Every week we speak to sales and marketing professionals who think CustomShow is a great solution and will solve a lot of their problems. Sometimes the conversation comes to a halt when they say “This is a great solution for our businesses but it is too expensive and we’ll never get buy-in from management since budgets are tight and PowerPoint is costing us nothing.” Is that statement really true though? Is PowerPoint actually free?

We conducted a survey of our clients and the results showed that after switching to CustomShow, sales people saved an average of 30 minutes each time they customized a presentation for a pitch. At 5 presentations a week, that’s 10hrs per month and 120hrs a year of time savings. Averaging  a 50k salary that amounts to a cost of $3,000 per year per sales person. Let’s say you have a 30-person sales team—using a salary hike calculator to assess and adjust for inefficiencies could reveal that this issue costs your company 90K a year!  Think Outside the Slide calculated the costs of poor presentations at closer to 133k.

Regardless of the dollar amount ascribed, a presentation is a business transaction. Since presenting is an opportunity, think about the value of the result. Often times it’s not what you say but it’s how you say it. When considering a budget for presentation software your messages, organization, storytelling, examples and calls to action all create the power and influence you have.

People who are considering presentation software should ask themselves the following 3 questions:

1. What is the cost of the sales team using incorrect or outdated information? 

Costs include:

• Time spent updating the same data in lots of different presentations to make sure they all show the correct data
• Time spent tracking down and updating previous versions of the presentation that now have the old data and shouldn’t be used anymore
• The loss of trust from your audience when you show a slide with out-dated numbers or incorrect information
• The missed opportunity to impress or convince a prospect or client with the latest information/product offerings

 2.  What is the cost of people in your company not adhering to your corporate branding, standards, and messaging?

• From a marketing perspective, that corporate PowerPoint template your marketing team put together may look great, but since Powerpoint gives all users the ability to edit and revise almost everything, chances are their decks won’t look anything like that polished presentation after just a few weeks.
• Even worse, many companies spend a ton of money engaging with third parties to design their presentations. If the sales people are going rogue can do whatever they want to the deck, what’s the return on that investment?
• Corporate branding and messaging is a crucial aspect of a successful presentation. For many organizations, presentations are the face of their company It’s important ascribe value to where your company presents new ideas, showcase their products and services, and engage decision makers.
• Many companies spend millions of dollars on their corporate branding and identity, and consistency across their entire organization is key to delivering maximum brand equity.

3. What’s the cost of not having real-time information about who, when, and if anyone views your presentation?

• This is a big one. Companies have been sending out Powerpoint and Keynote presentations, RFP’s etc., as attachments for years. The problem here is once you hit the send button you lose control of whatever you just sent.
• What if you could know that a prospect looked at your presentation? Or if they forwarded your deck to their boss or if it’s making the rounds within a company?
• To a sales person this is pure gold. It’s the type of information that gives salespeople valuable insights that’s directly related with closing more deals.  In addition, being able to see which slides were viewed longer than others gives reps the ability to tailor their pitch and focus on topics of interest when speaking with the prospect.

Presentation delivery is key across all platforms. In today’s business world you need to make absolutely certain your content gets in front of your prospects. For more information about CustomShow’s presentation software contact us here.