If your sales presentation is designed to convert, it’s probably doing the opposite.

Not because your product is wrong. Not because your pricing is off.

But because the moment a buyer feels sold to, trust leaks out of the room.

People don’t buy when they feel persuaded. They buy when they feel understood.

The transaction isn’t the goal. It’s the receipt.

Most sales teams know this intellectually. But under pressure, something else takes over. The instinct to prove value. The urge to explain. The belief that if we just show them enough features, enough data, enough evidence, they’ll see the light.

So we trade conversation for presentation. Empathy for explanation. Relationship for conversion.

And we wonder why buyers leave confused.

Proof, Not Performance

This mindset showed up clearly in last week’s episode of A Matter of Life and Decks when Jeff Begert shared how his team runs sales conversations.

At Sparkfive, they don’t open the demo until the last seven minutes of a thirty-minute call. Not because the product is unimportant. Because the relationship is more important.

The first twenty-three minutes are spent understanding the buyer’s world. Naming the weight of their present. Building enough trust that when the product finally appears, it lands as a solution, not a pitch.

The demo isn’t the event. It’s the evidence.

Why So Many Sales Presentations Fail Before They Begin

Let’s name the dragon. Most sales presentations aren’t built on empathy. They’re built on insecurity. Presenters feel the pressure to show their worth. So they do what insecure presenters have always done. They pour every feature they can find into the deck. They stuff charts, screenshots and copy-pasted RFP paragraphs into PowerPoint like they’re panic-packing for a vacation.

Buyers leave those meetings confused. Overwhelmed. Even offended. They wanted a conversation. They got a feature monsoon.

Prezi’s research found that presenters lose almost half the room by slide two. When your deck shows up before the story has a chance to breathe, you alienate the humans you came to serve. And when your starting point is the RFP the buyer already read, you’re not informing them. You’re insulting them.

The tragedy? Many salespeople believe this is normal. They believe the goal is conversion. So they rush to the punchline. They hurry to the close. They try to win the deal instead of winning the moment.

What Happens in the Buyer’s Mind When a Story Lands

Human beings are simple creatures living complex lives. Our brains are primitive operating systems trying to survive a modern world. Story is the code we still run. Story is the tool we use to make sense of chaos.

When a story lands, three hormones go to work.

• Oxytocin tells us we can trust you.

• Cortisol sharpens our attention.

• Dopamine rewards us for getting closer to relief.

A great story delivers these at the right time in the right amount. That’s how empathy becomes the engine of persuasion. It’s also why pure information fails. Information asks the buyer to work. Story does the work with them.

When your goal is connection, the outcome takes care of itself.

Not Ready for the Shiny Future

Daniel Kahneman gave us the language for something every salesperson has felt: “Loss aversion.” People generally hate losing something more than they love winning.

In other words… People don’t buy because the future is shiny. They buy because the present is heavy.

Buyers will cling to the status quo even if the alternative is a clear improvement. Change feels like a risk. Staying the same feels like safety. If you skip past the weight your buyer is carrying, you deny them the clarity they need to move.

Your job in a sales conversation is not to paint the perfect future. Your job is to prove you understand the pressure of the present. You have to name the salt before they can taste the sweet.

The Problem With Explaining Too Soon

Many salespeople believe their job is to explain. They believe clarity comes from detail. But explanation is the fastest way to drain tension from a pitch.

There’s always time for detail. Buyers who want more information will ask. They might even pull up your RFP while you talk. But no document can give them the feeling of what it’s like to have their problem solved. That’s a uniquely human offering. And it requires a story.

The Real Work of the Sales Leader

If you approach sales presentations with the goal of conversion, you’re already off course. Conversion is the trophy. The win is what it represents. It’s the moment your buyer feels known, seen and understood. It’s the moment they trust you can lighten the load they’re carrying.

The transaction is the reward. The goal is empathy.

To see this mindset in action, watch the episode of A Matter of Life and Decks with Jeff Begert sharing why he holds the demo until minute twenty-three. It’s a masterclass in restraint, humanity and strategic patience.

Ready to Sell With Story, Not Slides?

On February 4th, Libby and I are hosting Storytelling for Sales: Convert prospects faster by telling stories that stick. If you want to replace feature slurry with conversations that move people, this session will shift the way you show up in every pitch.

Register now. Bring your team. Rewrite the way you sell.

🔥 Hi, I’m Eric, and every week, I share insights, observations and tools so you can ditch decks and light a fire in your high-stakes presentations. If you like what you see here, follow me on LinkedIn.