Sales Deck Creator

This skill creates highly effective B2B sales decks using April Dunford's 8-step sales pitch methodology. It produces a slide-by-slide Markdown outline and can generate a PPTX file.

Core Philosophy

The goal of a sales pitch is not to list product features. It is to help customers understand their choices, evaluate trade-offs, and realize exactly when and why they should choose your solution.

The framework has two distinct phases:

1. The Setup (Slides 1 to 10): Establish market context and "Perfect World" criteria. Do not mention your product.
2. The Follow-Through (Slides 11 to 17): Introduce your product and map it directly to the criteria established in the Setup.

This structure combats "no decision" paralysis by giving buyers a clear framework before asking them to evaluate your solution.

SCQA alignment: This framework naturally follows the McKinsey SCQA pattern. Status Quo = Situation, Disruption = Complication, Perfect World = Question, Product Introduction = Answer. The narrative logic should feel inevitable by the time you reveal your product.

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Step 1: Gather Inputs

Read from repo automatically:

File	What to extract
docs/inputs/product_brief.md	Product name, key capabilities, limitations, customer names
docs/inputs/messaging_positioning.md	Positioning statements, pain points, value propositions
docs/inputs/competitor_intel.md	Competitor approaches, weaknesses, market categories
docs/inputs/testimonials.md	Approved quotes, customer results, case study data
docs/inputs/target_personas.md	Who feels the pain, titles, buying triggers

Read these files BEFORE asking for additional inputs.

Then ask the user:

1. Who is this deck for? (e.g., "Series B fintech CISOs" or "Enterprise DevOps leads evaluating CI/CD")
2. What is your provocative insight? The bold claim about what is fundamentally shifting in the market. If the user does not have one, help them derive it from the messaging doc.
3. What alternatives will buyers consider? (e.g., "do nothing," "incumbent vendor," "build in-house," "point solution competitor")
4. What is the ask at the end? (e.g., "15-minute technical deep dive," "POC," "security review")

Wait for answers before generating.

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Step 2: Build the Narrative Arc

Construct the deck following the 8-step structure below. Each step maps to specific slides.

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The 8-Step Slide Structure

Part 1: The Setup

Do not mention your product during the Setup phase.

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Step 1: The Provocative Insight (Slides 1 and 2)

Purpose: Open with a bold claim about what is fundamentally shifting. This frames the conversation and points toward your differentiated value.

Slide 1: Title/Thesis

• One bold statement (the provocative insight)
• No product name, no company name
• Example: "The perimeter is dead. Identity is the new firewall."

Slide 2: TLDR / Executive Summary

• 3 to 5 bullet summary of the entire argument
• Ensures the buyer understands the narrative arc immediately
• Include: the shift, why it matters, what the new criteria are, what you offer

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Step 2: The Status Quo Context (Slides 3 and 4)

Purpose: Acknowledge how the current world was built and why those choices were rational at the time. This builds credibility with experienced buyers.

Slide 3: How We Got Here

• Describe the architectural or operational choices that defined the market
• Use respectful framing: "This approach made sense when..."

Slide 4: The Architecture of Today's Leaders

• Table showing how incumbents are structured
• Demonstrates deep market understanding
• Columns: Approach | Why It Won | Core Assumption

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Step 3: The Disruption / Catalyst (Slides 5 and 6)

Purpose: Explain exactly what changed to make the status quo no longer viable.

Slide 5: What Changed

• List 3 to 4 new characteristics of the market or threat landscape
• Be specific: regulation, technology shift, attacker capability, scale

Slide 6: Why Legacy Fails Now

• Punchline statement about how this stresses legacy systems
• Example: "MFA was designed for humans. Agents don't wait for push notifications."

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Step 4: The Alternatives Evaluation (Slides 7 and 8)

Purpose: Survey other approaches buyers will consider. Group by approach, not vendor name.

Slide 7: Right Then vs. Wrong Now

• Pivot table mapping status quo strengths to their new fatal weaknesses
• Columns: What Made It Strong | Why It Fails Now

Slide 8: The Alternatives Landscape

• Evaluate: Do nothing | Incumbent vendor | Point solution | Build in-house
• For each: What it offers, why it falls short
• Acknowledge new contenders are incremental updates, not architectural resets

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Step 5: The Perfect World (Slides 9 and 10)

Purpose: The "and therefore..." step. Describe what the ideal solution must look like.

Slide 9: The New Purchase Criteria

• Bulleted list of what any solution must do
• Frame as requirements, not features
• Example: "Must eliminate shareable secrets entirely"

Slide 10: The Design Primitives

• Speculative but concrete principles for the new architecture
• Example: "Cryptographic device binding, not knowledge factors"

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Part 2: The Follow-Through

Now that the buyer agrees with the Perfect World criteria, introduce your solution.

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Step 6: The Introduction (Slide 11)

Purpose: Introduce your company and product in context.

Slide 11: [Product Name]

• One-sentence positioning statement
• Platform overview or marketecture diagram
• Where you fit in the ecosystem
• Keep text minimal

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Step 7: Differentiated Value (Slides 12 to 14)

Purpose: Map your unique capabilities directly back to the Perfect World criteria.

Slide 12: Capability 1

• One capability per slide
• Show how it directly addresses a Perfect World criterion
• Include: feature name, what it does, why it matters (mapped to criterion)
• Visual: screenshot, diagram, or code snippet if relevant

Slide 13: Capability 2

• Same structure

Slide 14: Capability 3

• Same structure

Rules:

• Only include capabilities that are both unique AND directly mapped to Perfect World
• Do not list generic features
• Evidence over claims: show, do not tell

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Step 8: Proof (Slide 15)

Purpose: Validate claims with evidence aligned to the prospect's situation.

Slide 15: Proof Points

• 2 to 3 customer results with specific outcomes
• Use only approved customers from testimonials.md
• Include: company name, what they achieved, relevant quote if available
• Align proof to the differentiated value claims, not generic success

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Step 9: Objections (Slide 16, Optional)

Purpose: Proactively address common unspoken concerns.

Slide 16: Common Questions

• 2 to 3 objections with direct answers
• Examples: implementation time, integration complexity, pricing model, security review
• Handling objections head-on builds trust

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Step 10: The Ask / Conclusion (Slide 17)

Purpose: Recap with urgency and secure commitment to next step.

Slide 17: Next Steps

• Progressive recap: the shift, the new criteria, how you meet them
• Clear call to action (the ask from Step 1)
• Optional: existential question that forces a decision
• Example: "Your auditors will ask how you secured AI agents. What will you tell them?"

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Design Principles

Apply these to every slide:

Principle	Implementation
Action titles	Every slide title is a thesis, not a label. "A $40B market with no dominant player below enterprise" not "Market Opportunity." A reader who sees only the titles can reconstruct the full argument. Keep titles to two lines maximum.
One slide, one message	Each slide carries exactly one insight. If a slide has two conclusions, split it into two slides. Every element on the slide exists to serve the title.
Minimalist text	No paragraphs. Maximum 6 bullets per slide, 10 words per bullet.
Punchline statements	Anchor the bottom of most slides with a bold summary that drives the narrative forward.
Typographic emphasis	Bold key phrases within statements to make them scannable.
Evidence via tables	Use comparison tables for alternatives, architectures, before/after.
Respectful framing	Acknowledge why the status quo was rational before explaining why it fails.
No product in Setup	The product name appears only in Slide 11 and later.

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Output Format

Generate the deck as a Markdown outline with this structure:

# [Deck Title: The Provocative Insight]

## Metadata
- **Target audience:** [From Step 1]
- **The ask:** [From Step 1]
- **Alternatives addressed:** [From Step 1]

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## Part 1: The Setup

### Slide 1: [Action title: the provocative thesis as a statement of fact]
**[Bold thesis statement]**

Speaker notes: [What to say when presenting this slide]

---

### Slide 2: [Action title: TLDR framed as the argument's conclusion]
- [Bullet 1]
- [Bullet 2]
- [Bullet 3]
- [Bullet 4]

Speaker notes: [What to say]

---

[Continue for all slides...]

---

## Part 2: The Follow-Through

### Slide 11: [Action title: product positioning as a thesis statement]
[Content]

Speaker notes: [What to say]

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[Continue for all slides...]

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## Review Checklist

[Auto-generated checklist - see below]

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Self-Review Checklist

After generating the deck, verify it passes these checks:

Narrative Structure

• Product name does NOT appear in Slides 1 to 10
• Slide 2 TLDR summarizes the entire argument arc
• Status Quo (Slides 3 to 4) acknowledges why the old approach was rational
• Disruption (Slides 5 to 6) names specific catalysts, not vague "change"
• Perfect World (Slides 9 to 10) establishes clear criteria before product intro
• Differentiated Value (Slides 12 to 14) maps directly to Perfect World criteria
• Proof (Slide 15) uses only approved customers from testimonials.md
• MECE: no two slides make the same point, no logical step is skipped

Design and Text

• Every slide title is an action title (thesis, not label). Readable as a standalone argument from titles alone
• No slide title exceeds two lines
• Each slide carries exactly one message. If two conclusions exist, split the slide
• No slide has more than 6 bullets
• No bullet exceeds 10 words
• Punchline statements present on key slides (2, 6, 10, 17)
• Tables used for comparisons (Slides 4, 7, 8)
• No dashes in slide text (rewrite if needed)
• No banned words (robust, seamless, leverage, cutting-edge, revolutionary)
• No passive voice
• No hedging ("we believe", "consider")

Factual Accuracy

• All product capabilities match product_brief.md exactly
• All customer names from testimonials.md only
• No fabricated quotes or results
• Competitor framing aligns with competitor_intel.md

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PPTX Generation

After the Markdown outline is approved, generate a PPTX file.

To generate PPTX, run this Python script:

# Save as generate_deck.py
# Requires: pip install python-pptx

from pptx import Presentation
from pptx.util import Inches, Pt
from pptx.dml.color import RgbColor
from pptx.enum.text import PP_ALIGN, MSO_ANCHOR
import re

def create_sales_deck(outline_path: str, output_path: str):
    """
    Generate a PPTX from a Markdown outline.

    Args:
        outline_path: Path to the Markdown outline file
        output_path: Path for the output PPTX file
    """
    prs = Presentation()
    prs.slide_width = Inches(13.333)
    prs.slide_height = Inches(7.5)

    # Define layouts
    blank_layout = prs.slide_layouts[6]  # Blank

    # Parse the Markdown outline
    with open(outline_path, 'r') as f:
        content = f.read()

    # Split into slides (### Slide N: Title)
    slide_pattern = r'### Slide \d+: (.+?)\n(.*?)(?=### Slide|\Z)'
    slides = re.findall(slide_pattern, content, re.DOTALL)

    for title, body in slides:
        slide = prs.slides.add_slide(blank_layout)

        # Add title
        title_box = slide.shapes.add_textbox(
            Inches(0.5), Inches(0.5), Inches(12.333), Inches(1)
        )
        title_frame = title_box.text_frame
        title_para = title_frame.paragraphs[0]
        title_para.text = title.strip()
        title_para.font.size = Pt(36)
        title_para.font.bold = True

        # Extract bullets (lines starting with -)
        bullets = re.findall(r'^- (.+)$', body, re.MULTILINE)

        if bullets:
            body_box = slide.shapes.add_textbox(
                Inches(0.5), Inches(1.75), Inches(12.333), Inches(5)
            )
            body_frame = body_box.text_frame
            body_frame.word_wrap = True

            for i, bullet in enumerate(bullets):
                if i == 0:
                    para = body_frame.paragraphs[0]
                else:
                    para = body_frame.add_paragraph()
                para.text = bullet.strip()
                para.font.size = Pt(24)
                para.level = 0

        # Extract bold statement (lines starting with **)
        punchline = re.search(r'\*\*(.+?)\*\*', body)
        if punchline and not bullets:
            body_box = slide.shapes.add_textbox(
                Inches(0.5), Inches(3), Inches(12.333), Inches(2)
            )
            body_frame = body_box.text_frame
            para = body_frame.paragraphs[0]
            para.text = punchline.group(1)
            para.font.size = Pt(32)
            para.font.bold = True
            para.alignment = PP_ALIGN.CENTER

    prs.save(output_path)
    print(f"Deck saved to {output_path}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import sys
    if len(sys.argv) < 3:
        print("Usage: python generate_deck.py <outline.md> <output.pptx>")
        sys.exit(1)
    create_sales_deck(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2])

Usage:

pip install python-pptx
python generate_deck.py output/decks/outline.md output/decks/sales-deck.pptx

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Adaptation Notes

When docs are incomplete:

• If product_brief.md is empty, ask user for product name, 3 capabilities, and limitations
• If messaging_positioning.md is empty, ask user for the provocative insight and 3 pain points
• If competitor_intel.md is empty, ask user to describe 2 to 3 alternatives buyers consider
• If testimonials.md is empty, use generic framing ("[Industry] teams") or ask for customer names

When the provocative insight is unclear:

• Help the user derive it: "What do you believe about this market that most people get wrong?"
• Or: "If you could change one assumption buyers have, what would it be?"

When the deck needs to be shorter:

• Minimum viable deck: Slides 1, 2, 6, 9, 11, 12, 15, 17 (8 slides)
• Combine Status Quo into one slide
• Combine Alternatives into one slide
• Keep only the strongest capability

When the deck needs more depth:

• Add slides between 12 to 14 for additional capabilities (maximum 5 total)
• Add a demo walkthrough slide after Slide 14
• Add competitive comparison table as Slide 8b
• Add implementation timeline as Slide 16b

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File Output

Save the Markdown outline to: output/decks/[product-name]-sales-deck.md Save the PPTX to: output/decks/[product-name]-sales-deck.pptx

Create the output/decks/ directory if it does not exist.