How to build a sales presentation that wins new clients

Securing new customers is the ultimate for a business. A good sales presentation can go a long way in converting a prospect into a customer. But how do you craft a pitch that truly resonates?

In this guide, we’ll cover every step required to deliver a sales presentation that engages your audience, persuades them, and even entertains them — increasing your chances of landing a new client. 

We’ll discuss how to understand your audience, structure your pitch, and use storytelling and data to make your interactions memorable.

Let’s get straight into it.

Understanding your audience

Knowing your audience is the basis for a great sales presentation. Before you build a single slide, get to know your prospects.

First, do your research on your prospective customers’ businesses. What industry are they in? How big of a business is it? Have they just introduced a new product or had a major transition?

If your organization works with enterprise SaaS clients, for instance, understanding their enterprise SaaS pricing structure will be helpful.

Gather this information from their website, social media profiles, and relevant industry publications. Then, analyze their social media strategy, website/SEO performance, and industry reputation, as it can offer insights into their market positioning and customer engagement.

You can use tools like Backlog to keep track of research tasks and organize your team’s efforts around gathering insights on the prospective client. This keeps everyone aligned and ensures you’re addressing the right pain points.

Your presentation should address specific challenges your prospects face. To uncover these pain points:

1. Consult your sales team about common client issues.
2. Review customer feedback from similar businesses.
3. Analyze current industry trends and obstacles.

Just as important is discussing the motivations of your prospect. What does the prospect want to achieve? Do they want to increase sales, streamline operations, or expand into new markets? This knowledge allows you to tailor your solution to their goals. 

Now you can use that research to shape your approach to address a specific prospect’s issues. Use relevant industry terms, reference their specific challenges, and show you’re not simply solving “whatever problem we typically have”—you’re customizing your solution to address their very specific situation.

This customized approach spares prospects from having to read a boring generic pitch. It gives the impression that you’ve taken the time to understand their business.

Structuring your presentation 

From start to finish, a good presentation carries your audience with you through a compelling narrative. This is how to structure your pitch for maximum impact:

Hook your audience

Start strong. Open with a thought-provoking question, a surprising statistic, or a short story that illustrates the problem you’re attempting to solve. This catches the reader’s attention and sets up your solution.

Present your value proposition

Say what’s unique about your proposal. This might be why your product or service is better than others or better for your prospect. Look for the benefit to the particular prospect, not the features of your product or service. In what way will it make their life a little better or easier? Their business a little more profitable?

Organize key points

Put three to five of these main ideas in the body of your presentation. This keeps your message simple and memorable. For each:

1. State the idea
2. Provide supporting evidence
3. Explain how it benefits the client

Maintain a structure that builds your case step by step. Alternatively, you might choose a problem-solution format or trace your process from the beginning.

Collaborate effectively

While structuring your pitch, remember that collaboration is key. If you’re working with a team, tools like Backlog help manage the timeline and tasks, ensuring everyone is on track. If you’re crafting diagrams or workflows to illustrate key points, using Cacoo can add clarity to your message. For example, if you’re discussing how your product can eliminate inefficiencies, a flowchart or process map can provide a visual representation that makes your solution easier to grasp.

End with a bang

End by emphasizing your main message and listing the next steps. What do you want your prospect to do after you have finished speaking to them? This action step should be clear and simple.

Storytelling in sales 

Facts and figures are important, but stories sell. 

As a salesperson, polished narrative skills can help turn a bland catalog of data you deliver to a prospect into a stirring story that inspires your listener to buy.

Personal Anecdotes

Share brief, engaging, and relevant stories — about you, your practice, or other clients. Everyone loves good stories, and storytelling gives your presentation a human personality that any audience can warm to. 

Learning to be more personable in your storytelling also significantly enhances your connection with the audience.

Craft a compelling narrative

If you can craft your presentation as a story, you will be instantly more engaging.

Start with a situation in which your customer is stuck: all is not well! Then introduce your solution as the twist in the story that turns things around, and finally tie it off with the happy conclusion that they’ll achieve if they choose you over the competition.

Use this basic structure:

1. The challenge: Describe the problem your prospect faces.
2. The solution: Introduce your product or service.
3. The transformation: Illustrate the positive impact of your solution.

To make your presentation more engaging, consider using visuals to complement your story. For instance, if you’re explaining how a client overcame a backlog issue with your solution, a simple flowchart made in Cacoo could show how their process improved. Visual storytelling, like this, creates an immediate connection and reinforces the impact of your solution.

Case studies

Add mini case studies throughout the presentation. You’ll use these to show the audience how you’ve solved a similar problem for a previous client. For SaaS companies, showcasing effective SaaS content production strategies can be particularly impactful.

When presenting case studies:

• Keep them concise
• Focus on results and benefits
• Use visuals to illustrate key points

When you use storytelling devices throughout your message, your listeners wind up identifying with the story you are telling. And when prospects see how your solution fits into their own story, that can make your pitch feel more compelling and stick in their memory.

Data visualization and design 

Your presentation’s visual appeal adds to its effectiveness. Eye-catching slides and clear data visualizations improve comprehension and attention.

Keep it simple

Do not overcrowd your slide. Give your audience just one message per slide. Indulge in lots of white space to keep your content looking neat and professional.

Choose the right charts

Select chart types that best represent your data:

• Bar charts: Compare quantities across categories
• Line graphs: Show trends over time
• Pie charts: Display parts of a whole (use sparingly)
• Scatter plots: Illustrate relationships between variables

Color and contrast

Use a consistent color scheme that reflects your brand. Have sufficient contrast between your text and background so your content is easy to read. Only use a maximum of three or four colors so they don’t clash.

Typography matters

Choose legible fonts; you should be able to read everything at a glance from your presentation board. Use no more than two or three font styles within a slide. Leverage size and weight to create a clear information hierarchy.

Iconography and images

To enhance text, you can use relevant icons and images, but again, be careful not to overload your slides with too much information. Images help your audience understand your story and learn your subject.

Animate with purpose

If you use animations, do so sparingly and for good reason. Subtle transitions can guide your audience’s attention and reveal information at the right moment.

Practice consistency

Use the same slide design, color scheme, and style throughout. This helps you avoid any visual distractions, so your content can shine through.

By concentrating on transparent, purposeful design, you can create a beautiful presentation that complements your message. Your slides should complement your story, not compete with it.

Leveraging technology 

Using technology will enhance your sales presentation and make it more engaging and interactive. Moreover, as virtual meetings also become more commonplace, you’ll need to spruce up your virtual presentation skills.

It’s also important to adjust your communication techniques to fit remote settings if you want your message to be received clearly.

Familiarize yourself with platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet. 

Learn to use screen sharing effectively and explore annotation tools that allow you to highlight key points in real-time. These features help maintain engagement even when you’re not in the room with your prospect.

To boost audience participation, consider incorporating interactive elements:

1. Live polls to gauge opinions instantly
2. Q&A features for addressing questions as they arise
3. Collaborative whiteboards for joint problem-solving sessions

These components keep your audience engaged and provide valuable insights into their thoughts and concerns.

Visual aids and multimedia can also help to enhance your presentation. 

Short video clips showing your product in action, animated infographics that visualize your data with easy-to-understand icons, or 3D product models can help your audience relate to your pitch. But only use visuals and multimedia as a way to support your message, not as a gimmicky substitute.

Create a plan B; download your presentation locally, prepare printouts of key slides, and test all the tech beforehand so that if anything goes wrong, you can still present your pitch.

Handling objections 

Anticipating and addressing objections is a crucial part of any successful sales presentation. It shows you’ve thought deeply about your prospect’s concerns, and you’re not just reading from a script.

You can handle objections in two ways:

1. Proactively: Address common concerns before they’re raised.
2. Reactively: Listen carefully and respond when objections are voiced.

Common objections

Identify the most frequent objections you encounter. These might include:

• Cost concerns
• Implementation challenges
• Doubts about ROI
• Concerns about disrupting current processes

Prepare thoughtful responses

For each potential objection, develop a clear, concise response. Transform the objection into an opportunity to demonstrate your product’s worth.

Example: Objection: “I’m worried that your solution will be too expensive.” Response: “I understand your concern about cost. But let’s consider the potential ROI…”

The objection handling process

When an objection arises:

1. Listen fully without interrupting
2. Acknowledge the concern
3. Ask clarifying questions if needed
4. Respond with relevant information or examples
5. Confirm you’ve addressed their concern

Practice makes perfect. Role-play different scenarios with colleagues to refine your responses and delivery.

Skillfully addressing the prospect’s objections signals both confidence in the offering and respect for the prospect and allows you to transform roadblocks into stepping stones leading to the sale.

When addressing objections, it’s useful to have clear visual examples that showcase how your product can resolve specific challenges. Cacoo can help you create visuals on the spot that simplify complex issues like backlogs or operational inefficiencies, turning objections into opportunities for deeper engagement.

CTA and next steps 

Your ending has the power to make or break your presentation. The more urgent your call-to-action (CTA) and the clearer your next steps, the greater the likelihood of turning a prospect into a client.

Craft a compelling CTA

Your CTA should be:

• Specific: Clearly state what action you want the prospect to take
• Timely: Create a sense of urgency without being pushy
• Value-focused: Emphasize the benefits of taking action now

Examples: 

• “Start a free 30-day trial to see how our solution can boost your productivity.” 
• “Complete the registration form now for this one-time offer and start seeing results in seven days.”

Outline the path forward

Break down the next steps in the decision-making process:

1. Recap key points from your presentation
2. Propose a concrete action (your CTA)
3. Explain what happens after they take this action

Get ready to walk your prospect through these steps. Keep documents or scheduling tools handy.

Address immediate concerns

Anticipate and answer questions about the next steps:

• “What’s involved in setting up a trial?” 
• “How long does implementation typically take?”

Having these answers ready shows you’re prepared and respectful of their time.

Follow-up plan

Share your follow-up process: “I plan to send a summary email tomorrow, and I’ll check in next week to make sure I’ve addressed any questions.”

This approach sets clear expectations and keeps the momentum going after your presentation ends.

The more you can make it easy and appealing for your prospect to take the next step, the better.

Practicing and refining

You need to refine your sales presentation before D-day. The first step is to practice in front of the mirror, timing yourself, to make sure that you’re in good shape. Once you’re done, present to your colleagues or a group of friends, and use their feedback to further hone the presentation.

Key areas to focus on:

• Pacing: Ensure you’re not rushing or dragging
• Body language: Practice confident posture and gestures
• Transitions: Smooth movement between sections

Record yourself and watch the playback. You’ll discover things you can improve that you wouldn’t have otherwise. 

It’s also worth using survey tools and email tracking to get an idea of your audience’s reaction, gauge your success, and collect feedback.

Try to focus your feedback on:

• Clarity of your message
• Engagement level
• Effectiveness of visuals

Use this input to refine your presentation. 

It’s a case of “every proposal is a chance to get better,” and the more you do it, the more natural and convincing each pitch becomes.

Try to take short breaks during long practice sessions to stay productive and maintain high-quality output.

Measuring success 

Monitoring the success of your sales presentations is key to continuous improvement. After every sales pitch, evaluate the qualitative and the quantitative factors.

Quantitative metrics to monitor:

• Conversion rates
• Time to close deals
• Average deal size
• Conversion rates
• Time to close deals
• Average deal size

Sales Pipeline Metrics, such as the number of opportunities at each stage of the pipeline and the win rate, can also provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of your sales efforts.

Qualitative aspects to evaluate:

• Audience engagement during the presentation
• Quality of questions asked by prospects
• Feedback from your sales team

Create a simple scorecard to rate each presentation consistently. Patterns should emerge and provide areas for improvement.

Review the results of your presentations regularly with your team. What was good? What could be better? A knowledge-sharing culture within sales teams maximizes ongoing learning from each presentation.

Treat these as guidelines to refine your approach, update your content, and improve your delivery.

Start converting leads today 

Building a winning sales presentation is an ongoing process of refinement and adaptation. 

You’ve learned how to position a pitch according to your audience, how to build a story that moves people to action, and how to use the tools available to get the result you want. 

Remember, you won’t hit a home run every time, but every pitch you face will help you sharpen your skills, so get back in the batter’s box. Be open to feedback and constantly try to improve.

Your next successful client is waiting for your pitch.

Author bio

Nick Brown is the founder & CEO of accelerate agency, the SaaS SEO agency. Nick has launched several successful online businesses, writes for Forbes, published a book and has grown accelerate from a UK-based agency to a company that now operates across US, APAC and EMEA. Here is his LinkedIn.