8/18/2025-“Ready to see my 34 slides?”

"Thanks for your attention through my obnoxiously long presentation…any questions?"

The buyer responds, "Yeah, I have one…who taught you it’s okay to run through that many slides without breathing?"

(Namaste.)

Whether you’re presenting slides, a demo, or yourself, your preso needs to be tight…you’re competing with the buyers’ phone.

Estimates suggest that an individual checks their phone 1,500 times a week, so obviously, you’re competing against weather updates and stock quotes.

Prepare for your next customer conversation by focusing on you and the pitch in these ways:

1. You. Do you present yourself confidently and engagingly? Are you knowledgeable yet humble at the same time? Are your answers brief and clear? Are you smiling?

2. The pitch. Select the best two or three slides from your 36-slide deck to present, and reserve the remainder of your meeting time for needs analysis and an explanation of why your offering is differentiated.

BL: Let the customer feel like they own the conversation. Talk one-third of the time…at most.

As you know, presenting means a lot of different things to a seller. But the core of presenting is how you speak.

In this TED Talk titled, "How to speak so that people want to listen," you will get inspired by sound and communication expert Julian Treasure.

Viewed 40 million+ times, this talk will inspire you to think strategically about how you speak and present to your customers in those meetings that took you great pains to secure!