Sales Battle Card Template: What to Include (With a Copy-Paste Example)

Short answer: a sales battle card is a one-page cheat sheet a rep can glance at during a call. A good one covers who you usually compete against, why buyers pick you, the objections you'll hear with a short answer to each, questions that expose the competitor's weak spots, and one or two proof points. Keep it to a page. If it needs scrolling, nobody will use it on a live call.

What to include

Section	What goes in it
Who it's for	The competitor, market segment or situation this card covers.
One-line positioning	Why a buyer like this should pick you, in one sentence.
Where we win	Three concrete strengths, each one something the buyer can check.
Where they win	Be honest. Reps who pretend the competitor has no strengths lose trust.
Objections and answers	The five objections you hear most, with a two-sentence answer each.
Trap-setting questions	Questions that lead the buyer to discover the gap themselves.
Proof	One customer story and one number.
Landmines	Things not to say: claims you can't back up, or topics legal has flagged.

Copy-paste template

BATTLE CARD: [Competitor / situation]
Last updated: [date] · Owner: [name]

POSITIONING
For [buyer type] who [problem], we [outcome], unlike [competitor], which [gap].

WHERE WE WIN
1. [Strength], proof: [link or fact]
2. [Strength], proof: [link or fact]
3. [Strength], proof: [link or fact]

WHERE THEY WIN (be honest)
- [Their strength], our response: [reframe]

OBJECTIONS
"[Objection 1]": [two-sentence answer]
"[Objection 2]": [two-sentence answer]
"[Objection 3]": [two-sentence answer]

QUESTIONS TO ASK
- [Question that exposes a gap]
- [Question that exposes a gap]

PROOF
- [Customer] went from [before] to [after] in [time].

DON'T SAY
- [Claim we can't back up]

Writing tips

• Use the buyer's words. Pull objections from real call notes, not what marketing thinks buyers say.
• Make every claim checkable. "Faster" means nothing. "Setup in one afternoon" can be verified.
• Date it and give it an owner. Competitors change prices and features. A stale card is worse than none.
• One card per situation. A card for "competitor X" and one for "we already have a tool for this" works better than one giant card.

Using battle cards on a live call

The problem with battle cards is finding the right line while the buyer is waiting. Most reps end up with a folder of cards they never open mid-call.

Sajest takes a different approach: you add your battle cards as context documents before the call. When the buyer raises a competitor or an objection, press Enter and Sajest answers from your card, in your wording, based on what was just said. You don't have to find the right document while you're talking.

Short, well-written cards also give better AI answers, so the tips above apply twice.

Try it free for 60 minutes · How to handle a pricing objection