At the end of the day, sales are made based how you present your product or service to the prospect. You could have the best product in your industry, but unless you know how to build a sales presentation that wins over the audience, it won’t matter. No pressure.

While you don’t want to use the same edited template for every sales presentation you give, there are a few guidelines you should follow. Here are a few Keith Messick, writing for SellingPower, suggests on how to build a sales presentation.

How to Build a Sales Presentation that Get Results

Add Visual Elements

Picture it: You’re in a work meeting and your boss pulls up a PowerPoint presentation. After a brief introduction on the title screen, they flip to the next slide. It’s a solid wall of text. You’re super stimulated, right?!

So, why do you think your prospects will be any different during your sales presentation? Your slides have to be just as engaging as the information you’re presenting or you’ll lose your prospects to glazed over eyes. Do you want to know how to build a sales presentation that actually works? Instead of writing out that your current clients have experienced a fantastic ROI thanks to the help of your product, show it. Add colorful graphs to your slide deck to demonstrate the ROI the client has experienced since working with you. Also, client reviews go a long way in establishing credibility and give you another opportunity for a visual element. Include a slide with pictures of your clients beside the reviews they’ve left. Or make a compilation video of verbal reviews you can play for your prospects.

Whatever you decide on, just make sure it’s visually stimulating.

Make Your Presentation a Narrative

Facts thrown at your prospect in a random order won’t have a good chance of being retained. Stories, however, have been engaging each of us in memorable ways since childhood. So, turn your sales presentations into narratives starring your prospects and their company. Begin with the problem they are currently facing and how it is negatively affecting their company. The rising action comes with the introduction of your product. This leads to the climax of how your product meets the prospect’s specific needs and can overcome their problems. Then, conclude with the continuous happily ever after scenario your prospects will experience thanks to your product.

Don’t forget that questions and comments from the prospects throughout your sales presentation can better the story. Don’t view them as interruptions. On the contrary, they can add much needed details to the story that will make it even more personalized and persuasive.

Be an Expert

This tip has two parts. You obviously want to be as informed as possible about the product you will be presenting. Be aware that your prospect will likely be doing their own research about the product before the meeting, so you have to put in the extra effort to maintain the knowledgeable high ground. The second part is technological savviness. Having issues with your sales presentation tools will make your prospects quickly lose focus. They may also question how seriously you’re taking this meeting based on your level of preparedness or lack thereof. Practice beforehand to make sure everything is running smoothly.