1. Checklist for Customized Insight-Oriented, Solutions- Based Presentations

2. The first slide should include the prospects company name, its logo, and an attention- grabbing tag line that gives a hint of your solution or Big Idea – The slide should have your companys logo, smaller than the prospects logo (remember, the prospect is more important than your company from the prospects perspective). The slide should also contain your main contacts phone number and email address. – The tag line should hint at your solution or Big Idea. It might be a profitable partnership, it might be a specific sponsorship, or it might be a new creative approach: Game Day on ESPN, Your Profitable Channel on YouTube, Engaging the Influencers on About.com, or Pushing the Digital Revolution Ahead, e.g.

3. The second slide should include a statement of the purpose of your presentation – The slides title can be Introduction or Purpose, but the slide should contain a brief statement of what you hope to accomplish with your presentation. Are you going to present a unique opportunity to reach a hard-to-reach audience, or to influence early adopters, or to efficiently advertise to new customers, or to remind current customers to buy today, or to reinforce the choice that loyal customers have already made? This purpose statement should be coordinated with slide #4, a partial list of a prospects marketing and advertising goals, slide #5, a prospects challenges in achieving those goals, and slide #6, a prospects strategy.

4. – Because of the necessity of presenting a logical progression of steps leading to a solution, you need to create an outline of a presentation before creating a presentation so that you know what the solution or Big Idea is, then you can write a purpose statement at the beginning of the presentation that foreshadows your solution.

5. The third slide, titled Agenda, should show whats going to happen in the presentation – This slide should contain a list of the main sections of your presentation, such as Marketing and Advertising Goals,Challenges, Strategy, etc. The purpose of this slide is to tellem what youre going to tell em as a preview so your audience knows what to expect. – Not on the slide, but verbally you should tell your audience how long the presentation will take (If thats OK with you?, which secures their tacit approval), tell them how you intend to deal with questions (interrupt or at the end), and that you will pass out a hard copy of the presentation at the end. – In only very rare situations should a presentation last longer than 30 minutes, and most should be completed in 20 minutes (not including questions).

6. The fourth slide, titled Marketing and Advertising Goals, should contain a partial list of the prospect's marketing and advertising goals – The reason you present this information is to demonstrate to the prospect that you understand its marketing and advertising goals. You mention these goals because you want to tie your eventual solution or Big Idea to address these goals. Prospects have many and diverse marketing and advertising goals, so you want to select a short list of three, or no more than four, that you can address with your proposed solution or Big idea. It doesnt make sense to list a marketing goal that your solution or Big Idea cant or wont address.

7. The fifth slide, titled Challenges, should contain a list of the prospect's challenges in achieving its marketing and advertising goals –Challenges is a euphemism for problems. Again, choose prospect challenges that you can address with your proposed solutions or Big Idea. You are building a logical case step by step that irrevocably leads to your solutions or Big Idea.

8. The sixth slide, titled Strategy, should include a statement of the prospect's current strategy in achieving its marketing and advertising goals – This section, consisting of several slides, should contain three elements: a. Overall strategy – differentiation, niche, or low-cost producer b. Media strategy – what media the client has used in the past and how it was used (briefly, not in much detail) c. Creative strategy – what the creative strategy has been, including search, branding, purchase, video, humor, etc.

9. The next slide is a Target Audience slide with a description of the prospect's primary customers/target audience – This slide should state the clients target audiences, psychographically, geographically, and behaviorally. Make sure that your solution or Big Idea is consistent with and matches the clients desired demos.

10. Next, include a slide titled Insights that contains any new, unique insights you might have about the prospects business – The purpose of this slide is to educate prospects about new concepts concerning their business or business model that they are unaware of and that have the potential for making their businesses more profitable or grow more rapidly. – For more information about insights, see The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson.

11. Next, a Solutions slide that identifies the opportunities that are solutions to the prospect's challenges (problems) –Solutions slides are the big pay-off – they contain the Big Idea. All previous slides should contain information that logically points to your solution/Big Idea as the obvious answer. – Use screen shots as needed to show executions of your solution/Big Idea

12. Next, an Advantages slide that lists the advantages of your solution over your competition. – This slide(s) should show the specific advantages your product, proposal, and solution or Big Idea have over the competition (other media and competitors within your medium). – When you show data (such as audience numbers) or use quotes in a presentation, put the source of the information in a footnote on the slide. Numbers without sources have no credibility. – Do not knock the competition, but show comparative numbers and rakings with your advantages dramatized with percentages (+150%, e.g.) and other comparisons, always in a comparative context. In other words 4 million uniques all alone and without context means nothing.

13. A Benefits slide that shows the benefits of your solutions (schedules, campaigns, packages, etc.) or Big Idea to the prospect's challenges. – This slide(s) should answer the clients WIIFM questions (Whats In it For Me?). The points on the slide(s) should be in direct alignment with the previous Challenges, Strategy, and Insight slides and be solutions to the problems, strategies, and insights outlined on those slides.

14. Show specifically how your solutions and recommendations will make the prospect's business more profitable on a ROI Analysis slide if you have the appropriate financial information – Dont include an ROI slide if you cannot calculate a ROI or profit increase, which is extremely difficult on a branding creative strategy. In order to calculate ROI, you have to have access to clients sales and profit information.

15. Show relevant case studies (from similar customers if possible) on a Case Studies slide as proof of your ability to perform and get results – Obviously, dont include a Case Studies slide if you dont have any. Show a Terms and Conditions slide only if they are different from standard terms and conditions in your industry

16. Next, a Summary section (several slides) listing the prospects marketing and advertising goals, the target audience(s), the main challenges, insights, your solution or Big Idea, and the main benefits of the solution or Big Idea – These slides should summarize in outline form the logical progression and irrefutable benefits of your solution toward meeting the prospects goals.

17. A Next Steps slide that lists what the prospect and you need to do in order to implement your proposal and advance the partnership – This slide must also include a close – an ask for a commitment or an action that moves the sale forward. – The Next Step slide should be the last slide; there is no need for a The End or a Thank You slide.

18. An Appendix containing numbers and more detailed and thorough supporting information – An Appendix is a separate document that should be attached to a hard copy of your presentation and handed out after you conclude your presentation.