Today’s customer is more empowered than ever. In fact, 70 percent of the buyer’s journey is completed before a customer even reaches out to the sales team. Armed with information, prospects are more educated than ever before and thus more skeptical. Competition is high, as buyers weigh options more carefully and seek out reviews and comparisons more readily.
So it’s important for sales teams to be armed with the sales collateral they need to convince skeptical buyers of the value of their solutions. It’s all about simplifying the sales process and making it easier for your buyer to convert.
Let’s walk through the buyer’s journey together and identify the useful pieces of collateral in each stage and how they can be used to attract, convert and delight customers.
The buyer’s journey starts in the awareness journey. Your prospects begin their path towards a purchase by first becoming aware of a problem they need solving. Sales reps in this stage are responsible for further educating their prospects about their problems and the possible solutions. In this stage, it’s important to build a foundation of trust. The following sales collateral can help build that foundation.
Let’s start with one of the popular types of content, blog posts. Though commonly thought of as marketing content, blogs can and should be used by the sales team as sales collateral.
Typically marketers get their blog content from their sales reps. This content is driven by the most frequently asked questions from prospects. And who best knows those questions? The sales team.
So it makes sense that the sales department should use these posts as they aim to answer and educate their prospects or customers. They can be used in email outreach, cold calling, or even in follow-ups. By educating prospects and leads with this content, brands form an automatic connection of trust.
The tech company Cradlepoint has an example of a blog that effectively addresses their customers’ questions. Cradlepoint provides wireless edge solutions to maximize network reliability and connectivity. Sales reps can easily use their blog content to educate leads who might be looking for answers on managing wireless broadband for their business. By providing them with answers to their questions in the awareness stage, a firm foundation of trust is built before a purchase is even made.
We have our own award-winning blog that aims to answer the questions our prospects ask. You can find everything you need to know about digital marketing, brand activation, and promotional products. All this content can be used to fuel our sales teams as they talk and engage with potential customers.
Similar to blogs, ebooks are used to inform customers in the awareness stage. But because this type of sales collateral is more comprehensive, it’s great to use as a lead generation tool.
Here’s an example of an ebook in action:
Perhaps you have a prospect looking to learn more about website redesign. Maybe they are searching Google for “Which website development platform should I use?” and stumble upon this ebook titled “Website Redesign Guide”. They enter their email to download this ebook and spend the next day or two educating themselves on website redesign and the best practices behind user experience, SEO and design.
Then maybe in a few days, a sales team member reaches out to this prospect. At this point, they’ve already educated themselves through the beginning stages of the sales funnel, taking them one step closer to making a decision. Since they’re dealing with an educated buyer, the sales team is better positioned to sell.
Ebooks also work to position your sales team as authority experts in their industry. Similar to blogs, they can also be used in email outreach, prospecting, and follow-ups to answer questions and build trust with possible customers.
Let’s talk briefly about gating content.
Gating means shielding an eBook or other piece of content behind a form where your prospects have to exchange a piece of information in order to download your content. Not all sales collateral should be gated, but it’s certainly a helpful tool to help the sales team generate leads. Consider gating content in the early to middle stages of the buyer’s journey.
In the very beginning of the sales process, ungated content will help to build trust with prospects. They’ll use it to educate themselves, before reaching out to sales. Gated content can be useful once they’ve had that initial introduction to your brand.
By the time you’ve reached the final stages of the buyer's journey, gated content becomes unnecessary. Keep sales collateral in the decision and delight stages ungated.
Above is an example of our eBook on Buyer Personas. Notice how there’s a short description that informs prospects on what the eBook is about. There’s then a clear CTA that directs users to a form where they can fill out their information in exchange for the download. This gives you a better idea of how eBooks can be used in the sales process.
A quick refresh. Sales collateral is any type of content that fuels the sales process and helps sales reps close more deals. With that definition in mind, webinars fall directly into that category.
Because it’s an event, you don’t often think of it as collateral, but webinars are a great way to introduce prospects to your brand and attract customers in the awareness stage. It’s also another way to paint sales reps as authority figures in their industry.
Keep in mind that webinars are more than just a moment-in-time type of sales collateral. Webinar libraries can be created on a site to display past webinars for prospects to download or watch at their convenience. Sales team members can then easily point their prospects towards a certain recording or episode that directly relates to a question or concern they might have.
Here’s an example of a webinar library from Resonance Global, a global consulting firm focused on cross-sector collaboration.
Landing pages are another useful type of sales collateral in generating leads. They serve as standalone pages that can be tied to different offers, campaigns, or CTA’s. Your audience lands on this page, and is then asked further questions to get a specific answer, download content, or request an available offer.
So how does this help sales?
Let’s think about landing pages that ask customers if they’d like to request a quote. A user fills out this page and enters relevant information about the services they're looking for, the problems they might be facing, and their contact information.
A sales rep now has a toolbox of information about the customer before they even reach out directly to them. The rep is now much more educated on the prospect, their pain points, and how to offer the solutions they might be looking for.
Here’s an example of a landing page in action for telecommunications solutions provider Advanced Network Services. Notice how the landing page also serves to inform users of business solutions and includes social proof from satisfied customers. This adds authenticity to the business and makes it more likely that customers will trust the sales rep who reaches out.
Continued Reading: Learn how to create more effective landing pages with these 7 landing page conversion tips.
Infographics are visual representations or illustrations of key information or data. Typically they are used to simplify a complex idea or process. Instead of data dumping customers or prospects, sales reps can share infographics to their customers addressing specific processes they might have questions about. Prospects or customers can then take this information with them, and use it to fuel their journey forward through the buyer’s journey.
The best infographics often center around data. Facts are the easiest way to sway prospects, and that’s what they are most interested in. Infographics can help present the facts in an easy-to-understand way.
They can also aid sales reps in their overall selling process. If they have a visual resource in front of them while they are explaining a complex process, they’re much more likely to be understood by their buyers. Since 65% of people are visual learners, your buyers will likely benefit from this added resource.
Here’s an example of an infographic that breaks down the most popular promotional products as determined by the 2020 ASI Ad Impressions study. Notice how it makes each individual data point eye-catching and easy to look at. The graphic is designed so that users are drawn to key data points. Text is kept to a minimum.
The key to remember is infographics show, and don’t tell. The sales rep is there to fill in the gaps.
This type of sales collateral might not be suited for every industry, but for those businesses that have more visual and/or aesthetic-based products or services, idea or look books can be useful sales tools. The key here is this type of sales collateral is still used in the awareness stage, so typically you want to stay away from cost and price. Your buyer at this point, isn’t ready to make a purchase. The purpose of idea or look books is just to spark inspiration in your buyer and nurture them to take the next step in the sales process.
These idea books can be used in email outreach or even in print versions. The idea is to get your customer excited about your product and service so they start to envision their own ideas inside those look books.
Here’s an example of an idea book we created for the masonry supply company, Trowel Trades Supply. Notice how there are no prices listed. The resource uses lifestyle imagery and text to tell a story and establish a pleasing aesthetic to encourage prospects to take further action.
We’ve made it to the consideration stage. In this stage of the buyer’s journey, prospects have clearly defined their problem and they are considering the solutions they have available. They might be considering your products or services, but they are also weighing out alternatives.
As prospects educate themselves on the various options they have, sales collateral can be used to drive home the reason why they should choose your business. Your resources should include the value of your products or services and suggest how and why they will ease your buyers’ pain points.
White papers are similar to ebooks but are best used in the consideration stage. This type of sales collateral is a long-form, in-depth piece of content that offers very technical information targeted to your buyer persona. The idea is to paint your company and sales reps as thought leaders on this particular topic or expertise relevant to your industry.
White papers should be very detailed, informative, and authoritative. When sellers use this type of resource in their sales processes, they make decision-makers feel more confident in their choice to buy. Remember, buyer’s like to feel like they did their due diligence and research, before committing to a purchase. White papers can help them feel educated and empowered, while still swaying them towards your products or services.
You might be thinking, how in the world do I get started writing a Whitepaper? HubSpot put together this excellent guide that walks you through step by step. Here are some quick tips:
Don’t let white pages scare you. Chances are you're already an expert in your field. So just put that knowledge on paper, and you’ll help guide your buyers through the consideration stage.
Social proof is a key part of the buyer’s journey. People constantly look to others for validation, and it’s no different when they are looking to make a purchase. Testimonials help tap into the impact social proof can have. When used as sales collateral, testimonials can be extremely powerful in convincing prospects that your service or product is the best option.
Typically, testimonials are short, sweet, and to the point. They can easily be attached to email outreach or even on sales reps’ social media pages. They are especially helpful for those prospects who might not have time to dive into a whole case study.
Testimonials are used best by sales teams when their buyers have objections. Reps can present their target customers with in-depth testimonials from other happy customers. This can be what converts even the most difficult prospects who might have a lot of reservations. If they see other people, who had the same concerns, explain their stories and why they were satisfied with your services, you’ll be one step closer to converting customers.
Testimonials should be visually engaging while clear and to the point. Typically they are one or two short lines in the form of a quote from a previous client. Be sure to clearly establish who provided the quote while ensuring the quote itself illustrates specific benefits about your company.
The SaaS company, Senodso, a sending platform for businesses looking to mail or ship corporate gifts, uses testimonials very effectively on its site. Notice in the above example, how Sendoso chose a quote that clearly demonstrated how their services benefited ringDNA, while clearly defining who the brand and speaker was behind the good review.
Sendoso goes a step further with testimonials, and incorporates actual social proof from their social sites on their website. This is a truly organic way of showcasing the authority of your brand and value of your services.
The next type of consideration stage sales collateral is case studies. These are an extended form of a testimonial. Think of case studies like a story of how your product or services helped another client.
The best case studies typically follow a centralized format, making them easy for the buyer to read and find the success story you're trying to get across. Typically, you want your case study to be structured in four main parts. Clearly identify your client’s challenge, the solution you presented them with, the result, and, finally, social proof in the client’s words.
Again, case studies should read like a story. This is what makes them most believable and thus successful. It’s essential to conduct interviews when writing your own case study. This will help create a more believable piece of sales collateral, while also helping to position this piece of collateral in front of the buyer. Consider including in your case study the following:
Case studies can be used by sales reps the same way testimonials are used. For the warmer prospects and hotter leads, salespeople might consider attaching a case study in place of a testimonial, for a higher level of social proof.
Here’s an example of a case study we put together for one of our clients, Trowel Trades Supply, a building supply company looking to increase sales and lead generation. After interviewing the client on their experience with our services, we put together this case study on how our comprehensive marketing and sales strategy helped them increase leads, while enabling their sales teams to close more deals. We included results and a quote from the company’s president at the end. We also chose to include a downloadable PDF for buyers who might be interested in downloading this case study for further review. This gives sales reps the flexibility to share a link to our site and provide a tangible resource for them to download if they are interested.
In the consideration stage, a buyer’s guide is a comprehensive piece of sales collateral that educates the buyer on individual products or services and how they can be used. This takes things a step further than the ideabooks we talked about above. Buyer’s guides focus more on individual products, and how they can be used to solve your buyer’s pain points.
Good things to include in a buyer’s guide are:
You might even consider comparing competitors in your industry. This is a great way to show, not tell, customers why they should choose you over someone else.
Here’s an example of a buyer’s guide created for Trowel Trades Supply. This particular guide focuses on the service permeable paving. It goes into depth about how permeable pavers are different from traditional pavers and why someone might want to choose this product. Sales representatives can easily use this guide to combat objections prospects might have on the cost of permeable pavers by backing up their pitch with all the benefits that come with this product. This guide also gives ideas on design, which helps to push the buyer further down that sales funnel.
Product brochures are an easy way to compile your company’s most marketable services and showcase them in an easy, digestible way for your customers. A product brochure typically contains information about your company, the sales rep’s contact information, and details about specific products or services.
It’s important to note that product brochures don’t always have to be physically printed pieces of sales collateral. They can also be digitally showcased on your website, so they can easily be shared via email, social media, and direct links. The distinctive feature of product brochures is the distinct bullet points and short digestible copy. It’s a quick way to further educate your buyer as they consider their options.
Here’s an example of a product brochure for the industrial manufacturing company Flexaseal. Notice how this multipage document includes a brief history of the company that establishes context, before launching into the details of their products and services. A glossary of industry specific terms is included to further educate the prospect.
This provides credibility for the sales person sharing this piece of collateral. The simple yet educational design puts the reader and prospect first and the company second. Remember, a successful product brochure shouldn’t just be about selling. It should be about educating the prospective customer.
Data sheets are a type of sales collateral that acts as a one-pager for your business, product, or a specific deal. It helps sales reps illustrate their brand’s identity and their product’s purpose. A typical data sheet will include a visually appealing layout, a neat format, with a persuasive call to action.
It can also include specific data points that are compelling to the buyer. Think of a data sheet almost like a flyer. But it takes things a step further by incorporating specific facts that a sales rep can elaborate on and use as a tool during a sales pitch.
Data sheets can and should be shared with prospects in the mail, via email, or during meetings and sales pitches.
Here is an example of a data sheet for the industrial manufacturing company Flexaseal. Notice how it contains specific information about the product, an image, as well as contact information for the company. The features are listed in a bulleted list, short and to the point.
The best sell sheets have the following features:
Here is a useful guide to help create data sheets, along with some examples to reference.
Before we talk about email templates, let’s get one thing straight. It’s always important to personalize your emails before you send them out, even email templates.
Now that we got that out of the way, email templates are a great sales collateral tool that will help streamline the sales process and save valuable time for reps. They can be used in any stage of the buyer's journey but often most effective when a customer is considering their options. These types of scheduled emails can help motivate your prospects to complete a purchase or commit to your services. It’s also easy to attach other pieces of sales collateral onto these email templates, which is an effective way to build trust while following up on the sale.
Email templates can usually be created in the CRM system you're using, and they should always be personalized and come from an individual person. They should also incorporate a standardized format with your company’s branding. HubSpot’s Sales Professional offers an easy way to create and save sales email templates.
Take a look at this example from Visme. Notice how it’s short and to the point but still offers value by including three different resources for the prospect to consider (article, video, and a case study). Each piece of content is focused on the product and helps clarify why this product is helpful, useful, and a good investment.
When crafting your own email templates as sales collateral, here are a few things to keep in mind:
For more inspiration on the language you should use in your sales emails, HubSpot offers 12 different sales templates for cold prospecting here.
Sales videos are a way to put a face to your brand, while humanizing your reps in the process. Product unboxings, explainer videos, or video demos can all be used to explain your products or services in a more visual and helpful way. In fact, sales reps that use video within their emails are reported to see 8 times higher open-to-reply rates. And personalized video has been seen to close more deals and improve customer retention rates.
Here’s an example of an effective product video created for the manufacturing company, Flexaseal. Notice how it features their product in a high quality and informational way. It highlights the features of their Split Seal product, while including information on how it can be installed.
It’s also a good idea to encourage sales reps to create personalized videos to send directly to customers or prospects. By adding personal touches targeted to your persona, you show prospects or customers that you care enough to take time and tailor a message towards them.
After considering their options, a buyer is ready to make a decision. Perhaps they have a list of key benefits your company offers. They also will likely have a list of benefits of a few other of your competitors. As they try and decide which company they will do business with, your job is to convince them that your product or services are the best option. Sales collateral in the decision stage will drive this point home.
In the digital age, sales presentations are a type of sales collateral that you can experiment with and get creative with. Gone are the days of boring PowerPoint presentations or generic slide decks. Interactive presentations are a more interesting way to engage and delight prospects and ultimately win them over.
When creating a sales presentation, you’ll want to include the following:
Remember, your sales presentation’s primary purpose is to provide a solution for your prospect’s challenge and convince your buyer that your solution is the best solution.
We love this blog from HubSpot that identifies 25 of the best sales presentations out there and walks you through effective ways to conquer the sales presentation.
The decision stage is where price becomes front and center. Ultimately, this is one of the biggest factors in your prospects' decision, so it makes sense to have a clear, to-the-point guide as sales collateral to help reps through the sales process.
An effective pricing guide will be clear and straightforward while also emphasizing the value of your products or services. Consider putting together tiered bundles. This emphasizes exactly what you're getting in each service or product package. Sometimes these can help your prospects see the value in the higher-priced packages.
You can find examples of pricing guides in action by looking at the pricing pages on various websites. For example, Wistia has an effective pricing guide that you might consider modeling after. Here’s a great resource that walks through different formatting and content tips for your pricing page.
Sales playbooks are an important part of the sales process, as they enable sales reps with everything they need to close a deal while outlining a standardized process, so the whole team is on the same page.
Used as a reference document, sales playbooks should compile sales best practices and contain all the resources, information, software tips, and strategies to help your reps do their jobs effectively. Including tutorials, email scripts, and information on buyer personas can help salespeople implement these practices in real-time.
Every business’s sales playbook will be different, but there is a centralized process we like to recommend. It includes defining your goals as a business, outline who your buyer personas are, and writing a list of repeatable steps, actions, and best practices to include. HubSpot offers this guide including a sales playbook template that will walk you through the process.
Sometimes referred to as battle cards, competitor comparisons are another piece of sales collateral that can help sales reps overcome objections. Prospects are already comparing your business to your competitors. So why not build that level of trust, and give them that information upfront? That allows you to be in control of the conversation.
Competitor comparison sheets will typically be a one-page document that shows the difference between you and your competitors. They can be a simple, side-by-side comparison of your company’s main features, and selling points compared to your competitors. Sales reps should have easy access to this information and pull this piece of sales collateral out when a prospect references a competitor in a conversation.
When creating your competitor comparisons, be sure to be consistent. Each sheet should reference the same information when comparing different companies. This will maintain a consistent brand experience for your prospects. Some information you might want to include:
Below is an example of a product comparison using HubSpot’s battle card templates. Use these three different templates to come up with your competitor comparisons. One important thing to remember is honesty. These sheets should showcase your strong points as a company, but you never want to stretch the truth. If a competitor is better in one area than your company, share that information. Chances are, your prospects will see that level of honesty as a reason to trust you with their business.
We’ve reached the final stage of the buyer’s journey. Once you’ve attracted and converted your prospects, they have now become customers. But your job isn’t done. It’s now time to use sales collateral to delight and retain these customers, to earn their continued business.
Remember, people buy from people. Customer newsletters are an easy and effective way to humanize your brand and make personal connections with your buyers. These newsletters, typically sent by email, are about more than just informing your customers of the latest deals available. In fact, sales information really shouldn’t be included. The most effective newsletters will include personalized information that makes your customers stop and want to read your message and interact with your brand.
So what should you include in your newsletter? If you have an active blog, this is a great tool to share further educational resources with your customers. Maybe share with them a positive quote, or fun recipe, to show the human side of your company.
It all depends on the industry you're in and your target audience. The important thing is to keep your audience at the core of your newsletter and write for them, not for your company.
Above is an example of a monthly newsletter sent by Bridgeport Worldwide, a wholesale building products distributor. Notice how it’s focused on their customer and the questions and concerns they might have as a business.
The design of your newsletter will depend on your brand and industry. If you’re a creative company, you might consider going with an email design with lots of visuals and colorful aesthetics. But if you're in the manufacturing industry, your newsletter might take a more simplistic approach.
Here are some email newsletter best practices to follow:
Here’s a helpful guide that will walk you through how to improve your email newsletter to better engage and connect with your customers.
Whether you sell a product or service, your customers' questions won’t stop after the sale. That’s why continued workshops can be a great way to use sales collateral to help further educate your clients and remove any frustrations that could act as barriers to them getting the most out of your product or service.
So when do you offer these workshops?
The customer onboarding process is a key moment where great training will have a huge impact. If you offer workshops to help your customer adapt to your product or service quicker and more efficiently, your customer is encouraged to continue with your company.
Frequent training even after the onboarding process is key too. This helps remove any friction that customers might be experiencing with your products or services. For example, if you offer software solutions, a customer might decide to stop using your services because it's not adequately meeting their needs. But it could just be that they don’t understand how to properly use it to meet their needs. A workshop can help reduce this friction while retaining more customers.
If you're a HubSpot user, you can relate to the excellent training they provide their customers. HubSpot offers a free “academy” for users to access, which includes online courses and trainings that walk users through the HubSpot software.
Creating your own workshop as sales collateral isn’t as complicated as you think. Start by compiling some of your already existing educational resources, then create quizzes and videos that coincide with them.
How can you improve your buying process if you don’t know where the pain points are? Customer surveys are a valuable piece of sales collateral as they help inform your reps of the areas they need to improve and the areas you need to improve as a company. By gathering information, data, and feedback from your customers, you’ll be in a better position to improve your products and services for your prospects.
When creating a customer feedback survey, it’s important first to establish the goal. What is it that you're looking for? That will determine what types of questions you ask. Some examples of possible survey questions are:
There are a lot of different tools out there to help you create, send and analyze surveys. If you’re a HubSpot customer, you can use their Customer Satisfaction Score Tool. If you're not a HubSpot user, you can still use their customer satisfaction survey templates. They offer five different surveys formats that you can customize for your business:
