3 Types of Content Templates You’ll Be Writing for B2B Sales Enablement
By Andrew Murray

Business-to-Business writing has been around for a long time … white papers, case studies, ads, sales brochures, emails, and more. After all, B2B is an industry worth $2.1 trillion per year.

And until now, B2B writers worked for the Marketing Department.

But a massive B2B opportunity has opened up … one which has grown by 353% in just five years and is growing at over 50% per year.

So now it’s the Sales Department that needs your help.

You see, B2B sales teams are taking control of their own destiny. Allow me to explain …

A Massive New Opportunity for Copywriters

When you write copy and content for a company, it falls under the umbrella of “marketing material.” Copywriters have always worked for marketers, warming up prospects with content, then ultimately leading them towards a sale with copy.

In the B2B world, the marketing team generates leads (prospects). Then they hand those leads over to the sales team.

The sales team talks to the leads, follows up on them, and converts the leads into customers. They close the sales that bring in the money.

Clearly, the sales team is a vital part of any B2B company.

The thing is, prospects in the B2B world often demand a lot of content and copy. Why? Because they’re making decisions with large sums of money at stake … often six- or seven-figures and sometimes more.

Salespeople use plenty of written marketing materials during the sales process. The lengthy B2B buying cycle involves a lot of emails, slide decks, case studies, white papers, and so on.

But they also need materials they can use when talking to prospects … content to help the sales team sell.

Traditionally, the marketing team has provided these materials. But marketing and sales require very different strategies. As a result, many of these materials are ineffective and don’t convey the right sales message.

This has created massive demand for a new type of B2B writing …

Sales Enablement Copywriting

What does a sales enablement copywriter do?

You write the materials that help the sales team sell more.

A sales enablement copywriter works closely with the sales team, not the marketing team. It’s this shift which has opened up such a massive new opportunity.

And because it’s new, you can practically write your own check. Sales teams desperately need your services today … if they don’t hire you, their competition will.

A Massive Shift for Salespeople

Until the global pandemic, salespeople would visit leads, sit down with them, run through the features and benefits of their product or service, and provide in-person demonstrations. Or, they’d connect at trade shows, association events, and conventions.

But now, most if not all sales efforts are done remotely … by email, phone, or live video chat.

This has become the “new” way to do business. Most of the face-to-face business dealings have moved online, and they won’t be going back.

It’s a difficult transition for any salesperson — a massive shift.

After all, they love the face-to-face contact … it’s how they build trust, empathy, and connections with prospects. And let’s face it, salespeople do love to talk! 😊

But now, their world has changed dramatically. And they’ve had to adapt quickly.

They need sales materials to help them close sales in their new online world … a totally different approach to the once-familiar face-to-face sales approach.

They need your copywriting skills.

What types of materials are we talking about here? Well, there are several. We’ll start by looking at three types of content, to give you a taste of the possibilities in this exciting new copywriting niche.

3 Types of Sales Enablement Content You Can Write

Salespeople are great at selling by talking … but they’re not as proficient at writing.

But they do know which sales messages and materials work best, and which ones don’t.

It’s simple really. The best sales materials are the ones which help them sell the most … the ones which help them meet their monthly sales quotas.

They might be sending out a bunch of emails, but getting no response. They figure something’s wrong, but what? This is your opportunity to help them out … and earn a healthy living at the same time.

They want content that helps them sell.

What’s surprising at first is, the copy you’ll be writing isn’t hype-y at all. It’s conversational. It makes sense when you think about it. They’re using this material one-on-one with leads, so it has to be conversational.

The biggest opportunity in sales enablement copywriting right now? Writing email templates.

Opportunity #1. Email Templates

Sales teams need email templates … cold prospect emails, follow-up emails, proposal emails, quotation emails, after-sales emails, and so on.

Importantly, they’re different from B2B marketing emails.

These are instead a series of email templates the salespeople can use for contacting prospects and keeping in touch throughout the various stages of the buying cycle. They’re designed to save them loads of time and keep the sales message consistent across the team.

They’re a sales tool.

Salespeople don’t want to write. It’s not their strength … no, that’s your job. Instead, they simply want to select an email template, change a few small details, and hit Send.

And every time they launch a new product or service, they need a whole new batch.

Opportunity #2. Battlecards

Battlecards are used by salespeople when they’re talking one-on-one with a lead. A battlecard is also known as a cheat sheet or selling guide.

They have a list of features and benefits, and a list of responses when a salesperson gets an objection or needs to differentiate their product from a competitor’s.

This way, salespeople have a ready-made response written out for them. It’s persuasive and conversational … what we do all the time as copywriters.

For the salesperson though, this is a huge deal. It can mean the difference between making the sale or walking away with nothing.

Opportunity #3. Sales Decks

A sales deck is a series of slides salespeople use to customize a presentation for a specific lead, based on their needs and wants.

Typically, a sales deck will have around 50 slides. It includes many different scenarios … features, benefits, different approaches depending on the lead, and so on.

A salesperson will then pull relevant slides from the sales deck. They know their prospects, that’s part of a salesperson’s job.

They’ll say to themselves, “Right, I know Joe needs an excavator for his new road-building contract. He needs to move 200 tons of dirt per day and he’s loading into small trucks. The site’s mostly muddy but he also needs a rock-breaking attachment for the road cuttings. Joe needs Excavator XYZ and it’s the right one because it has these features and benefits.”

And they’ll pull together the right slides to build a presentation targeted directly to Joe’s needs and wants.

Other Sales Enablement Opportunities

We’ve shown you three opportunities. But it doesn’t end there. You can also be writing:

• One-sheets
• Blog posts
• Case studies (geared towards enabling sales)
• Sales scripts
• and much more …

To give you an idea of how big the sales enablement copywriting opportunity is, let’s take a look at just one company.

Mountains of Work from Just One Company

Imagine a company like Caterpillar. They sell a huge range of equipment … earthmoving equipment, generator sets, cat lift trucks, mining equipment, and so on.

And within each product range are dozens of individual products.

For example, excavators range in size from tiny units used by plumbers and landscapers designed to squeeze through tiny spaces … to massive excavators used in the mining industry. These massive beasts can pick up nearly 100 tons of material in one scoop!

Then there are all those excavators in between. And then there’s the myriad of other products which Caterpillar sells … scrapers, graders, tractors, rollers, bulldozers, and so on.

And each of those needs email templates, battlecards, one-sheets, sales decks, selling guides — an entire package.

Then when the salesperson gets an inquiry, they can grab the package of templates for that piece of equipment and get to work quickly.

You could be writing sales enablement copy full-time … for just one or two of these large clients.

You’re Close to the Sale

Everything you do as a sales enablement copywriter is closely tied to sales. If you tell the Sales Director, “I can help you write a package which will increase the number of sales your team gets every month by 15%,” they’re immediately doing the math.

So when you say the fee is $5,000, they’ll say “Yes” then and there.

There’s a lot less sales resistance in sales enablement copywriting because the benefits are tangible. You’re close to the sale and the Sales Director can see the benefits straightaway. Plus, there’s little competition because so few copywriters are trained in this specialty.

Final Thoughts

Sales enablement copywriting is growing incredibly fast. Right now, you have a chance to get in early when the demand for your services far outstrips the available supply of writers.

Whether you’re looking to get started as a copywriter or you want to expand your copywriting services, now is the time to get on board this massive opportunity.

Do you have any questions about getting started as a sales enablement copywriter? Please share with us in the comments so we can get you the answers.