Yes, sometimes the best move in a client pitch is to dump the deck. Send it ahead, skip the slide-by-slide reading, and use the live time to talk with the client about what they actually want. Les Richmond, who led communications at Hay Group, did exactly that on a million dollar bid against nine other firms, and his team won.
He told me the story in a hallway when I came back to work with his company again, and I have been repeating it ever since, because it contradicts what most professionals believe about winning business.
The setup: a big pitch, nine competitors
A few years back, I flew to Chicago to run presentation training with teams at Hay Group, the global management consulting firm. Les heard me say something simple in a session: ask yourself whether the deck actually helps. He took that back to his team. They had a finalist presentation coming up for the city of New York, a million dollar job, and they were competing against nine other companies. Everyone on his team assumed the usual plan, which was a polished presentation, rehearsed and projected.
He turned to them and said, "We're dumping the whole deck."
The rest of the team did not love this. Their reaction was basically, "OK, it's on you. If this doesn't work, what are you going to say?" Fair question. He had no deck to hide behind. By the way, I don't tell people they have to do this, but it's something to consider and this case study is the perfect example.
What happened in the room
When they walked in, the buying committee pointed at a computer and a projector and said they could plug the deck in there. Les said, "We don't need that. We're just going to talk to you today." He handed over a printed copy of the deck, gave them a moment to look at it, and then they simply talked. No screen, no clicking through pages. Just people in a room working out whether they wanted to work together.
They closed the deal. In Les's words: "The audience was laser focused. It was unbelievable... we closed a million dollar assignment."
Read how the training led up to that day, including the retention quiz that convinced the team, in Case Study: The Million Dollar Presentation That Skipped the Projector.
I will be careful here. I cannot tell you that skipping slides is the reason they won. Nobody can. What I can tell you is that while the other firms were clicking through their material, this team was the one having a conversation, and the client got to see how they think, not how well they format.
Why a conversation beats a presentation in a pitch
It comes down to what a pitch is for. A client is not only buying your answer. They are deciding whether they want to spend months working with you, and a deck tells them very little about that.
Think about what a client has sat through. They have probably seen several decks that week, all with a title slide, an agenda, a "who we are" slide, and a slide of logos. They can predict the next ten minutes. Everyone has become interchangeable.
When you drop that structure, a few things change:
- The client talks. You find out what they are hoping for, what worries them, and what a good result looks like. You cannot learn any of that by reading your slides to them.
- You respond to the real need. Instead of covering everything you prepared, you cover what matters to this person today.
- You show your judgment. Clients hire people to think. A live conversation lets them watch you do it.
- You are memorable. You are the one that did not do the deck.
How to run a pitch without slides
You do not need to be dramatic about it. Here is how I suggest framing it, and I have used this wording myself:
Then go on: "We'll talk about the most relevant points. Does that sound good?" And ask them to push back, because you do not know their day-to-day. If they would rather see the slides, show the slides. The point is to offer a better use of the time, not to force it.
Before you do any of this, do the real work:
- Send the deck or a one-page brief ahead. It becomes a handout. They can read faster than you can talk, and you have shown respect for their time.
- Know your three points cold. Without slides, you are the structure. Decide the three things you most want the client to remember, and have a story for each.
- Prepare questions, not a monologue. What do they want? What has not worked before? What would make this a success?
- Keep a backup. Have the deck on your laptop in case they ask for it. Dropping it is a choice, not a risk.
One thing I do not say
I never told that participant that PowerPoint is bad. I do not think it is. My line is simply this:
Plenty of presentations need slides: data reviews, training sessions, board updates. The mistake is treating a deck as mandatory. When you walk into a pitch, the question is not "What are my slides?" It is "What is the best use of the time we have with this person?" Sometimes the answer is a deck. Sometimes it is a conversation.
If you do want slides, keep them light. I cover how in one idea per slide, and the problem with leaning on text in don't read your slides to the audience. And if you want to take the room back mid-talk without dropping the deck, see pressing B to blank your slide.
What to do next
Look at your next pitch and ask one question: if the projector failed, could I still win this? If the answer is no, you are relying on the deck more than on yourself. Get a quick quote and we can work on your pitch together, or see how we approach executive presentation training.