Battle cards
Enable yourself to get the competitive advantage
Table of Contents
What are battle cards?
Battle cards are internal documents, with short & sweet, actionable summaries comparing your product, service, features, the market, customers, and pricing to one or many key competitors.
Typically, Product battle cards are used to educate the sales teams about the product being sold, though they are useful to any product team.
They are designed to have minimum information for maximum output
Why should you create battle cards?
A well-equipped sales representative, who has statistics, figures, and other specific, meaningful information to bring up while removing potential customers’ objections, are more likely able to close the deal.
In addition, creating battle cards has a broader organizational effect
- It can help your organization to create consistent messaging .
- They can be used to get new employees up to speed faster.
- They can help product managers to identify shortcomings in the product.
- They can help design teams identify design opportunities that will further make the customer experience consistent, intuitive and simple
- They can help engineering teams to find better technical solutions
How do you create your battle cards?
Before detailing out how to create battle cards, a small disclaimer
An effective battle card is loaded with tactics on how to sell — it is NOT a feature-by-feature comparison. Battle cards should include digestible information nuggets.
Creating battle cards is done by following 6 simple steps
- Identify Stakeholders
Battle cards are not created in solitude. It is a collaborative process that requires input from business and product teammates. Identify the right people and get their commitment. - Provide a company overview.
Include information about the market (size), potential share to acquire, and information about the market as a whole. - Target customers and opportunities.
Describe who your target customers are, which challenges they are facing and opportunities to sell and upsell. - Add important product features.
Highlight the key features your product is bringing the target customer. - Include competitor analysis.
It is not just about your product, but also about what your competitors provide and how you stack up to them. What are the advantages and why is your solution the better one, when comparing to your competitors’. - Research common product objections.
Find out the potential issues customers might encounter using your product and how to overcome these.
How I can help you with your competitive analysis and battle cards?
Now, if you need some more information or are looking for an instruction guide with templates, I got you covered.
To help you with your competitive analysis and creation of battle cards, I have created two resources, you will find very usefull
Total Domination
A practical, hands-on and to-the-point guidebook that gives you the tools to understand and quickly adapt, to any changes in the competitive landscape and potentially take advantage of trends that your competitors haven’t picked up on
