If you have been in marketing for a while, you have probably heard of the “elevator pitch,” where you have to provide details about your product or service to an individual within a short time while still ensuring that you have their attention. You may also need to explain to the interested party how your business will benefit them. The main aim of an elevator pitch is to increase sales.
However, if you need to market your product or service to a prospective client or customer and the sales pitch cannot be done verbally, you will need to find an effective way of conveying this information. You will need a sell sheet, also known as a sales sheet or sales flyer.
They are not only used for marketing a product or service but can also be used to inform clients or potential customers about new products and make promotional sales. Unlike the elevator pitch, it is distributed to prospective clients or customers through mail, e-mail, or during meetings. Therefore, it should be short, usually one page, and interesting to ensure your business’s products or services create an excellent first impression on the client.
Since that is the case, you can use this article to learn how to prepare a sell sheet, identify its elements, and know when and why you need to use it as you lead your business.
What is a Sell Sheet?
A sell sheet is a one-page document meant to offer product and service details to prospective customers or clients.
It is usually a well-designed and colorful flyer that contains visually appealing, well-formatted, informative, engaging, and persuasive details about your business. The information you provide should inform the recipient about how your business can be beneficial to them. The aim is to make sales, and this means that your sell sheet should be brief but detailed enough to provide potential customers with all the information they may need about your business. It should also provide brand information, contact details, taglines, and the product’s purpose.
However, this document does not offer pricing information or discount options. Instead, it focuses on the appealing and unique features of a product or service to pique the interest of potential buyers.
Uses of a Sell Sheet
In a business or company setup, you can create a sell sheet and use it internally and externally. For internal purposes, the sales, marketing, and customer service departments are the most likely to use this document.
For external purposes, you can prepare one and publish it online to attract interested buyers who conduct online research first before purchasing a product or service. With a sell sheet, you will be able to convince these buyers to reach out to your salespeople. With this approach, customers can quickly identify if your product or service is a solution to their needs.
Finally, since it is beneficial to you and your business, you need to know the most appropriate time when you can use it and why you should use it.
When to use a sell sheet
You can use one when introducing someone to your business brand. It should be the first piece of sales material you give a person after introducing yourself and your business. With a sell sheet, this interested party will have a chance to review everything about your business and what they will need to do to access your products or services.
You can also use one when creating an online profile for your business where prospective clients can comment and share with others. This will bring more traffic to you, and your salespeople can turn this into sales. For online spaces, you can also include videos alongside them.
Why use it
There are many reasons why you need a sell sheet. First, it helps keep track of your many products and their features, making it easy for the sales and marketing department and the customer service department to do their work effectively. Furthermore, these departments can provide this document to customers or clients to help them with their inquiries.
You can quickly provide prospective clients with all the information they need using a sell sheet. This can be done by placing it online or by providing it when requested. Also, it authorizes your team members to provide sales support, answer product or service-related questions, and be resourceful when dealing with products and customers.
Components of a Sell Sheet
To ensure that you have an appropriate sell sheet that can turn potential customers into actual customers, there are certain components that you should observe and include in it.
These ingredients are as follows:
Captivating design
Depending on your products or services, you need to choose an appealing and captivating design. Your design should be clean and straightforward, but not visually sharp. It should enable you to highlight all the necessary features and details. Ensure that you use a layout, images, and illustrations that can capture the customer’s attention while making it easy for them to scan your work.
Engaging copy
Your sell sheet is meant to be brief and concise, and that means you need to ensure that you prepare an engaging copy. Choose your words wisely and productively write them. You need to convince your prospects to buy your product or service, and capturing this kind of interest depends on how engaging your copy is.
You can achieve this by using simple words, an active voice, and correct grammar and spelling alongside the effective features of your business’s products or services. Also, try using bullet points to write your information, using short sentences, and including other customers’ testimonials.
Logo and product name
Your sell sheet should also contain your logo and product name. Your prospects need to know what they are buying and if they are buying from a reputable business. Ensure that the logo and product name are correctly displayed, but they should not use a lot of space and prevent you from including other essential details.
Full-color visuals
It is also vital for your sell sheet to include colorful visuals that will attract customers and be appealing enough for them to want to find out more. The idea is to grab attention using colorful visuals, such as different product images. Using relevant visuals is more convincing than using plain text. Also, unlike plain text, with these full-color visuals, you can engage your prospects without seeming too aggressive.
Headline
There must be a headline in your sell sheet as it helps determine the entire copy’s tone. Your headline should be brief, memorable, and straightforward. It can be your company slogan, but the best headline should be one that captures the very essence of your business and what it offers.
Introductory paragraph
After your headline, you need to have an introductory paragraph containing details about the company’s identity, reliability, reputation, and brand. This information is essential for prospects who have never heard of your business. Without such details, these prospects will doubt your business and be reluctant to make a purchase. An introductory paragraph is a way of establishing your authority and credibility.
Product specifications and benefits
Another essential component that you must include is the product specification and benefits. This entails details about your products, their benefits, and how they function. You should also include the statistics that support the claims about your product and other relevant specifications.
Data visualization
Some customers may find this information boring if you include complicated data and statistics about your product. That is why you should use data visualization to break down this information. The statistics and product specifications should be appealing and easy to understand. You can use graphs and pie charts to make it easy for your prospects.
CTA
The final part should include a Call to Action. This section provides information for potential customers interested in getting more information about your business or making a purchase. You must include the following steps that all interested parties should follow. First, you should explain how these people can buy the product or access the service.
The way you include your CTA depends on how you distribute the sell sheet. For e-mail, you can use buttons or links, and for mail, you can include your contact information, such as a phone number.
Some examples of CTAs include offering a discount to the first few customers, guiding customers on how they can get a free demo or sample, or even encouraging them to visit your website by providing a link.
How do I create a Sell Sheet by Using MS Word?
Apart from using a template, you can also use MS Word to prepare a sell sheet. Ensure that you gather all the necessary information before creating and designing it in MS Word.
With the right images and other relevant information, you should use the following steps to create an appealing and effective one:
Create a cover page
Start by opening MS Word and then click Insert, where you will see an option to create a Cover Page on the top ribbon. With a cover page, you have more editing options as it is flexible in content and image arrangement.
You can place your mouse over the Cover Page icon to view the options you have before selecting the document that you find suitable. After your cover page appears, you should scroll down to the content page and delete it. Your sell sheet is meant to be a single page, printed front-to-back if needed.
Set the page layout
The next step is to set the page layout to suit your requirements. This step is optional, as most people prefer to use the cover page with the default page layout settings. To change the page layout, you should select Cover Page Settings and Page Layout and change your cover page orientation from Portrait to Landscape. You can change the margins too by clicking on Margins on the top ribbon and selecting from the options presented. Ensure your margins allow you to execute your design correctly.
Add and arrange the design
The design of your sell sheet should then be added and arranged. Next, click Insert and add images from your image library to your cover page. Ensure that you have already clicked on the present images and deleted them before adding your new ones. You can drag the ends of the images and resize them to suit your requirements. First, however, ensure that your design is attractive and straightforward.
Add and arrange your copy
The next step is to re-arrange your text boxes to ensure you have a well-designed and appealing copy. You can adjust them to suitable sizes by dragging the ends of the boxes. Also, you can move your text box from one location to another by selecting it and then dragging it to your preferred location. You can use multiple text boxes to have different options for arranging your text. However, ensure you use the white space properly to make your text in the text boxes stand out.
If the text content blocks are not enough, click on Insert on the top ribbon and then Text Box to add more. To add your text, select the text present in the text box, delete it, and then add your new text. You can also type your text elsewhere and then copy-paste. To edit your text box, click on the text box to access the Design tab and change your text box’s font, font size, color, and background. This will allow you to use different fonts for headlines, topics, quotes, and other texts.
Add action items
Your sell sheet should also include action items such as booking a demo or scheduling a call. If your potential customers have read to this point, you can be sure that things are flowing correctly. That means that this section is essential and should be adequately prepared. Ensure your action items are not too demanding or irritating, as you hope that the prospects will become actual customers.
Add CTA
You should then add your CTA at the end of the page. First, ensure that your “Call to Action” is prominent among other texts. Next, create your text box, include the CTA message, increase the font size, change the color, and apply other edits to suit your needs. It is also crucial that you add a link or a button in this section that will allow the viewers and readers to click on it and go to your company’s website for more information.
How do I Distribute a Sell Sheet?
Creating a practical sell sheet is just the beginning of how this document can benefit you, your team, your business, and prospective clients or customers. Therefore, it is crucial to know how best to distribute it to ensure that you benefit from this document. Also, identifying the channel you will use to distribute your sell sheet will help you decide on the design.
There are three ways to distribute it and they are as follows:
1. By hand
This is a more traditional way of distributing the sell sheet. It involves printing copies of sales flyers and distributing them to prospective customers by hand. The flyers are open-ended designs and are used to assist in selling products or services. However, in recent times, this distribution method has been limited because of less foot traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. By mail
You can also distribute your sell sheet by mail, especially if you are targeting local customers. You are assured that it has been distributed by mail to the exact location. You will need to design them, print them, put them in the appropriate envelope, and mail them to your prospective customers and clients. However, mail has some restrictions, such as low conversion rates, and it can be costly depending on the size and weight of the mail.
3. By e-mail and social media handles
Another method that you can use to distribute your sell sheet is by e-mail and social media handles. This is viewed as the best distribution method. It is easy to use, has messaging flexibility, can reach a wider group of potential customers, and can be automated to send messages to particular prospects.
This method is popular but costly when setting up electronic distribution channels. E-mail is adequate for most businesses in that you are only required to prepare and design your sell sheet, and then send it to the different recipients.
You can combine it with digital marketing for social handles, either through mass distribution or paid advertisements.
Conclusion
You need to find an effective way to increase sales in your business or company. First, you need to have a sell or a sales sheet to ensure that you can successfully capture the attention of interested customers. With a sell sheet, you have an appealing and well-detailed document that contains your product or service details. With this document, you will be able to attract your prospects to make a purchase, hence increasing your business or company sales. You must include elements in it to make it effective. To ensure you include all these elements, you can use the free-to-download template given here to make your work easier.
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