A Sales Communication Tool Audit is a study of the creative execution of your position. A natural follow up to the Gap Analysis, the Sales Communication Audit goes beyond evaluating what tools you have (or need), to look at the content of those tools. We’ll study every tool you are currently using and how you are using them. We will evaluate your written message for clarity, point of view, salesmanship and a critical element we call interestingness. Interestingness is the power your message contains to “surprise Brocca,” the part of the brain that filters messages and keeps most marketing from penetrating the conscious level. Mostly, we are looking to see how well you communicate the essential truth of your product or service and how that truth benefits the reader.

A second part of the study evaluates your visual style. Is it distinct? Is it unique to your company? What does the execution of your material say about the quality of your product or service?

As with everything we do, we approach the Sales Communication Tool Audit from the perspective of behavioral science. And while art has a place in marketing, our goal for your creative work is to help you close more meaningful, profitable sales.

The audit breaks down:

Salesmanship. We’re not writing literature, we’re practicing rhetoric. The job is not to impress but to persuade. Does your material contain a clear, compelling benefit to the readers? Is there a logical, easily found call to action? Do the marcom tools have a place in the sales cycle…or is it all for one? Do the tools have visual and verbal differentiation from the competition?

Visual style. What does the design, color and type say about you? Are photo/illustrations used well? Are they cliché or compelling?

Messaging. What benefits to the reader are you communicating? Are you speaking to the reader or yourself? What message is being sent? Does the messaging take a position? Is that position different from your competitors? Are the materials about the reader or the writer? What is the emotional message? What is the economic message?

Production values. Do the production values accurately reflect the brand being represented?

The Sales Communication Audit deliverable is a written report that makes recommendations in these four areas. Our findings will also demonstrate how these recommendations might be implemented in two or three creative samples of selling tools — they might be web, ads, brochures, presentations, tradeshow or a selling presentation. In the case of a brand or sub brand, the deliverable might show how the brand as a whole might be presented.