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What Makes a Killer Sales Pitch Deck?

Sales pitches play a crucial role in growing your business. Having a well-crafted deck is an absolute must in landing new buyers, business partners, and investors.

However, despite the proven results of good pitchs, many professionals still idly neglect the effort to make an effective sales deck.

At pitchdeck.com, we’ve worked with many of the world’s biggest companies. We know what makes a successful sales pitch. Having spent years creating decks that bring out the very best qualities of companies like yours, we know a little something about motivating clients to start buying ASAP.

Here are some tips on how to transform an ordinary deck into a sale-generating machine:

Bring Storytelling into Your Sales Pitch Deck

Who doesn’t love a good story? In the complex world of sales, stories can leave lasting impressions on clients even more than facts. Statistics often lack context. Stories provide the context that make statistics real. A good pitch deck is the summer blockbuster of the business world.

Your pitch’s story tells your audience how you can help them be the hero. More than wanting to know the hard data, they want their problems to be solved in some amazing way, their performance to improve beyond belief. Your pitch deck shows them how your company will make that happen. This will help clients relate with your business on an emotional level.

Consider the three-act structure when building your pitch deck. The first act is your introduction. It is where compelling problems are raised to contextualize and dramatize your pitch. These should be problems fine-tuned to be recognizable by your intended office. If they don’t feel the pain by the end of the first act of your pitch, they won’t connect to the story.

The second act of your pitch is your where things change, how you help your potential customer defeat this problem. Detail how your business solves the problems established in the introduction. Try pairing your solutions with real life scenarios to clearly illustrate the effects your business creates.

The third act is a strong call to action, how everything in your story begins. You’ll want to discuss financials. If this is an investor deck, talk about projected revenue and your milestones. If this is a sales pitch, discuss your pricing model and guarantees. Above all, know what action you want this person to take next and tell them to do it.

People retain information better with context. Developing the story of your pitch creates that context.

Be Smart with Your Words  

Your choice of words says a lot about who you are. But how much you say determines how much people listen.

Don’t fill your deck with too much information. It’s hardly engaging when your audience is spending most of their time mentally interpreting all the information you’re spewing. Give your key points some room to be properly understood. It will allow you to speak at a controlled pace, making it easier to guide your audience as the pitch progresses.

A tightly written deck also gives you the space to inject impactful visuals into your slides. Some clients may have difficultly visualizing what you are offering. Do that job for them. Pairing your content with the right visual aid will effectively amplify your message while also raising retention rates.

Design Brilliantly   

Simple pitch deck designs can deliver the biggest impact. We’ve all seen slides that are jam packed. When things start to look too cramped, don’t be afraid to break up the information into multiple slides. This gives your content room to breathe. Overcomplicating designs only creates unnecessary clutter, thus jeopardizing the clarity of your message.

Consider the color, layout, and imagery of your slides as amplifiers to your message. Striking visuals will always be more memorable than bland blocks of text. You can make bits of information easier to understand by translating them into tables or graphs. Having more visually oriented slides also removes the crutch of “script-reading”, a common mistake that happens when pitch decks are text heavy.

This doesn’t come easily for everyone. In order to get the job done right the first time, it may be best to hire someone. Professional help with your sales pitch deck can be both affordable and tremendously beneficial in terms of your long-term investment.

pitchdeck.com Creates Sales Pitch Decks for You

When your work starts to pile up, and you just don’t have the time for it all, let pitchdeck.com take care of designing your next sales pitch deck! Whether it’s an animated marketing video, or a pitch deck, we deliver professionally crafted pitch materials that will help your business grow.

Our work is possible thanks to our phenomenal team of designers, writers, and animators. We’ve worked with over 3,000 clients, honing our design skills to always create exciting pitch decks that are consistent with unique standards.

The work we do has helped our clients raise hundreds of millions of dollars for their businesses. The achievements earned by our clients are our measures of success. Together, let’s bring your company up to brand new heights! Reach out now to get a free quote on how we can help.

Contact us today!

Visual Storytelling: How Stories are Told in Pictures

Are pictures really worth a thousand words? Let’s take a look at some facts.

According to a whitepaper published by NewCred and Getty Images, the following statistics are proof:

  • 40% of people will respond better to information presented visually
  • 83% of human learning is visual
  • 44% of users are more likely to engage with brands on social platforms if they post pictures
  • Articles and blog posts that contain images get 94% more views than those without

Aside from all that, there’s also proof in the way our mind works. The human brain can process visuals 60,000 times faster than information presented through text. In fact, we’re all highly attuned to our sense of sight. According to Dr. John Medina, vision trumps all of our other senses.

With these facts laid out, it’s easy to see why images are important to pitch decks and marketing materials. Through visual storytelling, you can use pictures to create stronger emotional impact. Pictures can tell a story that immediately allows your audience to connect with the message you’re sharing.

So whether you’re delivering a pitch or revamping your social media profiles, visual storytelling is the best way to go. When selecting pictures to use, try to keep in mind the four key characteristics of visual storytelling:

Authentic

The best stories come from candid moments. It’s why photo sharing has become so prevalent in the age of social media. Replacing the super-polished stock photos are snapshots that allow others to see the world through a more personal perspective. Take, for example, Dove’s Real Beauty campaign. Instead of featuring models that are photoshopped to perfection, Dove featured everyday women and challenged today’s absurd beauty standards.

To find images that are more authentic to your story, focus on what your brand stands for. Look for images that convey your identity and experiences as a brand. Next, look for something that will resonate with your audience. Think about the people you’re addressing and what might be authentic for them.

Relevant

Visual storytelling should also take into account what’s happening in the world. After all, your message doesn’t exist in a bubble. It’s contextualized in a milieu—a world where billions of individuals are discovering new things every single day. Make sure your visual stories are relatable and relevant to the audience you want to target. Consider what Oreo did to make the most out of a blackout that interrupted the Super Bowl. For your own visual story, choose images that evoke a sense of time and culture.

Sensory

The only thing better than a picture is the real thing. But since you can’t have real situations on a pitch deck slide, you’re going to have to settle for the next best thing. Visual storytelling thrives on imagery that can heighten emotions and senses.

Close-up and macro shots are great for showing textures that audiences can almost touch. On the other hand, a long shot can also take your audience into a particular scene, allowing them to experience it through a wider perspective.

Archetypal

Lastly, the best of visual storytelling alludes to narratives that are practically as old as time. If you think about it, you’ll notice that all your favorite stories are tied together by recurring themes and archetypes. These are universal symbols—called such because they can be found across many different countries and cultures. For your visual stories to be a success, you need to take these symbols and turn it into your own.

Find an archetype that relates to your brand and make it your own. Get to know your own new character and find images that correspond to this new version of a well-loved symbol.
Visual storytelling is great technique to use in pitch decks and marketing efforts.  By weaving imagery together, you can create a story that speaks volumes about your core message.

READ MORE: The Power of Visual Storytelling – NewsCred + Getty Images (Whitepaper)

Featured Image: Ravinder M A via Flickr