Stop Falling In Love With Your Powerpoint

Some of you need to hear this: nobody—and I mean nobody—is as excited about your presentation as you are. Yet salespeople keep treating the “share screen” button like it’s a fire alarm. The prospect barely says hello and suddenly they’re staring at your 47-slide deck on “Industry Trends of 2019” with all the enthusiasm of someone trapped in an HR compliance training (and don’t we all loooooove those!).

Look, when you pounce with a presentation right out of the gate, you’re basically shouting, “Enough about you—let’s talk about me!” It’s like bringing a karaoke machine to a first date. Sure, you’re proud of your pitch-perfect rendition of Bon Jovi, but your date was kinda hoping for, you know… a conversation.

Here’s the part that might sting a bit: blasting through your slides before you’ve even bothered to ask real questions makes you look desperate. And nothing kills credibility faster than desperation. People don’t want a sales rep who’s sprinting to the finish line before the race even starts. They want someone who’s interested in them, not someone who’s just waiting for their turn to launch into “The Demo Show.”

Imagine if doctors behaved this way. You walk in with a sore throat and before you can sit down, they’re pulling out a scalpel, announcing, “Today we’ll be performing open-heart surgery!” That’s what you sound like when you launch your presentation before diagnosing the prospect’s actual needs. You cannot assume the need, but even more, even if you clearly see the need, you cannot assume that the prospect sees it, and FEELS it. Unperceived pain is worthless in driving a buying decision.

Here’s the hard truth: your slides are not the star of the show—you are not the star of the show—your prospect is. Your presentation should be the grand finale, the moment everything clicks because you’ve earned the right to deliver it. Skip the discovery and you’re just another PowerPoint enthusiast with a Wi-Fi connection.

So do yourself (and your poor prospects) a favor. Keep your deck closed, and your share screen off until you’ve asked the questions, listened to the answers, and proven you actually give a damn. Because when you finally present, it should feel like a tailored solution to their world—not like the fourth time they’ve seen the same generic “About Us” slide this week.

Present later. Listen now. Otherwise, don’t be surprised when your prospect suddenly “has to hop to another meeting” five minutes in.

There is no other meeting. You just put someone in Powerpoint pain.