Effective sales collateral is key to moving buyer’s through their purchasing journey and converting them into customers. In fact, 83% of B2B organizations believe that high-quality content is crucial to winning new customers. The truth is, the purpose of sales collateral is to:
- Build a solid relationship between the buyer and seller
- Motivate buyers to make a purchasing decision
- Increase deal velocity so sellers can close more deals
However, sales reps often struggle to identify the best collateral to share with their prospects at the right time in their buyer’s journey. This not only slows down sales productivity but prevents sales reps from providing buyers with the resources they need to make well-informed purchasing decisions. To help you better understand which sales collateral is most effective and when.
We’ve come up with a list of eight different types of sales collateral and when to use them for maximum effect. Take a look!
1. Utilize blog posts to educate buyers
Sharing blog posts with potential buyers is a great way to share information early on in their buyer’s journey. In fact, 80% of business decision-makers prefer to get information from a series of blogs rather than an advertisement. This is because blogs provide buyers with educational content that addresses their pain points.
For example, say your ideal buyers are marketers looking to save time and money when it comes to content creation. Creating blog posts detailing strategies for how to save time and money with the right technology will not only provide the buyer with solutions to their problem, but will also establish your brand as an expert in the industry.
2. Share infographics to illustrate impactful proof points
As the buyer reaches out and demonstrates interest in your product, infographics can help easily convey data on your product’s effectiveness. Key data points are laid out in an interesting, easy-to-follow format that your buyers can understand at a glance. Third-party research used in infographics also helps back up your sales claims, providing concrete evidence for the buyer to view.
For example, if you’re selling a product that automates a daily work task, create an infographic showing the percentage of time saved per day by the automation. This shows your buyers that your product accomplishes what you’re claiming it will, and gives concrete evidence to prove this fact. Infographics are important to share with a buyer when they’re researching potential solutions to their problem. In this consideration stage, buyers are typically comparing solutions from multiple sources and need proof that your product is the best option.
3. Create eBooks and guides to offer up valuable sales collateral to buyers
eBooks and guides combine the hard evidence of infographics with the snappy copy of blogs. This creates long-form, in-depth sales collateral detailing a specific solution to a problem your buyers are facing. Typically, eBooks offer granular insights on a given topic that buyers couldn’t (and shouldn’t) be able to find anywhere else or from competitors.
Plus, sales reps can share eBooks and guides to provide the buyer with an actionable resource that can also be shared with other decision-makers and deal influencers to speed up deal velocity.
4. Provide case studies to show the product’s effectiveness
As your buyer continues considering different solutions to their pain points, sharing a case study is a great way to communicate your product’s value. When a buyer can see how your product solved the same problem for a similar company, they have a clear idea of the efficiencies and ROI your product can bring to their business. Case studies are most effective when the buyer is towards the latter half of the buying journey. And when case studies can increase sales by 185%, it makes sense that they help buyers make a purchase decision.
If your sales team is speaking with a buyer at a small company of roughly 15 employees that works in the tech industry, share a success story from another small, tech-focused company with the same pain points. This shows that your product can (and has) solved their exact problem. Data points within the case study — such as research showing you saved the client 23% of their time on a repetitive task — effectively show the buyer the value of your product.
5. Showcase customer testimonials in sales
collateral to boost credibility
Much like a case study, customer testimonials show how your product has successfully helped others. Shorter snippets of past successes can be used throughout all sales collateral across the complete buyer’s journey. Brief quotes in blogs, infographics, case studies, and more can instantly boost your credibility. B2B buyers want to hear third-party opinions. Over 97% of B2B buyers cite customer testimonials as the most reliable form of sales collateral.
For example, say your sales rep has been providing other sales collateral to the prospect detailing your product’s ability to streamline one of their daily work tasks. Using a brief quote from another customer to support this claim can help drive home the point for your prospect.
6. Share product videos to keep buyers engaged with
sales collateral
Maintaining buyer engagement and interest is key to ensuring your buyer is deeply involved throughout the sales process — and video sales collateral helps accomplish that. Video content is one of the most engaging mediums, allowing you to share information in a quick, concise manner that is visually appealing to the buyer. In fact, 69% of buyers prefer to learn about a new product by watching a video. Videos can be embedded into sales presentations or shared solely via email at any stage of the buyer’s journey. High-level videos such as product overviews are great for buyers just learning about their options. Whereas more in-depth videos such as a video on how to use your SaaS platform for a specific use case are better suited to be shared later on in the buyer’s journey.
For example, if you offer a SaaS platform, a video demo showing how your product can be used to simplify a buyer’s daily work tasks, helps them visualize just how efficient your product is at solving their pain points. These visualizations ensure the buyer is engaged with the sales collateral, your product, and your brand overall.
7. Share product comparisons to make the product
stand out from the competition
Often, as buyers begin negotiating with reps, they’re evaluating the ROI and cost of your product in comparison to the competition. This is where product comparisons come in. The product comparison details exactly what your product brings to the table that your competitors do not.
For instance, if you and your competitor both offer a solution to automate collecting client data, share what makes your product stand out. Perhaps you offer a more seamless UI, an easier organization tool, or a quicker time to collect. If your competition offers a similar product for a lower price, a product comparison should effectively communicate why. Do you offer exceptional customer service or a warranty? This form of sales collateral should address all of your buyers’ questions and concerns about your competition.
This type of sales collateral is key to leverage when your buyer is in the consideration stage of their buyer’s journey and is looking to find the best solution for their problem. In doing so, they’re vetting all potential products and solutions, including yours. Be sure that your product reigns supreme over the competition.
8. Leverage interactive presentations to boost buyer
engagement
Interactive presentations are the ultimate form of sales collateral. In fact, we’ve found that interactive presentations result in 80% better buyer engagement. With interactive presentations, you can enable the buyer to drive the conversation by steering the presentation where they wish. With a dynamic deck, you can instantly click to the right slide to support your answer to a specific question they may have with interactive calculators, graphs, and videos.
Interactive presentations promote a healthy dialogue between you and your buyers. Prezentor’s interactive presentations allow you to tailor each presentation to the buyer by offering data insights on what slides the buyer is responding well to. Not only do these presentations maximize every buyer interaction, they deliver insights into buyer behavior when shared through the right sales enablement technology.
Final thoughts
The challenge of identifying the best sales collateral to share with prospects can hold you back from finalizing more deals. Our researched list of eight types of sales collateral will help you identify the right type of content to use at each stage in the buyer’s journey, so you can help buyers make well-informed purchasing decisions at a faster rate.
Discover how to manage and leverage your sales collateral with Prezentor. Book a demo today!
