Online Sales Presentations

Today I spent an hour on a sales demo that should have been a 15-minute call. The sales rep spent WAY too much time showing the product. I call this sales method: "Show up and throw up" Don't do this. Instead, give your product demo some structure. Why? Great product demos are sales presentations in disguise. They should resemble Schwartz's 5 Stages of Awareness and pull the customer from "unaware" to "most aware". Spend only 20% of a "demo" showing features and benefits. 80% of the time, talk with prospects and establish the problem for their business. Here's my simple structure for running the perfect hour-long demo: 1. Establish context (5 min) Kick off the call by acknowledging why you're here. Get the customer to verbally acknowledge why they think they're here. Call out each stakeholder and get them to offer what they see as the opportunity in partnership. 2. Describe the Current Challenges (15-20 min) Establish the pain for the customer. Get the group to acknowledge the challenges with their current status quo and move into "problem aware". Ask questions about their operations and offer stories about other customers who've experienced those same challenges. This establishes authority with the customer. Spend time establishing the pain. Deals are won and lost in this stage. Storytelling and social proof are helpful. People want to feel like they aren't the only ones struggling with these issues. 3. Illustrate the Desired Outcome (10 min) Articulate a version of the future where those challenges have been addressed. This moves the customer into "solution aware". Use anecdotes from successful customer relationships to help the customer visualize success. Paint a picture of the "city on the hill" where all of the customer's worries are gone. 4. Your Unique Value Prop (10-12 min) Illustrate how your company will address the customer's challenges and deliver the desired outcomes. When done successfully, the customer will move into "product aware". THIS IS WHERE YOU GIVE YOUR PRODUCT DEMONSTRATION Show only the parts of the product relevant to their business that will make an impact and deliver the desired outcome. Pick 2-3 things that are most relevant in the product. 5. Pricing (5 min) Be prepared to discuss pricing. Even if you don't have enough information to quote, talk generally about price or plan for delivering a more accurate quote. Quick tip: Never deliver a quote by email without talking to the customer first. Control how they receive the message. 6. Ask for the Money (5 min) No sales presentation is complete without asking for the business. Don't assume the customer will volunteer. It's OK if they say "no"; you can make a plan to overcome their objections. Before you end the meeting, always book a next meeting on the customer's calendar to keep the conversation moving forward. How do you structure your demos? Let's hear it in the comments.

Regardless of how great your ideas are in your virtual sales pitch, webinar, or team meeting… People are most likely checking their email, browsing social media, or working on other things while you present. How can you prevent that and actually get your audience to pay attention? Here are 4 of the most powerful techniques we use for our own virtual training courses: 1. Win the first five seconds According to research from the University of Toronto, people need only five seconds to gauge your charisma and leadership as a speaker. In virtual environments, this first impression is even more critical. To establish instant rapport: - Keep your posture open and inviting (avoid fidgeting, crossed arms, and closed-off postures) - Use open gestures that welcome the audience into your space - Gesture with your palms showing at a 45-degree angle - Speak with clear articulation and energy from the very first word The quickest way to lose your audience? Starting with tentative body language that signals you’re unsure or unprepared. 2. Design your presentation for virtual viewing When designing slides, assume varied viewing conditions. Design for the smallest likely device and the slowest likely Internet speed. Make your slides accessible by: - Using larger fonts (24-32pt) - Applying higher contrast colors - Limiting each slide to ONE clear idea - Adding more space between lines when using smaller text - Stripping excess content (you can provide additional information in a separate document) 3. Vary your delivery Our research shows the optimal length for linear presentations is just 16-30 minutes, while interactive ones can maintain engagement for 30-45 minutes. People’s attention will go through peaks and valleys during that time, so try these techniques to keep their attention: - Vary your speaking pace (faster to convey urgency, slower to express gravity) - Use intentional pauses to let key points land - Adjust your vocal tone (lower pitch for authority, higher for approachability) - Shift between slides, stories, and data at regular intervals Each change helps reset your audience’s attention and signals importance. 4. Build in structured interaction Don’t make your audience wait until the end of your presentation to interact. According to our research, presentations that incorporate audience engagement through polls, chat responses, or breakout discussions maintain attention longer. For the highest engagement: - Use a variety of interaction types throughout your presentation - Incorporate breakout rooms for small-group discussions - Switch modalities regularly to keep it interesting Remember: In virtual environments, you need to recreate the natural engagement that happens in person. Your virtual presentation success isn’t measured by perfection…it’s measured by action. Master these techniques and your audience won’t just pay attention, they’ll respond. #VirtualPresentations #CorporateTraining #WorkplaceLearning

ROI presentations are deal killers. Gong's data shows a 27% drop in close rates when reps present ROI at any point in the sales process. Think about it from the buyer's perspective: "The ROI of our solution is 300%" sounds like every other vendor pitch they've heard this month. Executives tune out because they've been burned by inflated ROI promises before. Smart reps skip the ROI theater entirely. Instead, they build business cases that executives actually care about. Here's the blueprint: #1 Assess their current state. Document what's happening now based on actual stakeholder conversations. Their goals, obstacles, and challenges. Make it specific to their situation, not generic industry problems. #2 Run a problem cost analysis Quantify the real financial impact. Which metrics are suffering? Direct costs, indirect costs, opportunity costs. What's the monthly burn rate of doing nothing? Get specific numbers, not ballpark estimates. #3 Identify the root cause Identify why problems exist, not just what problems exist. Show the underlying issues that need addressing. This separates consultants from vendors. #4 Give them multiple outcome scenarios Present three paths: status quo, conservative improvement, and optimistic improvement. Ranges feel realistic. Single "guaranteed" outcomes feel like sales BS. #5 Give them an implementation reality check Be honest about what success requires. Time investment, resource allocation, change management challenges. Transparency builds credibility. The shift is subtle but powerful: ROI presentations = "Here's why our product is great" Business cases = "Here's why your current situation is unsustainable" One focuses on your solution. The other focuses on their problem. When you help executives understand the true cost of inaction, price becomes secondary. Stop selling ROI. Start selling necessity. — Want to see a real coaching call walking through price objections? Go here: https://lnkd.in/gbBjgxxS Sales Leaders: Want to install systems to get your reps crushing quota? DM me.

After analyzing why companies lose deals that they SHOULD be closing One pattern kept appearing consistently... They were sending proposals via email. and then losing the deal. Here's what actually happens when you email a proposal: You lose the narrative. The prospect reads it alone, makes assumptions, and creates objections you'll never hear. You handed them full control and walked away from the conversation when it mattered most. Fix it by presenting proposals live. Walk through your strategy. Handle objections in real time. Get buy-in before you leave the call. Here's the framework: 👉🏾Call 1: Discovery. Identify the problem. Schedule the next call before you hang up. 👉🏾Call 2: Strategy Presentation. Present the proposal live. Don't just send it. Walk them through it, collaborate, and ask what's missing. 👉🏾Call 3: Close. Handle final objections. Get commitment. After training over 1,000 companies on sales, this shift is the biggest contributor to higher close rates. Live presentations convert 2–3X higher than email proposals. Stop sending proposals and hoping prospects close themselves. Build them a custom strategy and schedule multiple calls until the only logical next step is to close. Agree? ---- Hi! I'm Cindy Dodd⚡️ I'm a B2B Marketing & Lead Generation Expert. Follow me for tips & advice on scaling, lead generation, and getting your team's pipelines filled with dream prospects ✨

I built the first sales deck that made money at inStreamly. A few dozen million euros later, I’m still hands-on with how we build and ship sales decks. Here are the 5 rules that consistently worked for us with quick examples you can 𝚜̶𝚝̶𝚎̶𝚊̶𝚕̶ be inspired today: 1) It’s not about you — it’s about outcomes. Buyers don’t care about your headcount, orgin, or frameworks. They care about what changes for them if they say yes. Do: “We can deliver 5pp growth in brand consideration of your brand” Don’t: “We have 60+ people and a fruit-thursdays” 2) Tell a story (setup → tension → payoff). A good deck reads like a short, compelling narrative. Setup: Where the market is + why it matters now. Tension: The cost of inaction (missed revenue, inefficiency, risk). Payoff: Your specific outcomes, with proof (case, numbers, a quote). Why this works: People remember stories more than specs. 3) KISS the slides (Keep It Simple, Stupid). If they’re reading, they’re not listening. Before: A slide with 110 words and 5 bullets. After: A clear headline + 3 lines, max 7 words each. Rule of thumb: “One idea per slide.” Exception: If it’s a send-ahead deck, add appendix pages — still keep the core flow concise. 4) Match the room (buyer altitude). Board vs. VP vs. Operator = different depth, vocabulary, and proof. Board: Market shifts, category narrative, big-risk mitigation, outcomes in $$$. VP/Director: How it lands this quarter, integration effort, dependencies, timeline. IC/Operator: Workflow, UI clarity, edge cases, time saved per week. Case fit: Choose case studies from their industry or problem pattern. 5) SECRET TRICK keep it living (use an online link). Send a link you can update anytime. Even a year later, that same link should show the freshest data. Why: Clients always have access to up-to-date content. How: Track versioning, fix broken charts, add new wins, keep pricing notes current. Norm: We encourage continuous edits — even to “old” decks — so anyone who re-opens gets the best version. ! Plot twist: My best sales meetings? We never opened the deck. We talked about problems, constraints, the market — and yes, even the CEO’s kids’ hobbies. The deck existed, but listening did the heavy lifting. Try this next meeting: Start with one question: “What's your favourite games?” Keep the deck on standby. Only open slides that help answer their question. Your turn: What would you add to this list? Which rule would you test this quarter? --------------- Found this post interesting? Follow me, Szymon Kubiak for more gaming marketing & product strategy tips 🌟

What is the most effective structure for a sales presentation that moves people to buy from you? Here’s the traditional way that 99% of presenters structure their sales presentation: - First, give content and value. - In the last 10-15 minutes, make your pitch and offer. The big problem? With this method, people only start thinking and considering your offer in the last 10-15 mins of the presentation. This is too short a window to realize the full value of your services. After doing 1,000s of sales presentations over the years, and closing over $20 million+ in sales and client contracts in front of a LIVE audience… There’s a more effective way to do this. Part 1: Close at the beginning What this means is, during the first 10-15 mins of your presentation you need to make a soft-mention of what you offer and that the audience will need to make a decision later. Here’s what to soft-sell: - What your offer is in 1 sentence? - What are the key benefits, and who is it for? - You will talk about it later, and they can decide if it’s suitable for them. What this does is it helps the audience know what to expect from you at the end. So it’s less awkward and “slimy” when you transition to making the pitch. They start looking at everything you say from here on under the lens of your offer. This starts the “decision making” subconsciously in their minds during the early part of the presentation. Which gives them more time to think and consider. Part 2: Content that shifts their beliefs Take note that you should NOT be teaching content for the sake of teaching. Everything you share and reveal in the content section should do 1 thing: Shift the beliefs of your audience. Here’s some examples: - If you’re selling a digital marketing service, you need to help them see why digital marketing is crucial to their business - If you’re selling a HR software subscription, you need to help them understand why managing their HR the manual way is costing them lots of time and money In other words, teach them the “WHY” but not the “HOW”. This does not mean that your presentation is light on content. You can still give the audience lots of new insights and aha moments when you show proper proof and data on WHY their current methods are not the best. And a sweet benefit of doing this right? They also help you prevent objections at the end, because the audience has already been “pre-framed” into a new way of looking at things. Part 3: Close at the end (again) This is the easy part. If you’ve done the first 2 parts correctly, the audience now knows: - You have an offer to make to them. And they are expecting it - There is a new and better way of doing things, and WHY the current way they use is not the most optimal. Do you realize there is now a gap in their minds waiting to be filled? So this makes it easy for you to transition to the pitch at the end without feeling awkward. You can pitch with confidence and feel proud to do so.

Stop selling slides. Start showing reality. Would you install this door in your house? Too many pitches are still built on specs, benchmarks, and endless bullet points. But customers don’t buy slides. They buy what they can see working. Data backs this up: • People retain ~65% of information when it’s visual vs ~10% from text alone • Demonstrations can increase conversion rates by 2–3x compared to static presentations • The human brain processes visuals ~60,000x faster than text The moment you demonstrate your product in action, everything changes: • Doubt turns into clarity • Interest turns into imagination • Questions turn into decisions A live demo (or a real use case) does what 20 slides can’t: It makes value real. Specs still matter—but only later. They justify the decision. They don’t create it. The best pitches follow a simple rule: Show the problem Prove it works (live or real-world) Then back it up with data If your audience has to “figure out” why your product matters, you’ve already lost them. Don’t explain the future. Let people experience it. #Sales via @custom.doors #Leadership #Innovation #GoToMarket #CustomerExperience

Are you committing the cardinal sin of sales presentations? The purpose of the entire demo/preso is the last 10 minutes It is NOT to share everything about your cool toys... Most sales presentations end with minutes to spare Quickly showing slides and pieces of the demo that are least important You are feeling rushed, the buyer's mind ready to be done, and you are saying "We're almost done, just one more thing" This is the WORST thing you could do... Instead. Prepare the demo/presentation to end with 10 minutes to spare The purpose of the presentation is NOT to show everything you can do It is to show only the key areas that must be shown To allow for critical dialogue to take place: 1. What things were the most exciting and why 2. Business priorities solved and the chain of people they impact 3. Who else needs to get involved and what would they uniquely want to see  4. Metrics and financial impact of solving the discussed problem 5. What else have they seen or done and how this compares 6. Level of priority the solution would arise to You use this dialogue to plan next steps The most important thing is always connecting the dots from what has been shown and finding a way to tie it to something an executive cares about, and the justification for change that would get it over the line. This isn't always straightforward, and often you need to have lots of conversations to put all the pieces together. But that is the goal result. Everything else is a means to an end. PS - Don't forget BAMFAM - book a meeting from a meeting Get next meetings scheduled - otherwise, you are chasing PPS - It is always better to leave people wanting more

I’ve reviewed over 100 sales presentations for our customers over the last 6 months. Here's what the best of the best did and how they delivered a memorable experience: 1. They hooked us in the first 5 minutes. No long winded pitch. No awkward icebreakers. Just a quick, meaningful presentation showcasing how we understand the target markets world and challenges. They referenced things where their target market are currently falling short. They demonstrated how much they understood about their current position. They also beautifully explained how they solve the problems they know their customers are having. 2. They challenged how the audience think. Forget the cookie cutter qualifying bog standard presentation. Instead they made it a conversational engaging presentations. They asked bold questions to help their audience self identify with the issues they are potentially having. They took them on a journey from a place where they may not have even known about a problem. To a place where they needed to hear about how to solve it. 3. Their presentation felt like a strategy session, not a pitch. No vanity slides. No name-dropping brands or flashing awards. Every slide was tailored to spark discovery, offering insights on trends in their customers world, and how things are developing. Basically demonstrating true thought leadership. I could list another 20, but I'll leave it here for now. KEY TAKEAWAY: Most presentations fail to convert because they push products instead of solving problems. 40–60% (numbers taken from some random research carried out by Google... apparently) of deals end in no decision not because the product/service isn’t good, but because the buyer doesn’t feel confident enough to commit. In this business, your first impression is your best sales tactic. Want to generate more sales from your presentations? Make it about the buyer, not the product/service. Start conversations, not just another boring presentation. Deliver insight, not information. Sell the way your customers want to buy. Do it consistently, and you'll start to see the results we do. #sales

To make money online, you need to master sales. It's non-negotiable. Here are 6 sales tips that helped me generate $1M+ in 12 months: 1) Ensure prospects show up Automated reminders help prevent cancellations and forgotten appointments, and they make it far more likely that prospects actually show up for the call. Set up email and text automations on Calendly so reminders consistently go out. I like to follow these guidelines to stop no-shows: - Custom reminder messages to reflect the specific details and benefits of the appointment. - Test out different timings like 1 hour, 25 minutes, and 10 minutes prior to the meeting. - Block leads that cancel or no-show 3 times so you're not getting spammed with fake booked calls. 2) Match their pace Aligning your sales approach with the prospect's readiness can increase engagement and conversion because it keeps the conversation at a pace they can follow. Use questioning techniques to gauge the prospect's decision-making speed so you know how quickly or slowly to move. Then adjust your pitch to where their level of knowledge of the market is. (Note: You don't always need to go through your full script. It really depends on who you're talking to and how problem/solution aware they are.) 3) Set firm next steps at the end of the first call Clear next steps prevent ambiguity and ensure both parties remain committed after the first conversation. Here's what I like to do: - Schedule a 2nd call if needed - Review what to expect next - Send a document of what the prospect needs to complete This helps us stay on track and push forward without back and forth messages. 4) Understand their concerns Addressing objections with empathy can build trust and create open communication throughout the call. Practice active listening during calls so you fully understand what the prospect is actually concerned about. Fully grasp their issues and respond in a way that acknowledges and addresses these concerns. I also record all my sales calls so I can review objections and practice handling them. 5) Present with a deck A structured presentation can effectively communicate the value of your offer and make it easier for the prospect to understand. Create a relevant presentation deck with case studies and data to back up your guarantee. Make sure you emphasize: - Key aspects of your offer - Storytelling to connect with the prospect - Relevancy to the prospect 6) Persist in following up Consistent follow-up keeps the conversation going and increases the likelihood of a sale, especially when prospects get busy. Create a follow-up routine that varies the method (email, phone, social media). Keep your messages useful and relevant. Remember, you have a duty to follow up if your service can benefit them.