How to Craft Memorable and Effective Slide Decks

The Modern Selling Podcast

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the endless variations of sales presentations and struggling to create impactful, memorable content for your pitches, then you are not alone!

Imagine discovering the unexpected secret behind creating impactful sales presentations. It's not just about the content, but the science of how our brains process, retain, and act on that information. But that's not all. There's a powerful link between sales and marketing that can revolutionize your approach. If you want to uncover this game-changing insight, then keep your eyes peeled because the secret to unlocking more sales success is about to be revealed. Stay tuned for the surprising revelation that will transform your sales game forever.

Have you heard the myths about sales presentation design? Let's debunk three of them. But hold on, I won't reveal the strategy just yet. Stay tuned for the truth.

This is Tom Martin's story, our special guest for this week:

Tom Martin's journey into sales presentation design was born out of adversity. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina resulted in the loss of his agency's clients and his business, propelling him into a quest to comprehend why people forget 90% of a presentation within two days. This eye-opening realization became the catalyst for Tom's deep dive into the science of how the human brain processes and retains information. His passion for understanding the intricacies of impactful communication was ignited by the need to empower himself and his clients in pitching scenarios. Tom's narrative-style story draws the reader in, painting a vivid picture of his determination to unravel the secrets of crafting truly unforgettable presentations.

In this episode of The Modern Selling Podcast, Tom Martin, the founder of Converse Digital, provides valuable insights on sales presentation design and delivery. He shares how his background in the agency business led him to understand the importance of creating digitally centric business development programs. The conversation dives into the challenges of traditional slide deck presentations, emphasizing the need for a shift towards more interactive and engaging approaches.

The best slide deck should be invisible. I shouldn't remember your slide deck. I should remember you and what you said. - Tom Martin

With years of experience in the agency business, Tom's expertise extends to business development and prospecting. He's the author of "The Invisible Sale" and has a passion for teaching individuals and organizations how to create digitally centric business development programs. Tom's background and achievements make him a valuable source of insights on sales presentation design and delivery, offering a unique perspective on how to turn conversations into customers.

Tom's expertise shines through as he discusses the cognitive limitations of the human brain and the significance of concise messaging in sales presentations. With an eye-opening stat revealing that audiences forget 90% of presented information within two days, regardless of presentation length, Tom delves into the science behind memory retention.

His practical tips and strategies for creating impactful and memorable sales pitches make this episode a must-listen for sales professionals seeking to enhance their presentation skills and deliver more effective pitches. With Tom's expertise and actionable insights, this episode offers a compelling exploration of challenges and opportunities in sales presentation design and delivery, providing valuable guidance for creating more engaging and impactful sales presentations.

In this episode, you will be able to:

• Craft compelling sales presentations that captivate your audience and drive results.

• Elevate your sales pitch decks with effective strategies to leave a lasting impression.

• Enhance memory retention in your presentations to ensure your message sticks with your prospects.

• Integrate sales and marketing seamlessly to create powerful, cohesive presentations.

• Master techniques for delivering sales pitches with confidence and poise.

The key moments in this episode are: 00:00:09 - Introduction to Vengreso and FlyMSG 00:00:48 - Sales Presentation Design 00:01:17 - Tom Martin's Background and Converse Digital 00:05:13 - Revealing a Juicy Secret 00:09:56 - The Challenge of Slide Deck Presentations 00:12:36 - The Science of Presentation 00:14:22 - Biological Limitations 00:17:36 - The Three T's 00:19:31 - Show Up and Throw Up Syndrome 00:23:09 - The 10% Slide 00:25:21 - Improving Slide Decks 00:26:14 - Persuasive Presentations 00:28:15 - Uncomfortable Sales Engineer 00:31:24 - Training for Presentation Skills 00:37:00 - Standardizing Sales Decks 00:39:37 - Understanding Salespeople's Needs 00:40:15 - Embracing Salespeople's Preferences 00:43:56 - Leveraging Website and Follow-up 00:47:39 - Aligning Sales and Marketing 00:49:31 - Favorite Movie and Personal Insight

Timestamped summary of this episode: 00:00:09 - Introduction to Vengreso and FlyMSG Mario Martinez Jr. introduces himself as the CEO and founder of Vengreso and creator of FlyMSG.io. The podcast aims to help sales professionals grow their sales numbers at scale. 00:00:48 - Sales Presentation Design Mario introduces Tom Martin as the founder of Converse Digital and discusses the topic of sales presentation design. They emphasize the importance of effective sales presentations for driving business growth. 00:01:17 - Tom Martin's Background and Converse Digital Tom shares his background in the agency business and the founding of Converse Digital. He discusses the evolution of the agency's focus on social selling and digitally centric business development programs. 00:05:13 - Revealing a Juicy Secret Tom shares a fun fact about appearing on the Food Network's "Food 911" show hosted by Tyler Florence, where he made up a dish to be featured on the show. This showcases his creativity and storytelling skills. 00:09:56 - The Challenge of Slide Deck Presentations Tom discusses the challenge of slide deck presentations and how research shows that audiences forget 90% of the content within two days. This insight prompts his exploration of the science behind effective presentation strategies. 00:12:36 - The Science of Presentation Tom Martin discusses the lack of training in writing effective PowerPoint presentations. He emphasizes the importance of understanding how the brain processes and retains information in verbal presentations. 00:14:22 - Biological Limitations Tom explains the biological limitations of memory retention and the impact of presentation design on information processing. He highlights the significance of building presentations scientifically to improve information retention. 00:17:36 - The Three T's Tom identifies time, talent, and training as the reasons for poor sales presentations. He emphasizes the need for concise messaging and separating signal from noise in presentations. 00:19:31 - Show Up and Throw Up Syndrome Tom discusses the challenges of fast-paced environments and the lack of concise messaging in sales presentations. He emphasizes the importance of training and investing in workshops to improve presentation quality. 00:23:09 - The 10% Slide Tom highlights the importance of being able to present the main idea of a presentation in one slide. He also discusses the role of time in determining the number of slides in a presentation and the importance of building the slide deck with the main message in mind. 00:25:21 - Improving Slide Decks Tom discusses how they improved a 35-slide deck to 18 more impactful slides, resulting in a tighter elevator speech and clearer client benefits. 00:26:14 - Persuasive Presentations Tom explains the science behind persuasive presentations, including how hesitation words can impact credibility and how tense affects persuasiveness. 00:28:15 - Uncomfortable Sales Engineer Mario shares a story of an uncomfortable sales engineer resorting to vaping during a challenging sales discussion, illustrating the impact of confidence on sales presentations. 00:31:24 - Training for Presentation Skills Tom emphasizes the importance of training in handling challenging questions, buying time, and using content to build credibility and trust in sales presentations. 00:37:00 - Standardizing Sales Decks Mario and Tom discuss the challenges of customizing sales decks for each customer and the need for standardization to avoid multiple versions and ensure consistency in messaging. 00:39:37 - Understanding Salespeople's Needs Tom emphasizes the importance of providing salespeople with the slides they need. He discusses the value of listening to salespeople and creating custom slides to meet their needs, rather than forcing them to use generic slides. 00:40:15 - Embracing Salespeople's Preferences Tom discusses how salespeople prefer to have ready-made slides that they can easily use, rather than creating slide decks themselves. He shares a success story of a biotech client who saw fantastic results by providing their salespeople with the slides they needed. 00:43:56 - Leveraging Website and Follow-up The conversation shifts to the importance of salespeople knowing how to use the website to direct prospects and using follow-up messages effectively. Tom highlights the value of behavioral emails and using content to drive prospecting and sales. 00:47:39 - Aligning Sales and Marketing Tom emphasizes the need for alignment between sales and marketing, with a focus on creating deep, valuable content for salespeople to use. He shares a success story of using content to effectively prospect and close sales, emphasizing the power of combining sales and marketing efforts. 00:49:31 - Favorite Movie and Personal Insight The conversation ends with a lighthearted discussion about Tom's favorite movie, "Dead Poets Society," and a humorous anecdote about salsa dancing.

Sales Presentation Design and Delivery

In this episode of The Modern Selling Podcast, Tom Martin, the founder of Converse Digital, shares his expertise on sales presentation design and delivery. Drawing from his background in the agency business, Tom emphasizes the need for a shift towards more interactive and engaging approaches in sales presentations. He discusses the cognitive limitations of the human brain, highlighting the importance of concise messaging and the science behind memory retention. With practical tips and strategies, Tom offers valuable insights for sales professionals looking to enhance their presentation skills and deliver more effective pitches.

Enhance Your Professional Presentations

The episode provides a compelling exploration of challenges and opportunities in sales presentation design and delivery, making it essential listening for those seeking to create impactful and memorable sales pitches. Tom's expertise and actionable insights offer valuable guidance for improving engagement and memory retention in the sales process, making this episode a must-listen for sales professionals and organizations looking to enhance their presentation skills.

The resources mentioned in this episode are:

• Connect with Tom Martin on LinkedIn by searching for Tom Martin at Converse Digital and send a message mentioning that you heard him on the modern selling podcast.

• Visit the Converse Digital website and fill out the contact form to get in touch with Tom Martin and his team for sales presentation and content marketing expertise.

• Download Flymessage IO for free to save 20 hours or more in a month and increase your productivity with a text expander and personal writing assistant.

• Leave a 5-star rating and review for the modern selling podcast on iTunes to show your support and help others discover the valuable content.

• Watch Dead Poets Society, Tom Martin's all-time favorite movie, for a memorable and inspiring experience.