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By Jeff Kear
Many companies I have worked for and with have a love-hate relationship with sales collateral.
They love the fact that brochures, sales sheets, fliers, handouts, pamphlets, white papers, newsletters, etc., help make their products and services more tangible and real and that they create legitimacy in the eyes of the prospect (e.g., I was once told by a senior manager "A company serious about being in business has at least a brochure and a Web site"). However, they hate paying for an often expensive piece that usually ends up unread at the bottom of a desk drawer or in the circular file.
In my opinion, sales collateral is the most misused and misunderstood medium in marketing today, and there are several reasons for this:
Dependence on collateral to make the sale - By definition, the word collateral means "serving to support or reinforce," and many people forget this when they send out their brochures and sales materials and neglect to follow up on them.
Collateral being at the crossroads of sales and marketing - For companies where sales and marketing departments seem to be in competition with one another, sales collateral can often become a victim of turf warfare. More than once I have heard horror stories about the creation of expensive sales brochures that the sales force refused to use because they had no input in the process.
Sheer mass of collateral in the marketplace - The amount of sales materials and paraphernalia we receive through the mail, at trade shows, in meetings and while shopping is overwhelming. Unfortunately, the ubiquity of these materials often leads marketers to underestimate their powerful potential, which then leads to...
Lack of thought about intent or creation - More than once I have heard a sales manager say "Can't we just crank out a brochure on this new product so my salespeople can pass it on to customers?" I can empathize with their urgency, but for sales collateral to really help your sales force and drive revenues, it needs to have a specific place in the sales cycle and needs to be well thought-out.
So how can sales collateral overcome all this excess baggage and really help companies grow in the 21st century? It all starts with identifying the primary ways these materials can help drive people deeper into your sales channel, which are:
By reinforcing your message - The best use of brochures, sales sheets, fliers, etc., is to reinforce the message you have already delivered to them, whether in person, over the phone, via the Internet/e-mail, in a speech or otherwise. Any piece of collateral should not be an exhaustive analysis of all your products and services (the one exception here is catalogs) but should serve to refresh your prospect's mind about the value of your products/services.
By introducing you to a customer - You can send or hand out sales collateral to a prospect before speaking with them in depth about your offerings so that, when you do speak, they are somewhat familiar with your company and you can use the brochure to talk them through key points. However, you want to be sure the prospect holds on to the materials until your next conversation, so it might be best to include some sort of incentive/offer in the content. (Note: For collateral that needs to make a direct marketing appeal, you may want to consider giving it the tone and purpose of a direct mailer, including a bold call-to-action and an offer).
By delivering valuable information - No, valuable information is not how great your new, ultra-streamlined, whammo-zammo process is, nor is it how long you have been in business or how many awards you have won. All these things are important to communicate at some point in the sales process, but they aren't necessarily of great value to your customer. Valuable information is knowledge related to your product, service or industry that prospects can apply immediately, such as helpful tips or techniques, timely news, discoveries, etc. These can be communicated in a white paper, newsletter or some other form that doesn't necessarily "sell" your company. The point here is to provide no-strings-attached advice and to establish your company as experts in your field.
By identifying which of these three things (or combination thereof) you want a specific piece of sales collateral to accomplish (i.e., reinforce, introduce, inform/educate), you have taken the first step in developing an effective piece of marketing. The next step is considering all the methods you can use to make sure your sales collateral gets used, including:
Link your collateral to other marketing materials - Don't make your brochure a dead end. Use it to send people to your Web site if they want more information or want to view an animated product demo. Attach a BRC for a free sample, giveaway or consultation. Just don't let the customer leave without directing them deeper into the sales channel.
Deliver your collateral in a unique way - I recently opened a FedEx package to find the brochure of a company I was going to meet the next day. Not only did I open the packet, but I spent 15 minutes reading through their materials (which is about 15 more minutes I give to almost any brochure I get in the mail). I've also heard of people gift wrapping their brochures and of sending them via courier. The point here is to make your brochure seem special to the recipient, like it was something worthy of being sent via FedEx.
Set limits on distribution - Only give your brochure to people who are sincerely interested and have an established or likely need for your product/service. Don't give it to wishy-washy prospects who say "Yeah, send me your brochure" just to get you off the phone. By using it as a carrot for interested prospects and not pushing it on them, you can more effectively lead them toward you during the sales process.
Make your collateral customizable for each prospect - Creating a collateral system that allows you to change out sales/product sheets enables you to customize each piece based on a customer's particular needs. This is especially a good idea for companies who alter their product/service offerings on a regular basis (because you only have to reprint individual pieces instead of an entire brochure).
Make a direct appeal - Most brochures I read don't ask for the sale. Sure, you shouldn't depend on your brochure to make the sale, but you certainly should ask for it with a call-to-action and possibly even an offer.
Make information scannable - All information should be able to be easily scanned by the prospect, as most people will scan a brochure first before they decide whether or not to read it. This includes providing lots of headings and subheads as well as bulleted lists and pictures with captions.
Speak directly to your prospects' pain - A sure-fire way to guarantee your prospect will not read your brochure is to drone on about you and your company. Instead, focus on their challenges and discomfort and press their pain buttons. Then you can identify how your product/service can solve their problem and provide value.
Know the advantages/disadvantages of using photos of people - Pictures of people certainly warm up any piece of collateral, and we have found they pull readers into the content. However, the fashions your models wear will look dated after a stretch of time, requiring a new brochure to be developed. And make sure your models represent a fairly broad range of ethnicities.
Build your collateral to work within your budgets - Fancy papers, die cuts, embossing and foils can certainly set a brochure apart from others, but first consider if all this extra cost will result in additional revenues. In addition, if you are going to mail your collateral, you might want to stay within standard postal sizes and weights so it doesn't cost you a mint to mail each piece.
Don't get blindsided by technology - Beware of the temptation to stuff cool product demos and other bells and whistles on a CD-ROM that has no incentive attached to it. Remember that viewing the material on a CD-ROM requires quite a bit of involvement and activity on behalf of your prospect. I personally have never put a CD-ROM into my computer that doesn't offer free valuable information, a free trial or an offer. I suspect your prospects won't either, so make sure they have proper incentive to view your cool (and informative) demo.
This may not be an exhaustive list, but it does offer you a good start in creating sales collateral that will help you push prospects toward a buying decision.About the Author
Jeff Kear is a principal at Kear|Stevens, an integrated marketing communications firm in Denver, CO. During his career in marketing and advertising, Jeff has created revenue-generating marketing communications for nationally recognized brands such as Budget, MetLife, Moosehead Beer, Qwest and Toyota. Before his work at Kear|Stevens, Jeff served as a senior-level creative at a few well-respected Denver ad agencies as well as a marketing and communications specialist for a Fortune 500 company.
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