Communication is the single most important element of selling. At the heart of any sales pitch or presentation is the ability to communicate effectively and have the buyer understand (and hopefully accept) the value proposition that you're offering.
In a traditional sales process, face-to face-interaction is standard and from our perspective, is usually preferred. However, due to current events and social distancing measures we’ve had to adapt our sales process and lean heavily on our digital assets to communicate our value and message. After doing a deep dive into what our sales process entails we collaborated with our Head of Design, Elena Remikaite, to bring our process to life within a slide deck.
“We use a carefully curated presentation deck for each sales meeting to address different audiences. Key to such an asset is creating a presentation experience that can flow and allows such a meeting to seamlessly flow with it. We add our own brand awareness throughout using creative assets such as video. It adds visual aids and queues to give people the opportunity to ask questions. The presentation is key for first impressions.”
- Elena Remikaite, Head of Design at Kooba
Communicating through your digital assets
Our main goal when developing our presentation deck was to curate an asset that was representative of us and acted as a window into our work. The deck was built to go hand-in-hand with the quality of our work and be a peek into our slick design style. As a company we feel we're in a good place with our work - we’ve nailed down the bespoke design and quality build of websites, but now we want to translate that into our sales and give a strong visual impression to clients right from the start.
The opening slide of the deck is kept simplistic, but is designed to first and foremost illustrate the relationship between ourselves and the client. We tie in both our logo and the clients logo at the beginning of any sales pitch as a subtle communication of project partnership. We want to demonstrate to our clients that we don’t use a deck off the shelf for each presentation - we listen to your requirements, understand your objectives and have curated a deck to talk to you directly.
Kooba & Bord Bia introduction slide
This then directly feeds into a good presentation flow. Within the presentation deck we utilise different components such as video and case study examples. The small snippets of video are used in break slides and not only do they look slick and capture attention but also show snippets into the culture and brand of Kooba. In our mind there’s nothing more boring than the standard, overused powerpoint loaded with bullet points (the type of thing that transports us back to our time sitting in university lecture halls) so we’ve channeled Apple’s Product Release event style and used wow slides to capture our audience’s attention. In a similar way to Apple, we’ve developed a presentation that looks intriguing and keeps the clients wanting to hear more.
Sample slide deck with video snippets
As our process is central to the way we work as an agency this is always something we highlight within a sales meeting. We want our clients to know who they will be working with and what they can expect throughout the project. We always focus on essential website elements such as site structure and navigation while also presenting possible solutions to issues the client is facing. One of the main parts of the sales deck curation process is picking out case studies that the client can relate to. When showcasing these case studies we feel it is best to open the website in a live environment and chat through the challenges presented, how we approached those challenges and ultimately, the solutions we put in place to overcome the challenges.
Kooba case study example
When it came to the overall look and feel the overarching goal was to create a presentation that made a statement about who Kooba is as a company. We always look at websites as a key tool for a brand that is representative of them as a company and this same thought process applied to our presentation deck. Our team put just as much effort into producing a slick slide deck as we would to design a website because we wanted to ensure that the presentation deck made a lasting first impression. We also wanted the deck to bring a bit of the brand and culture of Kooba to off-site sales meetings. The presentation incorporates imagery from our offices and brings across our Kooba branding making it cohesive across our stationary, website and internal document and ultimately tying everything into Kooba’s brand essence.
Kooba final slide
Though the use of presentation is not a new tool for us, within the current circumstances it has become one of our most important assets when pitching for a project. The deck of course helps the flow of conversation, but in line with all the other elements it is so much more than an agenda and talking points. This deck not only allows us to make a great first impression during an initial sales meeting but is also used for ongoing work allowing us to portray a cohesive Kooba experience at every step of the client relationship.
