Hit the Deck

Don't start your pitch with a deck (power point presentation). I've seen way too many pitches that are comprised of an email with an attached 20-slide deck. The worst part? Slide one says, "We are looking for a sponsor to come in at $4 million over the course of three years." Ouch! I guarantee that slide one will scare your prospect away.

I think power points serve as a nice follow-up to a conversation, a good way for prospects to learn more about your organization and an efficient vehicle for prospects to forward this information to their team members.