I've designed hundreds of presentations for consultants and coaches. Here's the pattern I see over and over:

The deck is an afterthought.

You spend weeks on your strategy, your framework, your methodology — then the night before a client meeting, you throw together 30 slides in the default PowerPoint template. Blue background, bullet points, clip art energy.

Here's the thing: your deck IS the first impression. Before a client hires you, they're judging your professionalism by what's on that screen.

3 things that instantly make your deck look amateur:

1. Too many words per slide. If your audience is reading, they're not listening to you. Max 6 words per headline. The rest goes in your speaker notes.

1. No visual hierarchy. Every element on the slide is the same size, same font weight. Your audience doesn't know where to look. Use contrast — one big thing, everything else smaller.

1. Stock template vibes. The second someone sees that gradient blue background, they mentally check out. Custom doesn't mean complex — even a clean white deck with your brand colors wins.

The consultants who close at higher rates all have one thing in common: their materials look like they already run a $10M business.

If you want decks that match your expertise, that's exactly what we do at DeckCraft.