Sales Tools: Why Don’t They Work?

Sales tools are one of the most important deliverables of any marketing department. This begs the question: Why are they usually so bad?

Are They Being Used?

The American Marketing Association (AMA) reports that 90% of sales tools that are developed by marketing go unused by the field sales force. One of the main reasons this happens is due to the inflexibility of the materials themselves.

Are They Relevant to the Sales Force?

Corporate marketing departments typically generate tools that are needed by the sales force and do this, usually with no input from the very salespeople that will be using the materials. At best, marketing departments can generate important, effective messaging and write compelling copy, but typically blindly create the same kinds of materials: brochures and one-sheets.

Generally speaking, the materials are created in a vacuum by the marketing departments and then shipped to the sales force with little or no explanation of how to use them. Occasionally, there is some training related to the sales pieces, but that is usually forgotten very quickly.

Are They Relevant to Prospects?

Marketing deals in mass or anonymous audiences. Everything is broken down to speak to large segments of customers. The materials and messaging are optimized for these segments; this waters down the message. If you try to cast your messaging net too wide, you wind up missing a lot of prospects by not speaking to their pain points.

Sales are more focused on prospects as individuals, with specific problems. Tools that are generalized for a mass audience won't work for them. Therefore, they attempt to customize the tools that they are given by the marketing department. If the materials are not customizable, they are either unused or sent to the recycling bin.

The CMO Council conducted a research study that found that 40% of a salesperson's time is used creating their own customized sales tools and messaging. That translates to two full days out of a typical week, just to do what the marketing department could have done better in the first place. This is an incredible waste of their time and translates to decreased sales volume.

Is There Any Hope?

Sales people are independent by nature, so there will always be some level of sales tool rejection within a particular sales force. However, by making tools that can be customized easily, while maintaining the corporate brand and messaging, much of that behavior can be avoided.

The key to the creation of usable materials is to include the sales force in the early stages of design and development of the sales tools. Getting their input and buy-in will not only give them ownership in the solution, it will help to create tools that are more usable.