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Take sales collateral from fluffy to effective
We’ve seen some artistic sales collateral in our time. Glossy. Embossed. Die-cut. Also, glossy, embossed and die-cut. We’ve seen cute and kitsch. And most of the time we’ve seen these samples because a client has asked for our help after determining that the material has cost the company money and doesn’t pull its weight in generating leads or shortening the sales cycle.
Ineffective sales collateral happens to good companies. Could your sales collateral could be more effective? Answer these questions:
• Does your collateral explain the history of your company?
• Does your collateral define specs for your products or list the services you provide?
• Does your collateral provide the number of staff on hand, names and contacts of various executives in the company,
and/or awards won?
If you answered yes, you’ve got great overview material, but an ineffectual sales tool.
The difference between ineffective and effective is purpose. Your sales collateral should help your sales team win the client. To win the client, provide collateral that gets the prospect engaged and ready to talk business. Effective sales collateral does that if it answers these questions with hard and fast data:
• How good is your company?
• How good is your product or service?
• Will the products or services do what the prospect needs them to do?
• Do your customers get value from your products/services?
Once the client is talking with the sales team about solutions, then you have the opportunity to provide the history, spec sheets and service lists in all their glossy, die-cut and embossed glory.
–Amy Biemiller