Giving your sales people 50,000 new brochures is commendable. Crossing your fingers and hoping the sales people will use them properly … not so commendable. All too often, companies expend enormous resources creating literature and not nearly enough in using it effectively. As with all marketing materials, the real value is in the execution.

Sometimes sales people use literature as a tool. Sometimes they use it as a crutch. I’ve been on countless sales calls that amount to little more than a sales person tossing a brochure across the desk and waiting for the prospect to say something. Now, any competent sales trainer will tell you that handing a customer some literature is no way to sell. Here are 4 ways to make your literature pay.

• Know your stuff. My first sales manager was a real taskmaster. He forced me to read every piece of literature we had, highlight the key points, and explain to him why they were important to the customer. Before long I knew the products and how to present them. Instead of tossing a brochure on the desk, I walked the prospect through it. The printed words and graphics reinforced the message and gave me credibility.
• Lay it out right. Good literature flows like a sales conversation. If you see sales people awkwardly flipping through a 4-page brochure during a call, chances are you need a new layout, at a minimum. Before laying out a brochure, I like to tag along on several sales calls to study how the sales dialog actually goes, what points are clearly understood, and what issues need more detailed explanation or graphic imagery.
• Think small. Most literature is too wordy and too technical. It’s healthy for you to be passionate about your products and services, but generally, customers are only interested in what’s in it for them. Unless they are seriously motivated, they won’t slog through paragraphs of text; and, if they do stumble over a key point, they’re likely to keep going.
• Think smaller. A while back when I was in industrial distribution, we had a supplier who gave us no literature whatsoever. Guess what? Their line became our biggest selling and most profitable line. I’m convinced our success had a lot to do with the absence of literature. Our sales people were forced to learn the line. They were forced to demonstrate it. They could not take the path of least resistance and give the prospect some literature to review. As a result they soon knew the product cold. Their extreme confidence made them eager to present it and fearless in dealing with objections.

Am I suggesting you throw all your literature in the dumpster? Not at all. Despite Web sites, business blogs, .pdf’s, etc., there is often no substance for professional, informative, and compelling printed brochures. In some industries, you won’t be taken seriously without them. The main thing is to understand what information your customers need, and how they want to receive it. If you’ve had your literature on autopilot for even a short while, it’s quite possible those things have changed. Review often, and don’t print a 5-year supply!