AnyGen
What is a sales deck template (and what should it include)?
A sales deck template is a reusable slide structure plus copy prompts you can fill in per product and per prospect. A good template includes: a tight opener, the buyer’s problem in their terms, your differentiated approach, proof (results and/or adoption), and one clear next step. Keep the core deck short and focused: HubSpot recommends aiming for 6–8 focused slides (updated 02/09/26, accessed 2026-06-18).
Think of the template as two layers: (1) a core story (the slides you always use), and (2) an appendix (slides you pull in only when needed: security, integrations, pricing detail, implementation plan, ROI model). This is how you stay consistent without forcing every buyer through the same 30-slide marathon.
Core story: a proven flow you can reuse
One data-backed way to structure the story is Gong’s framework: Sales Story = Change + Pain + Gain + Proof (Gong, “sales presentation”, accessed 2026-06-18). It’s practical because it forces your deck to lead with context and outcomes instead of product features.
- Change: what’s changing in the buyer’s world (market, regulation, customer expectations, cost structure).
- Pain: the measurable cost of the current state (time, money, risk, missed revenue).
- Gain: what improves for the buyer (outcomes they care about, not your feature list).
- Proof: credible evidence (results, customer stories, adoption volume, or a concrete plan).
How many slides should a sales deck template be (and how long should you present it)?
For a first-call pitch segment, optimize for attention, not completeness. Gong reports winning sales decks averaged 9.1 minutes, while lost deals averaged 11.4 minutes (Gong, “9-minute pitch rule”, accessed 2026-06-18). Gong also advises 2–3 slides per minute and keeping the pitch to about 9 minutes (Gong, “sales presentation”, accessed 2026-06-18).
Those two numbers imply a practical ceiling of roughly 18–27 slides if you were flipping constantly. In reality, you should treat that as an upper bound for total visuals shown during the pitch segment, not a target. If you want a clean, reusable template for most teams, the simplest approach is: build an 8-slide core (aligned with HubSpot’s 6–8 focused slide guidance), then keep extra visuals as optional add-ons.
A simple timing model you can copy
| Scenario | Recommended core slides | Live pitch time target | Source / rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intro pitch segment inside a first meeting | 6–8 | ~9 minutes | HubSpot recommends 6–8 focused slides (updated 02/09/26). Gong reports winning decks ~9.1 minutes and advises ~9 minutes. |
| Async deck you email after the call | Same 6–8 + 2–6 appendix slides as needed | Designed to skim | DocSend pitch deck metrics commonly show ~2:18–2:30 average time spent per deck in 2024 (DocSend Pitch Deck Metrics page, accessed 2026-06-18). Treat shared decks as skimmed unless your first pages hook. |
Sales deck template: the slide-by-slide structure (copy-and-do)
Below is an 8-slide core sales deck template you can reuse across deals. Each slide includes: the job it must do, what to write, and a fill-in prompt. Keep each slide to one idea and one visual.
8-slide core template (use this as your default)
| Slide | Job to do | What to put on the slide (copy prompt) | What to say (talk track cue) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Title + 20-second opener | Set context and relevance immediately | Headline: “We help [ICP] achieve [outcome] without [pain].” Subhead: “In 15 minutes: problem, approach, proof, next step.” | Use Highspot’s “20-second opener” idea: problem, cost of problem, urgency (Highspot article, accessed 2026-06-18). |
| 2. Change (why now) | Make the problem feel inevitable | 3 bullets: “What changed”, “What it breaks”, “What winners do now”. | Use Gong’s “Change” step (Gong sales presentation, accessed 2026-06-18). |
| 3. Pain (current state cost) | Quantify the buyer’s pain | A simple table: “Current workflow / cost / risk.” Add one number the buyer recognizes (hours, dollars, error rate). | Gong: quantify pain to help the logical brain justify the decision (accessed 2026-06-18). |
| 4. Desired outcome (gain) | Describe the improved future state | Before/After bullets: “Before: … After: …” plus 1–3 measurable outcomes (time saved, revenue lift, risk reduced). | Gong’s “Gain” focus: what the customer can do, not product features (accessed 2026-06-18). |
| 5. Your approach (solution overview + USP) | Explain how you deliver the outcome and what’s different | One diagram: 3-step approach or 3 components. Add a single-sentence USP. | Highspot: crystallize USP before feature details; avoid feature dump (accessed 2026-06-18). |
| 6. Proof | Make claims credible | Use 1–2 case proof tiles with concrete results. Example metrics cited by HubSpot’s examples include: “50% increase in ROAS; 20% lower CPA” and “70% cheaper compute and storage” (HubSpot sales presentation guidelines page summary, updated 02/09/26, accessed 2026-06-18). | Say what changed, for whom, and what evidence backs it. Keep it specific. |
| 7. Comparison (when needed) | Answer “why you vs. alternatives” cleanly | A 2x2 or checklist: “Us / Status quo / Common alternative.” Keep it buyer-centric (time-to-value, risk, total cost). | Highspot recommends a concise competitive comparison and focusing on differentiation, pricing logic, and proof by use case for late-stage review (accessed 2026-06-18). |
| 8. Next step (one CTA) | Drive a concrete action | One box: “Next step: [workshop / trial / security review] + what you need from the buyer.” Add a timeline. | Highspot suggests tying CTA to a buyer milestone; example timeline “within five days” for a workshop (accessed 2026-06-18). |
Optional appendix slides (only when the buyer asks)
- Implementation plan: 3–5 phases with owners and timeline.
- Security & compliance overview: what you support, what reviews you’ve passed, your process.
- Integrations & architecture: a single diagram with “systems in / data out”.
- Pricing & packaging: show pricing logic (what drives cost) before quoting numbers (Highspot emphasizes pricing logic for late-stage review; accessed 2026-06-18).
- ROI model: only if you can show inputs transparently and avoid made-up savings (Highspot recommends stating inputs plainly; accessed 2026-06-18).
What to put on “proof” slides (real examples you can model)
Most sales decks fail because the proof is vague (“trusted by leaders”). A proof slide template should force specificity: who, what changed, by how much, and how measured.
Proof slide template (copy/paste text pattern)
- Customer context: “Team: [function], Company type: [industry/size], Starting point: [baseline]”.
- Problem: “They were stuck with [pain] causing [measurable impact]”.
- Action: “They changed [process] using [your approach]”.
- Result (1–3 numbers): “Outcome: [metric] improved by [X% / $Y / Z hours]”.
- Evidence: “Measured via [system/report], over [time period]”.
Concrete proof numbers cited in template inspiration (use your own numbers, but match the specificity)
Examples summarized on HubSpot’s sales presentation guidelines page include results like “50% increase in ROAS; 20% lower CPA” and “70% cheaper compute and storage” (HubSpot page summary, updated 02/09/26, accessed 2026-06-18). The key is not these exact metrics—it’s the format: outcome + magnitude + what it was compared against.
If you don’t have case studies yet: use proof you can verify
- Process proof: a short implementation plan with named milestones and timeboxes.
- Product proof: a single screenshot or diagram that directly supports the claim (not a feature collage).
- Risk proof: describe how the buyer can validate (trial plan, security review plan) with a timeline.
How do you customize a sales deck template for a specific prospect?
Customization that moves deals forward is not “swap the logo.” It’s aligning the deck to the buyer’s stated goals and gaps, using their language, and making the next step easy to champion internally.
Use a discovery-to-deck mapping (simple and repeatable)
HubSpot summarizes a needs-analysis framework called GOGO: Goals, Outcomes, Gaps, Options (HubSpot page summary, updated 02/09/26, accessed 2026-06-18). Use it to populate the pain and gain slides with the buyer’s real priorities.
| Discovery input | Where it goes in the deck | What you actually write |
|---|---|---|
| Goal (what they want) | Slide 4 (Desired outcome) | One sentence: “You want to achieve [goal] by [date].” |
| Outcome (how measured) | Slide 4 + Slide 8 (CTA) | Add the exact metric and how you’ll measure it in a pilot or workshop. |
| Gap (why current state fails) | Slide 3 (Pain) | A table of current workflow + cost/risk. Use their words. |
| Options (what they’re considering) | Slide 7 (Comparison) | Compare against the real alternative: status quo, build, or competitor—using buyer criteria. |
Personalize only 3 slides first (fastest high-impact edit)
- Slide 1: headline in their terms (ICP + outcome + pain removed).
- Slide 3: pain quantified with their numbers (even if ranges).
- Slide 6: proof closest to their industry/use case (or a validation plan if you lack a case study).
What slides should you cut from your sales deck template?
The fastest way to improve a sales deck template is subtraction. Gong’s sales deck template guidance explicitly recommends finding and removing 5 “low point” slides and replacing them with fill-in-the-blank slides designed to increase engagement (Gong sales deck template page summary, accessed 2026-06-18).
Common low-point slides (move to appendix or delete)
- Company history timeline (unless it proves credibility for this buyer).
- Feature catalog / “everything we do” grids.
- Generic “market size” slides (more common in investor decks than sales decks).
- Logo walls without outcomes (“Trusted by…”) with no tie to buyer value.
- Complex architecture diagrams shown too early (save for technical validation).
Replace cuts with slides that earn attention
- A pain quantification slide with one clear number and the method to validate it.
- A proof slide with outcome metrics and a matching use case.
- A comparison slide framed around buyer criteria (time-to-value, risk, total cost).
How to create a sales deck template with AnyGen (fast, consistent, editable)
If you already know your ICP, value proposition, and proof points, AnyGen can generate a complete first draft of this sales deck template quickly so you can spend your time validating facts and tightening messaging. Highspot describes a “90/10” split where AI can do ~90% of drafting/reshaping and humans own the final ~10% of validation and polish (Highspot, accessed 2026-06-18).
The exact inputs to give AnyGen (copy and fill)
- Audience (ICP): industry, company size range, buyer role (e.g., VP Sales, RevOps), and the moment they feel the pain.
- Outcome: 1–2 measurable outcomes (e.g., reduce onboarding time, lower churn, increase ROAS).
- Current pain: 3 bullets with any numbers you have (hours/week, cost, error rate, missed revenue).
- Your approach: 3 steps or 3 components (keep it simple).
- Differentiator: 1 sentence that would still be true if your logo was removed.
- Proof: 1–3 case metrics (or a validation plan if you don’t have case studies).
- Next step: the one meeting you want (workshop, trial kickoff, security review) and a suggested timeline.
A safe workflow that prevents AI-made-up claims
Frequently asked questions
sales deck template: how many slides should it be?
For a reusable core, aim for 6–8 focused slides (HubSpot sales presentation guidelines, updated 02/09/26; accessed 2026-06-18). For the pitch segment, keep the deck portion around 9 minutes (Gong reports winning decks averaged 9.1 minutes; accessed 2026-06-18). Use appendix slides only when the buyer asks.
how long should a sales deck presentation be?
For the pitch portion of a first meeting, Gong reports winning sales decks averaged 9.1 minutes and lost deals averaged 11.4 minutes (Gong 9-minute pitch rule page, accessed 2026-06-18). Use “chapters” if the meeting is longer: present the deck briefly, then switch to demo/Q&A/story to reset attention.
what should be in a sales deck template?
At minimum: opener, why now (change), the buyer’s pain with a measurable cost, desired outcome, your approach + differentiator (USP), proof, optional comparison, and one clear next step. This aligns with Gong’s Change/Pain/Gain/Proof story framework (accessed 2026-06-18) and Highspot’s recommended sections (accessed 2026-06-18).
what is the best structure for a B2B sales deck template?
A practical structure is Change → Pain → Gain → Proof (Gong sales presentation page, accessed 2026-06-18), followed by a single CTA. It keeps the story buyer-centered and prevents the deck from becoming a feature tour.
what should a proof slide look like in a sales deck template?
Use a consistent pattern: customer context, problem, action, result (1–3 metrics), and evidence method/timeframe. HubSpot’s examples highlight the level of specificity you want (e.g., “50% increase in ROAS; 20% lower CPA” and “70% cheaper compute and storage,” summarized from HubSpot’s updated 02/09/26 page; accessed 2026-06-18).
what slides should I remove from my sales deck?
Start by cutting “low point” slides—Gong’s sales deck template guidance recommends removing 5 underperforming slides and replacing them with stronger narrative/engagement slides (Gong sales deck template page summary, accessed 2026-06-18). Common candidates: company history, feature catalogs, generic logo walls, and deep architecture shown too early.
should I include pricing in a sales deck template?
Include pricing only when it fits the stage and buyer questions. For late-stage review, Highspot emphasizes focusing on differentiation, pricing logic, and proof by use case (Highspot, accessed 2026-06-18). If you include it, show pricing logic (what drives cost) and tie it to outcomes before exact numbers.
can I use AI to make a sales deck template?
Yes—use AI to draft structure and first-pass copy, then keep human ownership of facts and proof. Highspot describes a “90/10” split where AI can handle much of drafting/reshaping while humans validate and polish (Highspot, accessed 2026-06-18).