Now that you have your business narrative all set, it’s time to start building the B2B sales tool kit materials that you’ll be using to communicate that narrative to your would-be customers. Our goal is to help guide you to the point where you have a set of materials that you can use to engage, pitch, and close your first set of customers. 

While you walk through each section, note that you should consider production speed and value when creating your pieces. There is a tendency to make sure that all your collateral is spectacularly sparkly before you can present it to a customer. Unfortunately, this mindset can cripple early-stage sales organizations; speed is critical to success when you’re just starting. That being the case, when you find yourself needing to decide between getting something “perfect” or getting something “good enough,” lean toward the latter option.

Now that we’ve cleared up this common misconception, it’s time to learn more about what you can do to make your sales presentations shine.

How Do I Build Effective Sales Presentations?

If you’re a more visual learner, check out this presentation on how to make persuasive sales presentations. See what we did there? It’s a presentation showing you how to make a presentation!

That’s by design. Slides can be much more effective in telling the whole story in the sales process than a great demo or nifty explainer video. Humans are visual creatures, and slideshows present a great opportunity to explain your startup’s story using images and multimedia. You can underscore your key points, speak over them to give more context, and send them to someone who missed the presentation. They are the core of your sales tool kit.

Is your pitch deck setting up your story, your customers’ pain points, and how you solve them most effectively? Below are the sections we recommend including in your sales deck to bring the story to life:

  • The Problem and Who Has It - Describe the problem your customer faces. This perfectly sets up your product as the solution in a story form.
  • Cost of the Problem - Address what your customer is losing by not implementing your product.
  • Existing Solutions and Their Challenges - Get ahead of other solutions that are out there by addressing them and how your product rises above them.
  • What Has Changed - Gauge if your prospect understands your product. Discuss what has changed in the market, and how it impacts clients and created the opportunity for your solution.
  • How Your Solution Works - Include a conceptual visualization of how your solutions process works to clearly establish the correct understanding.
  • Quantitative/Qualitative Proof of a Better Solution - Prove your solution is superior. Address why they should be motivated to make a change and how it will pay off.
  • Why This Will Be So Easy - Address the potential time cost required to implement and how you make this easy on the prospect. Lead them to the next step that makes them feel confident to say “yes” and then everything proceeds from there.
  • Pricing - Discuss your solution’s pricing and any potential variations.
  • Appendices - Be mindful when presenting not to cover unnecessary things. Put in the appendix anything you feel they may need as a reference point or that’s only applicable to some.

What Considerations Do I Need to Keep in Mind?

As you begin putting together your inaugural slideshow for your B2B sales tool kit, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Structure your deck for extensibility.

Your slideshow will always be a work in progress. As you begin building it, think about what you might be adding to it later. At a very basic level, your slideshow should mimic your sales narrative. Talk about the problem, who has it, what the costs associated with that problem are, why the current solutions to the problem fall short, and how and why your product is the best solution.

2. Don’t worry about production value.

While you might be tempted to do your darndest to make your slideshow as visually stunning as possible, you don’t need to create a “big company” feel when you’re just starting. A slideshow filled with persuasive content will do the trick.

3. Figure out how to manage your content.

Creating your first deck is a great opportunity to determine where all of the content your startup creates is going to live. As you scale your business, more and more people will enter the mix. It is important to have a central repository where all employees can turn to find the information they need.

4. Customize for each customer’s pain points.

Think of your first sales deck as the foundation of your sales efforts. Now, think about how you might customize that presentation to target specific use cases or specific industries. A financial services company might not be drawn to your offering for the same reason a SaaS startup is, for example. Customizing your deck can make a world of difference in how clearly you communicate your value to a prospect.

What Outreach Materials Do I Need in My B2B Sales Tool Kit?

You’ve created a deck you’re proud of. Now it’s time to figure out what you are going to do to get that deck in front of the most people.

Create email templates and phone and voicemail scripts before you begin reaching out to leads. The goal here is to cover as much ground as possible. For example, you might want to create a four-message drip campaign to pass along a bit more information with each engagement.

Similarly, while it’s unlikely that every phone call will follow the same script, having a few bullet points nailed down can be particularly helpful in ensuring you get your main points across.

Once you begin engaging a lead and get them to agree to a demo, it’s important that you have demo scripts ready to roll. Of course, you’ll also want to customize these scripts the same way you’d customize a script for a phone call.

While you’re at it, don’t underestimate the power of video. Putting up a few videos that demonstrate your product and how it works can go a long way toward generating inbound interest and helping prospects learn more about your offerings while your team is focused on growing your business in other ways.

But your outreach doesn’t stop there. You should also expand your B2B sales tool kit by creating PDFs, one-pagers, infographics, blogs, webinars, and other content that educates your potential audience. In addition to attracting new MQLs through SEO, you can also give leads plenty of educational resources to aid their decision-making process.

Who Can Help Optimize My B2B Sales Tool Kit?

If you’re looking to create the most effective sales tool kit, Atrium can help. We provide the insights into your sales reps needed to see where there may be gaps and where they are under- and overperforming, which can inform what materials you need to create to supplement.  

Request a demo today to learn more about how our robust sales team analytics gives you all the data you need to effectively and efficiently engage, pitch, and close customers.