6 ms·

interesting. but slightly off topic - do sales guys construct their own decks? surely decks need approval / sanctioning before distribution to prospects? don't

by retube 8y ago

interesting. but slightly off topic - do sales guys construct their own decks? surely decks need approval / sanctioning before distribution to prospects? don't firms have their own decks for sales people to leverage?

empath75 8y ago
Surely someone has to write the sales decks, and in a startup, there may only be a handful of people on the sales team -- or maybe even 1 person.
kbuchanan 8y ago
No, in many companies, different sales people thrive on different sales strategies. Good sales decks are not feature reviews; like the article says-a deck is a launchpad for discussing a compelling narrative, which is why they’re only really effective as part of a presentation (as opposed to a downloadable resource).
- carlmr 8y ago
  I also think it's probably better if you have your own sales slides, because other people's slides might not fit your presentation style. I did prep a few sales presentations for my former boss though. He just didn't have the time. There is usually a review though. Depending on what industry you're in you can't promise certain things, and often the company wants a bit more control over outward presentation.
GiuseppaAcciaio 8y ago
It really depends on the organization: the Holy Grail is to have a well developed Sales Support function that prepares decks for sales people from a data source which is pre-approved (some investment banks have that, it's awesome) so that the Sales people can focus 100% on doing their thing. In smaller, scrappier companies or just in less "sexy" industries, sales people are known to prepare their own decks and whether prior approval is sought is really to the mercy of the individual's integrity and savvy.
- thrav 8y ago
  Even in the biggest companies, Sales people make the choices about which resources to pull into their pitch deck, but yes, there is a corporate template with a typical flow.
hodgesrm 8y ago
Most sales people I know pull from existing corporate collateral then tweak for particular opportunities. The reason is that good pitch decks can be excruciatingly hard to write. Writing includes the storyline (obviously) but also details like PowerPoint formatting. Relatively few sales people have the time or experience to do this from scratch.
- r_singh 8y ago
  I'd love links to some resources on how to make a great sales deck if you could share some
  - hodgesrm 8y ago
    Actually the OP is an excellent reference. Story-telling is a powerful rhetorical device. That said, you can't apply it blindly. You need to think about things like who is your audience and what punches their buttons. Here are two examples: * If you are selling to techies it helps to show though-provoking technology (demo or striking concepts) very early to catch their attention. Business value may or may not have much impact. * If you are selling an internal project to corporate execs it's common to have enough on the first two slides so that you can make the pitch successfully even if the conversation diverges from your agenda in the first few minutes. I would also ensure that they can read out how it will enhance their careers/position in the company pretty easily. Figuring out what to say in a pitch is an old problem that many people have worked on. The ancients had a surprisingly good grasp on solutions. It's worth glancing at what they had to say [0] along with modern views. [0] https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/classical-rhetoric-101-the-five-canons-of-rhetoric-invention/ https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/classical-rhetoric-1...

by retube 8y ago

empath75 8y ago

Surely someone has to write the sales decks, and in a startup, there may only be a handful of people on the sales team -- or maybe even 1 person.

kbuchanan 8y ago

No, in many companies, different sales people thrive on different sales strategies. Good sales decks are not feature reviews; like the article says-a deck is a launchpad for discussing a compelling narrative, which is why they’re only really effective as part of a presentation (as opposed to a downloadable resource).

carlmr 8y ago
I also think it's probably better if you have your own sales slides, because other people's slides might not fit your presentation style. I did prep a few sales presentations for my former boss though. He just didn't have the time. There is usually a review though. Depending on what industry you're in you can't promise certain things, and often the company wants a bit more control over outward presentation.

GiuseppaAcciaio 8y ago

It really depends on the organization: the Holy Grail is to have a well developed Sales Support function that prepares decks for sales people from a data source which is pre-approved (some investment banks have that, it's awesome) so that the Sales people can focus 100% on doing their thing. In smaller, scrappier companies or just in less "sexy" industries, sales people are known to prepare their own decks and whether prior approval is sought is really to the mercy of the individual's integrity and savvy.

thrav 8y ago
Even in the biggest companies, Sales people make the choices about which resources to pull into their pitch deck, but yes, there is a corporate template with a typical flow.

hodgesrm 8y ago

Most sales people I know pull from existing corporate collateral then tweak for particular opportunities. The reason is that good pitch decks can be excruciatingly hard to write. Writing includes the storyline (obviously) but also details like PowerPoint formatting. Relatively few sales people have the time or experience to do this from scratch.

r_singh 8y ago
I'd love links to some resources on how to make a great sales deck if you could share some
- hodgesrm 8y ago
  Actually the OP is an excellent reference. Story-telling is a powerful rhetorical device. That said, you can't apply it blindly. You need to think about things like who is your audience and what punches their buttons. Here are two examples: * If you are selling to techies it helps to show though-provoking technology (demo or striking concepts) very early to catch their attention. Business value may or may not have much impact. * If you are selling an internal project to corporate execs it's common to have enough on the first two slides so that you can make the pitch successfully even if the conversation diverges from your agenda in the first few minutes. I would also ensure that they can read out how it will enhance their careers/position in the company pretty easily. Figuring out what to say in a pitch is an old problem that many people have worked on. The ancients had a surprisingly good grasp on solutions. It's worth glancing at what they had to say [0] along with modern views. [0] https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/classical-rhetoric-101-the-five-canons-of-rhetoric-invention/ https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/classical-rhetoric-1...