How To Structure A Winning Sales Presentation

I closed the first $2M ARR doing founder-led sales. If you’re doing founder-led sales, here is the deck structure that worked: 1/ First slide: Their world, not ours. The best decks start with the buyer’s situation. We frame their problem, so before we say word about our product, they’re already nodding along. 2/ Key objectives: What winning looks like. Buyers don’t just want a solution. They want a clear path to success. Make their goals explicit and position our solution as the natural next step. Keep the call focused on outcomes, not just features. 3/ Demo layout: No surprises. Only what they need. Set clear expectations upfront and only show what matters. We applied this by making our demo predictable. No feature dumps. Just the parts that solve their problem. 4/ Expected results & pricing: Value before cost. The best sales decks show the expected results first. When buyers see value before cost, pricing makes sense. 5/ Trial details: Clear, risk-free next steps. The best decks make the next step blindingly obvious to say yes. We designed ours to be frictionless with a 2-week trial and refundable deposit. This structure has shortened our sales cycles and increased win rates. If you’re a founder, steal this for your sales deck. What’s the worst mistake you’ve seen in a sales deck? Drop it below.

Every single sales team I’ve evaluated has one thing in common Their lowest score is on the closing competency. Most teams lose the deal long before they ever talk numbers. If your sales reps can’t clearly articulate the client’s pain, connect it to a specific solution, and build a narrative that positions your offer as the only logical next step. They’re not closing. They’re just quoting. ❌ Combining discovery and proposal into one call short-circuits the sales cycle and kills momentum. ❌ Leading with company-centric messaging instead of client pain points loses buyer interest early. ❌ Generic, uncustomized pitch decks fail to engage and don’t advance the deal. When I coach leaders through this, their close rates go up because the conversation shifts from "here’s what we do" to “here’s how we help you.” Here’s how I coach teams to flip the switch: Customize the proposal based on THEIR stated needs and pain points Start with their top 3-5 challenges (from discovery) Confirm you captured them correctly, it builds buy-in Connect ONLY the relevant solutions to each challenge Limit your company’s slides to 2- 3 slides with clear value proposition, this isn’t about you Share a relevant testimonial right before presenting pricing THEN present pricing once they see the value. If your team is stuck in the present and pray proposal cycle, let’s talk. It’s time to teach your sellers how to connect, position, and close with purpose.

Here’s the proposal template that helped me close over $100 million in enterprise sales: It’s also helped my clients close more than 50% of their deals when they use it. And until now, I’ve never shared it publicly. Most sellers are great at pitching features. But the ones who consistently win big deals? They know how to tell a great story. The truth is, executives don’t buy products - they buy confidence. They buy vision. They buy a story they want to be part of. If you want to sell like a top 1% seller, you need a proposal that doesn’t just inform… it moves people. Here’s how I do it 👇 The Story Mountain Framework for Sales Proposals: 1. Exposition – Introduce the characters and setting. Start with them: → “You’re trying to expand into new markets… to grow revenue… to unify your tech stack…” Set the vision. Make them the hero. 2. Rising Action – Lay out the challenges and obstacles. → “But growth stalled. Competitors moved faster. Customer churn increased.” Quote discovery calls. Surface real pain. Build emotional tension. 3. Climax – Introduce your solution. → “Then you found a better way…” Now show how your solution helps them overcome the exact obstacles you outlined. 4. Falling Action – Ease the tension. → “Here’s our implementation plan. Here’s the ROI. Here’s how others in your industry succeeded.” Give them confidence that this won’t just work—it will work for them. 5. Resolution – End with clarity. → “Here’s our mutual action plan. Let’s get started.” Lock in buy-in, next steps, and forward momentum. This structure has helped me close some of the biggest deals of my career—including an $8-figure enterprise deal at Salesforce where I used this exact approach. I broke it all down in this week’s training—and for the first time ever, I show you the actual proposal I used AND tell you how to access my Killer Proposal Template for free. 👀 Watch the full training here: https://lnkd.in/gPY_cvv5 No more boring product pitches. No more ghosting after the readout. Just proposals that close.

Most sellers treat RFPs like a necessary evil: • answer their questions • submit your response • hope for the best That's exactly why most sellers lose. In my last 4 years as a strategic seller, I captured $12.9M TCV from RFPs. The key was delivering a magical buying experience and doing the opposite of what everyone else does. THE AIRLINE STORY: We were in the final 3 for a major airline digital experience upgrade opportunity. 30+ executives in the room. 4-hour pitch. Everything on the line. Instead of jumping straight into our product demo, I opened with something completely unexpected... A "we love you" video showing our executives flying on their airline, our CEO talking about being their loyal customer, and connecting our core values to theirs. The room lit up. We won the 3-year, multi-million dollar deal. Two years later, their executive said at our Sales Kickoff: "We chose you because of how much love we felt during the process." Here's what I learned: Your product isn't that much better than the competition. But the buying experience you design can be completely different. The mistake most sellers make? They lead with features when they should lead with emotion. They answer questions when they should be creating narratives. They try to be "better" when they should focus on being "different." THE WINNING FRAMEWORK: I developed a simple 3-step process that transforms RFPs from soul-crushing exercises into deal-winning experiences (especially helpful if you're a late entrant). It's built around understanding how executive brains actually make decisions (hint: it's not the way you think). Want the full breakdown? I published the complete framework in The Purposeful Performer, including: → Why most sellers fail at the "croc brain" test → The exact narrative structure that wins in final rounds → How to use the E.L.E. framework during presentations → Creative tactics that separate you from commodity vendors Read the free guide here: https://lnkd.in/eYiFSbNj RFPs aren't about answering questions. They're an opportunity to design experiences that make the decision obvious. 🐝