Roadmap to a Winning

B2B Sales Presentation

Steps

1.

Case the Customer

Figure Out Customer Needs

The creation of a
compelling sales
presentation is part art
and part science. This

2.

Case the Customer

Find Persuasion Points

whitepaper aims to
demystify at least some of
the process and provide
you with best practices

3.

and actionable data to

Construct the Slide Deck

help guide you in crafting a

winning, deal-closing sales
presentation and slide deck.

4.

Delivering the Presentation

5.

Following Up

Step 1

Case the Customer

Figure out Customer Needs
When clients request

of debriefing questions

How Fileboard Can Help?

a meeting with you, an

and absorb information

Presentations sent via

issue at hand needs to

until you have an objective

Fileboard track slide views

be solved. Immediately

view of their issues. Until

and allow you to make

responding with a canned

you are ready to help solve

notes about questions on

sales presentation is not an

their problem, you should

specific slides. You can

optimal next step you first

hold off on showing your

view past presentations to

need to understand their

sales presentation for

get an idea of where similar

situation.

a subsequent meeting.

clients have had questions

However, keeping a copy of

or comments before.

Forget the sales deck at

this point. Showing canned
content will result in bored
and impatient clients.
Instead, ask them a series

your standard presentation

nearby is helpful, especially
if your client has formal
expectations.

Step 2

Case the Customer

Find Pursuasion Points
When you are able to

often swings a customer

Key Takeaways

paint a complete picture

one way or another is fear.

3 The largest obstacle your

of the clients issues,

This fear is manifested as

sales presentation needs

the compelling issues

aversion to risk on behalf

to overcome is fear or

will often become clear.

of the organization, and

risk aversion on the part

At this point, you can

often more acutely, as

of the person making a

create a presentation that

aversion to personal risk to

purchasing decision.

specifically addresses the

the individual making the

clients issues and you will

purchasing decision.

know which questions

to address and which
questions to ignore. This
will help you validate that
you have deep proficiency,
possibly even thought
leadership, in the areas the
client cares about.

3 Organizational
risk aversion can

Organizational risk is the

be overcome with

lesser of the two and is

references and case

most easily mitigated

studies

by providing your client

with examples of other
organizations similar to
theirs that currently use
your product. Most clients

Proficiency by itself is

will prefer to validate your

often not enough to sway a

companys record by talking

client to make a purchasing

with your past clients. If not

decision because in b2b

conversations, case studies

sales the emotion that most

and testimonials will be the

Step 2

Case the Customer (Cont.)

Find Pursuasion Points
best substitutes and give

and the slide deck to

your clients reassurance.

highlight the benefits to

Aversion to personal
risk plays a much larger
role in the purchasing
decision than aversion to
organizational risk. It is
also much more nuanced,
and therefore warrants a
careful approach by the
salesperson. The causes
of this risk are varied (risk
of losing job, professional
credibility, money, etc.)
and often unstated so
the presenter must think
carefully about how
the product or service
will actually affect the
purchaser. To be persuasive,
the sales-person must
structure the presentation

Key Takeaways

3 Personal risk aversion

the individual making the

is often unstated but is

purchase rather than the

the biggest factor that

benefits to the organization

blocks b2b deals

as a whole. Will the

3 To overcome personal

purchaser noticeably

risk aversion a sales

increase their productivity

presentation should

as a result of using your

focus on the product/

product? Is there an easy

service benefits to the

way for them to convey

individual making the

progress to supervisors or

purchasing decision

investors? Any point in your

presentation where you
can address an issue you
discovered in the previous
step with concrete metrics
that the purchaser can then
show to their supervisor
works well as a point of
persuasion.

Step 3

Construct the Slide Deck

Slide presentations are an integral part of

Size of the Deck: Building large sales decks

the sales process, often playing a role in

is a waste of time for both the slide deck

both the initial presentation of a product

creator and the audience. Usually, you want

or service and in the follow-up cycle. Thus

a deck no longer than 20 slides and, if you

careful consideration must be given to the

want to re-use the same deck as part of

size and design of the slide deck so that a

your follow-up collateral you shouldnt have

deck can be useful in multiple parts of the

more than 10 slides.

cycle.

Step 3
Construct the Slide Deck
Content of the Deck: Use presentation slides to convey
information that is best presented visually, e.g. a project
plan with tasks and milestones. By avoiding bullet-point
prompts, you will be free to chat with the client using the
slides as occasional visual aids, rather than a set footpath.
However, since the other party can always change the
direction of the conversation in this format, you must to
know your subject deeply. If you do not think you can cover
all the content alone, you should bring along team members
who can help.
Design of the Deck: Here are the four basic principles of
visual design you should incorporate into your slides.

Other Quick Tips

3 Include your company

logo and your
customers company
logo in the first slide of
the presentation and in
the header or footer of
each presentation slide.

3 Avoid animations
unless they have a clear
purpose

3 Use at least 18pt font

and have no more than

1
2

Contrast: Place dissimilar elements together so that

they cause each other to stand out. This creates
visual drama and captures your viewers attention.
Repetition: Repeat similar elements and styles.
This reinforces meaning for viewers and helps them
navigate between elements. It also serves to visually
unify a document

3
4

Alignment:Align elements and spacing consistently

for easy navigation. E.g. text should be either left- or
right-aligned, not both.
Proximity: Group similar or related elements
together to form a unified whole. Keep items that
are not related visually separate from those that
are, and make sure the most vital points are most
noticeable.

5 lines of text per slide.

You are trying to avoid
having people reading
while you are talking.

Step 4
Deliver The Presentation
Now that you have a list of issues that you want to address,
points where you can persuade the customer with benefits
appealing to their individual interests, and a slide deck to
help re-enforce those points visually, its time to deliver the
presentation.
Effective sales presentations have two main qualities: they
are short (30 minutes or less) and the customer should do
most of the talking.

Helpful Tips

3 Present a clear initial

agenda of key points
based on what you know
the customer needs.

3 Make sure you can get

your message across in
about half the allotted
time to account for
delays, hard stops, and
questions.

3 Before opening up for

questions, reiterate
the key points of the
presentation.

Step 5

Follow Up (And Do It Fast)

How Fileboard Can Help?

After the sales meeting is

demonstrates that they

If you send collateral with

complete your work is by

want their customers

Fileboard, you will be

no means finished. While

business and that they will

notified as soon as it is

most companies leave some

be there should any issues

opened or shared by the

collateral with the customer

arise. Not surprisingly,

recipient so you can reach

and play the waiting game,

successful b2b sales occur

out immediately.

sales pros realize that the

on average after 6 follow-

follow-up stage of the sales

up calls though most

cycle provides an additional

companies will call their

opportunity to build trust

prospect back only once.

with your prospect. A

responsive sales-person

Step 5
Follow Up (And Do It Fast)
As you can see in the figures on the side, follow-up is a
stage where you can still easily differentiate yourself! Just
follow the simple guidelines below:
3

Track your customer as much as possible after the

sales meeting! Every point of contact is an opportunity
to reach out and show your commitment. Have they
connected with you via social media? Downloaded a
whitepaper? Attended a webinar? Call and email them
and ask them if they had any questions.

If you cant directly track your collateral, you can use

statistics to your advantage. Here is how quickly the
typical follow-up presentation is opened and viewed:

Contact your customer within the first 5 minutes after

they have interacted with you online or opened any
collateral. Studies show that your odds of contacting
a customer are 100x better if you reach out within
the first 5 minutes vs 30 minutes yet only 1.8% of
companies are currently doing this.

The best days to contact customers are Wednesday

and Thursday.

The best times to contact a customer (or to set up a

follow-up meeting) are 8-9 am or 5-6pm.

About Fileboard: Fileboard helps you connect with potential customers and track their
interactions with your collateral. Launch a free trial today and start closing more sales!