Why Every Inside Sales Organization Should Use Battlecards
Whether your organization refers to them as "battlecards" or "salescards", no inside sales team should operate without them. Even though they are simple, two page documents, battlecards are crucial when it comes to further developing the skills of your sales team. Below are a few reasons why I think this is true:
- Easy to make, and the benefits are worth the time it takes to create them. They are easy to make as long as you follow a template every time you create one. -Especially for different projects or products/services that you sell. If you do this, it's relatively simple to enter the product information in, and in the end, all your reps need to do is pick up the finished document and start their dials right away. Everything they need to know is at their fingertips; If you try to load them with too much information and binders full of info from the get-go, it will be too difficult for them to grasp everything at once. As they get more comfortable with the messaging a few weeks into the new project, then they can start diving into the detailed features and benefits as they have more and more conversations with prospects. As an inside sales organization, there's no need to overwhelm them with tons of information. -Your goal is to get your reps to uncover prospect’s needs and to have a general sense of what your product or service does to relieve their pains. -They can leave the nitty gritty details to your outside reps in follow up conversations.
- They’re a great deliverable to provide to your clients or other departments within your organization. Our clients and business development reps can't say enough great things about the salescards we create because they are easy to use and to understand. The two page documents are simple, to the point, and summarize all key information about your product/service offerings. For me, the key to these is to achieve the end goal that your team can literally pick up a battlecard, review it once, and start dialing to develop qualified leads fast.
- They help you as a sales manager. Even though it takes a couple of hours to create battlecards, you aren't only helping your team, you’re helping yourself as you create them, which will ultimately help your team more from a training perspective. Because every battlecard document will include common objections, competitive landscape, product info and scripting information, this forces you to learn the information inside and out as you put it together so when it comes to training your team, you truly are the expert in helping them learn the information.
In creating what we call "salescards" at our organization, we arm reps with the information they need to learn products quickly and thoroughly, which allows them to jump on the phones within two days of receiving the document. With salescards AKA battlecards in place, our reps are able to uncover leads within the first 3-6 business days of being on the phones for a new project.
So, are you using battlecards to help your team? What key components do you include on the document to ensure success for your team?