battle card что это
СОДЕРЖАНИЕ
Первая коллекционная карточная игра
Игровая система «Scratch and Slay»
Каждая карта воина имеет 25 точек по краю. Они разделены на 3 точки жизни, 1 точку кошелька, 4 точки на голове, 6 точек на руках, 6 точек на ногах и 5 точек на теле. Под каждой точкой головы, руки, ноги и тела либо ничего, либо красная капля крови. Под каждой точкой жизни либо ничего, либо красный череп. Под точкой кошелька стоит цифра.
Для игры каждый игрок выбирает одну карту воина. Затем случайным образом выбирается один игрок, который ходит первым, например, при подбрасывании монеты. Затем первый игрок царапает одну из точек на голове, руке, ноге или теле. Если появляется красная капля крови, игрок снова царапает ее. В противном случае другой игрок уходит. Каждый раз, когда появляется красная капля крови, игрок снова царапает ее. После того, как обнаруживается вторая капля крови и после того, как капли крови будут падать еще, этот игрок стирает точку жизни. Если раскрывается красный череп, этот игрок выигрывает.
Игроки могли забрать кошелек с карты после того, как соскребли с карты точку кошелька. Кошелек из нескольких карт можно было собрать и отправить вместе с картой Trading Post для специальных карт с серебряной фольгой. Однако это предложение истекло в 1994 году.
Шпаргалка или battle card для продавца
IT-решения как и многие другие комплексные услуги сложно продавать. Сам процесс продаж очень длительный и требует вовлечения множества различных специалистов.
Для облегчения продаж в IT, у большинства компаний есть так называемые батл-карты (battle card), что вольно можно перевести как схема боя или шпаргалка.
Батл-карта – это краткое резюме, чаще всего в виде таблицы. В ней находится ключевая для продавца информация, которая может потребоваться при встрече с клиентом. Батл-карта включает в себя – ценностное предложение (value proposition), целевую аудитории (ЦА), ключевые потребности ЦА, сравнение с конкурентами и цены по основным продуктам.
Батл-карта весьма универсальный инструмент и существенно облегчает жизнь продающим подразделениям компании. Как и инструмент анализа потребителей по методике 6W, батл-карты пришли к нам с запада. Чаще всего батл-карта помещается на двух страницах формата А4, в большем размере нет смысла.
Чтобы создать эффективную батт-карту можно воспользоваться методикой компании Forte Consultancy Group, состоящей из 9 шагов.
1. Рыночные условия
Главная задача этого шага предоставить менеджерам по продажам информацию о рынке, на котором компания функционирует. Ключевые момент: размер рынка, размер потенциальной целевой ниши и ключевые сегменты.
2. Целевая аудитория и возможности
Какие проблемы испытывают ваши потенциальные клиенты? На этом шаге требуется указать, кто является вашими потенциальным целевыми клиентами, какие пробелы (проблемы) у них существует и как ваше решение может помочь закрыть их.
3. Свойства вашего продукта и специальные предложения
На этом шаге, у вашего продавца должно быть краткое описание ваших продуктов (услуг) с фокусом на преимуществах релевантных для клиента. Так же информация о специальных предложения и промо акциях действующих в данный момент.
4. Сравнение с конкурентами
Главная задача шага предоставить сравнение с наиболее популярными решениями конкурентов. Чаще всего сравнение идет по пунктам в виде матрицы. Сравниваются преимущества вашего решения и конкурентов, ценовая политика, недостатки, возможности техподдержки и т.д. Открытие признание некоторых преимуществ конкретных решений подчеркивает объективность сравнения, так же эффективны истории о клиентах, отдавших предпочтение вашему решению, а не конкурентам. Чаще всего, именно этот пункт отдельно считается батл-картой из-за первостепенности информации в нем.
5. Сегменты клиентов (и специфичные преимущества)
Ключевая задача этого шага – дать ответ на вопрос, почему ваше решение подходит именно этому сегменту клиентов. Отличительные преимущества вашего продукта (бессрочная гарантия, лучшая техподдержка 24/7, совместимость с другими решениями) – это то, на чем следует сделать акцент в этом пункте. Предложение должно быть простым и его преимущества должны быть понятны целевой аудитории.
6. Возможные проблемы с вашим продуктом
В этом пункте необходимо предоставить торговому представителю информацию как отвечать на возражения клиента, если на ваш продукт есть негативные отзывы от предыдущих клиентов. Эффективнее всего приводить примеры, как были решены и исправлены проблемы в продукте.
7. Вопросы триггеры
Важнейшая часть процесса продаж – заставить ваших потенциальных клиентов задавать вопросы, и с помощью них идентифицировать их потребности.
Эти вопросы должны использоваться вашим торговым представителем, как триггер для предложения лучшего подходящего решения или продукта.
8. Истории успеха
Нет ничего более эффективного, чем успешные примеры из реальной жизни, как с помощью ваших продуктов и решений были решены задачи ваших клиентов. Чем больше задачи текущего клиента схожи с задачами из успешных примеров, тем более эффектен этот шаг.
9. Дополнительная информация
Информация о том, как торговые представители могут получить дополнительные сведения о продукте. Напоминание ключевых номеров телефонов или контакты ответственных лиц, или любая дополнительная информация, которая может потребоваться вашему продавцу под конец встречи с клиентом.
Хорошо подготовленные батл-карты могут существенно улучшить процесс продаж и повысить его эффективность.
Успешных продаж!
Еще больше фишек в моей книге «Маркетинг Girl«. «Маркетинг Girl» — это легкий бизнес-роман, рассказывающий про основные принципы и фишки маркетинга. Приятное и полезное чтение.
How to create competitive sales battle cards using social proof
The competitive battle card is a staple of most sales teams. Sales battle cards serve just one purpose: To help sales reps convince prospects to pick you over the competition.
But sales battle cards have also become increasingly important as sales cycles have grown more complicated and features have become easier to replicate.
In fact, we know that B2B buyers struggle to see clear differences when comparing similar products. A recent study from CEB and Google found that only 14 % of B2B buyers see any real difference between vendors and value that difference enough to pay for it.
An effective sales battle card arms your sales team with information they can leverage to persuade prospects to make that leap. When done properly, battle cards enable sales reps to guide prospects toward seeing the personal value in your product that prospects need to go from inertia to purchase.
In this post, we explain how to create a sales battle card from scratch and how to leverage social proof in your battle cards to expertly position your product.
What should you include in your sales battle cards?
Sales battle cards summarize the most important differences between your product and your competitors’ products. They outline the business problem your product solves, the benefits of switching or picking your product, and the key differentiators that sales reps need to convey to prospects.
Before we dive in, let’s take a look at one of the better examples of sales battle cards. Here’s the battle card created by enterprise software company CloudLinux:
In their battle card, CloudLinux provides a concise but comprehensive overview of their product’s position in the market. They include important specifics on target market and customer, business benefits, key features, and more in an easily digestible and scannable format.
The example from CloudLinux aligns closely with the model for battle cards developed by Forte Consultancy Group. Now the gold standard for battle cards, their model has helped us create our own battle cards at DocSend and helped many others along the way.
As you read through the specifics of their model (outlined below), reference CloudLinux’s sales battle card to see how they implemented the model. Here’s what Forte Consultancy Group recommends including in your sales battle cards:
The Forte Consultancy Group Model
What makes sales battle cards effective?
Comparing your product to a competitor’s can often be tricky. It requires tact and expertise and, most importantly, a solid grasp of your market positioning. And that’s where sales battle cards become an essential resource in any reps’ toolbox.
Effective sales battle cards equip reps with sales-ready responses to the most important questions a prospect might ask. The best ones help reps convey the unique value of your product using consistent, proven marketing messages.
The most important differentiator between a decent battle card and a strong one is social proof. Social proof provides prospects with evidence from their peers that what you’re saying has been verified as true. It helps prospects parse the product leaders and innovators from the laggards and followers.
In the next section, we explain how to leverage social proof from Glassdoor to level up your sales battle cards. Glassdoor’s free company reviews often contain detailed competitive intelligence that, when used strategically, can help turn doubtful prospects into committed buyers.
Battle card hack: How to use the social proof provided by Glassdoor
Glassdoor makes it easy to find employee reviews on just about every private and public company. Given that your competitors’ companies are large enough (30+ employees), you should find at least a handful of reviews.
Let’s pretend that we work for Acme Corp and Acme Corp sells infrastructure software. One of our products is an infrastructure security solution, and we want to understand how our competitors’ products are performing when it comes to security.
When we search for our biggest competitor Infrastructure Corp, here’s one of the reviews we find:
Note: This is real employee review from an infrastructure software company that sells security as a solution. We’ve blurred out any identifying information.
Since this review was written by a Security Administrator, we can give extra weight to the information he or she provides. Here’s what we learn:
As you read through your competitors’ reviews, take the time to capture your competitive intel. We find it helpful to organize competitive intel by selling proposition. In this example, the categories we would create are customer support, pricing, and security.
Carefully cataloging your findings makes it easier to distill them into one-page battle cards that your reps can reference. It also helps your reps understand how your product stacks up against your competitors’ with regard to value.
How can reps use sales battle cards in practice?
You’ve successfully armed your reps with critical competitive intelligence. Now they need to know how to leverage that intel in conversations with prospects.
Let’s pretend that one your reps receives an email from her prospect with questions about Infrastructure Corp. The prospect’s manager wants to go with Infrastructure Corp, but the prospect wants to know how your company Acme Corp stacks up before deciding.
Your rep knows that her prospect cares most about security. Armed with information from the review on Glassdoor, your rep calls her prospect to say:
Seller: Hey, I just read your last email. I know you’re thinking of going with Infrastructure Corp, and I wanted to reach out with some information you might find useful. Even if you decide to go with another vendor, I wanted to make sure you have all the information you need to make the best choice.
Prospect: Great, what did you want to tell me?
Seller: You mentioned on our first call that security was your first priority when choosing infrastructure software. In the last year, Infrastructure Corp has started outsourcing security administration to a third-party firm and laying off their internal security team. I wanted to make sure you were aware of the changes.
Prospect: Oh wow. I had no clue. Where did you hear this?
Seller: The information’s available right on their Glassdoor. It looks like the changes may have ruffled some feathers there. Let me send you a few links that you can take back to discuss with your manager and other decision makers.
Prospect: Yes, definitely. I’ll look out for your email.
Want to find Glassdoor reviews by keyword or topic?
Sometimes, it’s helpful to surface only the Glassdoor reviews that address a specific topic of feature. You can search for keywords in specific Glassdoor reviews by using specific search operators in your Google query.
You can do a site search on Google, by entering the following into the search field: “site:www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-[Companyname] battle card что это.” If you want to search for an exact phrase, just add quotation marks around your keyword.
Let’s use a fictional example from the hit HBO show Silicon Valley to show how this works. One of the companies from the show Hooli has a notoriously bad reputation for its product issues.
If we wanted to look up Glassdoor reviews for Hooli and search for product issues, we would enter: “site:www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Hooli product issues.” Here’s what that search would return:
You can do more advanced searches by taking advantage of Google’s many search operators. Here’s a full list you can reference as you do your competitive research.
What industries or companies can benefit from this battle card tactic?
We think this tactic works most effectively when researching companies with just a single product. That said, you can apply this strategy for building sales battle cards across many different industries, as long as they have a presence on Glassdoor.
A quick disclaimer: Glassdoor can sometimes invite embellished stories or rants from disgruntled former employees. Be critical when examining the reviews to find competitive intelligence that has merit. Current employees can often be just as honest as former employees in their reviews.
Below, you’ll find examples of Glassdoor reviews from several different software markets. We point out what information you can glean from each review. Again, we’ve blurred out all identifying information.
Business operations software
What the review says:
Presentation software
What the review says:
What the review says:
What you learn:
Point of sale system software
What the review says:
What the review says:
A quick word of caution
A strong sales battle card should shift prospects’ perspective, not tear down and trash talk. If you plan on using social proof in your sales battle cards, it’s crucial that you use your best judgment in deciding which reviews provide a fair assessment of your competitors’ products.
Some tips for selecting reviews:
Remember, what you include your sales battle cards may end up in front of prospects or even your competitors. While battle cards are best used as internal tools, it’s always wise to only include what you can reasonably defend or know to be true.
As a final note, it’s incredibly important to optimize external file sharing and storage processes, as well as internal collateral (such as, yes, competitive sales battle cards). With DocSend, you’ll be able to share sales collateral with prospects and clients while getting real-time, actionable, feedback on document engagement, so you can be in full control of your business outcome. Say goodbye to email attachments once and for all, and click here to get started with a free trial of DocSend!
This post was originally published on December 10, 2015. It was last updated on September 27, 2017.
Боевые карты — карточная игра для ценителей
Карточные игры постепенно перекочевывают из реального мира в виртуальный, ведь только в виртуальной реальности можно организовать действительно различные карточные состязания с несколькими игроками. Игра Боевые карты идеально подходит любителям настольных игр.
В Боевых картах вам предстоит играть на неизвестной планете, где столкнулась раса людей с расой инопланетян. Сражаясь против инопланетных захватчиков, вы будете продвигаться по планете до тех пор, пока не сможете очистить ее от врага. В этом вам поможет огромный набор карт и ловкость рук.
Каждый ваш шаг будет проектироваться на экран, поэтому ходы сопровождаются активностью на поле боя. Например, выбрали карту солдат и сразу же на экране высадился отряд. Таким образом игра напоминает не просто карточную игру, а некую стратегию, управление в которой производится посредством перетаскивания карт.
В игровом процессе перед вами доступно 6 карт. Как только вы походили одной картой, на ее место помещается другая — рандомная. Противник не может видеть ваш набор карт, в свою очередь вы также не увидите его набор. Управление картами удобно по двум причинам: полный рандом и равные условия для всех игроков.
Что касается самих ходов, то они довольно простые: высадить солдат, построить укрепление, активировать повышенный урон или защиту и т.д. Суть игры заключается в том, насколько умно и содержательно вы используете ту или иную карту. В вашем распоряжении будут самые разнообразные ходы, но насколько грамотно вы сможете их использовать?
Секреты и советы игры Боевые карты
Несомненным плюсом игры Боевые карты можно считать простой, но, в то же время, очень информативный интерфейс. Грамотная оптимизация движка итак позволяет игре летать, но простота интерфейса даст возможность не заблудиться меду кнопочками, ссылочками и разделами. Игроки, которые раньше не имели дела с картами, смогут легко разобраться в механике управления.
Каждому почитателю карточных игр приложение Боевые карты должна понравиться. Да, это не живое общение с игроками, но все же, если вы не можете найти нескольких игроков в реальной жизни, то данная игра может вас выручить. Не забывайте также, что все достижения сохраняются в приложении, а значит ваш уровень оценят по достоинству в любом кругу.
Чит-коды к игре найти не удалось, несмотря на огромную аудиторию игру. Сегодня ценятся игры с отсутствием читов для более чистой игры. Что касается багов, то их найти не удалось, игра грузится быстро, а в процессе игры проблем не было.
Скачать или поиграть в Боевые карты можно по ссылке: play_cards
The Ultimate Guide to Sales Battle Cards
What is a Sales Battle Card?
Sales battle cards are documents that enable salespeople to have fruitful client conversations. Battle cards provide vital information to sales reps helping them to convince clients with a product’s value proposition.
Battle cards include information about your product/service, competitive intelligence, pricing, unique selling points, possible counter questions from customers, and a lot more.
In a nutshell, sales battle cards provide information that helps sales reps win deals.
In medieval times, kings emerged victorious on a battlefield by wielding powerful swords, which were symbols of power, honor, and strength. King Arthur’s legendary magical sword, the ‘Excalibur,’ was known to blind his enemies.
Today’s sales teams have a similar need for a ‘magical weapon’ like the ‘Excalibur’ to outsmart their competition.
Why Do Sales Teams Need Battle Cards?
(Alternatively, what can sales reps do with a battle card?)
Sales reps need all the support that they need to go out in the field and compete hard. Here are the reasons they need sales battle cards:
To Make an Effective Pitch
Sales battle cards help them deliver compelling pitches. They don’t have to scramble for information on websites, content repositories, SharePoint, folders, or inside their cabinets when speaking to a customer. With these battle cards primed right in front of them, the information that they need is right at their fingertips and makes them agile.
Furthermore, with businesses seeing multiple customer personas that come to their website/shopfront, battle cards help them prepare adequately ahead of a sales pitch.
How? Because each pitch can then be customized based on the buyer persona.
To Stay One Step Ahead of Competition
Sales reps are mostly on customer calls or traveling and might miss a chance to train themselves on their company’s new offerings, features, etc. The sales battle card helps them stay well-informed of what’s shaping the industry, competition, regulations, etc.
For example, let us assume your competitor has launched a new feature in his product that your product already has. In this case, you could include language in the battle card that tells how your product is already a frontrunner or how it helps customers reap immediate benefits.
To Brace Up for Situational Pitches
Use situations to help your sales teams navigate tough customer meetings. Explain what a sales rep could do in the below scenarios:
1. If they’re aware of an existing challenge that a customer is facing, then they can contextualize the pitch. For example, dipping employee productivity, decreasing sales in a particular geography, higher customer churn rates.
2. Your sales reps know what product the customer is using, and if the license is nearing expiry, then your battle card must have that information.
3. If you have launched a new feature that your customers have spoken about earlier, then your sales battle card must have that section.
4. If you know what features customers would like in your product, make sure you mention this information in the battle card.
5. If you are launching sales promotions or offering discounts on your product, make sure your battle card has that information.
To Track Competition (But Don’t Get Paranoid!)
Marketers track their competition all the time. Monitoring what your competitors are up to and including information about it in the battle card is essential (but don’t flood it with excessive information!)
Keep a close eye on your competitor’s website, social media posts, geographical expansions, new client wins (if reported) campaigns, etc. Filter out the requisite information and include it in a battle card for sales reps to use it. But, at the same time don’t report it in the battle card to the point that you’re just following your competition and doing nothing else!
What are the Types of Battle Cards?
Based on the need, here are the different categories of battle cards, which we have listed below along with the best examples of battle card templates. Take a look at our collection of the best sales battle cards.
Product Battle Cards
Product battle cards feature all the information that your sales teams need about the product that they’re selling. For example, the Oracle Sales Cloud Battlecard lists the challenges that potential customers are facing, its value add, and the industries where it is applicable. This battle card has the initial mail script that sales could use. Product battle cards are meant to be educative material for sales reps so that they can absorb it and use it in their sales pitches.
Marketers often adopt an infographic to depict the information. For example, PlanetOne’s infographic-based battle card on unified communications portrays what unified communications is, its importance, the suitable deployment model, etc. This battle card template is favored by sales personnel because it easily explains the whole scenario with a combination of images and text.
Competitor Battle Cards
Competitor battle cards host all information about the competitor that you’re following. Klue’s Competitor Battlecard gives brief details on the competitor, their market value, annual run rate, solution overview, and the customer profile.
Competitor battle cards will enable sales teams to pick out vital information about their competitors and prepare their pitch accordingly.
«I think the biggest challenge when it comes to competitor battle cards is making facts actionable. For instance, you find out a competitor has a new feature and everyone gets nervous. While it’s important for reps to know about the feature in the back of their head, these battle cards should also be arming them with what they can say if a prospect/client asks about it.«
Another example is their detailed competitor overview battle card, which is possibly one of the most comprehensive battle card templates that we have come across. This battle card template has eight distinct sections that help declutter the information contained in them.
The competitor battle card template helps sales folks be ready when faced with questions on how their product is better than the competition.
Comprehensive Battle Cards
Comprehensive battle cards cover a lot of details. Sales teams need not look elsewhere for information on the product that they are selling. For example, the Windows Server 2016 battle card is one of the most complete in its coverage. This comprehensive battle card includes what Small and Medium Businesses could do with a server, use cases, the right edition for SMBs, and a separate section on popular myths.
Question-Based Battle Cards
Question-based battle cards have information that a potential customer could ask the salesperson. These battle cards could be smaller in size in comparison to others because sales reps can use it to handle questions from customers.
Zebra’s question-based battle card has questions that a salesperson is likely to face while trying to sell their product. A sample question could be, “Why should I think about upgrading to a new operating system if my current product works fine?”
Answers to such questions help sales reps to have a good conversation going with customers.
Value Proposition-based Battle Cards
One of the best value proposition battle cards is OnRamp’s Data Centers battle card. It captures information on target customers, qualifying questions, value proposition, opportunity registration process, why customers need to choose OnRamp, etc. This battle card template lays out how customers can benefit from using their product.
Partnership Battle Cards
Partnership battle cards highlight the critical features of a company’s partnership. IntelePeer and Advantone’s partnership battle card highlights the key differentiators of the partnership, its sweet spot, challenges, and qualifying questions.
Use Case-Based Battle Cards
Use case-based battle cards have information on applicable use cases. We found the VSS’s use case battle card features two use cases of how the product could fit into the customer’s enterprise along with the qualifying questions. The document even has network diagrams that teams might need during customer conversations.
How Do You create a competitive battle card?
From our analysis of battle cards, here are the steps that marketers need to follow to create a battle card:
Designing a Battle card Template That Works
While there are many templates available to generate battle cards, we recommend a customized battle card for your sales team. If they don’t find it useful, you will need to revisit it.
Make the design of the battle card template simple and easily scannable, so that they don’t struggle to find the information they need.
Remember, sales folks don’t have a lot of time in their hands, so keep it brief. Moreover, even customer success teams use battle cards to answer queries – so an uncomplicated design will be ideal. Click here for a collection of the most uncomplicated looking battle card templates.
Extensive Researching
Creating battle cards needs a lot of research. It involves scanning the internet, poring over analyst reports, databases, listening to webinars, and reading blogs. Speak to your product managers, technology executives, and engineering teams to come up with a basic set of information that will ultimately find its way into the battle card.
Analyzing Your Competitors
Competitor analysis is a critical component of battle card preparation. You will need to look at their product features, existing customers, pricing, marketing strategy, social media messaging. Gather these details and present it in a concise form in the competitive battle card.
Customizing Battle Cards
Not all battle cards are the same but should be made contextual according to the situation. Battle cards will need to be customized based on the requirements. For example, competitor battle cards are undoubtedly different from product battle cards. Similarly, battle cards could be varying in their coverage (based on the requirements).
While a battle card should have requisite details, it should not be too long. Sales reps could be overwhelmed while searching for information in a long battle card.
Storing Battle Cards
Make sure these battle cards are storable and retrievable from a common database such as Box or Google Drive or OneDrive or Dropbox for ready access and use. Categorize them according to the purpose they serve and use tags, so they are easily searchable. These battle cards should be easily accessible and discoverable by salespeople.
Distributing Battle Cards
Distributing your battle card to sales folks is as important as creating them. They should be made aware of their existence. So, notify your sales teams every time you create a new battle card or update an old one, so they are aware of it.
Auditing/Updating Battle Cards
As a marketer, you don’t want your sales staff to use the wrong battle card. It could result in incorrect information communicated to the client and jeopardize deals.
Imagine the embarrassment if your sales teams promise discounts on the product that no longer exists! When you create a marketing calendar for the year, remember to set aside time to audit and update battle cards.
— Jen Ferguson, Founder and Growth Strategist at Sales 911
What are the Elements of a Sales Battle Card Template?
Distilling the information to include only the vital pieces in the sales battle card template is key to getting your sales teams to make compelling sales pitches. While there is a lot of information that an ideal sales battle card template could have, it should undoubtedly have the below elements:
Information About Your Company/Product/Service
Sales folks are ambassadors of their firms and are expected to know everything about their company such as history, management, business divisions, and geographical presence. Information about their product/service is also essential, although they aren’t expected to know technical details.
Much of these could already be on the company’s website, but it could still be handy to have it ready during a sales call. Create a sales battle card with the requisite product information so that it is easily usable by sales reps.
Profile of the Ideal Target Audience
The sales battle card should have the ideal facets of a perfect buyer persona. What are the traits of an ideal buyer, what is the problem he/she is looking to solve?
For example, a customer of a business intelligence firm could be a chief product officer responsible for meeting the product and business goals. Knowledge about his/her business priorities, budget, preferences, etc. is vital to speak the language that he/she is most familiar.
Unique Selling Points
What are the unique selling points of your product? In other words, why will a customer prefer your product over the other? Think about a distinctive aspect of your product that your competitors cannot easily emulate and ensure you put it down on the battlecard.
Use Cases Applicable to a Client
A battle card must have a separate section on how your product solves a client’s business problem, i.e., use cases.
Clients would love to hear how you are thinking about them all the time. Use instances of how you are doing it for other clients in the same industry and include it in the sales battle card.
Benefits for Clients
The benefits of your product are what you are trying to sell. It forms a vital component of a sales battlecard. For example, if you’re enabling customers to launch their products 30% faster, then that should be called out in a sales battle card. Client benefits could be qualitative as well – such as higher brand recall that cannot be measured – but should still find a place in the battlecard.
Industry Trends
Sales reps should be aware of the trends shaping their industry. That includes: who are the incumbent players, newer entrants, government policies, regulations, etc. A brief overview of the industry trends on the sales battle card will prep up the sales folks to handle their customer conversations better.
Differentiating Factors
What are the key factors that differentiate your solution versus the competition? Invariably, salespeople will have to deal with this question. Moreover, the customer is becoming smart, having already done his research by the time he buys a product.
For example, ROBO (Research Online Buy Offline) Economy had an interesting statistic to report. 82% of smartphone users refer their phones on purchases they were about to make in-store, and 45% read reviews before purchasing according to them.
In B2B scenarios, customers have a due diligence process before engaging with vendors. The sales battle card must call out at least three vital differentiating factors why your solution is better than the competitors.
Real-Life Success Stories
Nothing satiates customers more than hearing examples of how you solved a real-life problem for another customer. You don’t have to name the customer, but it is important to mention them on the battlecard briefly.
For example, let us assume you are selling an analytics-based product. A prospective customer might wish to know how your product could give him untapped insights and how your company has helped similar clients in the past. If you can back it up with customer credentials, then you have done well in closing the loop.
Potential Pitfalls
It is also important to remember to steer away from conversations where you know you may not be winning against the competition. For example, disputes or lack of a more extensive geographic presence – these could be areas that might not go down well clients. The battlecard must cover these pitfalls as well and tell sales reps not to engage their customers on these lines.
Answering Counter Questions
Customers often engage with salespeople after trying other products/services. In these cases, they’re hunting for the best product that matches their desired features, budget, etc. When faced with such counter questions about their products/services, they must be ready for it.
Who Creates Battle Cards?
Marketers, of course! It is because they have adequate knowledge of the product and company. But, it will be asking for too much if marketers were to do it all alone.
They would need inputs from numerous other teams within the company, such as product leads, customer support, engineering, business development, etc. At the same time, as users, sales teams are expected to provide feedback to marketing teams about their utility.
Battle Cards: Rounding It All Up
We often hear about how sales and marketing teams can achieve a lot when they work together. Competitive battle cards are vital pieces of marketing collateral that can make sales teams become fans of the content that the marketers produce. Marketers must ensure battle cards are well compiled, usable, updated, and easily accessible for salespeople.
Don’t forget that salespeople hardly have a few moments in hand to speak to customers, so don’t expect them to open a 50-page battle card document. Refining the information from a horde of scattered material across the company, products, competitors, etc. in a simple format is not easy, but the results are worth it.
«Battle cards do not need to be masterpieces. Even having something basic, but with actionable points seems like an easy yes!»
Think about how salespeople will use the battle cards – are they going to use it in its digital formats, or are they going to pin it up on their desks? That will give you answers about creating the ideal battle card.
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