Okay, so you probably know how to create a sales deck. You take a tool like Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Canva and make a title slide. It feels pretty simple. 

There are 1,000 sales decks that get made every day. Mostly to pitch new companies or products to investors, help turn leads into clients on sales calls, or walk someone through a demo of a software product.

As common as sales decks are, and as much as AI is ‘making sales deck creation easier’, the power of knowing how to organize information clearly is still hugely valuable in creating an effective sales deck that moves your business forward.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on several sales deck projects for clients, and it’s reminded me why I absolutely love this type of work. There’s something incredibly satisfying about taking all the information racing around a leader’s head and transforming it into a clear, compelling story. It’s like solving a puzzle where every piece of information has its perfect place.

Sales Decks Are About Organization, Not Selling

To be honest, the most important part of a sales deck isn’t the ‘selling’, it’s about organizing information so others can easily understand it. This principle applies to website copywriting as well. 

Most of the time, the people and brands I help with copywriting are really just struggling with how to communicate all the knowledge they have in their brains in a way that makes sense to their ideal customer.

You know everything there is to know about your brand, service, product, or offering. The challenge is taking all those thoughts and creating a clear, organized set of slides that gets it all across effectively.

My 5-Step Process for Creating Sales Decks

Step 1: Start with All the Information

When I work with clients on a new sales deck, I begin with a comprehensive call where I ask a bunch of questions about their service, offering, or business. I dump all my notes into a Google Doc, and this becomes the foundation of the sales deck.

Depending on what the deck is for, I ask questions like:

• Why did you create this service? What problem does it solve?
• Who are your competitors and how are you different?
• What will happen when someone works with you?
• How fast can they expect results?
• What makes your business uniquely qualified to help?

I try to picture what I would want to know if I were looking for this service and ask follow-up questions to get all the answers. If I’m explaining software, a specific product, a course, or something else tangible, I also research that thoroughly (take screenshots, walk through the platform, etc) in this phase.

Step 2: Create a General Outline for the Deck

This is where I spot patterns, understand the audience, and map out the information they’ll need to understand the value of this service or offering to them. I create another tab in my Google Doc and literally start at slide one.

I make a list of what each slide will cover, laid out in order, so I can easily see what someone will experience during a call. Here’s my go-to structure:

• Cover slide
• Introduction slides (1-3) introducing the brand/founder
• Problem slides (1-2) explain/empathize with the problem
• Solution slide (1) introduce your solution/service/offering
• Explain slides (1-12) explain how your service solves the problem*
• Result slides (1-2) what success looks like
• Validation slides (1-4) case studies, testimonials, or data
• FAQs slide (optional)
• End slide outlining next steps

*Note: If your solution is software, the explanation slides will be much more in-depth. If your solution is a service, you’ll need fewer slides.

Step 3: Break Everything Into Steps & Trim Ruthlessly

Especially if your software has several use cases or your service has multiple offerings, break as much as you can into very clear ‘steps.’ This helps everyone understand what happens first, second, and so on.

Trim ruthlessly in this phase. Remember: your ideal client doesn’t need to know everything about how your service works. They mostly care about how it will help them. They just want to know enough about the process that they trust what you’re saying about the results.

Step 4: Design with Branding & Presentation in Mind

Once the outline is complete, I move into Canva, Google Slides, or whatever platform I’m using to create the deck. Always use your existing branding — don’t use this as an opportunity to redo your styles and colors!

I prefer clean, easy-to-read designs without too many animations or additional visuals per slide, because this makes them practical to use in real presentations. I add screenshots, graphics, or photos only if they help illustrate the information.

I include enough text so that if someone was barely paying attention, they could still skim the slides and grasp the main idea. However, remember you’ll be talking during the presentation, so you don’t need full paragraphs to explain your points.

Step 5: Get Fresh Eyes on Your Deck Before Finalizing

Before using your new sales deck, have a few trusted people review it. Ask them questions to see if they understand the solution you’re presenting just by reading through the slides.

You might also want to ask what questions come up as they go through it, or even do a mock presentation to get feedback. This allows you to edit for even more clarity before you start using it with prospects.

This Process Works for Any Information You Need to Organize

What’s really cool about this process is that it works for organizing any type of information:

1. Start with all the information
2. Organize into steps and bite-sized pieces
3. Trim the unnecessary elements
4. Design using your branding and visuals
5. Edit and revise based on feedback

Whether you’re writing for a launch campaign, your website, a presentation at an event, an online webinar, or a sales deck, this process delivers results.

The Real Secret to Selling: Clarity

So much of selling comes down to being clear enough so your ideal client understands what you’re offering. 

Consumers are getting smarter every day. They understand their options and often know their challenges or what they don’t like about current solutions.

Our job is largely to help them understand what we’re offering and how it will help them achieve their goals. Offering value only works if they can clearly understand that value.

Ready to Create Your Sales Deck?

Learning how to create a sales deck that converts doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By following this systematic approach, you can transform your expertise into a compelling story that resonates with investors, leads, and prospects.

If you have questions about creating sales decks, designing presentations, or organizing information clearly, I’d love to help. Feel free to reach out!