Sales collateral are the materials developed by a business to help boost the sales process. Companies develop sales collateral with the aim of moving prospective buyers through the entire sales process. For instance, corporate brochures can be designed to spread the awareness of a company. The brochure should capture the organization’s core value message. Case studies, on the other hand, target prospective customers who are already past the awareness stage.
The importance of sales collateral is on the rise. Today’s B2B landscape has become very competitive, and the buyer’s attention span continues to grow shorter every day. Therefore, providing buyers with content that adds value and offers genuine insight increases the possibilities of closing a deal.
Types of sales collateral
Sales collateral comes in different types, and an organization should aim to develop a variety of materials that target every stage of the buyer’s journey. Here is a list of sales collateral needed for a business to succeed in this day and age:
Whitepapers – whitepapers play an essential role in building brand image, spreading expertise, and prospecting as well as generating leads.
Case studies – these help companies to impress their potential buyers with the work they have already done.
FAQ cheat sheet – this assists a company to deal with any questions that might arise from customers regarding their products.
Buyers guide – buyers guides can be targeted at primary decision-makers, and they are an important part of sales collateral. Sales representatives can use these guides to help push their deals.
E-newsletters – these are best for online B2B marketing strategies and can be beneficial lead generation tool, as well as help in developing relationships with potential customers.
Email templates – even though emails are not good for every prospect, it is always important for sales representatives to have an email template ready. When developing an email template, ensure that you carefully draft the subject lines, email opening, body and the signature. Also, do not forget to change the email content according to the requirements of each prospect.
Sales collateral best practices
There are several best practices to keep in mind when developing a sales collateral. These include:
Re-use your sales collateral – if you have content that has already won you customers, do not throw it away but re-use it in other projects.
Ensure that your sales collateral can be accessed – businesses should aim towards improving the accessibility of their sales collateral, to allow their sales representatives gain access to the content irrespective of where it is stored.
Capitalize on content analytics – capitalize on software solutions that provide awareness into the success of your sales collateral. Through this, your sales representatives can get content which has already proven its success.