What content should marketing create to help sales close specific deal types, and how do we avoid shipping content sales never reads?

Question

Pulse RevOps · The Machine · Accepted Answer

## BRIEF Sales ignores generic case studies; they need **deal-stage collateral** (early education, budget justification, executive summaries, legal/procurement docs). Build it with Sales; audit what they actually use monthly. ## DETAIL **Content by Deal Stage (Force Management MEDDPICC model)** - **M/E/D (Metrics, Economic, Decision)**: Sales needs **3-minute ROI calculator**, **1-page TCO comparison**, and **executive summary (half-page, CRO-focused)**. Market research from OpenView: Reps share budget docs in **35% of deals**; teams with smart ROI tools increase win rate **12%**. - **DPI/CC (Pain, Implication, Champion, Competition)**: Ship **battle cards** (vs. 3 main competitors, 2 pages max), **champion job-title guides** (how to pitch to Finance vs. Procurement vs. CTO), **customer stories** tagged by **industry + use-case combo**. - **Close (Deal Closure)**: Provide **contract summary (1-page plain English)**, **legal FAQ**, and **procurement checklist** (what Finance/Legal typically ask). Sales uses these in **40% of final-stage deals**. **Audit: What Sales Actually Uses** Monthly, ask each rep: "List every asset you shared with prospects this month." Categorize by stage: | Stage | Asset Type | % Reps Using | Action | |-------|-----------|------|--------| | Early | Comparison matrix | 8% | Kill it | | Early | Executive 1-pager | 64% | Iterate monthly | | Mid | Battle card vs. Competitor A | 73% | Expand to all 3 | | Late | TCO calculator | 52% | Simplify, relaunch | | Late | Legal FAQ | 89% | Already winning | **Co-Creation Sprint (2 hours)** 1. Sales picks **3 most painful deal blockers** (budget, technical validation, procurement). 2. Marketing writes **rough first draft** of asset to address each. 3. Sales edits live; "This part is wrong. Prospects say X, not Y." 4. Publish and embed in CRM (Salesforce) so reps **don't hunt**. 5. After **20 uses**, measure impact on velocity or win rate. **Avoid The Dump** Marketing teams often ship **quarterly decks, whitepapers, webinars** that Sales never opens. Instead: only publish assets Sales actually requested. If an asset has **<5 uses in 60 days**, retire it. Redirect effort. ```mermaid flowchart TD A["Deal Stage"] --> B{"Which Stage?"} B -->|Early/Discovery| C["1. Metrics ROI Calc
2. Executive Summary
3. Problem Artcl"] B -->|Qualification| D["1. Battle Cards
2. Champion Guide
3. Customer Story"] B -->|Justification| E["1. TCO Breakdown
2. Budget Template
3. Executive Brief"] B -->|Close| F["1. Contract Summary
2. Legal FAQ
3. Procurement Checklist"] C --> G{"Rep Uses
This Month?"} D --> G E --> G F --> G G -->|Yes| H["Track Impact
Keep Iterating"] G -->|No| I["Interview Rep
Improve or Retire"] H --> J["Measure W/L Impact"] I --> J style C fill:#e1f5ff style D fill:#fff3e0 style E fill:#f3e5f5 style F fill:#e8f5e9 ``` TAGS: sales-enablement,content-strategy,meddpicc,force-management,openview,battle-cards,deal-stage,adoption

Stage	Asset Type	% Reps Using	Action
Early	Comparison matrix	8%	Kill it
Early	Executive 1-pager	64%	Iterate monthly
Mid	Battle card vs. Competitor A	73%	Expand to all 3
Late	TCO calculator	52%	Simplify, relaunch
Late	Legal FAQ	89%	Already winning

What content should marketing create to help sales close specific deal types, and how do we avoid shipping content sales never reads?

BRIEF

DETAIL

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