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What Goes Into A Sales Kit?

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s discussed in yesterday's blog post, a sales kit is a key ingredient for marketing your Las Vegas business. Think of your sales kit as a "clutch hitter" for when you meet with potential new clients, follow up on leads, and meet with people at trade shows, conventions and other industry events. Your goal is to develop a flexible marketing package that can be customized on the fly for different prospects and explains who you are, what you do, why you're better than other companies, and specific details for each of your products and services.

So, just what goes into a sales kit? The following is a quick outline of some of the most common elements. We've adapted this information and descriptions of each piece from work we've done developing sales kits for actual clients. For the brochures, usually a full-color, double-sided 8.5" x 11" brochure is a good place to start, but, your graphic design firm may want to develop something that is a little more custom -- you'll have to work with your graphic designer and marketing team to decide on branding specifics for the kit.

Presentation Packaging

You should have your graphic designer or printing firm help you with a professionally-designed and branded presentation display folder or custom portfolio packaging. It can be as simple as your standard 9" x 12" pocketed folder with your logo and business card, or more ornate with custom packaging and die cuts.

Sales Letter

Create a fairly standard sales letter to be printed on company letterhead. Consider this sales letter as a basic pitch, much like you would prepare a resume cover letter. The goal is to keep the sales letter fairly generic, but modify key areas, bullet points and specifics for each prospective client the kit is being sent to.

Informational Company Brochure

Regardless of the size and design of the brochure, you'll want to use this brochure to provide background details on your company, industry experience, business history, locations, local/regional/national/global capabilities, mission statement, biographies of management, and some of the features and benefits of your business that set you apart from other companies.

Services/Products, Industries/Consumers & Processes Overview Brochure

This brochure is meant as an introduction to your services or products and the industries or types of consumers you serve. This overview brochure would be augmented in the sales kit by industry or customer specific sales sheets (see below). The purpose of this brochure is to explain what services and products you produce and to what industries or consumer demographics you target. You'll also want to provide the basics on what a new client can expect working with you for the first time. Explain your process -- how you analyze and identify client problem areas, determine appropriate products, arrive at a solution, fulfill the customer's needs and provide aftercare customer support.

Individual Services/Products Sales Sheets

You'll want to create individual sales sheets for each service and product you sell. Include details about the features and benefits of each service and product, explain why your services and products are better, include features and benefits. The goal here is to create a flexible sales kit. Only include the relevant individual product or service sales sheets, depending on the specific needs of your intended recipient.

Individual Industry/Consumer Sales Sheets

Much like the above services and products sales sheets, individual sales sheets should be developed for each key industry you serve or consumer demographic you target. For example, if you are an accountant, you'd want to develop industry specific sales sheets for prospective clients in the restaurant business, attorneys, etc. You'll want to highlight your industry experience, education and knowledge.

Other Sales Kit Content

In addition to our above recommendations, we suggest you view the sales kit as a flexible marketing tool that should evolve with your business and needs. For example, you should also include in the sales kit other marketing, public relations and sales materials, such as:

• Recent and relevant press releases; such as new client acquisitions, new services/products and recently completed projects.
• Recently published news stories about your Las Vegas business in industry publications.
• News about awards and industry honors you’ve received and new certifications.
• White papers and client testimonials.
• News about recent regulatory or industry changes and analysis of the impact those changes may have on clients.
• Digital sales presentations on CD or DVD.

Michael Borowiecki