Sales Deck

Sales deck

Build a 10-slide sales deck for a prospect meeting: insight-driven slide titles, speaker notes per slide, sourced claims, exportable to PPTX, Google Slides, or Google Docs. Markdown outline first, then format on user approval.

Doctrine inherited (Step 7 — 0626 rollout)

Output complies with:

• output-tenets.md — the seven tenets
• output-simplicity.md — length caps, three-layer source placement, robot-tells ban
• design-production.md — DESIGN.md contract for the rendered deck
• Step 6 calibration: see [[feedback_execution_doctrine_refinements_step6]]

Refinements applied to this skill:

When to run

• User says "sales deck", "pitch deck", "sales presentation", "slide deck", or "deck for [prospect]"
• After /messaging completes — natural chain into a sales asset
• Sales asks for a customizable prospect deck before a demo or pitch
• Skip when the ask is competitor research (/competitor-research), a battlecard (/battlecards), a demo script (/demo-script), or marketing slides (different asset type)

Inputs

Required (at least one of each):

• Product context — capabilities, what it does (from /messaging, URL, or attachment)
• Target audience — persona or segment (from /icp-behavioural or user)

Recommended: /messaging (value props, proof), /icp-behavioural (pain, triggers), /competitor-research (differentiation), /positioning (anchors), /win-loss (FAQ + proof).

Optional: brand source — /brand-identity DESIGN.md tokens, brand doc, or inline color/font specs. Existing template — PPTX file, Google Slides URL, or markdown outline (overrides the default 10-slide structure).

If both required inputs are missing: ask for product/company and target audience. Offer to run /messaging or /icp-behavioural first. Full input checklist + auto-routing in the premium reference.

Steps

1. Gather context. Pull /messaging, /icp-behavioural, /competitor-research, /positioning outputs. Note brand source (DESIGN.md preferred). Note any user-provided template.
2. Confirm structure. Default = 10-slide structure (cover, social proof, problem, capabilities, differentiation, use cases/personas, how it works, pricing, CTA, FAQ — full specs in the premium reference). If user template differs, adapt: merge if fewer slides, split if more, preserve layout patterns.
3. Apply DESIGN.md tokens. Read projects/consulting/{client}/brand/{MMYY}-brand-kit.md. Quote exact token values in the spec (colors.primary (#…), typography.display-lg). One primary color per slide. Two font weights max. Body slides never compete with title-slide primary strength. Full contract: the premium reference and .claude/rules/design-production.md. If no DESIGN.md exists, recommend /brand-identity first — never invent tokens.
4. Generate slide outline. Slide titles + 3-4 key points each, with content-source mapping. Insight-driven titles only ("Cut reporting time by 60%", not "Our Product Features"). Present for user approval before full content.
5. Generate slide content. One idea per slide, 6×6 rule (max 6 bullets, 6 words each). Headline = takeaway. Visuals over text. No invented metrics, logos, pricing, or quotes — mark unverifiable claims [UNVERIFIED] and ban "industry-leading", "best-in-class", "innovative".
6. Write speaker notes per slide. Format: WHAT TO SAY (2-3 talking-point sentences) → KEY DATA (specific numbers/dates/sources) → TRANSITION (bridge to next slide) → OBJECTION PREP (likely questions + responses).
7. Source-validate. Every factual claim cites a source per .claude/rules/ontology.md ([VERIFIED: source] / [INFERRED: from X + Y] / [UNVERIFIED]). Customer quotes verbatim only.
8. Run pre-delivery checks. Pre-delivery + self-eval rubric in the premium reference. Flag any check that fails: would this survive a CFO in the room? Does the problem slide create urgency? Is differentiation specific?
9. Review gate (Level 2). Present markdown deck for user approval. Actions: approve / adjust slides / change structure.
10. Ask output format. Markdown (default), PPTX, Google Slides, Google Docs.
11. Export.
    • PPTX → invoke /pptx (local, brand-aware) with slide content + speaker notes; /pptx resolves the brand kit and applies it. Falls back to document-skills:pptx only if the local skill is unavailable.
    • Google Slides → cd.claude/mcp/gdrive && node create-slides.mjs "[deck.md]" "[Company]" --client {slug}
    • Google Docs → cd.claude/mcp/gdrive && node create-doc-unified.mjs "[deck.md]" "[Company]" --client {slug}
12. Suggest chains. If approved → /demo-script (deck narrative informs demo flow), /battlecards (per competitor), /product-launch (deck as launch asset), /outreach (deck value props inform email copy).

What good looks like

Examples:

Evaluations (the deck is good when):

• All 10 slides have insight-driven titles (passes "so what" test) and pass the 6×6 rule
• Every slide has speaker notes with WHAT TO SAY / KEY DATA / TRANSITION / OBJECTION PREP
• Every factual claim has [VERIFIED] / [INFERRED] / [UNVERIFIED] per ontology — no invented metrics, logos, or quotes
• Brand tokens applied: title slide uses primary color, body slides don't; two font weights max; WCAG AA on all text
• Prospect can self-identify by slide 6; clear CTA on slide 9; FAQ addresses top 5 objections from /win-loss
• Sales would present it without rewriting 80% of it

Final ship gate

Run /premortem --output before ship. See /premortem skill for the 5 execution domains (will-it-resonate / will-it-convert / will-it-stay-on-brand / will-stakeholder-push-back / will-it-degrade-over-time) and output template.

Then run /scope-guardian-reviewer — the client-deliverable ship gate: scope-creep check on proposals/SOWs (pm-loop.md).

Trivial-case escape: ## Premortem\nNo failure modes — trivial change satisfies the contract for genuinely trivial outputs.