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How to Make a Deck
How to Make a Deck
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Track 02Full course

The sales deck

A discovery-to-demo narrative an AE runs live, built to earn a second meeting, not applause.

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Step-by-step curriculum with modules, quizzes, teardowns, and a scored audit.

Reader
An economic buyer or champion (VP/Director) evaluating whether this problem is worth solving now, alongside 1-3 stakeholders from other functions.
Context
Presented live on a video call or in-person by an account executive, screen-shared and narrated. The deck is backdrop to a conversation, not a document read alone.
Read budget
~20 min live, guided by AE, inside a 30-45 min meeting
Length
10-14 slides + appendix
Success
Buyer agrees to a next step with a date on the calendar, ideally a technical or economic validation call.

The jobs, in order

The slide-by-slide argument structure. Skip a job and the reader feels the hole.

  1. 01Open with a point of view on the buyer's world
  2. 02Confirm the problem in the buyer's own words
  3. 03Quantify cost of inaction
  4. 04Introduce the category and why now
  5. 05Show product narrative, not feature tour
  6. 06Prove it with a customer story in the same segment
  7. 07Address the 'why us' vs incumbents and status quo
  8. 08Show ROI or business case framework
  9. 09Outline implementation and time-to-value
  10. 10Address pricing and packaging directionally
  11. 11State clear next step with owner and date
  12. 12Appendix: security, integrations, edge-case objections
Keep · earns the next meeting
  • A tailored opening slide referencing the buyer's stack or metrics
  • Discovery questions embedded mid-deck, not just at the start
  • A customer proof point from a recognizable or similar-segment logo
  • Quantified impact (time saved, revenue, cost) tied to buyer's own numbers
  • A single clear next step proposed before the call ends
  • Multithreading cues: content a second stakeholder can forward internally
Cut · triggers a pass
  • Generic templated deck with no buyer-specific edits
  • Feature-dump slides with no narrative thread
  • Company history and founding story taking more than one slide
  • Pricing hidden until asked, causing late-stage surprise
  • No mutual next step, meeting ends with 'we'll follow up'
  • AE talking more than listening: monologuing past minute 10
Starter · first slide template

Adapt this sentence to get past the blank page. Replace every bracket with a concrete noun, number, or role.

[Buyer role] at [named vertical]: [specific pain quantified] costs you [$ or hours] every [period]. Here's how [Company] removes it in [timeframe].
Weak vs. strong · the opening line
Weak

"We help sales teams work smarter with next-generation conversation intelligence."

Strong

"Enterprise SaaS AEs waste 6 hours a week rebuilding call notes into CRM. Nimbus writes the note during the call, so reps run one more discovery a day."

Named buyer, quantified pain (6 hours/week), and the outcome in the AE's own KPI (one more discovery/day). Buyer forwards it internally without editing.

Where attention concentrates

Attention concentrates on the problem-quantification and proof slides in the first half; buyers tune out during generic company-overview and roadmap sections.

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Sources

Next step
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