What is Sales Collateral?
Sales collateral provides essential information to prospects to help them consider and decide. The sales team uses sales collateral to persuade prospects of the product or service's value. Especially in the B2B industry, the sales team needs to deal with multiple stages of the sales funnel, so it is crucial to have a collection of sales collateral to have smooth sales conversations with prospects in each funnel.
Marketing Collateral vs. Sales Collateral
Marketing and sales collateral have different purposes. The most significant difference between marketing and sales collateral is the usage in the funnel.
Marketing collateral can use at the top of the funnel (TOFU). Its purpose is to educate prospects and help them gather information about the product or service before moving forward to the next step, the middle of the funnel. When prospects consider the product or service at the middle of the funnel (MOFU), sales collateral can help them compare the product with an alternative solution. At the button of the funnel (BOFU), they want to make a final decision based on the information they gathered, so sales collateral can help them choose the product at this stage.
Another significant difference between marketing and sales collateral is the broadness of audiences. Marketing collateral generally targets a broad audience at the top of the funnel, which includes blogs, social media content, infographic, advertising, and landing pages. On the other hand, sales collateral is more personalized content for target prospects during the sales process, including email campaigns, product demos, sales presentations, and case studies.
Types of Sales Collateral
Generally, the product marketing team handles sales collateral for the sales team, and there are different types of sales collateral that the sales team boost their conversions. The product marketing team should pay attention to which collateral can help to close the deal in each sales funnel.
Interactive Product Demo
In the sales process, it is essential to show how the product works in real life. Product video or screen recording is the common sales collateral to showcase product features. Also, an interactive demo can help prospects reach the AHA moment when they try the actual product UI. Types of interactive product demos depend on the product and sales process. When it comes to live sales demos, it is common to set up a live sandbox demo environment, but it requires technical support. The product walkthrough demo lets prospects try product UI and have experience with product features. Product marketers should consider which demo can help the sales team show the features effectively. Check out more about the interactive product demo.
Email templates
In the sales process, sending the right emails to prospects is essential. Each sales process requires different approaches, such as cold emails, follow-up emails, scheduling a demo email, etc. Setting up email templates for each process will help the sales team save time in emails and hit the right touch point during the buyer’s journey.
Brochures
Brochures can help prospects learn more about the product or service features. It is practical in the consideration stage and can be both digital and print. Brochures should include product features, use cases, and brief case studies.
Case Study
A case study is an excellent sales collateral to educate prospects and demonstrate how your product or service helped clients. The case study includes the challenge, solution, results, and customer feedback or testimonial. Product marketers should remember that case studies should be related to prospects, such as industry and service. It is worth using with sales proposals or during initial sales meetings.
Sales Battlecard
Sales Battlecard is a one-page sheet that includes the followings:
- Company Overview
- Product/service and critical features
- Pricing
- Competitors' strengths and weaknesses
Sales Battlecard contains competitive positioning and critical points against the specific competitor that the sales team can use for reference during the sales call and use as a bullet to close deals. Also, the Sales Battlecard is used for educational materials for sales team training and prospecting call preparation. Sales Battlecard should contain different information for each sales process, such as cold calls, and during the demo.
Sales Presentation
Sales presentations should include the critical pain points, challenges prospects would like to solve, and great storytelling that help prospects decide to choose the product. Sales presentation can use for every sale funnel stage; however, it should tailor for each step of the funnel. And a sales presentation doesn’t have to be given directly to prospects; it can share through emails, and prospects can see it at any time or share it with colleagues or stakeholders.
Final Thought
Building proper sales collateral is crucial for product marketing and sales teams to close more deals and provide the best sales experience to prospects. Putting more investment into developing and creating the right sales collateral brings more lead generation. Product marketing and sales team also need to align to the sales process and sales funnels and understand every touchpoint that builds a trustful relationship with prospects.
