Features of creating selling presentations

Our previous article described five main uses for business presentations. Now I would like to dwell on the first option from this list “Presentation, as a commercial offer” and consider it in more detail.

When is it better to use a selling presentation

The first thing to do when creating such a presentation would be to understand whether you really need it, because there are several other ways to create commercial offers that may be more effective in certain situations. For example, if a company has a huge price list with a lot of names and it cannot choose the most suitable options for its client, then it will be easier to use a commercial offer in text format.

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On the other hand, such a document can always be a great addition to a selling presentation and be used in relation to an already warm potential customer who needs more detailed materials for making an order. Thus, the presentation seems to me a more profitable option just for the first contact with a potential buyer, because it can visually show what the company does and why it will be profitable to work with it.

Who is the presentation for?

Understanding the audience is always one of the key points in creating presentations. In the case of a commercial offer, first of all, you need to decide whether this is a personal offer for a particular company (or, for example, for all companies from any one sector) or is it a general document for attracting clients from all areas.



It is usually considered that for each segment of the target audience it is better to do your presentation, because it increases the likelihood of solving exactly the problem that bothers them and, accordingly, gives a greater response. A very common option is when a company makes two selling presentations: for b2b and b2c. Then these presentations can already be edited a little, for example, for each client company.

Presentation format

Based on the previous paragraph, it is necessary to determine the format of the selling presentation. It can be used as a document for self-study (for example, if you send it by e-mail) or to support a person speaking with it. Much depends on how it will be used: the structure, the amount of information on the slides, their design, etc.



Typically, presentations for self-study use a smaller font, more text is placed on slides, and the structure of the presentation is made taking into account the fact that no one will give explanations to slides, so they should be understood without additional information. More about these nuances, I will definitely write a separate article.

Sales presentation structure

There are many templates for the structure of slides selling presentations, the most famous of which, probably, is the template structure of Guy Kawasaki . He says that the selling presentation should contain nine slides and briefly describes each of them. Such templates have the right to life, but are not universal enough, because every business is not like the others. Nevertheless, there are five main sections that are usually recommended for use in sales presentations:



Problem. It describes the main problem that your potential client is experiencing and which you will help him solve. The problem should be significant for this person, do not let him sleep at night. If you make a mistake at this stage and describe a non-existent problem, then this will greatly reduce the chances of selling something. This topic can take several slides, if you need to somehow bring a person to this problem, let her feel it, give statistics, or just show scary photos. The main thing is not to deviate from the main theme of the presentation and to be sure that the proposed product or service can really solve this problem. Exaggerating the significance of the problem is also usually not worth it, because it may look like a hoax and nothing good will come of it. The best strategy is to always be honest with customers.



Decision. The logical continuation of the previous block. It says that in fact the problem is not so terrible, because there is a wonderful product that solves it. Again, better without exaggeration, the product really should help solve the problem. Ideally, during the first block, the viewer does not see the solution to the problem, and then you open your eyes to it. A decision block can consist of just one slide, because only the essence is stated here.



How the problem is solved. In this block, the solution process, products and services of the company are already described in detail. There can be any number of slides, it all depends on the number of titles, presentation format, etc. In addition to the usual listing of goods and services, visualization of the main stages of work is often used here.



Special offer. The solution to any problem always has an alternative in the form of other methods of solution or another executor. In this block it is important to show why the client should choose you. There is a small trick here: to indicate not what kind of unique services the company provides, but what value the customer receives from these services. This technique is used by many major companies and it really works.



Call to action. This is usually the last (or a couple of last) slide, which tells the viewer / reader what he now needs to do to get all these benefits described. It is very good if the call is one and the potential client does not have to choose. With this part there are problems even with good presentations, which tell about interesting things, but end with a slide “Thank you!” Without any explanations. This works for presentations whose purpose is simply to inform or develop a discussion, but it is completely unsuitable for selling presentations. You can lose a potential client only because he did not understand what to do now, how to contact you or decided to postpone it all for a while. Great, if you have a chain of interactions with new customers and you can immediately transfer this client to the next stage, for example, by offering a free version of the product or something else. In any case, such a slide should contain some kind of appeal and have company contacts for communication.



Additionally, various trust enhancers, which are often used on websites, can be used in a sales presentation. These include customer lists, job reviews, detailed case descriptions, etc.



The use of all these blocks is one of the universal recipes for creating an effective sales presentation, but everything, of course, depends on the specific company, its goals and the overall situation. Many companies prefer to go more simple way, using only a description of their services. Such an approach has its advantages, for example, it allows not to make a lot of unique offers, but to use the universal one, reducing costs. This method may be more effective in working with a client who is already ready to buy something, but he needs to understand the whole range of services and decide. In this case, the extra slides about the problem and solutions can only distract the client and spend his time. On the other hand, when working with cold clients, the use of these blocks can give excellent results, thanks to greater personalization and closer relations with the client.



I tried to describe all the most significant blocks and criteria that may affect the selling presentation, but if suddenly I forgot something important or you have questions about the use of selling presentations specifically in your case - write us in the Slidary presentation studio, we will definitely all answer.