The Definitive Guide to Sales Collateral: How to Equip Your Team to Engage Buyers and Close More Deals
In today‘s digital-first B2B landscape, buyers are more empowered than ever. With unlimited access to information and resources online, they‘re delaying engagement with sales, opting instead to self-educate and form perceptions of brands independently.
In fact, Gartner reports that when B2B buyers are considering a purchase‚ they spend only 17% of that time meeting with potential suppliers. This means sales reps have a very small window of opportunity to influence buying decisions. To make the most of those precious interactions, they need to come armed with relevant, compelling content that sparks meaningful conversations and moves deals forward.
Enter sales collateral – strategically designed content assets that support the sales process and empower reps to engage buyers more effectively.
When done right, sales collateral doesn‘t just help reps sell; it creates an enhanced buying experience that sets your brand apart, builds trust, and accelerates deals. According to Highspot‘s 2021 State of Sales Enablement Report, 75% of companies that exceeded revenue targets had a defined sales enablement content strategy in place compared to just 13% of companies that missed targets.
But not all sales collateral is created equal. Truly impactful collateral requires close alignment between marketing and sales, a deep understanding of your buyers, and a strategic approach to content creation and management.
In this guide, we‘ll break it all down for you with a crash course on everything you need to know about sales collateral, including:
- A nuanced definition of sales collateral (and why it matters now more than ever)
- The core types of sales collateral mapped to stages of the buyer‘s journey
- Best practices for developing, managing, and measuring sales collateral
- Real-world examples and expert insights to inspire your own strategy
Whether you‘re a sales leader, marketer, or content creator, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to uplevel your sales collateral game and drive more revenue. Let‘s dive in.
What is Sales Collateral?
At the most basic level, sales collateral is any content asset used by sales teams to support the selling process. This can include everything from product one-sheets and sales presentations to case studies, whitepapers, email templates, competitor comparisons, and more.
But effective sales collateral is about much more than just content. It‘s really an extension of your brand and a critical tool for delivering a stand-out buyer experience.
Top-performing sales collateral acts as a virtual sales assistant, surfacing the right information at the right time to spark productive sales conversations. It enables reps to quickly build trust, credibility, and rapport with buyers by demonstrating authentic expertise and a genuine understanding of their needs.
When we asked Kyle Smith, Director of Revenue Enablement at Lumen Technologies, to define sales collateral, he said:
"Great sales collateral tells a compelling story that resonates on both a logical and emotional level with buyers. It goes beyond features and functions to position your solution as uniquely equipped to help them achieve their goals. In short, it makes the rep‘s job easier by laying the groundwork for more productive, personalized sales interactions."
According to Demand Gen Report‘s 2021 Content Preferences Survey, 67% of B2B buyers rely more on content to research and make purchase decisions than they did a year ago. This underscores the vital role sales collateral plays across the entire buying journey.
Consider these additional sales collateral statistics:
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95% of buyers choose a solution provider that "provided them with ample content to navigate each stage of the buying process." (Source)
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66% of buyers have increased the amount of time spent consuming content prior to making a purchase decision. (Source)
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Interactive content that gives buyers a way to self-educate and guide their journey can generate 2x more conversions than passive content. (Source)
To summarize, sales collateral sits at the intersection of marketing and sales strategy. When crafted intentionally, it serves as an essential tool for educating buyers, differentiating your brand, accelerating deals, and maximizing customer lifetime value.
Mapping Sales Collateral to the Buyer‘s Journey
Not all sales collateral serves the same purpose or speaks to buyers at the same stage of their decision-making process. Effective sales collateral is created with a specific persona and buyer stage in mind, ensuring reps are equipped with the right content for every conversation.
While the specifics may vary based on your business and industry, most B2B buyer‘s journeys can be broken down into four key stages:
- Awareness: Buyer realizes they have a problem or opportunity
- Consideration: Buyer defines their problem and researches options
- Decision: Buyer evaluates providers and makes a final choice
- Retention & Advocacy: Buyer implements solution, realizes value, and recommends to others
To engage buyers effectively, you need sales collateral tailored to each of these stages. Here‘s a framework for mapping content types to buyer stages, along with examples:
Awareness Stage Collateral
Goal: Educate buyers on their problem/opportunity and establish your brand as a thought leader
Content Types:
- Blog posts & articles
- Infographics
- Educational videos
- Industry reports
- Guides & tip sheets
- Checklists
Example: HubSpot‘s "Ultimate Guide to Sales Qualification" eBook educates sales leaders on best practices for qualifying leads and provides actionable tips for implementing a qualification framework. The content positions HubSpot as an expert on the topic while subtly introducing their sales software as part of the solution.
Consideration Stage Collateral
Goal: Help buyers understand their options and demonstrate your unique value
Content Types:
- Product webinars & demos
- Case studies
- Data sheets
- Whitepapers
- ROI calculators
- Buyer‘s guides
- Testimonials & reviews
Example: Gong‘s "Deal Intelligence Competitive Battlecards" provide sales reps with clear talk tracks for differentiating Gong‘s solution from competitors in sales conversations. The highly visual battlecards highlight Gong‘s unique benefits and map them to specific competitor weaknesses.
Decision Stage Collateral
Goal: Overcome final objections and make it easy for buyers to say "yes"
Content Types:
- Product comparison guides
- Free trial/demo offers
- Personalized presentations
- Case studies
- Implementation guides
- Pricing sheets
- Contracts & legal docs
Example: Proposify‘s personalized digital sales proposals allow sales reps to deliver tailored quotes, timelines, and legal terms to buyers in a professional, on-brand digital format. The interactive proposal makes it easy for buyers to understand the details, e-sign, and kick off the deal.
Retention & Advocacy Stage Collateral
Goal: Deliver a great customer experience and turn buyers into loyal advocates
Content Types:
- Onboarding guides
- Training videos
- Product updates/release notes
- Best practices content
- Customer community forums
- Upsell/cross-sell offers
- Referral program guides
Example: Asana‘s "How to Asana" monthly newsletter delivers targeted product tips, case studies, and workflow best practices to help customers get more value from the platform. The content keeps customers engaged while subtly encouraging them to upgrade to higher tier plans.
To bring this framework to life, we recommend creating a sales collateral content map – a visual tool that aligns your content assets with specific personas and buyer stages. Here‘s a snapshot of what that might look like:
[Insert sales collateral content map image]Downloading a content map template to guide your sales collateral planning >> [Insert CTA]
5 Sales Collateral Best Practices to Engage Buyers & Drive Deals
Creating targeted sales collateral across the buyer‘s journey is a great start. But to maximize the impact of your investments, make sure to also implement these best practices:
1. Keep content concise and scannable.
Today‘s B2B buyers are busier than ever. They don‘t have time to dig through dense, long-form content to find relevant insights. Keep sales collateral concise, visual, and easy to consume at a glance. Use short paragraphs, clear headlines, bullet points, and ample white space to make content scannable.
2. Prioritize quality over quantity.
Resist the urge to churn out collateral simply to check a box. It‘s better to have a handful of high-quality, targeted assets than a huge library of mediocre content. Focus on creating best-answer content that provides unique value to buyers, demonstrates your expertise, and drives them to action.
3. Align closely with sales.
The most effective sales collateral is co-created between marketing and sales. Marketers bring the storytelling and design skills, while salespeople bring the frontline insight on what content works in real selling situations. Create feedback loops between the two teams to collaborate on content planning, creation, and continuous optimization.
4. Organize content for easy access.
No matter how great your sales collateral is, it‘s useless if reps can‘t find it when they need it. Investing in a sales content management solution or creating an internal content portal makes it easy for reps to quickly access the right content at the right time. Organize content by persona, industry, buyer stage, and content type so it‘s intuitive to locate.
5. Measure and optimize performance.
To ensure your sales collateral strategy is working, you must measure how content is being used and what impact it has on deals. Track content usage analytics, win rates, and revenue influence to identify top-performing assets. Collect qualitative feedback from sales on what‘s working and what‘s not. Use these insights to continually refine your approach and optimize content ROI.
Putting It All Together: Envisioning Your Sales Collateral Strategy
We‘ve covered a lot of ground in this guide, from defining sales collateral to mapping must-have content types across the buyer‘s journey. By now, hopefully you have a vision for how strategic sales collateral can transform your sales process and buying experience.
But knowing is only half the battle – now it‘s time to put that knowledge into action.
Start by conducting a content audit to assess your current sales collateral and identify gaps across the buyer‘s journey. Use the content mapping framework provided earlier to ensure you have targeted assets for each persona at each stage.
Next, align with your sales team to prioritize content needs and collaborate on a plan to fill gaps. Remember to focus on quality over quantity and keep best practices like buyer-centricity, accessibility, and continuous optimization at the forefront.
Finally, make sure you have the right tools and processes in place to effectively create, manage, distribute, and measure sales collateral. This may include investing in a content management platform, sales enablement solution, or marketing automation tool.
Here are a few recommended resources to get you started:
- [Insert 3-5 recommended sales collateral tools/platforms]
- [Link to sales collateral content map template download]
- [Links to 2-3 additional sales collateral articles or guides]
Remember, leveling up your sales collateral strategy is a journey. Start where you are, progress iteratively, and always keep the buyer at the center.
With the right approach, sales collateral can be your secret weapon for engaging buyers, accelerating deals, and driving sustainable revenue growth. You have everything you need to get started – now it‘s time to make it happen.
