Before making any presentation, you need to set a clear objective — otherwise, don’t bother spending the time making one.
Making a “goal-oriented presentation” sounds simple, but it’s actually not easy to execute. I’m sure you’ve encountered those presentations where someone talks for hours with a slide deck, constantly going off-topic, never finishing, and eventually wrapping up in a rushed, haphazard way. At the end of the day, the person who made those slides was simply using them as a prop for casual conversation — what I call “the chit-chat presentation.”
These aimless presentations are usually the biggest killers of attendees’ interest and time, and they have a severely negative impact on whatever goal you’re trying to achieve. Therefore, using the “Proposal Persuasion Technique” to set a clear objective before creating each presentation is the most fundamental way to eliminate the chit-chat presentation. The goal set to be achieved after the presentation is typically about getting the audience to “follow our instructions to act, decide, or take action.” We call this the “CTA (Call-To-Action).”
A good CTA should be thoughtfully designed to enable the audience to immediately follow your instructions.
This Action is the most important “purpose” in our proposal presentation, and it’s the critical homework we should figure out before creating every single slide deck. Whether it’s getting the other party to approve your proposal, agree to your request, or accept your plan — these all count as forms of Action.
Next, we’ll walk through several tips to teach you the most basic strategic approach to creating presentations that make your audience “hang on your every word.”
1. Place the CTA on the last slide: and continuously remind the audience to take Action.
First, if you’re creating a presentation with more than one slide, it carries an extremely important fundamental mission: “Help the presenter get all the way to the last slide.” This is why most CTAs are placed on the final slide of a presentation. We all want the audience to hear the entire presentation before taking action — such as scheduling a meeting with us, signing a contract, or discussing details. If you plan to drop your CTA in the middle of the presentation, the audience might forget what Action they’re supposed to take by the time the remaining slides drag on.
A good presentation should end at the exact moment you call on the audience to take Action. If your presentation is compelling and engaging, there will inevitably be a Q&A session with the audience. Regardless of how long the Q&A lasts, after each answer to an audience question, make sure to steer the conversation back and ask the audience to take Action. Because the moment a presentation is most likely to be remembered is the second before everyone is about to leave the meeting room. To fully deliver on the presentation’s purpose, remember to leave the CTA at that perfect moment, deeply imprinted in the audience’s memory.
If your CTA is hoping the audience will meet with you, then contact information must be on the last slide.
2. Make the CTA as small and easy to achieve as possible: The Five-Stage Proposal Persuasion Strategy.
Based on the Foot-in-the-Door Effect mentioned in a previous article, we know that breaking one large goal into several easily achievable smaller goals significantly increases the likelihood of the audience accepting your request — it’s the most effective way to lure the other party in. CTAs are no exception. We can try splitting a grand objective into several different presentations based on stages, then placing a different CTA at the end of each one, guiding the audience step by step toward the direction we’ve set. The same applies to time management in presentations — five 10-minute business proposals will always be more appealing than one 60-minute presentation.
Based on my personal experience running several full business development cycles, I’ve divided the entire BD process — from the prospect not knowing who you are to ultimately agreeing to sign — into five stages, which is what we call the Five-Stage Proposal Persuasion Technique. As long as you can place one very clear CTA in each of these five stages, you’ll be able to guide the prospect into your target at different phases, ultimately achieving your final goal.
If your goal is to get feedback from a hundred people in the room, scanning a QR code is far simpler than raising hands and passing a microphone.
3. Getting a complete stranger to agree to meet you and hear your presentation: The CTA for Cold Outreach Presentations.
In the Five-Stage Proposal Persuasion Technique, the hardest and most fundamental stage is when the prospect has absolutely no idea who you are, and you need them to agree to meet with you and learn more. This type of presentation is called a cold outreach presentation. I previously wrote a short piece called “Say Goodbye to Useless Meetings”, and the concept in it mirrors what most busy professionals think: “Don’t hold meetings without a purpose.” So before cold outreach, you need to spend some time creating a simple presentation or outline to help the prospect understand “the purpose of this meeting.” Compared to other BD presentations, the CTA for a cold outreach presentation is simple: convey the message “Please meet with me.” Therefore, on the last slide, make sure you include these three things: a clear meeting request, the expected meeting duration, and your contact information. Following the Foot-in-the-Door theory, the shorter the time commitment you request, the more likely the prospect will feel it won’t take much effort to deal with you. 15 minutes or 30 minutes are comfortable durations that make it more likely you’ll land the meeting. As for contact methods, try to avoid using messaging apps that require adding friends, especially ones where you have to wait for approval — that’s essentially waving goodbye to the prospect with both hands.
Besides phone and email, you can also consider using scheduling tools like Doodle to book meetings. At the same time, it’s best to suggest a few specific available times next week — this not only gets faster and more effective replies but also reduces the chance of losing touch during back-and-forth email exchanges.
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Cold outreach presentation CTA: Clearly state the purpose, request minimal time, provide a simple way to schedule a meeting.
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4. Presenting your proposal to someone you’re meeting for the first time: The CTA for First Visit Presentations.
After securing a meeting, it’s best to simultaneously ask who else from their side will be attending. Then you can do some pre-meeting DD (Due Diligence) to assess these people’s positions and decision-making authority. The purpose is simple: to find out whether a “key decision maker” — someone who can make the call — will be present. If unfortunately you can’t find this out beforehand, I’d recommend preparing two presentation flows within the same deck, and adjusting on the fly based on the situation.
If no key decision maker attends the entire meeting, please don’t get discouraged — maintain a positive attitude, because your presentation today has only one goal: “Ask the attendees to refer us to the key decision maker.” You can include a few simple key points in your slides to help them understand: “Who we are,” “Why we want to partner with them,” and “What they stand to gain.” Since your goal is to earn the attendees’ trust so they’ll refer you, make absolutely sure they don’t misunderstand the purpose of the collaboration. The simpler the presentation, the easier it is for them to relay the message to the key decision maker, and the higher the chance of a successful referral.
After the meeting ends, don’t forget to immediately send a CTA confirmation email clearly stating your need for a referral. It’s best to also attach a “key decision maker” version of the presentation — reduce the information conveyed during the meeting and increase supplementary materials sent afterward, so they can easily forward relevant documents to address any questions the key decision maker might have. Finally, in decision psychology, there’s a concept called the “Decoy Effect,” which means giving the other party two options so they feel they have a choice, and they’ll end up picking the one that seems better. For example, offering the options of “Help me schedule a meeting with the key decision maker” and “Help forward this proposal to the key decision maker” dramatically reduces the chance of the other party replying with “We’ll discuss it internally” and then never following up.
First visit presentation: A simple reminder of “the benefits of participating in this collaboration.”
5. Giving the decision maker a presentation to assess collaboration interest: The CTA for Key Decision Maker Presentations.
When you’re facing someone who can make decisions, the logic for creating the presentation changes entirely. Your presentation can only achieve one of two results: “The other party agrees to work with us” or “We clearly understand their true thoughts.” Beyond that, dying without understanding why is completely unacceptable — you must not leave empty-handed. Because of this, as mentioned in our previous article about the “barter” concept, the key focus of a presentation for the key decision maker is the trade-offs between both parties — in other words, what are you exchanging for what. The best way to present this is through a CTA featuring a Give/Take Table. The Give/Take Table clearly shows “what you’ll contribute” and “what you’ll receive” — these two critical points help the key decision maker understand what their investment is and what their return will be, making it easier for them to decide whether they need this collaboration. The information in the Give/Take Table should be concise and easy to understand, presented in a bullet-point comparison format. Also, don’t forget to include what your team will gain. There’s no such thing as a free lunch — the skepticism toward a “win-win” collaboration proposal will always be far less than that toward a one-sided benefit pitch.
Key decision maker CTA presentation: Clearly state what the other party needs to contribute in this collaboration and what they will gain.
The key to pitching successfully is speaking; the real key to a successful pitch is listening. Every conversation with a key decision maker is an invaluable experience. Many people dislike being interrupted during a presentation, but every interruption from a key decision maker represents their most genuine and honest question. During the business development process, spending 80% of your time listening to and observing the other party’s feedback — including questions, opinions, and perspectives — helps you truly understand what they want. Good BD professionals always speak less and listen more. Even if the deal doesn’t close in the end, you can still use these insights to update your presentation and sell to others in the same industry with similar needs. These conversations are the greatest reward in helping you “understand the other party’s true thoughts.”
In the Five-Stage Proposal Persuasion Technique classification, there aren’t just three types of presentations — “Cold Outreach,” “First Visit,” and “Key Decision Maker.” There’s also the “Deal Closing” presentation that helps seal the contract, and the “Collaboration Continuation” presentation for re-proposing when restarting a partnership. Once you’ve nailed the CTA essentials for all five stages above, you’re typically about 60% of the way toward getting the collaboration partner’s key decision maker to say yes. If you found this article’s content compelling and want to learn more about the key points and methods for creating presentations at each stage, I highly recommend checking out my recent course on Hahow: “Control Meeting Conclusions with the Five-Stage Proposal Persuasion Technique”. The course teaches you how to create all five types of stage-specific presentations, and guides you step by step through designing presentation strategies, production priorities, and tracking methods to dramatically improve your proposal success rate.
This is a fully online course with 8 chapters totaling 160 minutes, complete with practical homework for each lesson. You can apply your real work proposals to the course teachings for optimization, allowing you to truly put what you learn into practice and receive the most useful feedback. The course is currently in its fundraising phase on Hahow, and purchases made before July 27 can enjoy the discounted price of NT$2,680. I hope all partners interested in the Five-Stage Proposal Persuasion Technique will consider this course. If you’re passionate about creating proposal presentations, feel free to keep following Page’s Notes.