How to create a sales battle card in 5 Steps
It’s hard enough to get people excited about your product or service, let alone get them to buy. Most sales teams settle for a 2-3% conversion rate, which leaves a lot of money on the table.
The solution: sales battle cards are designed to improve the sales process and convert more new customers. They are simple, yet powerful tools that can help you close more deals and increase your bottom line.
What is a Sales Battle Card?
A sales battle card ( or short just “battle card”) is a tool used in sales that can help increase your sales opportunities. It is a document that captures the key points you want and should address during a sales presentation, and can be very helpful in keeping you on track. It can also be used to clearly compare your own products or services with competitors and communicate the value.
What belongs in a Sales Battle Card?
There are a few key elements that a sales battle card should contain:
First, make sure that the card reflects your company’s unique selling proposition. This sets you apart from the competition and provides a reason why a potential customer should do business with you. The idea is not to use sales promotions to close a sale, but to achieve a positive conclusion by fully conveying value.
Second, information about your target market should be included. Who is this target audience? What needs do they have that your product or service can meet?
Third, the key features and benefits of your product or service should be listed. What makes it valuable to customers? How will it solve their problems?
Fourth, any important data or statistics that support your claims should be included. This could be market research data, surveys, customer testimonials, or case studies.
Finally, a call to action should be incorporated. What is the next logical step in the sales process?
Creating a sales battle card may seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. Just think about these five things: why you are unique, who your target customers are, what your offering is, what benefits it provides, and what the next step in the sales process is.
If you can effectively include and execute these five aspects in your battle card, then you have created a valuable sales and marketing tool. This battle card can help you close more deals and grow your business.
Create Sales Battle Cards together with Marketing
How can marketing help you create a sales battle card? If you understand what a battle card is and how it can benefit your business, marketing will be able to provide you with the insights and ideas necessary to create an effective sales document.
Marketing can help you in three ways: First, by performing customer segmentation and audience analysis, and understanding the audience. Then, together, messages can be developed that resonate with them.
Second, marketing can provide research and data to support the statements on the battle card.
Third, it can compile the battle card into a document and make it accessible to the entire organization.
When creating a sales battle card, it is important to keep in mind that the goal is to increase the company’s revenue. Marketing and sales share that same goal.
Creation process of a Sales Battle Card
- Researching the information
Marketing should work closely with Sales on this. Extensive research is required to obtain the necessary data. Customers, for example, may provide competitive selling points in conversations. Salespeople often have information from these customer conversations. However, marketing overlooks the holistic viewpoint and documentation. Collaborative research is a good example in successful smarketing. - Being concise
The goal of the battle card is to be a helpful document. If every possible answer, scenario, or detail were listed, the sales document loses its meaning. Therefore, the information must be reduced to the essentials. It is meant to be a guide. - Designing
The layout must not only be clear, but also appealing. But most importantly, it must be easy to navigate and super understandable. The question is how can the design and layout contribute to the goal, rather than make it worse. Sometimes less is more. - Revision and stakeholder feedback
The next step is to gather feedback from stakeholders. This could be sales people, managers, or even customers.
It’s not uncommon for a sales battle card to be modified. The most important thing is that the document is useful and will be used by the SDR and sales teams. After you receive this feedback, you can make the necessary revisions and finalize the battle card. - Continuous improvement and adaptation
It is not enough to create the Battle Card once. It should be updated regularly and also adapted to changes in the market, products, product-market strategy. In addition, experiences from practical application should be taken into account to optimize the battle card constantly.
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Sascha is a Lifecycle Marketing Consultant with over 8 years of digital marketing experiences in Silicon Valley, the UK, and Germany.
After leading the demand generation for a 100+ million company, he decided to venture out on himself. He’s now helping clients to attract and convert more leads and customers.
His main focus are SEO, paid media & marketing automation – all with the focus to tie marketing campaigns to revenue.
Sascha has been featured in industry publications.
