On many occasions, we need to convince people. For example, convincing a customer to buy a product, convincing a venture capitalist to invest money.
If you only have one chance to make a PPT presentation, how can you be most persuasive?
Today, I read an article by an American business consultant on the most effective PPT he's ever seen, summarizing the patterns in it. I think it's so practical that I must take notes.
The first step is to present a changing trend in today's world
Don't start by talking about your product, your customers, your investors, etc., anything about yourself. The first thing you need to do is to present world trends.
You have to start with an obvious, undeniable, ongoing world trend. This trend must be relevant to your product and could provide significant benefit to your product or make your product of great urgency.
You need to make the person aware that this trend will affect them. If they respond correctly, they will get the opportunity.
The opening, even if it doesn't impress the audience, should gain their attention and make them want to listen to you. Attention is the key.
Step 2: Present that there will be winners and losers
Even if the other side sees an opportunity in the above trend, they will probably choose to maintain the status quo if they have to take a big risk at the same time.
In order to overcome this "risk aversion" you need to make it clear that the trend will bring big winners and big losers. If you adapt to change, the outlook is bright; if you resist change, the outlook is gloomy. In other words, you need to provide a huge incentive for the person to want to participate in the change. If the status quo is maintained, they may have a huge loss.
Step 3: Paint a Bright Future
By this point, you probably can't help but promote your product. But, not quite yet, you need to hold back a bit more. If you introduce your product too quickly, you may be out of touch with the context that you've worked so hard to create, and the other party may find it awkward, or you'll be throwing it all away.
What you need to do is to paint a picture of a better future with your product, but don't mention your product. For example, you could say, "If xxx changes, then xxx will happen in our society". The future you describe should be very attractive, but at the same time very difficult to reach, otherwise your product has no reason to exist.
Step 4, introduce that critical step needed to overcome the difficulty and reach the future
The most successful sales methods are much like hero movies or fairy tales. Before the protagonist reaches his goal, he always needs to learn some kind of skill or acquire some kind of treasure. It's that kind of skill or treasure that you're going to introduce at this point.
It's because of all that previous context that you're able to talk about some of the details in this section, otherwise those details would become rather tedious and uninteresting. You can then explain in detail why traditional methods cannot reach a better future, and how new methods can overcome existing difficulties.
Step 5: Present evidence that you can make it all happen
Now that you've described the future, it's time to tell people how to get there, i.e. how your product is really relevant to all of this.
Since you've already said that getting there is difficult, your audience is skeptical about your ability to do so. You have to give evidence that will convince people that you can make it all come true.
There's no better evidence than giving an example of how you've helped others succeed. If you don't already have a success story, you can demonstrate the product, and the focus of the demonstration should be on how to reach the future you describe.
Convincing the other person is usually hard to do with just one sales pitch. However, if you follow the structure of the pitch above, it will make it possible to maximize your chances.