Sales Battlecards with AI: How, Why, & When to Use Them

What are Sales Battlecards?

A sales battlecard is a one-pager that equips sales reps with key information needed to have strategic sales conversations. It serves as a quick reference guide during sales calls and meetings to keep reps on track.

They provide a consolidated view of everything a rep needs to know to sell effectively.

This includes an overview of the product, ideal customer profile, value proposition, competitive differentiation, common objections and rebuttals, pricing strategy, and related sales collateral.

Having all this vital knowledge in one place allows reps to communicate compellingly, handle objections confidently, and win more deals.

Want to learn more about improving sales at a deeper level? Check out this post on getting started with GTM AI.

Key Components of Sales Battlecards

• Product Overview - Highlights the key capabilities, features and benefits of the product or service. Provides an elevator pitch and positioning statement.
• Target Customer Profile - Outlines the ideal customer profile and buyer personas that align with the product's value prop.
• Value Proposition - Summarizes the unique value the product delivers to customers. Explains why it's better than alternatives.
• Pricing Strategy - Provides pricing tiers, packaging options, and guidance on discounts or negotiation.
• Competitive Landscape - Analyzes strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions or competitors. Highlights competitive differentiators.
• Common Objections - Lists frequent objections raised by prospects and proven rebuttals to overcome them.
• Sales Collateral - Identifies relevant sales materials like presentations, datasheets, case studies, free trials, and demos.

The purpose of sales battlecards is to equip reps to have focused, effective sales conversations. They prevent reps from getting sidetracked and provide consistency across the team.

The Importance of Sales Battlecards

1. Streamlines Selling

With all the key selling points and messaging in one centralized document, battlecards enable sales reps to have focused and effective conversations during calls and demos.

By arming the reps with the right information at their fingertips, battlecards prevent reps from getting sidetracked or relying on ineffective, generic pitches. The battlecard provides a strategic roadmap to guide the discussion.

2. Provides Consistency

Battlecards empower sales teams to align on consistent messaging, frameworks, and selling techniques.

When the entire team uses the same battlecards, it ensures every rep takes a standardized approach to conveying the value proposition, handling objections, and differentiating from competitors.

This unified strategy creates optimized customer interactions.

3. Improves Win Rates

Equipping sales reps with relevant competitive intelligence, messaging frameworks, and objection rebuttals through battlecards gives them the tools needed to win more deals.

By having the right information at their fingertips, reps can confidently position against competitors and handle any customer objection. This leads to increased conversion rates and higher win rates for the sales team.

Sales Battlecard Templates and Examples

Sales battlecards can take on different formats depending on your specific goals. Here are some of the most common and effective template options:

Product Template

The product template focuses on showcasing your solution's features, pricing, and overall value proposition.

It goes in-depth on how your product or service can address the customer's pain points.

Key elements of a product battlecard template:

• Highlights of top features and capabilities
• Customer ROI - cost savings, revenue increase etc.
• Ideal customer profile
• Pricing and packaging options
• Competitive differentiation

This works well when your main goal is educating prospects on your offering.

Example Template 1: Product Template for "JourneyPro"

JourneyPro: Streamlining Project Management

• Top Features: Real-time tracking, seamless collaboration, customizable workflows, data-driven insights, user-friendly interface.
• Customer ROI: Proven to reduce project overruns by 35% and time consumption by 20%, leading to significant cost savings and increased revenue.
• Ideal Customer Profile: Businesses engaging in complex, multifaceted product development, ranging from startups to established corporations.
• Pricing and Packaging Options: Free trial, Essential ($25/user/month), Premium ($50/user/month), and Enterprise (custom pricing).
• Competitive Differentiation: Leverages cutting-edge AI for proactive risk identification and adaptive roadmap suggestions, ensuring your projects stay on track.

Competitive Template

A competitive template is optimized for positioning against your top rivals in the market. It focuses on product/service differentiation and why you offer more value.

Key elements of a competitive battlecard template:

• Side-by-side product feature comparison
• Unique capabilities only you provide
• More compelling pricing and ROI
• Case studies showing competitive wins
• Identification of competitor weaknesses

This template enables reps to clearly communicate why your solution is superior.

Example Template 2: Competitive Template for "JourneyPro Vs. TaskMaster"

Why Choose JourneyPro Over TaskMaster

• Feature Comparison: Both offer real-time tracking and collaboration, but only JourneyPro offers customizable workflows and AI-driven insights.
• Unique Capabilities: JourneyPro's adaptive AI identifies potential performance gaps and adjusts your project roadmap accordingly.
• Pricing and ROI: JourneyPro's premium package costs the same as TaskMaster's basic package but offers a larger suite of features, enhancing ROI.
• Competitive Wins: JourneyPro successfully implemented by XYZ Corp, leading to a 30% increase in operational efficiency within 6 months.
• Competitor Weaknesses: TaskMaster lacks customizable workflows and AI-driven insights, limiting its capability to predict project success.

Objection Handling Template

The objection handling template arms reps with specific rebuttals to common concerns like pricing, implementation, or performance.

Key elements of an objection handling battlecard:

• List of the most frequent objections
• Pre-scripted rebuttals to overcome concerns
• Proof sources like metrics, case studies
• Options for pricing discounts or free trials
• Customer testimonials and quotes

With this template, reps can confidently respond to prospect pushback.

Example 3: Objection Handling Template for "JourneyPro"

Confronting Objections with JourneyPro

• Frequent Objections: Perceived expensive pricing, complexity in using AI-driven features, uncertainty of results.
• Rebuttals: JourneyPro's price corresponds to the range and depth of its unique features, which minimize project risks and costs, thus paying for itself over time. Our platform's user-friendliness ensures ease in understanding and using AI features, and we offer extensive customer support. Success case studies emphasize our results.
• Proof Sources: Cite XYZ Corp's case study, demonstrating a 30% efficiency boost after implementing JourneyPro.
• Pricing Discounts/Free Trials: We offer a free trial of 14 days, and discounts are available for startups and long-term contracts.
• Customer Testimonials: Provide authentic customer testimonials praising the product's value and effectiveness.

How to Reps Used to Make Sales Battlecards

Creating an effective sales battlecard used to take hours of preparation and strategic planning for a single account.

If you've ever worked in sales, you've likely run through the following process:

Old Step 1: Gather Key Information

First, reps needed to collect all the core information that will go into the battlecard:

• Product features, pricing, and collateral - Have your product datasheets, pricing sheets, demo scripts, and other sales materials handy. Identify the most important features, benefits, and differentiators to highlight.
• Buyer personas and value proposition - Understand who your ideal customers are and what resonates most with them. Refine your value proposition statements accordingly.
• Competitor offerings and differentiation - Research competitive products and how your offering is superior. Find your unique selling points.
• Common objections and rebuttals - Anticipate what objections prospects will raise and prepare responses to overcome them.
• Sales process and metrics - Review your current sales methodology and metrics to tailor messaging and strategy.

Old Step 2: Choose Optimal Format

Next, select the right battlecard template based on your goals:

• Product template - Focus on product features and differentiation from competitors.
• Competitive template - Tailor messaging to win against a specific competitor's offering.
• Industry template - Include vertical-specific messaging and use cases.
• Objection handling template - Address common objections you need to overcome.

Old Step 3: Make Visually Engaging

Finally, design the battlecard to be visually compelling and scannable:

• Use bold fonts, colors, and ample white space for an appealing look.
• Include relevant graphics and icons to draw attention.
• Break up long sections with bullet points, numbered lists, and headings.
• Focus on key facts, data, and messaging reps need to quickly reference.

How Sales Reps Make Sales Battlecards with AI

Here's how Copy.ai can be used by sales professionals and teams to automatically create sales battlecards:

New Step 1: Identify the Need

With sales and marketing teams, identify the need for battlecards in your sales process. Notably, not all battles require a card. Depending on the target customers and industry trends, some sales reps may have different requirements for a battlecard.

New Step 2. Select the Battlecard Type You Need

Decide whether you need a competitor-focused battlecard, a product-centric one, objection handling, or a combination of these.

The selected type will depend on your sales strategies and the identified customer pain points.

New Step 3: Open the Workflow in Copy.ai

Use Copy.ai's workflow builder to create a battlecard. Here's a prompt you can use to get started:

"Given [your data source], create a sales battlecard so I can come to the call prepared. Include [insert the information you need] in your battlecard." 

Your data source could be your CRM with customer notes, call transcripts, a company URL... anything you have that will help AI understand sho you're speaking with.

For example, if your battlecard is competitor-centric, the workflow can scrape competitor websites to gather valuable intel like product features, pricing, customer testimonials that sales reps can use as ammunition.

For product and objection handling battlecards, our AI can compile product features, benefits, customer testimonials, and potential objections.

This will all be done on auto-pilot.

With all the necessary data gathered, Copy.ai will generate content for each section of your battlecard.

This includes sections like unique value proposition, competitive advantage, rebuttals to common objections, customer testimonials, and more.

New Step 4: Refine and Finalize

The AI-generated battlecard should be refined and followed up using sales and marketing teams' professional insight.

It's important to customize AI-generated content to align with your brand's voice and resonate with your target customers.

New Step 5: Distribute and Use

Distribute the finalized battlecards to your sales professionals. This can be done automatically via Slack with our built-in integrations.

Armed with battle cards, each sales rep is prepared to confront competition better, handle customer objections, and secure sales success.

How to Use Sales Battlecards in Your Selling Process

Maximizing the use of sales battlecards is key to implementing a winning sales strategy that leverages the in-depth preparation of your sales and customer success team.

Need a bit more help getting clients? Check out these related posts on prospecting and outbound sales automation to get started.

Here are some best practices for incorporating battlecards into your sales processes effectively, ensuring your sales reps are well-prepped and confident throughout the sales cycle.

Pre-call Preparation with Battlecards

1. Tailor to Fit the Prospect: Understand that not all battle cards will suit every prospect.

Review the battlecard with the prospect's business, industry trends, and specific pain points in mind. Sales reps should customize their approach based on this analysis to make the conversation more relevant and engaging.

2. Internal Briefing: Prior to the sales call, conduct a quick briefing session with your sales and customer success team.

This step ensures that any updates or crucial insights about the prospect or industry trends are shared. It’s an opportunity to strategize on using the battlecard insights effectively during the dialogue.

3. Key Differentiators Highlight: Focus on the segments of the battlecard that clearly define what sets your product or service apart from competitors.

Sales reps should be able to articulate these differentiators convincingly, leveraging the competitive analysis provided in the battlecard.

During the Sales Call

4. Addressing Pain Points and Objections: Use the battlecard to address common industry-specific pain points and anticipate potential objections.

This preparation allows sales reps to handle concerns with confidence, steer the conversation positively, and keep the sales cycle moving.

5. Engage with Real-life Success Stories: Share stories or case studies from the battlecard that correspond with the prospect’s situation.

Illustrating how your product or service has successfully addressed similar challenges enhances credibility and relatability.

6. Ask Insightful Questions: Use the background information and industry trends provided in the battlecard to ask insightful, open-ended questions.

This approach encourages deeper engagement, allowing the sales rep to gather more information about the prospect's needs and how best to meet them.

Post-call Reflection

7. Update the Battlecard: Reflect on the sales call to identify which parts of the battlecard were most effective and which sections need improvement based on the prospect’s responses and the sales cycle progress.

Continuously updating the battlecard ensures that it remains a relevant and powerful tool in your sales arsenal.

8. Share Learnings with the Team: Communicate any new insights or strategies that worked well during the call with your sales and customer success team.

Sharing learnings contributes to refining your sales processes and battlecard effectiveness for future engagements.

Sales Battlecard Customization Best Practices

Customizing sales battlecards is non-negotiable.

A robust template or prompt serves as a starting point, but fine-tuning this tool in alignment with a prospect’s unique requirements and scenarios can transform it into a secret weapon for the sales process.

Sales managers and customer success teams can elevate the relevancy of battlecards by making them specific to each sales engagement.

To achieve this, one might consider the subsequent refinement techniques:

Industry-Specific Personalization

• Assess the prospect's industry to grasp frequent scenarios and pressing issues.
• Strategically showcase product functionalities that successfully mitigate industry-centric hurdles.
• Employ jargon and anecdotes that resonate with common experiences in the prospect's industry field.
• Draw direct comparisons with competitors who have a strong foothold within the same industry.

Product-Centric Customization

• Illuminate the distinct product features and capabilities that cater precisely to the prospect's needs.
• Accentuate unique selling points pivotal to the prospect, underscoring the competitive advantage.
• Detail tailored pricing and packaging options pertinent to the particular product in question.

Geographic Localization

• Adapt language and references to reflect the prospect's regional context.
• Document any region-specific variations in pricing, compliance, or product functionalities.
• Position your offering against regional competitors to contextualize its superiority.

Tailoring to the Decision-Maker

• Conduct in-depth research on the prospect’s operational role and sphere of accountability.
• Zone in on the challenges and friction points typical to their role.
• Address how your offering can propel them towards their professional aspirations and resolve their pain points.
• Draw on real-life success stories and case studies that spotlight similar positions or challenges.

Refining sales battlecards is a testament to a thorough and seasoned sales process.

It asks for a proactive sales manager to give attention to detail — from messaging and competitive insights to pricing strategies and relevant examples.

Such a dedicated approach ensures each sales battle card template is not merely informative but also highly persuasive, ushering in deeper engagement and driving the sales narrative forward.

The Future of Battlecards with AI

The creation and strategic use of sales battlecards empower your team with crucial insights to navigate industry trends sales reps can use to close deals effectively.

These tools are indispensable in attracting potential customers and retaining and expanding relationships with existing customers.

Using the advanced capabilities of Copy.ai, your team can revolutionize this process.

With Copy.ai, creating personalized, up-to-date battlecards becomes a seamless part of your strategy, allowing your team to focus on what they do best—selling.

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