The Sell Sheet: A Short, Sweet Storytelling Weapon

In a time-strapped, multi-tasking world, it is important to deliver information quickly and easily. It’s why the sell sheet is one of the most effective marketing and sales weapons.

A good one-pager delivers basic, but important, information: what your company offers (product details), the benefits (what’s in it for customers) and your clients (validation and endorsement). It doesn’t have to be long; after all, it is only one page! It doesn’t need a lot of text or copy, or include extensive details. All it needs to do is give people enough of a taste to move forward in some way.

A one-pager can be used to drive potential customers into or down the sales funnel. It can be used to quickly deal with cold or uncertain leads. And it can be used to deliver a user-friendly information package to partners, employees, the media/bloggers and investors. In other words, the one-pager is a multi-faceted tool that meets the needs and interests of multiple target audiences.

The versatility and utility of a one-pager positions it a valuable part of a marketing and sales arsenal. If your company doesn’t have a one-pager, it should create one as soon as possible.

Here are the key components of a sell sheet:

1. Be clear about the product being offered. Right away, people should know whether the product fits their needs. There should no guessing.
2. Provide details about the product. It could be key benefits or the leading features. It provides potential customers with more encouragement to consider your product.
3. Highlight your customers so potential customers recognize they are dealing with a credible company.
4. Make it super easy for people to contact you or get more information.

To show how a one-pager could be created, here’s my one-pager:

As you can see, my one-pager is designed to make it easy for people to see what I can do for them. As important, there is a strong call-to-action – “Let’s Talk” – and several options to contact me.
I also describe my clients and their needs, as well as identifying a number of current and former clients.
It is about delivering information, confidence and encouragement.

Here’s another example of a good sales sheet from Escapeer.com:

Do you know any good examples of a one-pager?

More: Michelle Spelman offers up 10 tips for sell sheets, while PsPrint has some good examples of attract sell sheets.

If you’re looking to jump-start your messaging ability to tell good stories, I can help you make it happen. I recently published a book, Storytelling for Startups, that provides strategic and tactical guidance to entrepreneurs looking to embrace the power of story-driven marketing.