How to Use Battle Cards to Supercharge Your Sales Process [Free Templates]

As a sales leader, you know all too well that your reps aren‘t always up against an easy opponent. In today‘s ultra-competitive landscape, "winging it" in sales conversations just won‘t cut it anymore. If you aren‘t enabling reps with the right competitive intelligence, they‘ll get outsold by rivals who are better equipped to handle objections and speak to each prospect‘s unique needs and pain points.

That‘s where battle cards come in. When wielded strategically, these impactful sales aids can be a total game-changer — In fact, 71% of companies using battle cards report increased competitive win rates as a result.

Whether you call them competitive briefs, quick reference guides, or simply cheat sheets — battle cards arm your reps to confidently navigate any sales situation and emerge victorious. This ultimate guide will walk you through exactly how to build battle cards into your sales process, so you can crush quota and leave competitors in the dust.

Battle Cards 101: What They Are & Why You Need Them

Before we dive into the how-to, let‘s align on what exactly we mean by "battle cards".

Battle cards are concise, visual documents that provide need-to-know information about your offerings compared to specific competitors. Usually contained to just one or two pages, these easy-to-scan resources highlight key differentiators and enable reps to quickly get up to speed on a rival‘s strengths, weaknesses, and positioning.

Think of battle cards like those old-school Pokemon cards (bear with me here). Each one has crucial stats like type, hit points, and abilities that help you assess the competition and decide which Pokemon to play to win the match-up. Battle cards are the same concept, but instead of fantastical battle monsters, they profile your very real industry rivals so you can outmaneuver them in sales conversations.

Battle cards are an essential addition to any sales team‘s toolbox because they:

1. Give reps a quick way to prepare for specific competitive scenarios. Instead of scrambling to find relevant competitive intel, reps can pull up a battle card and get the highlights at a glance.

2. Proactively address common prospect questions and concerns. By outlining typical objections and challenges, battle cards prime reps to handle tricky questions with poise. No more getting stumped by a left-field competitive claim!

3. Align sales messaging to your unique positioning and value props. Battle cards reinforce the key points and proof points reps should emphasize to differentiate your offering and make it memorable.

When your reps internalize the information on battle cards, magic happens. Research shows that reps leveraging battle cards have 11% higher lead conversion rates on average. Plus, companies that have mastered battle cards see:

• 20-30% increase in prospect meeting to opportunity conversion
• 10-15% boost in overall competitive win rates
• 50%+ jump in sales confidence when facing a competitor

Basically, battle cards are like a sales rep‘s secret weapon — the more effectively you deploy them, the more revenue you‘ll earn. But not all battle cards are created equal, so let‘s break down the different types and when to use them.

Competitor vs. Product vs. Marketing Battle Cards: What‘s the Difference?

While the specifics of your battle cards will depend on your industry and offerings, most sales orgs find it helpful to create three main types:

1. Competitor Battle Cards

The most common type, competitor battle cards focus on profiling a specific rival and your advantages against them. These head-to-head matchup cards are most useful later in the sales cycle when a buyer is weighing their shortlisted options and you‘re directly positioned against a key competitor.

Competitor battle cards should include:

• Overview of the competitor‘s company, ideal customer, and offerings
• Strengths and potential advantages they have over you
• Weaknesses and areas where you outperform them
• Side-by-side feature and price comparisons
• Battleground: Specific use cases or pain points you compete over
• Landmines: Known contentious topics or claims to handle carefully
• Kill points: Your unique differentiators and value props
• Objection handling guidance and talk tracks
• Suggestions for when to walk away or escalate
• Links to relevant case studies and sales collateral

Here‘s a quick example of what a competitor battle card might look like:

2. Product Battle Cards

Product battle cards zero in on your own offerings to help reps master the nuances of your solutions, bundles, and pricing. Rather than focus on competitors, these internal-facing resources are like a sales-friendly fact sheet on everything reps need to know to position and sell your products effectively.

Product battle cards should include:

• Product name, category, and elevator pitch
• Key features, benefit, and value propositions
• Ideal buyer persona(s) and use cases
• Pain points and challenges solved
• Implementation and onboarding process
• Pricing structure and tiers
• Add-ons and customization options
• Customer success stories and testimonials

Check out this product battle card from Gong to get a feel for the level of detail to aim for:

3. Marketing Battle Cards

Last but not least, marketing battle cards analyze rivals‘ go-to-market strategy and brand positioning. These cards give your sales and marketing teams a united view of the competitive landscape to inform campaigns, content, and strategic decisions.

Marketing battle cards should cover:

• Competitor‘s mission, vision, and unique value prop
• Key marketing messages, taglines, and ad copy
• Visual branding and aesthetic
• Content marketing tactics and cadence
• Social media and community-building efforts
• PR mentions and awards
• Target audience, market, and industry verticals
• Conferences and events they sponsor or attend
• Strengths and weaknesses of marketing approach

Many companies create these as dynamic "living" documents that multiple revenue teams can collaborate on and reference, like this example:

Of course, you don‘t have to start from scratch with each of these battle card types. Let‘s walk through how to build out your battle card library, including templates and best practices.

5 Steps to Create Battle Cards That Help You Win More Deals

Ready to arm your reps with battle-tested competitive insights? Follow these five steps to craft compelling battle cards for any sales scenario.

Step 1: Determine Your Most Relevant Points of Comparison

First thing‘s first: You need to decide what vital information to include on your battle cards. The goal is to distill tons of competitive intel down to the most compelling points that will sway prospects‘ decisions.

Depending on your industry and offering, those key points of comparison might include:

• Pricing model and average contract value
• Deployment method (on-prem vs. cloud)
• Integrations and flexibility
• User interface and experience
• Core capabilities and advanced features
• Support and customer service
• Ideal customer profile and use cases
• Unique selling proposition and value adds

For each rival, pick the top 3-5 battlegrounds your reps encounter most often. You can even survey your sales team to get their take on which points really make a difference with prospects.

Step 2: Benchmark Competitors & Identify Your Differentiators

Once you‘ve nailed down your most important comparison points, it‘s time to fill in the details for your competitors. This is where in-depth competitive analysis comes into play. You‘ll need to thoroughly research each rival‘s offerings and go-to-market approach through tactics like:

• Reviewing their website, marketing collateral, and product docs
• Signing up for demos, trials, or freemium accounts to test out the UX
• Scouring review sites and forums for hands-on user feedback
• Mining your CRM and sales notes for anecdotal insights
• Interviewing sales reps on common objections and landmines
• Analyzing their pricing pages, cost calculators, and ROI case studies

As you dig in, look for areas where competitors excel (their strengths) and where they fall short (their weaknesses). For example, maybe a rival has a cheaper entry-level plan, but their pricing scales much faster than yours. Noting those nuances will help you hone in on your key differentiators.

Be brutally honest in your analysis as well. You might discover that a competitor beats you in certain capabilities, integrations, or use cases. That‘s okay — in fact, it‘s critical that reps know when to qualify out or pivot the conversation if you‘re not a great fit. Battle cards should enable reps to win good deals, not just any deal at all costs.

Step 3: Distill Findings into Actionable, Skimmable Battle Cards

It‘s time to turn your raw competitive research into beautiful, actionable sales collateral. As you assemble your battle cards, keep these best practices in mind:

✓ Use clear headers, callout boxes, and formatting to make cards easily scannable.

✓ Incorporate competitor logos, screenshots, and other visuals to break up text.

✓ Bold or highlight the most important points you want to draw reps‘ eyes to.

✓ Include specific talk tracks and value props reps can weave into conversations.

✓ Provide clear next steps and guidance for common objectives or "stuck" points.

✓ Keep cards concise — aim for 1-2 pages max so reps can quickly reference them.

✓ Make cards accessible from your CRM, sales enablement tool, or battlecard app.

If starting from a blank slate feels overwhelming, use this free battle card template as a jumping off point. Simply fill in the sections with your own competitor analysis, and adapt the formatting to match your brand standards.

It‘s important to get feedback from reps as you develop your battle cards too. Host "lunch and learns" to share drafts and gather suggestions on what‘s working and missing. The more you iterate and incorporate reps‘ ideas, the more adoption you‘ll see.

Step 4: Integrate Battle Cards into Sales Training & Coaching

Speaking of adoption, you can‘t just create battle cards and call it a day — you need to actively integrate them into your reps‘ daily workflows. That means making them a core part of your onboarding, ongoing training, and deal coaching process.

For example, you might have new hires complete a "battle card certification" during their first week where they review each card and practice applying them in mock demos. You can even set up a quiz or role-play exercise to test their retention of key points.

Additionally, consider holding monthly "win wire" sessions where you highlight recent competitive deals and break down how reps used battle cards effectively (or ineffectively) in their process. You can also make reviewing relevant battle cards a required step in your deal review or strategy sessions.

The more you reinforce and celebrate the impact of battle cards, the more your reps will proactively reach for them in competitive situations.

Step 5: Continually Refresh Battle Cards as Markets Evolve

Finally, it‘s critical that you establish a cadence to review and refresh your battle cards regularly. Competitors are always releasing new capabilities or adjusting their messaging, and you need to ensure your intel is up-to-date.

Host a quarterly "battle card blitz" with your product marketing and enablement teams to:

• Re-research top competitors‘ offerings and positioning
• Identify any significant changes that need to be reflected in battle cards
• Brainstorm new objection handlers based on real rep conversations
• Pressure test talk tracks and value props against rivals‘ latest claims
• Update any outdated screenshots, pricing, or statistics

By keeping your battle cards current, you build trust with reps that they‘re always getting the most accurate and effective guidance. Plus, you stay proactive and never let competitors catch you flat-footed.

Bonus Tips to Help You Become a Battle Card Pro

We‘ve covered the essentials of creating impactful battle cards, but here are a few more tips to take your competitive enablement to the next level:

1. Create different card "views" for different roles. While your core competitor intel should be consistent, you may want to create sales-specific vs. marketing-specific battle card templates that emphasize the most relevant use cases for each team.

2. Make battle cards interactive with videos and links. Embedding short demo videos, case study snippets, or even competitor promo clips can make your battle cards more engaging than a static PDF.

3. Designate "battle card captains" to own each competitor. Assigning an individual rep or product marketer to stay up-to-date on each rival keeps battle cards fresh and capitalizes on your internal subject matter experts.

4. Monitor battle card usage and tie to revenue metrics. Using your enablement or battlecard software, track how often reps are referencing cards and whether it correlates to higher win rates or deal velocity to prove battle cards‘ ROI.

Frequently Asked Questions About Battle Cards

Still have burning questions about building battle cards? I‘ve got you covered:

How long should a battle card be?
Aim for 1-2 pages max. Battle cards should be easily digestible at a glance, so brevity is key. If you find yourself exceeding 2 pages, consider splitting it into multiple targeted cards instead.

What‘s the best format for battle cards?
PDF is the most universal battle card format since it can be easily printed or attached to CRM records. However, many teams are shifting to interactive formats like web pages or even dedicated battlecard software for more flexibility.

Who should be involved in creating battle cards?
At minimum, you‘ll want to include representatives from sales, marketing, and product in developing battle card content. You may also tap customer success, competitive intel, and industry/analyst relations teams as needed.

How often should I update my battle cards?
Quarterly is a good cadence for most companies, but it depends how dynamic your market is. If a competitor makes a splashy new product announcement or funding round, you may need to update more frequently to react.

What is a kill sheet?
A kill sheet is another term for a competitive battle card. However, they tend to be more sales-focused and hone in on the top 3-5 "kill points" or undeniable differentiators you have against a rival.

Go Forth and Crush Your Competition (with Battle Cards in Hand)

Phew, that was a lot of knowledge to arm you for battle! Here‘s the key takeaway: Battle cards are an absolutely essential tool to enable your sales team to confidently handle competitive convos and close more deals.

By investing the time upfront to craft compelling battle cards, you set your reps up to win. Not only will they be prepared to deftly navigate any competitive scenario that comes their way, but they‘ll also be empowered to proactively position your offering in the best light.

Of course, there‘s both an art and a science to getting battle cards right. Focus first on nailing the fundamentals:

• Pick your top 3-5 comparison points
• Research competitors‘ offerings & positioning
• Identify your key differentiated value props
• Distill into actionable 1-2 page templates
• Integrate battle cards into sales training & coaching
• Update battle cards at least quarterly

Then keep optimizing your cards based on rep feedback, competitive shifts, and revenue impact. The more you treat battle cards as "living" resources, the more effective they‘ll be at helping you leave competitors in the dust.

Now go rally your troops and lead the charge with battle-ready competitive insights! Your fight for market domination depends on it.