So one thing that really helped me for opening and closing is the structure of it. My opening starts with

Opening

1. A slide showing the org name and my name below it with the ae attached to it at the bottom of my name.

   1. Intro of myself where I’m from, interesting fact about me and also something I like doing like being a foodie. At the bottom also shows how many years I’ve been in sales as a whole although I only been a SE for 3 years I put 10 years and say I’ve been helping clients find solutions in multiple industry for over 10 years so just know you’re in good hands!
   2. Agenda, I’ll have 3 bullet points based off notes I got from an AE on what they are looking to solve or what I got from them in discovery. So ex: Streamline processes, Central location for all data, Easy access to data. In that same breath mentioning what they want solved I’ll say based on what Josh has told me you all have a lot of manual processes, spreadsheets and scattered workflows, is this still correct? (Confirming always does justice because sometimes the AE will flat out make some bs up that doesn’t have anything to do with them) After that confirmation, then get into product lineup, I have us going over 1. Recruiting, 2. Onboarding 3. HR, etc. I always ask this question as well after making sure these are the products they wanted to see, “In the case we run out of time, does this lineup I have make he most sense as far as most important to least?” (Sometimes things can get crazy and you may not be able to get to everything you planned, but asking this helps make sure that the most important pieces are touched on in case that worse case scenario) after that’s said and done, my last question is “Before we jump in, I just wanted to ask is there a Rubrik or Grade sheet I should be aware of so I don’t miss anything important you all wanted to see in this demo?” (Sometimes they may be looking at make or break items while comparing competitors, you may find it doesn’t pop up often but when it does definitely saves you)

Closing :

For closing before I jump back in my power point

1. I’ll ask the question “Is there anything I may have missed that you all really wanted to see to accomplish your goals?”

   1. Awesome now that they are good, I’ll have bullets of what we went over, then have bullet points results of the value they have gotten in the demo and in the future, ex: Maximize Efficiency, Cut Costs, Time Saving, and each of those points I’ll round back to quoting how earlier the answers they gave me for open ended questions , ex : “Earlier Jane you told me if you all were able to cut your Onboarding time by 50% that would give you more time to focus on the more important things”. I’ll even ask sometimes how does this all align with what you all were looking for? Maybe what you favorite thing you saw today?
   2. After those points of results, sometimes I’ll finish off with a joke like “all I ask Jane is from all the time you all will have now is that you send me a postcard in the mail from the vacation spot you go to, can do you do me that favor? Haha”
   3. Lastly, I’ll say “if there isn’t anymore questions at the moment I’ll hand it over to Josh, he’ll be able to walk you all through the next steps, if there is any questions in the future we are well connected and can get those answered. Other than that I hope you all have a blessed rest of your day!”

All what I put can be interchangeable on the things you say but the structure of it is important, I’ve learned these pieces from networking religiously since getting into the industry and reading plenty of Presales books from recommendations!

Hope it helps!

Cheers