The Sale I Lost Because I Refused to Send a Deck

A few years ago I took a call from a mid-level sales manager of an inside sales team at one of the major online job board services. You'd recognize them.

The guy told me they were looking for prospecting training. Many of their reps read Smart Calling and suggested I do customized training for them.

I said I would be interested in discussing the options and would like to do a call with the key stakeholders.

He said, "Well, we need you to send your deck first."

I replied, "I'm sorry, send my what?"

"Your deck."

I told him I did not understand what he was asking for.

He said, "You know, your pitch deck. Your slides talking about your programs."

"I see. I don't have that. Plus, I wouldn't even think of sending something until I knew specifically what you are interested in and need," I replied.

"Well, everyone else is sending a deck and if you want to be considered you need to send a deck."

I told him, "I don't operate that way, nor do I teach that salespeople should do it either. If you are firm on that, and it would eliminate me from consideration despite the fact that your reps asked for me, I guess that is where we stand."

He said he'd get back to me.

He did not.

We'll break down what is wrong with pitch decks, and similarly, generic demos, in the Big Lesson.

Unpopular opinion: if your demo looks the same for every prospect, you didn't do discovery. You just checked a box.

And actually, while we’re at it, how about killing the term "discovery," which is what the salesperson wants to do. Instead, like my friend Lee Salz says in his book, The First Meeting Differentiator, call it a consultation, which is collaborative, and them-focused. He broke this down with me on The Art of Sales podcast. Worth a listen:

I get why people lean on the standard pitch deck. You worked hard to build it, it covers everything your solution does, and it feels safe because you know it inside and out.

But here's the problem. You're treating the demo like it's the close, when all it's actually doing is giving them everything they need to comparison shop. If they can't see why your solution is the right fit for their specific situation, you just became another option on a spreadsheet.

The prospect already told you what matters to them. Then you ignored it and showed them everything anyway, dog-and-pony-show fashion. You're basically saying "I heard you, but here's what I think is important." That's not selling, that's presenting.

And that's why they sat through your demo, said "looks great, we'll think about it," and then ghosted you. Generic pitches create boredom, not urgency.

So what do you do instead?

The demo isn't a script, it's a prescription. Before you build the demo, run every feature or slide through what you learned in the first meeting: "Did this prospect actually tell me this matters?" If the answer's no, it doesn't go in. You're not cutting content to save time. You're cutting it because irrelevant content is what makes them tune out.

Sequence the demo the same way you sequence Socratic questions: Awareness, Impact, Solution. Don't open with capability. Open by reflecting their situation back to them in their words, then let them feel the cost of it, then show the solution as the resolution to a problem they just re-lived.

Show fewer things, but connect every single one back to something they said. Not "here's feature X," but "you mentioned your team loses track of prospects when handoffs happen. Here's what that looks like when it doesn't happen." Emphasis on using their words. Even remind them: “You mentioned that hyper-efficiency was critical. Well, here’s where you’ll see hyper-efficiency like never before…”

Embed trial closes throughout. Don't wait until the end to find out if any of this landed. Ask along the way: "How do you feel you'd use that?" "Does this feel like what you're looking for?" "How do you see this fitting in?" These check questions tell you where to dig deeper, where to reinforce, and where you're wasting their time.

Don't be afraid to dump your plan, or pivot. If it becomes clear during the demo that something you thought was going to land actually isn't, or that something you barely planned to mention is what they're leaning into, go with it. Talk about what they find interesting, not what's next on your slide order. Your demo plan is just a guess. What they actually react to is the real feedback.

Build in a Secondary Objective for the demo itself, and don't leave without it. Primary: show the fit. Secondary: walk out with something concrete. That could be agreement to move forward. It could be a defined next step toward the sale. Or it could be identifying the gaps or open questions that still need to be filled before a decision gets made. Whatever it is, don't end the demo without knowing where things stand.

If you can't tie a slide or feature to something the prospect said, you're not ready to demo. This is the enforcement mechanism. If a rep can't answer "why is this slide in here" with something the prospect actually said, that's the signal your first meeting wasn't deep enough.

You don't need a better pitch deck or demo. You need to stop leaning on either one.

Reply and tell me: do you agree or disagree? I read every one.

Go make it your best week ever!