White paper · Sales collateral
The Right Sales Collateral: Why What Your Reps Send Decides the Deal
Buyers read before they talk, and they decide in rooms your rep is not in. This paper puts the research on that in one place, maps the right piece to each stage of an outbound sale, and ends with an audit checklist and a brief template you can use on your own kit this week.
- 73%of B2B buyers read 3 to 7 pieces of content before they talk to sales
- 3xas likely to buy the bigger option when the information is helpful
- 49.0%average win rate with sales enablement, against 42.5% without
- 69%of buyers see the website and the seller disagree
Sources: Demand Gen Report, 2019 Content Preferences Survey; Gartner, B2B content marketing research, press release, October 2018; CSO Insights (Miller Heiman Group), 2019 Sales Enablement Report; Gartner survey of 632 B2B buyers (August to September 2024), press release, June 2025. Industry research, not Abstrakt results. Full list at the back.
Cover photo: Felicity Tai on Pexels (Pexels License).
By Scott ScullyExecutive Chairman, Abstrakt
Published October 2026. Research read at each source on October 11, 2026.
Executive summary Read this if nothing else
5 things to know about sales collateral
Buyers read first
73% of B2B buyers read three to seven pieces before they talk to sales
And only 17% of the buying journey is spent with suppliers at all. What you send does most of the selling. (Demand Gen Report, 2019; Gartner, 2018)
Useful buys bigger
Buyers who get helpful information are 3x as likely to buy the bigger option
With less regret afterward. Collateral that answers the buyer's real questions raises the size of the deal, not only the odds of it. (Gartner, 2018)
Equipped sellers win more
49.0% average win rate with sales enablement, against 42.5% without
Sellers above 150% of quota use their tools weekly far more often than everyone else: 80% against 58%. (CSO Insights, 2019; LinkedIn, 2022)
The room is bigger than the call
13 people take part in the average B2B buying decision
89% of purchases cross two or more departments, and 86% stall along the way. The piece your champion forwards has to sell without your rep. (Forrester, 2024)
Most of it goes unused
53% of marketers say sales uses fewer than half of their materials
And 69% of buyers find the website and the seller telling different stories. Build fewer pieces, from the talk track, and keep them consistent. (Forrester, 2023; Gartner, 2025)
Every figure is industry research from the publisher named, linked in Sources and notes at the back. None are Abstrakt results.
Chapter 01 The buyer
Buyers decide most of it before they talk to you
The SDR gets a few minutes on the phone. Most of the buying happens in the reading before and after that call.
Ask a facility manager how they chose their last mechanical contractor and you will hear about a referral, a website, a proposal and a meeting. You will rarely hear about the first call, because the first call only opened the door. The decision was made in what came next.
The research says the same. Demand Gen Report's 2019 survey found that 73% of B2B buyers typically consume three to seven pieces of content before they speak with a salesperson. Gartner's buyer research, reported in 2018, put the time buyers spend meeting with potential suppliers at 17% of the whole buying journey, with about two-thirds spent gathering, processing and sorting out conflicting information.
17% of the B2B buying journey is spent meeting with potential suppliers.
What this means for outbound
Outbound does not change this. It moves your company onto the buyer's list earlier, but the buyer still does the reading. An SDR who books the meeting has done the hard part of getting attention. What the buyer reads between the call and the meeting decides whether they show up curious or show up ready to buy.
Gartner's 2018 research adds the reason it pays. Buyers who received helpful information that made the purchase easier were 3x as likely to buy the bigger, more expensive option, and they reported less regret. Helpful is the operative word: information that answers the buyer's questions, not a brochure about your history.
- Plan for the reading. Every stage of the sale needs something worth reading, not only the meeting.
- Write for the question. Each piece should answer something buyers ask on calls.
- Assume it gets forwarded. The person who reads it is often not the person who signs.
Chapter 02 The seller
What sellers are missing
Sellers with the right materials and tools win more often. Most sales teams have materials. Far fewer have the right ones.
CSO Insights' 2019 Sales Enablement Report compared organizations with a sales enablement function against those without one. The average win rate was 49.0% with enablement and 42.5% without it. LinkedIn's 2022 State of Sales report found that 80% of sellers who reached 150% of quota or more used sales tech at least once a week, against 58% of all other sellers.
| Organization | Average win rate |
|---|---|
| With sales enablementHigher | 49.0% |
| Without sales enablement | 42.5% |
| Seller group | Share who use it weekly |
|---|---|
| At 150% of quota or more | 80% |
| All other sellers | 58% |
The gap is usage, not volume
The problem in most companies is not a shortage of material. Forrester's 2023 Portfolio Marketing Survey found that 53% of marketers said fewer than half of their sales enablement materials were being used by sales. Marketing builds it, sales ignores it, and both sides think the other is the problem.
From running SDR floors, the pattern is consistent. Reps send what helps them win the next conversation and skip everything else. A piece gets used when a rep can say when to send it, to whom, and what the buyer will do after reading it. A piece built for a campaign calendar, with no moment in the sale attached, sits in the shared drive.
What reps say"I don't know which one to send."
What fixes itName each piece by its stage and its buyer, and keep one current version in one place.
What reps say"It doesn't answer what they asked."
What fixes itWrite from call notes and recordings. The objections SDRs hear are the outline.
What reps say"It's too long to send after a five-minute call."
What fixes itA one-page version of every long piece, built for the follow-up email.
Chapter 03 The buying group
The deal is decided in a room your rep is not in
Your rep talks to one person. The decision belongs to a group, and most of them never hear the pitch.
Forrester's State of Business Buying 2024 found that on average 13 people inside an organization are involved in a B2B buying decision, and 89% of purchases involve two or more departments. The same research found that 86% of B2B purchases stall during the buying process.
For a contractor selling a service agreement, those people are the facility manager who took the call, the operations or property lead who owns the budget, someone in finance, and often an owner or regional director who has to approve the change. Your SDR spoke to one of them. Your closer may meet two.
The piece your champion forwards has to make your case without you in the room.
Build for the second reader
The best test for any piece of collateral is the forward. If the facility manager sends it to the CFO with one line, "this is the company I mentioned," does the CFO understand what you do, why it matters to them and what it costs to say yes? A case study with a named result and a clear scope passes that test. A capabilities brochure written for anyone usually does not.
- The budget owner needs cost, risk and a comparison against doing nothing or keeping the incumbent.
- The operations lead needs scope, response times and how the switch works.
- The approver needs proof that companies like theirs made the same choice and did not regret it.
Chapter 04 The sale
Collateral for each stage of an outbound sale
An outbound sale has six moments where a buyer moves forward or goes quiet. Each one needs a different piece, and a different person sends it.
The SDR owns the touches before and after the first call. The closer owns the meeting and the decision. Both work trade shows and events. Here is the buyer's question at each stage, the pieces that answer it and how to tell whether it worked.
-
Before the first call
Sent by: SDRThe buyer is thinking"Who are you, and why would I take your call?"
What to send
- A one-pager attached to the first email
- A direct mail piece that lands before the first dial
- Trade ads or LinkedIn posts in the territory
It worked if
The buyer recognizes your name when the SDR says it.
-
After the first conversation
Sent by: SDRThe buyer is thinking"Send me something."
What to send
- A sell sheet for the service the buyer asked about
- A case study from a company like theirs
- A short video of the crew or the product at work
It worked if
The buyer forwards it to the person who signs, and it still makes sense without the call.
-
Before the meeting
Sent by: SDR and closerThe buyer is thinking"Is this a real company, and what is the hour for?"
What to send
- A confirmation email with a short agenda
- A company overview or capability statement
- A website that backs up what the SDR said
It worked if
The buyer arrives knowing why they are there, and the closer has read the SDR's notes.
-
In the meeting
Sent by: CloserThe buyer is thinking"Can you answer the questions I raised, in front of my boss?"
What to send
- A pitch deck built around the objections SDRs hear
- A cost comparison or ROI sheet for the budget owner
- A product guide or brochure for the people who were not on the call
It worked if
The closer runs a conversation, not a slideshow, and the budget owner leaves with numbers.
-
After the meeting
Sent by: CloserThe buyer is thinking"How do I defend this choice to my CFO?"
What to send
- A proposal with the scope, terms and next step easy to find
- Case studies and a references sheet
- A straight comparison against the incumbent
- Nurture mail for long approval cycles
It worked if
Your champion can make your case in a meeting you are not invited to.
-
Trade shows and events
Sent by: SDR and closerThe buyer is thinking"Which booth was that?"
What to send
- Booth graphics and banners that match the outbound
- A handout or one-pager
- Post-show mail and email
It worked if
The buyer connects the follow-up call to the booth before the second sentence.
Most companies have something for the meeting and nothing for the two stages around it. The gaps are almost always the follow-up after the first call and the forward after the meeting, which is exactly where the reading happens. Use the stage coverage map in the toolkit to find yours.
Chapter 05 The pieces
What good looks like, piece by piece
Checklists for the five pieces reps send most. If a piece fails two lines, rewrite it before you print more.
Sell sheet or one-pager
Sent after a good first call. Read in under a minute, forwarded upstairs.
- One problem the buyer has, in the words buyers use on calls
- What you do about it, for which kind of building or company
- One piece of proof: a named result, a client logo you are allowed to use, or a credential
- One next step, with a name and a phone number
- Nothing the buyer has to scroll or turn the page to find
Case study
The piece that travels to the CFO. Written so the champion can forward it without rewriting a word.
- A client the buyer recognizes as similar: same trade, building type or size
- The situation before, stated as the client would state it
- What changed, in plain steps, without your internal jargon
- The result with its period and how it was measured, or no number at all
- Client approval to publish, on file
Pitch deck
The first meeting. A frame for a conversation, not a script to read.
- Opens with the buyer's situation, not your company history
- One slide for each objection SDRs hear most often
- Proof placed where the doubt comes up, not saved for the end
- A pricing or scope slide the closer can show or skip
- Ends on a specific next step with a date
Capability statement
For buyers who qualify vendors on paper: facility teams, general contractors, public and institutional owners.
- Core services in the buyer's categories, not your org chart
- Licenses, certifications, insurance and safety credentials the buyer checks
- Service area and response commitments you actually keep
- Past performance the buyer can verify
- Company identifiers and a named contact
Follow-up email
The wrapper for every piece above. Most collateral is opened from here.
- The reason for the call in the subject line
- One piece attached or linked, chosen for what the buyer said
- Two or three sentences that say why this piece, for them
- A proposed next step with times, not "let me know"
One rule covers all five: every number on a piece of collateral carries its source and its period. Buyers and their finance teams discount unsourced claims, and one unsupported number makes them doubt the supported ones next to it.
Chapter 06 The story
One story from the website to the call to the proposal
Buyers check what the rep said against the website and the PDF. When the three disagree, trust drops.
Gartner's survey of 632 B2B buyers, run in August and September 2024 and published in June 2025, found that 69% reported inconsistencies between the information on a supplier's website and what its sellers told them. That is the buyer doing the reading from Chapter 1 and finding that your company tells more than one story.
69% of B2B buyers report inconsistencies between a supplier's website and what its sellers tell them.
Where the stories split
The callThe SDR leads with response time because that is what gets facility managers to talk.
The fixThe sell sheet and the website lead with the same promise, in the same words.
The servicesThe website lists "mechanical services," the deck says "HVAC solutions," the proposal says "PM agreement."
The fixOne name for each service, used everywhere, chosen from how buyers say it.
The proofThe closer quotes a result that is not on the website or in any case study.
The fixA short list of approved proof points, each with a source, that every piece draws from.
Start from the talk track
The cleanest way to keep one story is to write the collateral from the same source as the calls. The talk track already holds the reasons buyers agree to talk, the objections they raise and the proof that answers them. Build the sell sheet, the deck and the website copy from it, and the buyer hears the same thing on the phone, reads it in the follow-up and finds it again when they look you up.
Part two Apply this
The sales collateral toolkit
3 working tools built from the chapters above. Tick the boxes as you go (they stay ticked in this browser), copy the brief into your own documents, or save the whole paper as a PDF and print this part as a worksheet.
Tool 01
Collateral audit checklist
Run each piece your reps send through these ten lines. Keep the pieces that pass eight or more, rewrite the ones that pass five to seven, and retire the rest.
Tool 02
Stage coverage map
Tick each stage where your reps have a current piece they actually send. The unticked stages are where buyers go quiet.
Tool 03
One-page brief template
Fill this in before anyone opens a design file. If you cannot fill in the stage, the question and the next step, the piece is not ready to build.
PIECE: (sell sheet, case study, deck, capability statement, mailer) STAGE: (before the call, after the call, before the meeting, in the meeting, after the meeting, events) WHO SENDS IT: (SDR or closer) and WHEN: (the moment in the sale) WHO READS IT: (title) and WHO THEY FORWARD IT TO: (title) THE QUESTION IT ANSWERS: (in the buyer's words, from a real call) THE ONE MESSAGE: (one sentence) PROOF: (named result with source and date, credential, or client the buyer will recognize) NEXT STEP ON THE PIECE: (name, number, what happens next) FORMATS: (print, PDF for email, web, mobile) OWNER AND REVIEW DATE:
Appendix If you want it built for you
How Abstrakt builds sales collateral
Abstrakt is an outsourced sales development company. Our in-house creative team builds collateral from the same talk track our SDRs use on the phone, so what the buyer reads after the call says what they just heard. Packages starting at $500 per month.
Understand the buyer
Your brand and positioning, the pain points buyers raise on calls, an audit of the collateral you already have and how competitors present themselves.
Set the job for each piece
The key message, the action it should drive, where it is used in your sales process and the right format.
Design and refine
On-brand first designs with two rounds of revisions on every item, and one story across visuals and copy.
Deliver and deploy
Ready-to-use files for print, web, email and mobile, with guidance on where and when your reps use each piece.
Sources and notes
- 3x: Buyers who get helpful information that eases the purchase are three times as likely to buy the bigger, more expensive option, with less regret. Gartner, B2B content marketing research, press release, October 2018. Read October 11, 2026.
- 49.0% vs 42.5%: Average win rate for organizations with sales enablement, against 42.5% for organizations without it. CSO Insights (Miller Heiman Group), 2019 Sales Enablement Report. Read October 11, 2026.
- 80% vs 58%: Of sellers who reached 150% of quota or more use sales tech at least once a week. Only 58% of other sellers do. LinkedIn State of Sales Report 2022, as reported by Sales & Marketing Management, May 2023. Read October 11, 2026.
- 73%: Of B2B buyers typically consume between three and seven pieces of content before speaking with a salesperson. Demand Gen Report, 2019 Content Preferences Survey. Read October 11, 2026.
- 69%: Of B2B buyers report inconsistencies between the information on a supplier's website and what its sellers tell them. Gartner survey of 632 B2B buyers (August to September 2024), press release, June 2025. Read October 11, 2026.
- 53%: Of marketers surveyed said fewer than half of their sales enablement materials were being used by sales. Forrester Portfolio Marketing Survey, 2023 (Forrester blog, December 2023). Read October 11, 2026.
- 13: People inside an organization are involved in a B2B buying decision, on average. Forrester, The State of Business Buying, 2024, press release, December 4, 2024. Read October 11, 2026.
- 89%: Of B2B purchases involve two or more departments. Forrester, The State of Business Buying, 2024, press release, December 4, 2024. Read October 11, 2026.
- 86%: Of B2B purchases stall during the buying process. Forrester, The State of Business Buying, 2024, press release, December 4, 2024. Read October 11, 2026.
- 17%: Of the B2B buying journey is spent meeting with potential suppliers. About two-thirds goes to gathering, processing and "de-conflicting" information. Gartner B2B buyer research, as reported by iStart, August 17, 2018. Read October 11, 2026.
- The Gartner 17% figure is quoted from iStart's report of Gartner's B2B buyer research; Gartner's original press pages are linked for the other Gartner figures.
- All figures are industry research from the publishers named. None are Abstrakt results. Win rates are averages as published.
- The stage map, piece checklists and toolkit are sales practice from running outbound programs, not data.
