I have to do a global roll out of a new first call pitch deck. How do I make it interesting?

To get people excited about a new deck, make sure the message and content is solid by getting feedback from sales, subject matter experts, product managers, executives, sales engineers, solution consultants, analysts, consultants, customers -- as many stakeholders as possible. The magic is in the iteration and fine tuning. Put it in the hands of a target group of highly engaged and successful sales folks and battle test it in the field with these “beta” users, even offer to join their calls and help deliver it to a prospect (or customer if it’s for a cross-sell) -- goal is to get one or several sales people to close a deal with it. Then, BOOM - sales folks will come flocking to you to get their hands on that deck and it will spread like wildfire on its own. This is a tactic we run at Zuora.

Is this for a new product you are cross-selling to your install base? If yes, then you are luckily sitting on a bunch of data on how your customers are using your existing products or you can find out from your CS team if they have pains this new product can solve, and you can take this data to craft a story on why they would be ideal users of your new cross-sell product -- which was ideally built based on current customer pain points. Customize the pitch deck with relevant data that provides insights on why the customer has a “problem” and therefore needs a new “solution”. This sets sales up for success to be a true partner to your customers by offering unique insights and even benchmarks around data driven conversations. We also do this at Zuora and these decks are highly popular and successful.

When sales knows a deck has already been battle tested in the field and can close deals, or that it sets them up as a strategic partner offering insights no one else can -- those are the pitch decks that sales wants. By the time you schedule a meeting to present that deck to sales, they’ve probably all been sent it by your “beta” users already -- and the deck launches itself.

Love this question! Definitely a daunting task for any PMM. Here are my top three suggestions: 1) Incorporate customers 2) Get sellers to present 3) Make it a competition.

Incorporate Customers - This can be hard to do but it will go a long way to making it land. In the past, I've done this with a video showing a bunch of customers talking about their business and the challenges they are facing. You could also invite a customer for a fireside chat and be sure to ask them questions that hit on key points in the new deck. By incorporating customers you can show your sales team that you're what you built directly addresses customer pain.

Get Sellers to Present - Make friends with a few influential sellers. This is a good guideline period and especially important when rolling out a new pitch deck. These sellers can provide input along the way (even if you don't incorporate it) and ideally they can find opportunities to try it or portions of it in a real environment with customers. At a minimum, if you can get a couple sellers to see the light of your new pitch deck they can be huge advocates during the rollout process. Ideally they will even do a mock pitch in front of the rest of the sales team. Sellers are much more likely to pay attention when an influential or highly regarded seller is speaking. So go make some friends!

Make It a Competition - I think this is by far and away the most effective and the easiest for you to control. Time and access my limit your ability to do 1 and 2, but in the absence of those (or ideally in addition) make it a competition will get sellers to pay attention and stay focused. The competition could be the best pitch (you could do this as teams or individuals or do it by region). I would also do a competition for the best live usage of it as shown through a Gong or Chorus call. For prizes certainly $$ always helps, but I have found you can spend less if the prizes are really unique like custom Nikes, time with the CEO or a hard-to-get celebrity on CAMEO. Make it a game and your sellers will learn and thank you for it.

Like any good story, make it relevant. I use different slides showcasing similar concepts and tailor it by region, segment, or audience type.

Examples:

• If I want to show traffic figures, I would use the regional version because it is more applicable.
• If I want to use customer examples or logo slides, I would pick the success stories from that region or that segment.
• If I am sharing this with a C-level audience, I would focus on their overall business goals and strategic functions vs specific tasks.

Ideas:

1. Bring on an enthusiastic customer and have your best rep pitch to them. 
2. Make your best rep role play as a customer and have your CEO pitch to them. 
3. This is a pitch inside a pitch. Start by explaining how this deck will solve your reps' top 5 objections. Then proceed to show them how. 

Tactics will depend on how big the change is. Is this business as usual with optimization? or Is this because something wasn't working? or Is this because of a big shift in your industry? 

Approaches to consider: Social Proof, Credibility, Self Interest, Reframing, FOMO, Pre-suasion