interesting. but slightly off topic - do sales guys construct their own decks? surely decks need approval / sanctioning before distribution to prospects? don't firms have their own decks for sales people to leverage?
In smaller, scrappier companies or just in less "sexy" industries, sales people are known to prepare their own decks and whether prior approval is sought is really to the mercy of the individual's integrity and savvy.
The reason is that good pitch decks can be excruciatingly hard to write. Writing includes the storyline (obviously) but also details like PowerPoint formatting. Relatively few sales people have the time or experience to do this from scratch.
* If you are selling to techies it helps to show though-provoking technology (demo or striking concepts) very early to catch their attention. Business value may or may not have much impact.
* If you are selling an internal project to corporate execs it's common to have enough on the first two slides so that you can make the pitch successfully even if the conversation diverges from your agenda in the first few minutes. I would also ensure that they can read out how it will enhance their careers/position in the company pretty easily.
Figuring out what to say in a pitch is an old problem that many people have worked on. The ancients had a surprisingly good grasp on solutions. It's worth glancing at what they had to say [0] along with modern views.
[0] https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/classical-rhetoric-1...
I did prep a few sales presentations for my former boss though. He just didn't have the time.
There is usually a review though. Depending on what industry you're in you can't promise certain things, and often the company wants a bit more control over outward presentation.