Tips for a Successful Tool Talk

How to develop your Tool Talk with a focus on content and structure

Here's what you can expect in this article👇:

1. The central guiding principle: Value before sales pitch

2. A structured approach for your pitch

3. Why targeted focus makes sense

4. Criteria for choosing the right speakers

5. Practical tips on slides and time management

A Tool Talk isn't a classic sales webinar. The goal is to give your audience guidance and support them in their decision-making process. The following points will help you shape your contribution to be clear, understandable, and audience-focused.

Content over sales: Be advisory, not promotional

Our experience shows: Traditional sales pitches don't land as well with the target audience as informative content does. Put yourself in the shoes of those searching for a solution. They want to understand how your tool actually improves their work day.

Skip QR codes, special discount offers, or displaying your contact details on the slides. That's not part of the format, so we can maintain comparability and neutrality.

Your 11-minute pitch: The ideal structure

To make your slot as impactful as possible, we recommend this approach:

• Presentation including concrete use cases (approx. 5 min.): Tell a story. Instead of listing features, describe a problem ("Company A has problem X") and how your tool solves it ("With automation Y we solve that"). This helps your audience project the software onto their own organization.
• The live demo (approx. 5 min.): Make your tool tangible by jumping into the software live.

Please avoid embedded videos within the slides, as these often lag during the webinar. Live demos work best!

Set your focus: Who is your tool right for?

A tool that claims to do everything for everyone comes across as untrustworthy. Participants are looking for the solution that fits them personally.

Be transparent: Which company sizes, industries, or use cases is your tool especially suited for, and where might there be limitations?

Precise positioning can help keep expectations realistic and build trust.

Choosing your speaker: Who should present your tool?

The person on the "digital stage" represents your brand. Choose someone who:

• Knows their stuff: Expertise beats perfect marketing speak.
• Presents in German: Tool Talks take place in German.
• Shows genuine enthusiasm: The audience can tell whether someone really believes in the product.

Often colleagues from Solution Consulting, Customer Success, or Product Management are excellent choices, since they know the daily pain points of customers firsthand.

Design and time management: Less is more

You have 11 minutes. Here's how to prepare them optimally:

• Slide design: Use our Google Slides template. That keeps things consistent and saves you time on layout. Work with bullet points instead of paragraphs. Here you'll find a good example presentation.
• Timing: Definitely rehearse your talk beforehand with a stopwatch. If you significantly exceed the time limit, the moderator will need to interrupt you to keep the schedule on track for everyone.

Interaction: Your wish question

After your pitch comes the panel discussion. A special bonus for you: You can pick one question in advance that our experts will ask you live right after your pitch. This way you can make sure an important aspect from your perspective gets discussed, and it happens completely naturally.

Looking for visual inspiration?

👉 Here you'll find a best practice video

Still have more questions?

👉 Here you'll find answers to frequently asked questions about Tool Talks