Brochure Design: Using Brochures Helps Nail Down Sales Decisions

Despite the growth of internet marketing  here’s a vivid reminder of why brochures in general, and brochure design in particular,  remains as an important cornerstone for our business.

The Scene: The office of a purchasing agent (PA) of a firm selling business-to-business services.

The Characters: The PA and a sales rep with a new service.

The Situation: The sales rep has made her pitch, the PA has asked his questions and now it is time to close the sale. The PA seems to like the product, but demurs. He says he needs to confer with his colleagues. This is a product with a host of features that benefit from a personal visit. But the sales rep won’t be there to help present the product from this point forward. Additionally, she realizes the PA may not make any further visits to her firm’s website.

The Solution: The rep knows from experience that the PA is more likely to pass along a nice presentation piece, so she has brought out a kit—a file-size folder with pockets on the inside which carry the specification sheets that the PA can hand out to his people.

The Pay Out: The folder kit enabled the PA to intelligently present the new service. When the sales rep was called back in to work with them new liaisons were established and the sale was made.

The Point Of This Story: despite the Internet, an important sale can be still be made with collateral support—a kit that keeps the sales effort alive after a sales rep has left the scene. Leave-behind materials are an important part of the sales process. They provide the support a good sales rep deserves. Do them well and you’ll reap the benefits.

Guidelines For Good Sales Collateral

• Integrate it into your marketing program. Use the same theme and art treatment from your website and other marketing programs.
• It is as important as your online advertising, public relations and other communications. So demand a good creative team.
• Before printing, run the pieces by your sales reps. Get their input. They know what counts.
• Collect the collateral materials of competitors. Compare them with yours. It’s not enough to be “as good.” Demand to be better.
• Don’t put the economy squeeze on here. Pay what it takes to get an outstanding product.
• Be sure that you have an in-house advocate for collateral materials, one with some clout.
• Do follow up on its use. Is it being distributed to customers or sitting in a closet in your office? If the latter, find out why.