We live in a world where 30 million presentations are made every day. In just the first 7 seconds of meeting someone, we already form an opinion about them. And if we’re not entertained or engaged in the first 8 seconds of a presentation, we’re likely to tune out for the next 5 minutes. While the bigger parts of a sales pitch—like making strong points and telling a clear, engaging story—are important, the smaller details can really make a difference in closing a deal. Typos are often the most ignored elements, yet they are the easiest to notice and correct.

1. Casts a negative light on various parties

Just like strong spelling and grammar skills show credibility, care, critical thinking, and intelligence, neglecting these aspects will show the opposite to your audience. For instance, Larry Beason’s “Ethos and Error: How Business People React to Errors” examined 14 case studies and found that poor spelling and grammar reflect badly on both the individual presenting and the company or brand. The audience may view the presenter as someone who procrastinates – lacking investment in the pitch and insufficient knowledge. The effect of typos goes beyond that. Not only will the presenter of a sales pitch poorly represent himself and his personal brand, but he or she will also fail to portray their organization or business in a professional and effective way.

2. Threatens the possibility of pitch success

According to analysis completed in 2011 by online entrepreneur Charles Duncombe, online sales were slashed in half if a site contained just one spelling mistake. Furthermore, typos alter the readability of content – leading to decreased sales of some products, such as those that cannot be experienced prior to a purchase. This situation was demonstrated in a study called “Estimating the Helpfulness and Economic Impact of Product Reviews: Mining Text and Reviewer Characteristics” found that the less errors a product review contained, the higher the product sales. When giving a pitch presentation, you may or may not have the product available for the potential investor or client to interact with, so the presenter should look at their slides as the product experience. You wouldn’t want to ruin that experience with distracting typos, would you? Don’t risk losing a sale or pushing a customer or consumer away. You’ll likely have a limited time to express your concept and ideas, as well as display your deck, so confirm that the text on each slide is flawless – both in spelling and grammar.

3. Lessens the impact of messaging

In a survey of over 1,000 people, Global Lingo revealed the message-crushing power of grammatical and spelling mistakes when 59% of respondents said they would turn away from a company that had errors on any of their sales and marketing materials – from websites and eBooks to social media posts, one-pagers, and presentations. Even a 2006 Clemson University study found a correlation between the level of grammar and spelling quality and author credibility. Individuals trust content creators with a firm grasp on typo-avoidance over those that do not share the same tenacity.

Conclusion

Typos have sparked outrage in the publishing industry; have cost the Metropolitan Transportation Authority time and money following a misprinted fare amount; and have even lead to the explosion of NASA’s Mariner 1. Despite the truly lethal consequences of typos and other grammatical errors in your sales pitch, the methods to avoid demolishing a deal are myriad. Here are just a few strategies and tools for the everyday presenter to implement in their pitch production process:

  • Ensure that your pitch deck has been viewed multiple times, by several individuals – those comfortable with the content and those who are not. Make this part of the internal process.
  • Take ownership of your presentation by having a hand in the content and design at each stage of creation. This means accepting responsibility when a typo or other textual mishap is recognized.
  • Make a checklist of the most common spelling and grammar mistakes you make or that you have seen made within your organization. Go one-by-one through the list items and assess your presentation pitch slides, editing whatever necessary. Try importing all of your content into Microsoft Word and use the mistake finder function to double-check the accuracy of the text.
  • When you are rehearsing your pitch, read your content aloud while looking at speaker’s notes. This could allow you to catch mistakes you would have otherwise missed.
  • Utilize tools and software like Reverso, GrammarCheck, Ginger Software’s grammar checker, or Grammarly’s grammar checker plug-in.