Field notes from the pitch room
Charts That Sell
Eight field notes on making data close deals — no chart-beauty contests, just what works in front of a client.
I've made slides for a living for years. Everything here comes from the same observation: clients don't buy charts, they buy the conclusion a chart makes impossible to argue with. The series runs in three layers — the story your deck tells, the charts that carry it, and the data that feeds them.
These notes are about the argument. The mechanics are next door: thirteen chart types, one page each, all of them editable once you paste a table.
The charts
Choose the chart by the conclusion you're selling
Urgency wants a line. A gap wants bars. Reallocation wants blocks. Attribution wants a waterfall.
FIELD NOTE #2One slide, one claim: the 3-second rule
The client gives each page three seconds. Three claims on one page is no claim at all.
FIELD NOTE #3The seven edits after you double-click
Export is the starting line, not the finish. Seven edits that make a chart yours instead of the tool's.
FIELD NOTE #4Colors that sell
The client's palette is the room; one accent carries the claim. And red already means something.
The data
The Friday-night data cleanup that saves your Monday pitch
Fifteen minutes on Friday buys back three hours at 8:50 on Monday. Seven mechanical checks.
FIELD NOTE #6Never replace a missing number with zero
Zero is a measurement; missing is a confession you don't know. A gap presented honestly can even sell.
The story
Answer first: the pyramid principle for people who pitch
One answer on slide 2, three arguments beneath it, every chart proving exactly one of them.
FIELD NOTE #8SCQA: the four beats every winning proposal opens with
Situation they nod at, complication that tilts their world, the question, your answer — ninety seconds.
The notes are the method. The tool is the mechanics.
Paste your table →