Truth be told! Salespeople are not everyone's favorite. Whether it's because of their persuasive or overly persistent nature, people see them as trying to get a piece of their wallets. However, products still sell, which shows that customers still listen to various sales pitches somehow- but in a more thoughtful way. Suppose you are to sell your products as a salesperson. In that case, you must desert the traditional sales presentation methods and adapt to some more friendly and personalized ones. Instead of the flat sales pitch decks, you must develop a more social tact that encourages more interaction between you and your prospect.

One thing is for sure – an interactive presentation that contains all the elements inclines prospects to become more receptive and open-minded. So, what are these basics of a great and winning sales pitch?

1. Seize attention

Grab your listeners' attention right from the introduction. The first few words must be captivating and engaging enough to glue your prospects to your presentation. How can you achieve that? You can borrow a leaf from accomplished authors with extensive experience in pitching to publishers. According to Chuck, writers can easily create interest in customers by focusing on the offering or product's uniqueness. Since you can't lay out everything in the introduction, keeping your listeners captivated will ensure that they stick with you for the more critical part of your pitch. For instance, try engaging them with an interesting question or a shocking statistic. To make it work, make sure it appears either on the cover slide or the initial introductory slide.

2. Showcase the benefits

Now that you have your prospects' attention, what's next? Well, you must be precise and straight to the point. That means that you must clearly state your products or services' benefits. Typically, each presentation must include the USP (unique selling proposition). Therefore, when crafting a sales pitch, make sure you have your customers in mind and how your product and service could enhance their life. Do not overcloud yourself with the urge to sell and forget to cater to the customers' interests. A great USP should state the following:

1. Target customers.
2. The problem.
3. The solution.
4. Your product or service.

Ensure your USP appears early in the presentation and kept short and compelling. Some excellent examples of ideal UVP statements include: "WordPress.com is the best place for your blog or business site." "Pizza Hot, you get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less, or it's free." Although USPs might not all follow the same structure, they still should include all the necessary components.

3. Offer credible proof

What else could help more than positive feedbacks from previous or current product users to build solid social proof? Testimonials are the surest way to promote sales and offer unbiased evidence of your product and services offering. To get the most out of them, make sure to use relevant ones that depict your offering's main features and validate the company's claims. But what do you do when you don't have testimonials? Well, no need to worry – your proof can be in the form of comparisons with competitors' products or test results from third-party experiments on your products.

5. Tailor-made

Even with all these guidelines, there is no perfect deck template proven to fit all sales presentations. Every pitch is different, and each company or customer has unique needs you should address despite selling a similar product or service. Therefore, tailor every presentation to your audience's needs. In other words, each pitch is different. Although not openly visible in a sales pitch deck, the above guidelines and proper research will help craft the perfect sales presentation.

4. Never drop the sale

Since you've netted your prospect's interest by this point, it's now the right time to play that final card. Close that sale before they can have a change of heart. Similar to startup pitch decks, sales presentations should include a call to action on the last slide. This way, even if you don't close a sale immediately, you can lead your prospects towards achieving the same result. A call to action might include:

1. Request for extra information
2. Get the product's free trial or demo
3. Request a demo
4. Request a quote

These recommendations will help you build better presentations. Whether you are a large corporation, SME, or start-up, or a keynote speaker, as a professional presentation agency, we can help you build your next big shout out presentation. ​Get in touch here.