financial measures. 5  Our global advertising business is recorded in either net sales or as a reduction to cost of sales, depending on the nature of the advertising arrangement. 6  Calculated for the trailing-twelve months ended April 30, 2024. ROI is a non-GAAP measure. See additional information at the end of the release regarding non-GAAP financial measures.

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What to buy (and skip) this Memorial Day, according to experts

For many, Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer. You may be planning a barbecue , picnic or trip to the beach , but don’t forget to make time for shopping, too. Dozens of brands and retailers host Memorial Day sales during the holiday weekend, many of which have already begun . To ensure you save the most money while shopping, it's important to identify which product categories typically offer the best savings opportunities and which you might be better off skipping. We talked to experts about what to buy during Memorial Day sales, what to hold off on and how to stretch your budget.

SKIP AHEAD What to buy during Memorial Day sales | What to skip during Memorial Day sales | When do Memorial Day sales start? | What stores are open on Memorial Day? | Expert shopping tips

select All kids 6 months and older should be wearing sunscreen — regardless of skin tone

What to buy during memorial day sales.

Memorial Day — Monday, May 27, 2024 — is known for sales on big-ticket items like furniture and household appliances. Think small appliances like vacuums , steam cleaners , air fryers and toaster ovens , as well as large appliances like washing machines , dishwashers and refrigerators . You’ll also see lots of deals on mattresses and bedding , as well as gardening supplies , says Shannon Dwyer, a shopping expert at RetailMeNot . Since Memorial Day is typically when people gather with friends and family, many stores offer discounted food and beverages, making the long weekend a great time to save on groceries .

Brands and retailers tend to use Memorial Day sales to clear out last season’s inventory and make room for next season’s new products, says Adam Davis, a managing director on the Wells Fargo Retail Finance marketing team. Because of this, some of the steepest discounts are on electronics from previous generations, older mattress models and spring clothing and footwear. “Retailers want to sell spring items at much steeper discounts since they’ll have the entire summer season to sell summer merchandise when it’s in high demand,” he says.

What to skip during Memorial Day sales

Memorial Day may kickstart summer, but it’s the worst time to buy summer apparel and home goods, experts told us. That includes outdoor patio furniture, beach accessories and grills . “If you’re patient, outdoor items and summer clothing will be available at deeper discounts in August and September. That’s when retailers make room for the next major selling season’s merchandise, including fall and holiday products,” says Davis. “It’s a seasonal cycle and retailers typically want to sell in-season merchandise with limited promotions.” That said, don’t shop for school supplies just yet, if possible. You'll see lower prices on related items like backpacks , lunchboxes and stationary toward the end of the summer.

Also, consider waiting to purchase the latest technology and electronics, says Dwyer. You’ll see them on sale during Memorial Day, but brands offer better deals on laptops , tablets and gaming consoles during Amazon Prime Day in July.

When do Memorial Day sales start?

You can start shopping Memorial Day sales right now, but big retailers typically offer the best prices in the week before the holiday and during the three-day weekend.

When do Memorial Day sales end? 

Most Memorial Day sales end on Monday, May 27, says Davis. A handful of retailers extend their sales into the following week. However, they usually don’t announce extended offerings until the day after the holiday, and sometimes the sales aren’t as strong. For example, a brand may offer 45% off sitewide over Memorial Day weekend but 25% off select items the following week. Ultimately, your best bet is to shop before Memorial Day ends — that ensures you can take advantage of the best prices and browse the fullest inventory. 

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Are there better deals in stores or online during memorial day.

You’ll see many of the same Memorial Day sales in stores and online, so where you shop comes down to personal preference, says Davis. “For example, some people may prefer an in-store experience for appliances and furniture unless they’ve done their homework in advance and know exactly what they want,” he says.

If you’re shopping online, make sure you factor in shipping costs before you check out, says Dwyer. Delivery fees add up, and there may be an extra charge for large items like furniture or mattresses. Many stores offer buy online and pickup in-store options, which can help you avoid high shipping fees, so keep that in mind.

Expert shopping tips: How to make the most of Memorial Day sales

Signing up for email lists or SMS programs is the best way to stay updated about your favorite brands’ and retailers’ Memorial Day sales, says Dwywer. They use these platforms to contact shoppers quickly; some offer exclusive discount codes. Also, sign up for loyalty programs like Amazon Prime , Walmart Plus and Target Circle if you’re interested in taking advantage of member-exclusive deals, and compare prices on items across similar retailers to ensure you’re getting the lowest price. If you’re paying with a credit card — especially if you’re making larger purchases — consider which one to use to maximize your spending.

What stores are open on Memorial Day?

Since Memorial Day is recognized as a U.S. federal holiday, some retailers may be closed for in-store shopping or have limited hours. Many big-box retailers like Target , Walmart , Best Buy , Home Depot , Lowe’s , and Kohl’s keep their doors open for shoppers on Memorial Day, as do pharmacies and grocery stores like CVS , Rite Aid and Sam's Club . But hours vary by location, so check a store’s website before leaving home if you plan on visiting in person during the holiday weekend.

Meet our experts

At NBC Select, we work with experts with specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and experience. We also ensure that all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and with no undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.

• Adam Davis is a managing director on the Wells Fargo Retail Finance marketing team. 
• Shannon Dwyer is a shopping expert at RetailMeNot , a deal-finding and cashback website.

Why trust NBC Select?

Zoe Malin is an associate updates editor at NBC Select who writes about sales and deals, including articles on Amazon Prime Day , Black Friday , Cyber Monday and Memorial Day. For this article, she interviewed two experts about what to shop during Memorial Day and what sales to skip.

Catch up on NBC Select’s in-depth coverage of personal finance , tech and tools , wellness and more, and follow us on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and TikTok to stay up to date.

Zoe Malin is an associate updates editor for Select on NBC News.

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Published: August 29, 2023

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