After many years of seeing a parade of account managers pitch all sorts of services to our business, it was a hygiene disposal company that did the job of attracting my attention, then maintaining it and ultimately winning our business. Before this initial meeting I had dismissed it as merely a quick meet and greet, however on presentation my opinion changed within 2 slides this company’s sales deck, effectively convincing me that sanitary services were in fact neither boring nor irrelevant.

Traditional pitches may start with introducing the history of the company, why they are so good, then list their products, features and benefits. At this point, your prospect has already formed their first impression and won’t change their minds. What was different about this company’s sales deck is that the first slide warned of an issue that until now, I didn’t know that I needed to solve - the need to maintain good office hygiene in order to minimise employee sick leave. While most companies can tell you what their company and products do, they don’t know how to make it relevant as well as engaging.
I thought to myself, this is actually a great sales deck and one of the best examples I had seen.

So what makes a brilliant sales deck? Luckily Andy Raskin, the man behind some of the most successful investor pitches in Silicone Valley, has officially awarded the title to the “Greatest Sales Deck Ever” to Zuora and has pin-pointed why it’s so good. In his analysis he has highlighted 5 key elements below, which we have also put into a PDF template that you can download.

Elements of a brilliant sales deck:

 1. Identify a big and relevant change in the world.

This is the big hook and it grabs attention because change creates uncertainty (and opportunity).