5 Rules for Simpler (and Thus More Effective) Sales Presentations

3 Salespeople standing next to a flip chart to explain a key concept from their presentation

You have a limited time to make your point and persuade your audience to take action. If you are using slides to underscore your pitch, be sure you follow these 6 rules from sales presentation training to keep your message clear and compelling.

  1. Don’t use too many! Slides should be used to bolster your message not overwhelm your audience.
  2. Never just read the slides. Keep the attention on you and your message. The slides should distill your ideas, not dominate them.
  3. Use graphics whenever possible to highlight main concepts…but keep them simple. The visuals will remain with your audience far longer than the words they hear.
  4. Rather than long, complicated sentences rely on key words to underline your points. Any explanation necessary can be covered in your talk, slide-by-slide, or in answer to questions at the end.
  5. Each slide should only cover one main idea and should have no more than 6 lines of text. The fewer the better for maximum impact.