When we have a big presentation, why do we reach for the slide deck?

Isn’t it funny how distasteful we find PowerPoints to be when we’re on the recipient end, but how intriguing and inviting they become when we’re the ones giving the presentation?

I was speaking with a potential client the other day and asked them what their typical process was when a customer called and wanted information. He sheepishly said that they went out and gave a slide deck presentation.  When I asked how many slides there were, he responded, “62 – and growing.”

Sixty-two slides and growing!?  “Yes,” they said.

They began presentations a few years ago with a deck of 12 slides, but the Marketing Department and the subject matter guys were always wanting to add slides to be more specific about the results that a customer can expect. And now it’s up to 62 slides.

The Antidote for the 62-Slide Deck

Yes, there is an antidote for this slide deck disease and that is the Cornerstone Slide.

This is the one slide that you reveal at the beginning of any presentation that depicts the typical pain the customer will go through in the absence of your solution.  Preferably, it has no words on it, but instead, a graphic illustration or a drawing of your customer’s problem.

This could be a stick figure illustration or a high-end graphic illustration, but regardless, when a customer sees the slide and hears your explanation, they should be able to pinpoint exactly what their issue is.

We’ve watched organizations do away with the 61 other slides and just use the Cornerstone Slide because it’s the thing that engages the prospect at a deeper level of the brain than a slide with 1,000 words on it.

So rather than continuing to add slides so that in two years it becomes 102-slide deck, go back to the basics and do one really good slide up front.  You may find the rest are irrelevant.

Caution: Your marketing people may not like that (they actually will NOT like that), but your customers will and probably will buy more.