When Do I Present the Corporate Background?

A reader comment to the post "Create a Dynamite Presentation in 6 Easy Steps" asks an important question:

At what point in your presentation would you give background on your company? I find that I need to do this in my presentations as most of my prospects are not familiar with my company. In the structure that you've described, can you tell me where you see that fitting in?

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The correct answer is: In your car while you're driving home.
If you think that talking about your company in a presentation is going to create credibility, you are out of your mind.

Consider: what do YOU think when somebody launches into their corporate background slides? You think: "please stop boring me to death and get to the part that means something to me." Right? Well, guess what? That's what everyone else is thinking, too.

Customers don't give a crap about how long you've been in business, who manages you, and all that jazz. If they cared about that, they'd take 5 seconds and look it up on your website. And if they don't care, why are you bothering to explain it to them?

All that customers care about is how you're going to help them. If you've done something similar for another company, you can mention that as a risk-reducer. But all that "corporate branding" nonsense is just wasted breath.

READERS: Care to argue this point? I'll bet that a lot of you are still presenting that stuff.