Most of the time, the success of the sales process lies in the sales presentation. Since it’s crucial, you have to ensure that your sales team is all doing their best––from appearing professional, researching beforehand, and having a captivating sales deck. Unfortunately, many salespeople fail since they’re bound to commit mistakes that they can easily avoid. Even though they’re avoidable, these mistakes can significantly harm their ability to make a sale or even bring in new prospects, which can be a waste of their time and resources.
Thankfully, by becoming aware of the biggest mistakes to avoid when making your sales deck or presentation, you can increase your chances of closing a sale. With that in mind, this blog post discusses these mistakes you should avoid when developing your sales deck:
- Copious information on the slides
If your sales deck has plenty of slides, prospects will either focus too much on them or won’t bother reading what you’ve put. In either case, their attention will start to drift away from you, which isn’t good as your presentation will now be devoid of any human touch.
So you might be wondering, how much information should your sales decks have? Ideally, sales decks should have the following formula:
- Less than three bullet points per slide
- One line per bullet
- Font size is at least 28 or larger
- Five slides per 20 minutes of presentation (1)
Although the formula above may seem like there’s little information on your sales deck, it’s always best to find the right balance between talking and visual aid. By finding this balance, you can connect with your customers better, increasing your chances of making a sale.
- Simply reading the slides
Your visual aid is called that way because it should serve as an aid. Don’t use your sales deck as a crutch. Doing so won’t only make your whole presentation boring, but it can also irritate listeners. If you’re only reading from your slides, you can simply give prospects a copy of your presentation so you can skip meeting them in the first place.
With that said, make sure your slides only show vital information you can use as justification for anything you’ll say. This information can include important statistics and metrics. But again, don’t simply read it. Instead, tell a story that’ll complement the statistic. After all, 63% of attendees will remember stories, and only 5% will remember your statistics. (2)
- You’re too excited
Movies depict salespeople as someone who shows high levels of enthusiasm when convincing prospects. But of all the sales mistakes you can commit, showing an excessive amount of excitement when talking about your service or product can become most annoying for prospects. In fact, prospects are usually turned off if the sales approach is too cheerful. This is because the whole emotion will come across as disingenuous, try-hard, and fake. (3)
Even if you have an eye-catching sales deck, the way you present it will still determine the success of your pitch. As much as possible, you should try to temper your excitement. Try to focus on the prospect and how they can benefit from your products or services. Be human, authentic, and calm––don’t force excitement and just be a real person. By having this attitude, you can better connect with your prospects than being too overly excited.
- Focusing on the features
It’s important to keep in mind that what you can offer will help customers know more about your offering. But the features won’t really help you close the deal. Instead, show how your prospects can benefit from your offerings. While demonstrating how your products work is still okay, it’s better to convince your customers how your products or services will improve their lives.
To showcase the benefits they can gain, create a video. Doing so will increase your chances of closing a sale since 85% of consumers are likely to get a product or service after they watch a video about it. (2)
Takeaway
By avoiding the mistakes you can make on your sales deck, your skills of convincing people to transact business with you will significantly increase, outranking your competition. It’s safe to admit that any salespeople have committed these mistakes in the past. What’s important is that you’re aware of these mistakes. That way, the next time you’ll make a pitch, you can consciously avoid them, allowing you to create a well-prepared and captivating sales presentation and helping you close a deal easily.
References
- “18 Sales Presentation Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs”, Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-presentation-mistakes-to-avoid
- “24 Sales Statistics & Presentation Data You’ll Be Amazed By”, Source: https://www.customshow.com/sales-statistics-presentation-data-youll-be-amazed-by/
- “9 BIGGEST Sales Mistakes to Avoid (At All Costs)”, Source: https://salesinsightslab.com/sales-mistakes/