Tag: Marketing

What Is A Competitor Battle Card?

  • Competitor analysis infographics in thin line style. Print on black background

In theory, competitor battle cards are not that hard to put together. All it takes is a little bit of content to use to persuade clients in a sales environment. What many people find is that being concise is a challenge. It takes some time and practice, but with a little bit of planning and overall know-how about the industry, any person can start putting together cards that work.

What are competitor battle cards?

The simplest way to describe competitor battle cards is that they are short, to the point pieces of information about a business that paints them in a positive light directly against the competition. Videos, graphs, spreadsheets and simple text are all used on different cards.

Once these battle cards are put together, they are given to the entire sales team. When they are in any type of battle against the competition when talking to a potential client, they can easily refer to these cards for quick rebuttals.

It’s important to stay very current with these battle cards at all times. A company doesn’t wanna have too many, but they do want to have a little bit of variety, so sales representatives do not sound repetitive to the people they are talking to.

It depends on each business how these cards are put together. Some companies do it as a team effort, while others will have a few specific people focus on what needs including.

The importance of in-depth research?

Putting battle cards together is easy, but only after thorough research is done. To create the best battle cards possible, in-depth research on every single competitor needs doing. Knowing the competition is crucial for success in this world. A good starting point is every competitor’s website, but going beyond that and understanding them is going to give businesses an edge.

Research the general market and potential customers as well. Every business’s competitor battle cards are going to be slightly different depending on what they are selling. Being able to relate to locals will always give a sales team an edge if done correctly. Most customers want to know that they are dealing with a company that feels like part of the community.

How are competitor battle cards used?

Once the cards are put together, it’s time to make sure the sales team understands exactly how they are used. It’s one thing to relay information to a potential client, but it’s another to do it at just the right time.

Sales representatives can practice when do use certain cards. There are identifiers when opportunities arise, and they need to pounce on that. Some questions lead the discussion in the right way. When a sales representative controls part of the conversation, they can shine.

New competitors are always going to be rising, and old competitors might fall by the wayside. What worked a year or two ago might no longer be a valuable battle card at all. Businesses need to focus on the tools that work. It’s not so much about the number of battle cards, but the quality.

Keeping Wild Birds in Your Yard Year-Round: A Home Gardener’s Guide

Now Available in paperback and eBook format On Amazon!

In a world of an ever-shrinking environment for wild animals, why not make a microhabitat in your own yard? This book provides advice on how to turn your yard into a haven for wild birds all year long. With a little planning and consideration, your yard can be a source of water, food, and shelter for birds. By doing some small things, before you know it, you will find your self enjoying the beauty and antics of wilds birds. Once they find that your yard is safe and a steady of what they need, wild birds will flock and gather at your home and become welcome friends. The tips in this book will guide you on the path to creating a wild bird paradise in your own yard.

Keeping Wild Birds On Amazon

Amazon Author Page

A Quick Guide to Creating Competition Battle Cards

  • Why Use Competition Battle Cards
    Why Use Competition Battle Cards

Why Use Competition Battle Cards?

During the B2B sales and marketing processes, if there’s one question that the buyer is sure to ask, it will be some variation of “how does your product stack up against X competition?” Maybe the prospect is interested in a certain feature, price, or benefit – regardless of the specifics, your reps need to speak intelligently about how your product or service compares.

The struggle is that in any B2B sales role, there’s a lot of information to remember. The ability to retain every nuance of their product or service is no large feat, let alone the details of every competition.

That’s where competition battle cards come in. They’re essentially a cheat sheet for your sales reps. When a prospect brings up the competition, the rep can open the battle card and have instant access to that company’s product information and disadvantages in a quick, digestible format.

Instead of the classic “I’ll get back to you on that one,” the rep can speak with authority on how your company’s strengths differentiate from your competitions.

  • How to Develop Your Battle Competition Cards
    How to Develop Your Battle Competition Cards

How to Develop Your Battle Competition Cards

Step One: Pick the Competition

Maybe you’re in a crowded market, and you have 50 businesses that could be called true competitions. Do you really need 50 battle cards? Maybe, maybe not, but don’t get in over your head. Start with the top five competitions that come up most in conversation. Don’t forget the biggest competition of all – status quo. Use these to test out your battle cards, finesse the design/information, and only then expand to the full sphere of competition.

Step Two: Research

Put on your detective hat – it’s time to start digging into your competition’s dirt. Try to find out pricing, service fees, product descriptions, general business data, etc. Some of the information will be available on their website, but other good sources for information are any company webinars they offer, Glassdoor employee reviews, and customer reviews via G2 Crowd or TechValidate.

Step Three: Review

Once you’ve compiled the research, it’s time to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and best responses to those strengths and weaknesses. The battle card should include more than just the company’s pricing structure, for example – it should state clearly whether or not they’re cheaper or more expensive than your company, and if cheaper, a clear response for why your higher price is worth it for the prospect.

  • Competition Battle Card Best Practices to Remember
    Competition Battle Card Best Practices to Remember

Competition Battle Card Best Practices to Remember

Don’t Stuff Battle Cards with Fluff

The sign of a good battle card is one that reps actually use, so the goal for anyone creating a battle card is to fill it with information that’s actually relevant. Especially when using a template, it’s easy to fill the page with random information that, while accurate, will not help the reps during sales calls. A lot of battle card templates include a spot for the competition’s address, for example. If you think it’s likely that the rep will need that information, then include it! If not, there’s no reason to waste that valuable real estate on irrelevant info.

Keep Battle Cards Clean

The design that is. You may be tempted to put every bit of strategic research you were able to find into the template, but keep in mind that a battle card crammed with text isn’t going to serve its purpose. The design should be minimal and very easily scannable so that reps can get the insight they need at a glance. Remember that the sales rep will likely be multitasking while they access this information – holding a conversation with the prospect while searching for that competitive golden nugget that will help him or her close the deal.

Best Practices for Leveraging Battle Cards

Establish Expectations

These battle cards are a resource for sales reps, but they’re also a way for your company to ensure a unified response to questions about competitions. It’s important that the sales team knows not only that the battle cards are available, but also that using them is expected.

Centralize Access and Track Usage of Battle Cards

If you want reps to use the battle cards, you must make them easily accessible. You may want to consider uploading all of the battle cards to a cloud-based sales content library that serves as a one-stop-shop for sales rep resources. One of the great things about centralized content libraries is that you can see how often the battle cards are being used (and by whom). It’s a great way to track the effectiveness of the efforts and see which competitions are coming up most in conversation.

Keep Battle Cards Updated

An outdated battle card is worse than having no battle card at all. If a rep confidently states a competitor’s prices are higher than they are (based on old data), and the prospect finds out differently, that prospect will no longer trust anything the rep says. Make it a standard process to review the battle cards on a regular basis.

  • Include Battle Cards in Training
    Include Battle Cards in Training

Include Battle Cards in Training

Any new sales rep should have a solid understanding of the competition, so be sure to leverage the battle cards as a training tool as well as a sales tool.

Everyone Does Sales

  • Everyone Does Sales
    Everyone Does Sales

— Now Available In Paperback And eBook Formats—

Book Description

If we stop and think about it, we all does sales in many ways every day. In actuality, in the broader sense of sales, which doesn’t always involve dollars and cents, is an essential skill which has much bearing on our station and quality of life. So, if sales is an essential skill, why not leverage it to make our lives better and improve upon it like any other skill in life?

In this book, you will be shown some of the ways we does sales and why we shouldn’t shy away from it. Additionally, there are self-sufficiency tips for selling and marketing your most valuable asset — you and your skills.

Purchase Book On Amazon

Amazon Author Page

Selling tips for Amazon Central

Selling On Amazon Central
Selling On Amazon Central

Amazon Central is an interface that allows sellers to market their products and reach out to prospective customers in a way that helps boost sales. There are two versions of this interface; Vendor Central and SellerCentral. If you have a Vendor Central Account, then it means you are either a manufacturer or distributor. Holders of this account simply sell products directly to Amazon. Seller Central Account holders sell products directly to customers who find their way to Amazon, which is why they are considered third-party sellers.  If you are looking to make book sales on Amazon, these programs exist to help you out. Regardless Of whichever course of action you choose to take, here is a look at some Amazon Central tips for 2018;

Understand what kind of seller you are

Amazon will require you to pay a monthly fee for using their services. If you are the kind of seller that is only looking to sell a handful of books (less than 40) a month, then you definitely do not need to pay the$39.99 a month bigger seller is required to pay for the Professional Account. Additionally, you will only need to open more than one account if you are looking to sell products across continents.

Develop a working understanding of Amazon’s search algorithm

Amazon runs the A9 algorithm, and there are conditions you need to meet to maximize the potential of your books to sell. If previous customers loved how you handled their orders, then this algorithm will pick that up from your positive rating and push you upwards. The algorithm will also look at how probable your product is to sell by considering metrics such as your price in relation to the competition’s, your description of the product on sale as well your general rating.

Put up all relevant business information

If you do not qualify who you are on Amazon Central, then you are going to have a hard time proving your credibility. In your account,describe your business by name and location. Be sure to use a real, registered business name and avoid listing a home address. You should also provide contact information to allow buyers and Amazon staff to reach you when they need to. To Keep your account from getting breached by malicious parties, enable two-step verification. Finally, activate several modes of payment to make transitions easier for both yourself and the buyer.

Stick to the rules

There is always the odd seller looking to cut corners and get ahead of others. Doing that on your Amazon account is business suicide because they catch up to you sooner or later. When they do, the penalties are vastly consequential. Just play by the rules, because they are designed to help you. From time to time, Amazon tweaks their policies, so keep yourself updated and take advantage of attractive incentives to boost your sales. There are many thousands of people selling books on Amazon, and if you are to succeed in that cut-throat market, you need to keep trying out new approaches and stay updated about events in the marketplace.

Related References

The value of having an amazon author page

Selling On Amazon
Selling On Amazon

One of the best offers presented by Amazon is the devoted author pages. They offer immense benefits to both the author and customer in a number of ways. The Author central is also absolutely free provided you are listed in Amazon. The author page is one of the best every marketing tools to be availed by Amazon and many authors have realized this. You now have nothing to worry about marketing your books online whether you have a ranking or not.

Why is Amazon Author Central Important?

It gives personal control to an author.  You hold your future right in your hands by having a personal page with Amazon. The implication is that you will control everything clients see whether on your pages or books. There are many unique features to accomplish this, for instance, the book synapsis. From there, you can decide either to limit or expose your book and to what extent. Sounds great!

Amazon author central advertising employs shortage strategies to get readers to purchase books.

This makes most authors think that they are running out of stock. For instance, they may provide a statement such as Only 2 book left…’make your order soon’. The statement is a hoax meant to make more sales.

The page increase search engines

You need to be ahead of the selling game by creating catchy and unique titles for your books. The author page will help you in this provided you have an account with Amazon.

More selection of books

You can add more books as you want while creating new titles. This enables you to swiftly add the books toyour page and make a follow up on the sales

Keeping track of every sale

You can also make a follow up on your sale right from the Author central page. In addition to that, you can track on the exact location or country where sales have been made.

Addressing problems

As time goes by, there are chances of encountering matters such as book listing. The good news is that you can get in touch with Amazon and get your issues addressed. No need for future worries.

The page is author-friendly

As an author, you are likely to receive exemplary customer service. Despite a number of limitations with data,Amazon tries it best to reduce such limitations.

The author central also provides undercutting of Amazon Profits which is a huge advantage to you.

You may be selling a book let’s say at $20 but on one morning wake up to get the same book being sold at $10. That does not imply you will be paid less rather its Amazon giving offers from their profits to sell the books.

Linking with buyers

The Author central page has an option to make live discussions with potential readers. This means you can take advantage and get comments from buyers. Next time you will know what your readers want and improve on that.

Final thought

Amazon’s Author Page plays a key role to improve sales. You would have missed a lifetime opportunity for not using their resources since they are fast to optimize. Irrespective of the number of times you use the page, it’s valuable to have the pages optimized.

Related References