Alper goes deeper into the specifics of a sales presentation slide deck, and in particular how you know it’s time to upgrade your old deck, the importance of interactivity, and the importance of talking directly with your sales force while deciding how to layout the new deck. Also, what Will Smith has to do with good design.

Episode transcript:

Matt Krause
Alper today, we’re going to talk a little bit more about sales presentations. And we’ve talked about sales presentations in the past and one of our recent episodes, I think was on developing confidence or improving your confidence in the sales presentation. Is that correct?

Alper Rozanes
Yes, I believe so.

Matt Krause
But today, we’re going to talk a little bit more about the deck itself. And after those, after the after those recordings, I started wondering if I’m a sales manager, and I’m sitting at my desk, and I’m looking at the chart of our recent sales, or our pipeline, or whatever, whatever I’m whatever gauge I’m looking at. And I start seeing Okay, well, sales used to be really strong, and they’re kind of getting weak now. And I’m wondering, okay, what is the problem is, there could be a gazillion issues, and one of them might be the sales deck. So what’s some of your tips for me as a sales manager, and I’m sitting there wondering, is what we need a new sales deck?

Alper Rozanes
Well, that’s a good question. And like you mentioned, there could be several reasons for that. Maybe one of them could be related to the deck itself, especially if you’re using it actively. And like every sales meeting, let’s say.

Alper Rozanes
And I understand that it’s not always easy to determine whether it’s time for an upgrade. But it’s true that these presentations, I believe can significantly impact your ability to communicate and to communicate your company’s vision, product, services, value proposition, etc, and convert convert those meetings into sales.

Alper Rozanes
So you told me that you’re looking at your figures, and they’re either declining or stagnating. So I’m not going to dig into that. But I think at this day and age, we’re not talking about 1980s, or even 2000s anymore.

Alper Rozanes
But I think at this day and age, I would ask, Is your presentation interactive? Or are you still following some scripted text from slide 1, and 2, 3, 4, and so forth? Because I think I believe, while it’s not only me, but there is so much information about this, interactivity increases engagement, and I think it creates the opportunity to retain, for the client, for the prospective client, to retain more of what you’re talking about.

Alper Rozanes
And I doubt a fixed, like a static, presentation, okay, dear customer, now I’m going to talk about this, and then I’m going to talk about that, I don’t think it provides the any interaction at all to fully engage them.

Alper Rozanes
And I think when they’re not engaged, you know, they can disconnect and go someplace else in their minds. So I think one of the first questions I would ask if I am considering whether I need a new presentation would be is this like the old style ABCD? Or is it more interactive, where it can actually engage the audience, the listener, at that time.

Matt Krause
So let me see if I’m following you correctly. So one of the things I should be looking for is, when I’m sending my salesforce out with the company sales deck, is that deck giving them a chance to have a two way conversation with the customer? Is that correct?

Alper Rozanes
Yeah. Or is it making them sound like robots? Okay, this is the content I’m given. This is what I’m going to recite to you, dear customer.

Matt Krause
Oh, okay. Okay. Is there… what other things should I look for in terms of do I need a new deck or not?

Alper Rozanes
Well, I think if I were the sales manager, I think I would also ask is my message, are my messages getting through? Like, let’s say you’re making a lot of presentations, and you’re not seeing the expected behavior changes or decisions from the clients. Of course, like we said, In the beginning, there could be a million reasons for that.

Alper Rozanes
But it could also simply mean, in my opinion, that your messages aren’t perceived or they’re not landing as intended. So it may be time to do a design overhaul not only in graphical aspect, visual aspect, but also in the structure. So it may be time for an entire overhaul of the presentation to make sure that you are actually delivering your key points, and people are understanding them.

Matt Krause
It sounds like I as the sales manager are going to need I’m going to need to have a lot of one on one conversations with my salesforce because I can’t just sit in there by myself in the office and say, Is this message landing well? I need to hear the feedback from the people who are delivering the presentation in front of the customers. So my sales force, they’re the only people who are really going to be able to tell me, Well, this message is landing. Well, this one is not this one is landing this other one is landing. Well, this one…

Alper Rozanes
Exactly.

Matt Krause
Okay, so another question…

Alper Rozanes
And speaking… Before you move to the next question, something came to my mind speaking of having this conversation with your salespeople, I think it might, it could make sense. It would make sense, I believe, to ask them how they feel with the presentation itself. I mean, are they feeling confident?

Alper Rozanes
Because I think the deck that you use, and it’s not only my opinion, I mean, I have heard some numbers about this, but I’m not going to go into just throw some random numbers out there. But I think the team’s confidence in the presentation directly impacts their ability to sell. And if they’re not comfortable, or if they don’t feel confident with the with the current presentation, it might as well be shooting them in the foot.

Alper Rozanes
So it could be hindering their performance. I mean, I have been there, by the way, many years ago, when I was when I was in sales for this company that I worked with, I was prohibited from making any changes to the sales presentation.

Alper Rozanes
And looking back, I remember it was so horrible, of course, with the things that I know now, it’s even 100 times more horrible than that. And I didn’t function well. I mean, I was can you imagine I was almost embarrassed to show it to the client.

Alper Rozanes
And speak about my confidence at that moment. It’s like, well, I have to make this presentation. I really don’t want to but there it goes. It’s a five and you know, hide yourself, it was horrible.

Alper Rozanes
So yeah, when you have this, when you have that conversation with the sales team, you can ask, Oh, are you comfortable? Or do you feel confident? And speaking in that some at a another point came into my mind, then you might ask as a sales manager, I don’t know if it may be related, it will be connected to your next question.

Alper Rozanes
But just check out the competitors’ presentations, to see if you need a new one, like keep an eye on them. And if if their presentations are much more visually appealing, interactive, or, you know, they’re much better, they’re much more able to convey the message. Maybe it’s time to upgrade your game as well.

Matt Krause
Yeah. And along those lines. Okay, so let’s say that I’m bought into the decision. I’m the sales manager, and I’m thinking, yeah, we definitely need a new deck, the old one is not doing the job, we definitely need a new deck. How important is visual design? You know, can I just fire up PowerPoint and whip one out before I go home for the day? Or should I be should I consider subbing this out to someone with some serious visual design skills?

Alper Rozanes
Well, before everything, I believe, a very good design is not going to save horrible content. And a very good content is not going to be conveyed with horrible design. So one of them is not going to carry the whole weight, I think there will need to be a balance between the quality of the content and the quality, the quality, the quality of the design, but I mean, let’s let’s be honest, you walk into a room, let’s say you’re to deliver a sales presentation and and you fire up your laptop, you put it on the screen or or the screen, or the TV, whatever, what’s the first thing that they’re going to notice when people look into your presentation is going to be the design.

Matt Krause
Yeah, that’s true.

Alper Rozanes
That’s going to be the way it looks is going to be the way it is perceived by their eyes. So it well, in a sense, it’s like going to a job interview. And you wouldn’t want to show up in your pyjamas, right?

Matt Krause
True. You want. You want to make a good first impression.

Alper Rozanes
Actually, that was a scene from the movie. Do you remember that? Will Smith movie it was a beautiful scene. He had to go to this high end high stakes job interview with with I think painted pants or something.

Matt Krause
Yeah, I think that the movie, like the Pursuit of Happyness or something like that.

Alper Rozanes
Yes. Yes. That was the one.

Matt Krause
Like, interviewing for a job at Dean Witter or something.

Alper Rozanes
Well, you remember much better than I do.

Matt Krause
He went in there with with paint on his face and stuff.

Alper Rozanes
Yes. So in that regard, well, I think at the end of the day, a polished clean professional, I’m not saying perfect because I don’t think we can ever achieve that, but I think a well crafted slide deck will eventually tell your audience nonverbally that you mean business. You have put some serious thought serious thought into this.

Matt Krause
So I keep thinking of this movie, the Pursuit of Happyness.

Alper Rozanes
It was a good movie.

Matt Krause
Yeah. So if I’m the sales manager, and I’m just whipping up, I’m just opening PowerPoint, and I’m whipping something up real quick before before I go home for the day, that’s kind of, I’m gonna I’m probably going to produce a deck that looks a lot like Will Smith with paint on his face. That’s not going to make a good first impression.

Alper Rozanes
Well, you know, how they say don’t judge a book by its cover. I think in terms of presentations, I don’t think it holds. I think it doesn’t hold in sales presentations. I think the design of the presentation is, will be, not is what will be your, your, your audience’s first interaction and first impression.

Alper Rozanes
And I don’t think we have the luxury to say, well, yes, my presentation looks horrible. But let me give you some information about the wonderful products or services that we have. Sorry, I think I was I will, I will have gained a first impression about you. And it’s not going to be pleasant.

Matt Krause
True. Come to think of it, no matter how much your content no matter how much the words coming out of your mouth might just rock the world. If you’re, if your slides don’t look good, the customer is still not going to be very impressed with you.

Alper Rozanes
Yeah. And in that regard, I think they not only need to look good, but also consistent. I mean, I’m thinking now you’re you’re looking at a slide deck of 20 slides. Each of them are beautiful, but there is no consistency in between.

Alper Rozanes
Unless, I mean, if this is a motivational speech, the sky’s the limit. You can do whatever you want. But I think if you’re trying to transmit credibility, confidence, you know, give us some corporate buzzwords, like Barney Stinson’s posters behind him.

Alper Rozanes
Teamwork, awesome. If you’re trying to convey those things in the sales presentation, I think, I think a consistent use of the design like colors, fonts, imagery, whatever, I think it creates, it conveys a sense of stability and reliability. So I think they’re they’re important as well.

Matt Krause
Yeah. Well, you know, we’re not going to have time to go into this today. But do you remember how, at the beginning of this podcast series way back many months ago, we did like the elements of a good pitch deck? Do you remember that?

Alper Rozanes
Yes, of course.

Matt Krause
I would love to do the same for a sales presentation. So maybe for…

Alper Rozanes
Oh, I like that idea. ]

Matt Krause
Yeah, maybe for a future episode, we could go into like the flow of a good sales presentation and what should be in there, and kind of an outline of what should be in there. What do you think about that?

Alper Rozanes
I like that. Let’s do that. Yeah.

Matt Krause
Okay. Cool. Well, that’s a wrap for today, then, and we’ll come back at you in a future episode with the flow.

Alper Rozanes
Alright, I’ll talk to you next week.

Matt Krause
Thank you very much Alper.