How to Create a Team Slide Pitch Deck + Real-Life Examples
Getting invited to present your business proposal feels like crossing the finish line.
But here’s the hard truth: most deals slip away right after the presentation.
Why’s that? Because even the strongest proposal can't make up for weak design or fuzzy delivery.
And when your presentation falls flat, you’re not just losing attention. You’re leaving money on the table.
The good news is that you don’t need weeks of redesigns or a full creative team to turn it around. What you need is a proven framework.
And that’s exactly what you’ll get from this complete guide. I’ll walk you step by step through how to create proposal presentations that connect, persuade and close deals.
By the end, you’ll know exactly how to design slides that connect, persuade and stick in your audience’s mind long after the meeting ends.
Let’s dive in!
Here's a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit business proposal presentation templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:
A proposal presentation is a slide deck used to pitch a business idea, project plan or solution to an audience so they can decide whether to approve, fund or move forward with it.
This type of presentation combines persuasive delivery, content and visuals that highlight the value of your proposal and show how it solves a problem.
Instead of sending over a proposal document and crossing your fingers, you get to walk your audience through the key points live in person (or virtually). Being able to interact with them makes your presentation interactive, memorable and more compelling.
There are three critical components of a winning business proposal presentation:
These three components work like table legs.
Remove one and it might still stand, but it won’t be sturdy. The same goes for your presentation: leave one ingredient out and it won’t be as effective.
These presentation types are similar in structure and the reason is not far-fetched. They all rely on strong content, engaging visuals and confident delivery. But each has a different audience, goal and scope.
Let’s take a look at what sets them apart.
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A proposal presentation is used to secure approval for a specific idea, project or solution. It’s often presented to decision-makers who are already familiar with your company.
Sales presentation persuades a potential customer to buy your product or service. It highlights features, benefits and competitive advantages, to convert interest into a purchase.
At the early stage of the buyer’s journey, it sparks interest. In the later stages of the sales process, it addresses objections and nudges the prospect closer to a purchase decision.
A pitch deck is used to present a business idea to potential investors. The goal is to build confidence in your vision and secure funding.
| Type | Main Goal | Audience | Content | End Result |
| Proposal Presentation | Get approval or funding for a specific plan or solution | Decision-makers within a company or organization | Problem, proposed solution, benefits, implementation plan, next steps | Project or idea is approved and moves to execution |
| Sales Presentation | Persuade someone to buy a product or service | Prospective customers or clients | Product features, benefits, competitive advantages, pricing | Sale is closed |
| Pitch Deck | Secure investment or support for a business idea | Investors, venture capitalists, competition judges | Problem, solution, market size, traction, business model, financials | Funding or backing is secured |
The main components of a proposal presentation include:
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Proposals aren’t one-size-fits-all. The type of proposal presentation you create depends on your goal, audience and industry.
Some are built to secure funding, others to win clients, and some to get the go-ahead for internal projects.
Below is a quick breakdown of the most common types, what they’re for, when to use them and the industries they typically serve.
| Type | What It Is | When to Use | Typical Industries | Key Focus |
| Business Proposal Presentation | A presentation outlining a solution to a client’s or stakeholder’s specific need or problem | When pitching a service, product or plan to secure approval or a contract | Consulting, Marketing, IT Services, Construction | Problem, solution, benefits, ROI |
| Project Proposal Presentation | A detailed plan for a new project, including scope, timeline and budget | To get internal or external stakeholders to approve a project before starting | Engineering, Nonprofit, Event Planning, Government | Scope, milestones, resources, risks |
| Sales Proposal Presentation | A persuasive presentation to convince a prospect to buy | When moving a lead toward closing in the sales process | SaaS, Retail, Manufacturing, Professional Services | Features, benefits, competitive edge |
| Investment Proposal Presentation | A pitch to secure funding from investors or venture capitalists | When raising seed capital, Series funding or expansion funding | Startups, Real Estate, Tech, Renewable Energy | Market opportunity, traction, financials |
| Research Proposal Presentation | A plan for a research project or study, often for approval or funding | Before starting a research initiative | Academia, Healthcare, Science, Policy | Research question, methodology, expected outcomes |
| Grant Proposal Presentation | A formal pitch to request grant funding from organizations or government bodies | When applying for grants to support a program or initiative | Nonprofit, Education, Healthcare, Environmental agencies | Program goals, impact and budget justification |
Follow these steps to nail your next proposal presentation:
Before you start designing slides, get to know the people you’re presenting to. Who are they? What keeps them up at night? What’s their role in the decision-making process?
The more you understand their priorities and pain points, the easier it is to tailor your content so it hits home. Remember, you’re there to solve their pain point.
You can uncover this information by:
If you’re working with a sales team, an account manager or someone who’s interacted with the client before, tap into their knowledge. Internal CRM notes can reveal past clients’ objectives, pain points and preferences.
For B2C companies, check product reviews or forums where customers share frustrations or wins. These sources provide valuable insights into where they might need help or differentiation.
Earlier, we covered what to include in a proposal presentation: the core ingredients every client expects to see.
Now it’s time to take those ingredients and structure your bid proposal presentation.
Start by pulling together everything you need—data, visuals, case studies and social proof—based on what you learned about your audience.
Then map out a flow that guides them from problem → solution → benefits → proof → next steps without detours.
Keep the text short, punchy and laser-focused. Attention spans are short, so get to the point quickly. Use visuals and numbers to do the heavy lifting and let your words highlight what matters most.
Weave in your unique value proposition so they understand why your solution is the one that makes the most sense for them. And while you’re framing it, put the spotlight on benefits over features.
“Selling the benefits of your offering (instead of its features) is the single‑most effective skill you can learn as an entrepreneur,” says JamestheCopyGuy via Reddit.
Think about it: would you be more intrigued by “92% faster airbag deployment,” or “more likely to save your life in a crash”?
You guessed right! The first is data/ information. The other is persuasion that sparks an emotional response.
Emotional resonance is where decisions happen. Marketing that emphasizes benefits connects on a deeper level and drives more conversions because it taps into the audience’s needs and aspirations.
Elisa Montanari, Head of Organic Growth at Wrike, drives this point home:
“So many people fail to take a marketing mindset to their proposal and write for their audience first. While your proposal should prove why you’re a credible and high-quality fit for the project, it’s primarily a tool to show how you’ll fill the client’s needs on their terms, not yours. Write from a tailored, solution-oriented approach and spend more time talking about pain points than your latest company awards.”
We all know that putting a proposal together can be tough.
You’d have to wrestle with design, layout and content. On top of that, you need to dedicate time to prepare and practice your delivery,
But why start from scratch anyway when you can save hours of design time with templates?
Professionally designed proposal presentation examples let you focus more on the story you’re telling and less on slide design.
Of course, using a template is only half the job. Customizing it to fit your client’s brand and audience is what makes it stand out.
A generic, cookie-cutter deck blends in and gets forgotten. But when your slides reflect their industry, their challenges and even their colors? That’s the one that will stick in their minds long after the meeting ends.
Visme makes this process effortless. It comes loaded with hundreds of professionally designed proposal presentation templates and an intuitive, drag-and-drop editor.
You can quickly swap out stock visuals for relevant examples, tweak the copy and adapt the structure to your audience—no design experience needed.
And here’s the best part. With Visme’s Brand Wizard, you don’t have to spend hours guessing brand colors or chasing down client logos.
Drop in your prospect’s website URL and AI will automatically pull their brand assets (logos, colors and fonts) and save them in your brand area. Within minutes, you’ll have a fully branded proposal.
Visuals fuel decision-making. Research from the University of Michigan shows that visuals improve strategy decisions by enhancing memory, pattern recognition and knowledge transfer.
In other words, a great visual does more than just look good. It boost critical thinking and better decision making.
Here’s a template with a rich combination of different types of visuals.
Another beautiful thing about creating proposals with Visme is that you’re spoiled for options. You have access to millions of stock photos, icons, videos, 3D assets, illustrations and data visualizations, all in one place.
You can even create custom visuals on the spot with Visme’s AI image generator.
Whatever story you need to tell, you’ll find the right visuals to back it up.
Static slides can only take you so far. But interactive and multimedia elements can make your proposal more engaging and help your audience understand your message faster. And like visuals, they should have a purpose.
You can embed interactive elements directly into your slides, like
These elements not only make your proposal more dynamic but also help your audience absorb information easily.
And the numbers back it up. Seventy percent of presenters say interactive content helps engage the audience, and 68% of people find interactive presentations more memorable.
Did you hover over each state to see the different numbers and statistics?
Do you see how powerful that is? Users are less likely to scroll past interactive content. They want to stick around and play with it for a bit first.
Even better, when you introduce live polls or Q&A moments, engagement levels can reach as high as 92%. These moments of interaction keep people invested in what you’re presenting.
With Visme, adding interactive and multimedia elements is straightforward. You can build everything from videos to interactive charts right into your presentation without leaving the editor.
And if you want to go deeper, we’ve put together an in-depth guide on how to create an interactive presentation with Visme.
Your presentation might end when you leave the room. But the decision-making process usually doesn’t. There’s always a chance that not everyone in the room received (or read) your original proposal beforehand.
Handouts and supporting materials give your audience something concrete to revisit when you’re not there to walk them through the details.
For quick, high-level takeaways, create a one-page proposal. This format is perfect for busy executives who need the big picture fast.
If your project calls for more context, go with a multi-page proposal. Here you can dive deeper into data, visuals, and supporting details that strengthen your case.
Both formats work. The right choice depends on your audience and how much information they need to make a decision..
With Visme, you don’t have to start from scratch. You’ll find dozens of professionally designed proposal templates and one-pagers you can customize to your brand and project. You can even turn your live presentation into a polished, downloadable PDF so every stakeholder walks away with the same branded experience.
A proposal presentation should be easy for everyone in the room to read and follow.
If your audience is straining to see your slides or struggling to make sense of them, your message gets lost.
Start with the basics. Keep font sizes large enough to read from the back of the room, use high-contrast colors, and avoid packing too much text onto a single slide.
Clean, simple layouts always win over visual noise.
Accessibility matters just as much as readability. It lets everyone, including people with visual, auditory or cognitive impairments, fully engage with and understand your proposal.
And yes, Visme includes built-in accessibility features that help you meet WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards.
The accessibility checker scans your project for issues like low contrast, missing alt text or small font sizes and gives you suggestions to fix them. You can even manually adjust the reading order and preview how your slides appear to people with visual impairments.
Use these features to make your presentation more inclusive. And when your presentation works for everyone, you can share it confidently in person, online or across different devices.
For a full step-by-step walkthrough, check out this resource: How to Create Accessible Presentations: A Detailed Guide.
Earlier, we talked about how templates can make creating a proposal presentation faster.
But there’s an even faster way: Visme’s AI Presentation Maker. It can take you from a blank screen to a fully designed proposal in minutes.
1. Log in to your Visme dashboard.
2. Click the Create New button → Project → Presentations.
3. In the template library, scroll down and click Generate with AI.
4. In the pop-up, type a detailed prompt describing exactly what your presentation should include. If you’re not specific enough, the chatbot will ask follow-up questions to help refine the content.
5. Visme’s AI will suggest template styles. Pick the one that fits best, then wait a few moments for your proposal design to be generated.
6. Preview it, regenerate if needed or open it in the Visme editor to make changes.
Once your AI-generated proposal is ready, you can customize it in Visme.
Choose a color theme or create your own, edit text, and pull from Visme’s royalty-free library of photos, videos and graphics. You can even create new visuals on the spot with Visme’s AI image tools.
You can even make the design process a collaborative effort. Invite your team member to edit, comment or review the deck at their comfort. Or use the workflow tool to assign different sections to team members to work on.
Beyond the aspect of presentation design, Visme’s AI offers more valuable tools.
Visme’s AI text generator can help you quickly write headlines, bullet points and proposal copy specific to your project or audience.
Need to tweak your visuals? Visme’s AI image editing tools let you resize, enhance or even reimagine images directly inside the platform—no separate photo editor needed. With these AI-powered features, you can build, write and design a professional proposal presentation in record time, all without leaving Visme.
If you’re more of a visual learner, watch this video to learn how to create proposals with AI quickly.
The beautiful thing about Visme is that you’re not just limited to the basics. As Lee Murray, Creative Content Manager at IRISS Inc., put it:
“The more I researched Visme, the more I saw its full capabilities, functionalities and the possibilities it opened up. Each time I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if it did this?’ And then I found out it could actually do that.” Read full case study here.
What does a business proposal presentation look like? The answer depends on the type of proposal you’re pitching.
That’s why we’ve rounded up templates from multiple industries to help you kickstart your own and make it presentation-ready in minutes. Our editor is built to be foolproof so customizing these templates is a breeze.
That simplicity is what made it easy for Lee Murray, Creative Content Manager at IRISS Inc., to jump in and start creating on his own:
“Visme’s UI is definitely built for a prosumer audience. If you’ve ever used PowerPoint or any kind of desktop publishing software, you can use Visme. It feels as easy as using social media.”
Pitch your project proposal to potential clients using this gorgeous template. It jumps straight into social proof with client testimonials right after the company overview. Your client gets to see evidence of your work before diving into the details. I love how visual aids break down the project scope, timeline and budget so it’s easier to digest.
The template blends gray, black and white backgrounds with contrasting font colors and a pop of bright yellow to keep the design fresh and eye-catching. Feel free to swap out the content, colors, fonts and other design elements to fit your branding.
Our next proposal template is elegant, modern and built to impress. It’s ideal for branding agencies or in-house teams pitching co-branding opportunities. Each slide blends colors, shapes, and visuals into a cohesive story.
Inside, you’ll find slides to showcase your value proposition, present the opportunity, outline what partners will gain and lay out the next steps. With this design, you’re making a statement of credibility and intent.
A budget proposal is a crucial template for event planning. And this one ticks all the right boxes. It gives you everything you need to present your budget clearly and secure funding. You’ll find dedicated sections for the project summary, timeline and other key event details.
Design-wise, this business proposal example is impressive. The bold colors, clean icons, striking photos and curated design assets work together to keep your audience hooked every step of the way.
Make a lasting impression at your next client meeting with this architecture proposal presentation template.
The design is sleek and sophisticated, setting the perfect backdrop for your ideas. Just as you’d expect, visuals take center stage. They help guide your audience through your architectural masterpieces, interior and exterior concepts, process flowcharts, team profiles and financials.
Use it to present project proposals, share architectural designs, display 3D renderings or highlight past work. Every slide is built to make your solution showcase professional and memorable.
If you’re pitching your social media consulting services in person or virtually, this proposal presentation template is a must-have.
With its clean grid layouts and unique mix of shapes, it instantly sets your pitch apart. Different shades of blue paired with crisp white backgrounds give it a fresh, modern feel that aligns perfectly with the digital space. Inside, you’ll find slides to cover the project scope, identify potential pitfalls, present tailored solutions, break down costs, map out your timeline and outline the next steps.
Even if you don’t get a chance to do a live meeting, no problem. Record your proposal with Visme’s presentation recording tool for your client to view on demand. You can appear on camera or stick to voice-over. Either way, your pitch will still be interesting.
Our final pick is a proposal presentation template built for setting up a diner. The highlight is the menu section, packed with mouthwatering food photography that instantly sells the concept.
You’ll also find slides for initial cost estimates, seating capacity, business parameters, success factors, investment plans, projected returns and key milestones. This template is perfect for aspiring restaurateurs, hospitality entrepreneurs or anyone pitching a new food and beverage concept.
And yes, you can easily repurpose it into an investor pitch deck. Swap in your own branding, fix the financials and share with your audience.
Download your deck in PDF, PPTX and image formats or share online with a live URL. If you shared online, you can track how viewers interact with your deck using our analytics tool.
AI has become part of the presentation design process.
Up to 28% of designers are already using AI to create stakeholder presentations. About 79% of them rely on it to write content and copy.
The thing is, AI tools that create PowerPoint slides won’t replace your ideas. But I guarantee they’ll save you from the frustrating time drain involved.Let’s show you how:
One of the hardest parts of creating a presentation is figuring out where to start. AI presentation tools can generate a proposal deck in minutes.
Feed the tool a detailed prompt about your project, audience and goals. You’ll get a customizable deck with layouts, design elements, visuals and placeholder text.
Example of AI tools you can try include Visme AI Presentation Maker, Beautiful.ai, Tome
Proposal slides thrive on how well they communicate ideas.
AI writing assistants can help you turn rough notes into persuasive and polished text. Use them to write headlines, section intros, bullet points or proofread your copy. You can even ask it to reframe technical details into audience-friendly language.
ChatGPT, Jasper, GrammarlyGO, Copy.ai and Visme’s AI writer are good examples of AI text generators.
AI tools like Visme’s brand wizard can automatically pull in clients’ brand assets (colors, fonts and logos) from their website. With their assets saved on your brand area, you don’t have to tweak every slide manually.
The result? Personalized, on-brand slides that win clients’ attention and trust.
Sometimes, the difference between a good presentation and a great one is the visuals that tie the story together. Use AI image generators to create custom graphics, charts, diagrams, infographics, mockups or concept visuals that match your proposal theme.
Visme AI Image Generator, MidJourney, DALL·E and Runway are great tools you can rely on.
Before you present, run your deck through an AI-powered checker for accessibility, clarity and design consistency. Tools like Visme’s accessibility checker will flag low-contrast text, missing alt text or overly small fonts. This AI feature will make your slide deck professional, accessible and inclusive.
Why juggle half a dozen tools when you could do it all in one place? We already mentioned that Visme’s AI Hub is loaded with all of these AI features.
This means you have one powerful, unified content creation suite that brings platform design, storytelling, visuals and accessibility tools together.
Even though the key decision-makers come from different departments within the company and have specific needs, they share one question: "why should we get this product?" Bombarding them with the nitty-gritty about the specs and features of your product isn't the way to answer this. Instead, focus on the benefits they'll get.
Studies show that your audience remembers 65% of the information you share when you include an image. However, this number drops the moment you use clichéd or poor-quality visuals. Use images only when necessary and make sure that they're essential to your point.
About 34% of customers are willing to trust and do business with a company when they’re shown testimonials of satisfied customers.
On top of that, adding testimonials also creates a sense of FOMO among your audience, especially when one of their competitors is using your product. This can help you push the key decision-makers off the fence and give them even more reason to buy your product.
Don't assume that your attendees will know what they should do next once the presentation is over. Tell them! For example, if you mentioned that you’re offering them an introductory discount, explain to them the steps they need to take to avail themselves of it.
You can also tell them how long this offer will last. This helps you create a sense of urgency, so you don’t have to wait a long time for their response.
This is perhaps the most crucial step in closing more business proposal presentation deals. That’s because 80% of sales happen after the fifth follow-up call onwards.
Balance is the key. Follow-up calls should be frequent enough that the people you’ve presented to remember you. At the same time, it should be spread far apart so you don’t come across as pushy or annoying.
Creating proposal presentations that hit the mark isn’t a walk in the park.
I’ll walk you through some of the hurdles teams face and how you can ace them.
A one-size-fits-all approach often misses the mark. Stakeholders have different priorities, expectations and buying triggers. Ignoring these nuances can make your proposal feel generic or irrelevant.
Mira Nathalea, CMO at SoftwareHow, learned this the hard way:
“Two mistakes I’ve seen, and even made myself early on, are overcomplicating the proposal and neglecting the client’s main pain points. I’ve often caught myself writing pages of product details that, in reality, don’t help the client understand what we’re offering. Now, I stick to simple language and make sure I have thoroughly researched what’s bothering the client most, so I can speak directly to that.”
Solution:
Research your audience beforehand. Understand their pain points, goals and decision drivers. Strip out the noise and shine a spotlight on the one or two things they care about most. That's how you make the proposal feel like it was made with them in mind.
When every slide is crammed with text, charts or endless bullet points, your audience stops listening and starts reading. And once they’re reading, you’ve lost control of the room.
Solution:
Treat slides as visual anchors, not scripts. Each one should highlight a single idea with short text, bold visuals and a clean design. Let icons, charts or images carry the weight while you drive the story. That way, your slides cue the message while you take the lead.
A string of facts and features lacks emotional pull. When it feels like a product manual, it might inform but won’t persuade. And without a compelling narrative, it’s much harder to influence decision-makers.
Solution:
Frame your proposal around a story. Highlight the challenge your audience faces. Introduce your solution as the hero. And end your presentation with the positive outcomes they’ll achieve.
Back it up with real-world examples, case studies or customer success stories to make it relatable. When your pitch reads like a story rather than a sell sheet, you’re far more likely to move hearts and minds.
That’s exactly why Nordia Williams, Consultant & Freelancer, emphasizes storytelling:
“Telling a story helps people connect with the message you want to share. The same goes for a consulting presentation! Start by showing a “before” and “after” picture to help your client see the difference your ideas can make. Guide them on a journey—start with the problem, walk them through the steps, and finish with your solution. This approach makes the presentation more interesting and easier to follow.”
Even the sharpest deck can fall flat if nerves, time limits or curveball questions throw you off balance. The result? Rushed slides, forgotten points and shaky delivery that undermine your authority.
Solution:
This solution is old-school but effective. Rehearse until the material feels second nature. Practice pacing, pauses and transitions out loud—not just in your head. Run mock Q&A sessions with a colleague to prepare for objections. When you’re familiar with your material, it’s easy to stay composed.
Attention spans are brutal. If your delivery is too flat or robotic, you’ll lose your audience halfway through, no matter how good the deck is.
Solution:
Make your presentation interactive. Ask questions that prompt reflection, run a quick poll or get a show of hands. Mix up your tone and pacing so your delivery doesn’t feel monotonous. Balance insights with anecdotes, visuals and interactive elements like video or animations.
Energy is contagious. If you keep the room engaged, your message will stick.
An RFP response is a detailed written document submitted to meet specific requirements outlined by the client. It’s often long, structured and packed with technical details.
A proposal presentation is the opposite. It’s a condensed and visual format used to present your proposal to a live audience. Instead of walking through every technical detail, it distills the essential elements into a visual narrative that shows the client why your solution is the best choice.
Choose tools that make it easy to design slides, collaborate with your team and deliver the presentation smoothly. For design, options like PowerPoint, Google Slides and Visme allow you to create professional-looking decks with visual impact.
If you’re pitching virtually, platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Webex are standard, while in-person meetings may require checking that your laptop, projector and clicker are all working ahead of time.
The best approach is to stay composed and focused on your strengths.
If a client asks about competitors, never bash them. Instead, use the opportunity to highlight what sets your offering apart, whether it’s a better support, scalability or a proven track record in their industry.
The client doesn’t care who “wins” the comparison. They care about who solves their problem best. And framing your response around benefits and outcomes helps shift the conversation back to why your solution fits their needs best, without sounding defensive or confrontational.
An excellent business proposal presentation blends a mix of data, stories and design that guides your audience step by step toward saying yes.
Use visuals to simplify complexity, stories to create connection and structure to make the decision feel effortless.
Of course, how you deliver matters too. Keep your audience engaged, show them you understand their challenges, and position your proposal as the solution they’ve been waiting for
With Visme, you can skip the blank page and start with professionally designed templates and proposal maker. Personalize them to match your client’s brand, add interactivity and multimedia and end up with a killer proposal presentation that's worth every minute of your clients' time.
Your next big win could start with the right presentation. Create your free Visme account today and start building proposals that close deals faster.
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