Battlecards are best known for competitive positioning—feature-by-feature comparisons that often stay at the product level. But Mark Guthrie, a seasoned sales leader, challenges that traditional use.
“Forget competitive battlecards,” Mark says. “They lead you to product pitching. What we really need are problem-persona battlecards that help sellers go deeper—into new problems, and into building trust to be able to make quality recommendations.”
Mark’s experience leading sales teams is that good consultative selling is anchored on a living set of persona battlecards. These tools aren’t just for first deals. They’re designed to help sellers navigate a complex product suite, shift towards a problem-first Trusted Advisor mindset and uncover expansion opportunities across a matrixed customer committee.
1. Problem Owner
The first thing a good battlecard establishes is: who owns the problem on the customer side?
“You need to know who you’re talking to and what their world looks like,” Mark explains. “Understanding the problem’s place in their buying journey—and who’s driving that journey—is essential to working collaboratively and adding value as a Trusted Advisor.”
His team maps products not just to technical functions, but to actual roles and personas. “Some people want to be wooed, some want to woo you,” he says. “You’ve got to know who’s who.”
2. Solution-Problem Alignment
Mark emphasizes that qualification questions and unique selling propositions should be personalized, not generic.
“Know the personas as well as they know themselves,” he says. “You’re not pitching—you’re listening, you’re learning. That’s where the real discovery and collaboration begins. That is how you earn Trusted Advisor status.”
With a strong battlecard, this means equipping sellers to “unlock the pain” using questions that align with each persona’s challenges, industry pressures, and success metrics.
3. Adjacencies
Mark’s final ingredient is what unlocks expansion.
“You need to see what sits next to the problem—adjacent solutions, even competitive tools in play. That’s how you create new opportunities,” he shares.
Good battlecards include guidance on nearby problems, connected departments, and other parts of the organization that might benefit. “It’s not just about what we sell,” Mark says. “It’s about seeing the whole chessboard.”
Mark Guthrie’s approach turns the battlecard from a marketing artifact into a strategic asset. By connecting problems to personas, mapping buying roles, and identifying adjacencies, his team doesn’t just close deals—they expand them.