What every salesperson should carry: a basic collateral kit

Five things go in a travelling salesperson's bag: a one-page company profile, a product sheet for each line, a price rule in writing, references that customers have agreed to, and a one-page FAQ. The rest stays at the office or on the phone. Here is the test: will the sheet get used in the first ten minutes at a shop counter or a purchase office, without opening a laptop?

Why not carry the full catalogue?

A big catalogue answers every question and helps with none. A buyer on a first visit is working out one thing: is this firm worth a second meeting? The kit has to settle that and give the seller something to leave behind.

So walk through a visit in order, and ask what the seller reaches for at each moment.

What does the seller hand over in the first two minutes?

The company profile, and only that. One page: what you make or do, where, since when, who runs it, and one line on capacity. Leave out the mission statement, the long founder story and photographs of awards, because few people read them standing at a counter.

Put the date in the footer, the number of someone who will pick up, and a WhatsApp number. Some buyers photograph a sheet instead of keeping it. That is a good sign, and a reason to set the phone number large and at the top.

What comes out when the buyer asks "what do you have?"

The product sheet, one page per line. Photograph, sizes or variants, one proof point, and how it is ordered. Do not print every model number; those belong in the catalogue the seller sends afterwards.

A technical buyer will want more than this. If you sell to engineers, the second layer is a specification summary and a comparison with what the buyer uses now, which marketing technical products to business buyers covers.

What happens when the buyer asks "what is your rate?"

This is the sheet most firms never write, and it is where sellers improvise. You need two decisions, and neither goes on a sheet the buyer sees. Both live in the seller's own notebook.

First, who sees a price list? Dealers on a standing arrangement often get one. A first-time industrial buyer gets a quote for their quantity, since your cost moves with the order. Retail customers may see a printed range. Write the rule in a single line the seller can read: "Dealers: rate sheet. Everyone else: quote per enquiry."

Second, who can move off it? Write the name and the limit: "up to a set percentage with the manager's call, anything more with the owner". Keep it there, where the buyer will not read it.

What proves you are real?

References, half a page: customer name, town, what you supply, and a line saying the customer agreed to be named. Ask each one before you print their name, and take out anyone you no longer serve. A new buyer's first worry is who else trusts you, and two named customers answer it better than a page of claims.

The FAQ sheet closes the visit. Minimum order, lead time, payment terms, returns, service, and any certificate you really hold. Print only answers you can keep. A promise on paper is the one a buyer will quote back to you.

A bag that went wrong in Channapatna

Imagine a toy maker in Channapatna whose two salespeople call on gift shops and school suppliers in Bengaluru. This case is invented to show how a kit leaks. They carried a thick catalogue with a printed trade price list slipped into the front. A shop owner photographed the trade prices and sent the picture to a school supplier who bought from the same maker at a higher rate.

The owner did not blame the seller. The trade list came out of the catalogue and went onto a separate half-sheet marked "dealer copy, do not leave", kept in its own pocket, and the price rule became one line at the top of the sellers' own notes. The owner phoned the school supplier that evening, explained the two rates and agreed a visit. The school supplier stayed, but asked for a better rate and got a small one, about 4 per cent in this invented case, on an order of ₹60,000. After that, each buyer was quoted at their own rate.

The sheet count dropped from eleven to five. The sellers said the bag felt lighter, though one forgot the dealer half-sheet twice in the first month and had to quote from memory. A buyer at a gift shop asked for the product sheet to be sent to a partner on WhatsApp. That request is the use you want, and it only works if the file on the phone matches the paper.

How do you check the kit?

After a month, ask each seller to bring the folder back. Which sheet did they hand out most, and which did they never touch? An unused sheet is either wrong or unnecessary. Ask also what buyers requested that was not in the bag. A question that comes up three times earns a line in the FAQ.

Anything that goes out of date quickly, such as stock lists, belongs on a screen, not on paper. And if a sheet has not been used in ten meetings, take it out.

When is five sheets too few, or too many?

If you sell to engineers, five is too few. If one salesperson does everything from memory, you may not need print at all, because a tidy phone folder is a kit. The risk there is that the knowledge leaves with the person.

Pack the bag this week

Lay the five items on a table and ask a seller to use only these in the next two visits. Note what the buyer asked for that was not there. That list is your second layer. If you want help writing and laying out the sheets, sales collateral development is how we approach it, within how you sell, and tell us what you need is the way in.