The Secret to Great Sales Decks: Think Like a Storyteller

Most sales decks are built backwards.

They start with a company overview. They walk through every product feature in exhaustive detail. They cram in as many charts, bullet points, and customer logos as possible—all just in case someone might be interested.

When you see it like that, it’s no surprise that PowerPoint sales presentations have a bad reputation. They’re designed around the company creating them, not the buyer receiving them.

The best sales decks flip that script. They aren’t about everything you do, they’re about one thing: how you can help the customer move forward. They’re clear, compelling, and built to spark conversation, not to overwhelm your audience with detail.

Your sales deck should do one thing above all else: make the case for change. And that starts with thinking less like a seller and more like a storyteller.

Why most sales decks fall flat

Too often, sales decks are overloaded with information. They try to:

• Showcase every feature

• Explain every detail

• Prove every point

  
  

Sometimes good intentions can lead here, as most teams want to be thorough, helpful, and persuasive. Other times, it’s just convenience: the same deck gets repurposed for every presentation, with a few slides swapped in and out for each audience.

But no matter the reason, the result is usually the same: a bloated, me-first presentation that buries the story under a pile of facts. Instead of moving the conversation forward, the deck drags it down.

What should a great sales deck do instead?

• Make the customer’s challenge the opening move

• Show what’s at stake, and what’s possible

• Focus on outcomes, not inputs

The job of your deck isn’t to explain everything. It’s to help your audience see a path forward—and believe that you’re the right partner to get them there. But you can’t do any of that unless you deeply understand who’s in the room.

So before you worry about slide order or storytelling frameworks, you need to start with a sharper question: What does your audience actually care about?

Start with your audience, not your offering

Most sales decks open with what the company does. And of course, who they are, how long they’ve been around, how many offices or employees they have—plus several other facts and figures the audience will forget the moment the slide changes.

But here’s the truth: your audience doesn’t care. At least not yet.

The starting point for a great sales deck isn’t your company or your product. It’s your audience’s context:

• Are they the ultimate decision-maker or just gathering options?

• What pressures are they under, internally and externally?

• What do they want (or need) to hear from you?

Until you answer those questions, you’re just guessing. And when you guess, you fall back on safe defaults: the company overview, the list of awards, the longer list of features. You end up building a deck that’s really for you—not for them.

So what should you do instead? Think like your customer. Literally write down:

• What are they walking into the room expecting?

• What keeps them from acting on the problem you're solving?

• What would success look like for them, not just for you?

That shift—from seller-centered to buyer-centered—should shape everything that comes next: how your story unfolds, what you include, and what you leave out.

Because the goal isn’t to show off what you can do. It’s to create a message that sticks—one your audience can say yes to, or carry forward after your presentation.

Structure the story around what matters to them

Once you understand your audience’s context—what they care about, what’s blocking them, and what success looks like—you can start shaping the story your sales deck needs to tell.

When we talk about a story in a presentation, it can be a little confusing if you aren’t familiar with the term. We’re not talking about characters and conflict like a novel. Telling a story in a sales deck means creating a presentation with structure, direction, and a clear throughline.

It doesn’t have to follow a rigid formula or order (though there are plenty of frameworks you can try), it just needs to move intentionally from challenge to resolution, insight to action. And while you have flexibility in how you structure it, strong sales decks tend to include a few core elements that move the story forward.

Key elements of a sales deck story

A clear problem worth solving

If your audience doesn’t feel a challenge, they won’t feel urgency. Your story needs to set the stakes, so it’s clear what you can help them overcome. In other words, put words to the friction they may only sense.

Context that makes the message relevant

Start where your audience is, not where you want them to be. What’s changing in their world? What external forces are shaping the conversation? This grounds your story in something real.

A vision for what’s possible

Once the challenge is clear, imagine what the world might look like once it’s solved. Help them see what “better” looks like—before you show how to get there.

A solution that earns its place

You generally don’t lead with your offering. Instead, introduce it only after the audience understands why it matters. Your solution should feel like the natural next step, not the starting point.

Proof that builds credibility

Relevant case studies, simple metrics, and recognizable names can matter, but they aren’t the story. Use proof to reinforce the message, not replace it.

A next step that’s easy to say yes to

Make the ask clear. Don’t assume your audience knows what comes next or even what exactly you are asking them. A simple, direct CTA keeps the momentum going.

Think of these as story ingredients, not slide titles. The order may shift depending on who you're speaking to, and some elements may expand or contract depending on the situation.

But standout sales decks almost always include these core elements in some form. They give you a clean, strategic lens for organizing your content—without locking you into a formula.

Be clear, not just complete

There’s a common trap teams fall into when building sales decks: they try to include everything. Every product detail. Every big client name. Every stat that might come up, just in case.

The result is a deck that’s unfocused, and feels more like a checklist of slides than a cohesive story. With a sales deck, completeness isn’t the goal. Clarity is.

Great sales decks don’t try to answer every question. They don’t try to bury the audience under an avalanche of specs. They answer the right questions, at the right time, with the right amount of detail.

Here’s what clarity looks like in a sales deck:

• One main idea per slide

• Concise, direct language

• Logical flow that builds understanding without overwhelming

• Strategic use of visuals to reinforce, not repeat, the message

When your deck tries to do too much, your core message gets lost. And if your audience walks away remembering three competing points—or worse, nothing at all—you’ve lost the opportunity.

There are a few questions you can ask as you build out your deck that can help to stop this problem before it starts.

• What’s the one takeaway I want them to remember?

• What can I cut or push to an appendix without losing the story?

• Is this slide doing too much—or trying to cover for a weak message?

Clarity doesn’t mean dumbing things down. It means making it easy for your audience to see the value—and to say yes.

Design slides that support the story, not compete with it

A clear story and logical flow are important, but with presentations, the medium matters as much as the message. You can have the sharpest story and the most impactful structure in the world—but if the slides are cluttered, confusing, or poorly paced, your story still won’t land.

The best sales decks use slide design to guide the audience’s attention, reinforce the core ideas, and make the content feel accessible.

You don’t have to be an experienced presentation designer to create effective slides. We’ll dig deeper into visual choices in Part 2, but you can create strong, compelling presentations with just a few design principles.

One main idea per slide

This is true of your content as well, but often people try to force multiple points onto one slide in order to “keep the slide count down.” If your slide is trying to do too much, the audience won’t know what really matters.

Use hierarchy and whitespace to guide the eye

Your slides should be easy to scan. White space isn’t wasted, it’s the way you guide the audience to the key points of your presentation.

Avoid the wall of text

Bullet lists and paragraphs are great for leave-behinds, but not for in-person or virtual presentations. Try using visual metaphors, diagrams, or even just smart chunking to break up dense content.

Design for what matters now—not everything you know

Don’t load the slide with background info “just in case.” If you might need it later, put it in the appendix.

Think of it this way: your slides should help bring your story to life, not obscure it behind dense design and cluttered layouts. With presentations, great storytelling lives where the words and the visuals meet. Your slides aren’t the background—they’re part of the pitch.

Frequently asked questions about sales decks

Shouldn’t we lead with our company overview to establish credibility?

Only if your audience doesn’t already know who you are. If you're in the room, you've likely earned that time already. Don’t waste your valuable time on background info—your company overview can always be sent over later or live in an appendix.

What if our product is technical—don’t we need to explain the details?

Yes, but timing matters. Don’t lead with detailed tables of product specs, instead focus the core deck on clarity and outcomes. You can always include deeper technical detail in an appendix or as a follow-up, once they are ready for it.

How many slides should a sales deck have?

There’s no perfect number. A 10-slide deck can be overwhelming if it’s dense, while a 30-slide deck can work great if each slide is focused and well-paced. Aim for one idea per slide and one purpose per section.

Can we reuse one deck across different audiences?

Definitely! You can start with a shared foundation—but your deck should be adapted for the audience every time. Different roles care about different outcomes. Once the core deck is built, adapting it for different roles or industries should be relatively quick—and far more effective than relying on a generic one-size-fits-all approach.

How VerdanaBold can help

Most teams don’t need more slides—they need a clearer message and a sharper story. At VerdanaBold, we help clients reimagine their sales decks from the ground up. Whether you're starting from scratch or evolving an existing deck, we can help:

• Design slides that are clean, persuasive, and easy to forward

• Clarify your message and shape an audience-centered story

• Structure your content around what your audience actually needs to hear

• Deliver a deck your team can use, reuse, and confidently present

Need help with your sales deck?

Let’s talk! From design to story, we’re here to help with all your sales deck needs.

About the author

Kyle Kartz is the Creative Director of Storytelling at VerdanaBold. He is an expert copywriter and strategist, with experience driving major campaigns for global brands in multiple industries. He is passionate about communications, the outdoors, and cooking.