By Recently I said that nobody wants your one-pager. Some of you disagreed, one of you quoted Limp Bizkit at me, a handful of your AI-generated replies agreed with me, but mostly, you agreed with me.
The problem with one-pagers is that they’re a frequently-asked-for asset that doesn’t address the true need. Your prospect (or their boss) probably asked you for one. But it doesn’t mean they want a PDF with the headline, “World-class solutions to meet you where you are” in size 36 font that takes up one-third of the page. They want all the information they need to make a buying decision. In an easily digestible format.
Meanwhile, we marketers and salespeople are just trying to close a deal in the prettiest format we can. So we send the dreaded attachment: a document that tries to be everything to everyone and ends up serving no one particularly well.
Our buyer wants clarity, but we give them cute compression.
Let’s do better.
Better Alternatives for Your B2B Buyer
Any of these five ideas will be a better use of your buyer’s time (and your time!). You could start with a standardized template for any of them, though you’ll need to tailor it for each potential buyer. Think beyond personalizing the bare minimum — like their company name and the buyer’s name — and make the final asset as custom as possible.
Custom Micro-Presentations
Of course, you might still want to send your buyer a polished asset. Instead of that PDF, try creating a brief, focused presentation that addresses their specific pain points. This should be three to five slides that speaks directly to their situation, with your most relevant and impactful offerings featured front and center. This will be more valuable than a generic one-pager trying to cover everything.
Interactive Decision Guides
Build simple, interactive tools that let prospects explore the aspects of your solution that matter most to them. This could be as straightforward as a well-structured webpage with expandable sections, or as sophisticated as an interactive calculator showing potential ROI. (You know everyone loves a good calculator.)
Comparison Matrices
Instead of describing your features in isolation, create comparison matrices that show how different options might suit different needs. If you sell a service, you could send them a matrix that highlights three of your core offerings, and how each of these offerings differ. This is also a transparent way to show a buyer what they could be missing out on if they don’t choose your full, most robust service. If you sell software, this matrix is even simpler as you can show what is and isn’t included in different subscription plans.
You can even show another matrix that includes competitors. Although the idea isn’t to tear down competitors; it’s to help prospects understand which approach best fits their situation.
Decision-Making Frameworks
Establish trust by providing frameworks that help prospects evaluate a range of solutions. This is sort of the inverse of the comparison matrix. Rather than positioning your offering in a myriad of ways, you’re reframing their needs and offering guidance, regardless of whether you’re the right match. Think: “If I were in your shoes, this is how I would approach the problem…”
An Email with Bullet Points
Yup, good ol’ email. Never underestimate the power of a pithy yet thoughtful email. You could state your offering and price(s) and end with reasonable next steps (“Would you like me to do a presentation for your team?” not, “Should I send over the contract now?”). The ideal email will come from an account-based marketing point of view. It’s centered on them, their business, and why their business and your service/software/whatever is uniquely the right fit.
Key Principles for Your Templates
Whatever format you choose, consider these three P’s to guide you: Personalization, pithiness, and proposal.
Personalization: If you’re sending the same static PDF to four different prospects, you’re doing something wrong. (And no, changing their company name/logo doesn’t count!) Your one-pager-replacement needs to focus on your prospect and their needs. Focus on their decisions, not your details. Instead of listing your features, help them understand which approaches will work best for their situation or for a couple of different scenarios. Instead of focusing on just ROI of your solution, consider what value on investment looks like for your prospect. The CFO might care about how long it takes to recoup their investment. But the CMO might care more about how well you can creatively iterate.
Use formats that can be updated and adapted as needed. This could be as simple as a Google Doc or Slide that you make new copies of, or maybe even a Canva template. Added bonus if this is easily accessible and adaptable for everyone on your team.
Pithiness: Don’t use more words or imagery than you need. Structure your information so prospects can quickly find what matters to them. Clear headers, bullet points, and visual hierarchies help them navigate efficiently.
Proposal: Always include proposed next steps. Whether it’s scheduling a demo, starting a trial, or having a technical discussion, remove friction from the next step in the buying process. And be reasonable. If you’re selling a $10,000 per month service, your next exchange might be booking a presentation for the team, not signing their master service agreement. If you’re selling $50 per month software (coughSparkTorocough) that they can cancel anytime, it’s not unreasonable to end with something like, “Happy to answer any other questions you have, but perhaps you’ll want to go ahead and subscribe for one month.”
The World-Class Solution…
The one-pager isn’t dead because it’s one page. It’s dead because it’s trying to solve the wrong problem. Instead of asking “How can we fit everything on one page?” ask “How can we help this prospect make a decision as efficiently as possible?”
Sometimes that means a single page of highly relevant information. More often, it means providing well-structured, easily digestible information in a format that respects how B2B buyers actually make decisions. The goal isn’t brevity — it’s clarity and relevance. Give prospects the information they need in a format that works for them, and you’ll see better engagement and faster decisions.
The best sales materials aren’t the ones that say everything. They’re the ones that say the right things to the right people at the right time. (You know, the actual world-class solutions that meet them where they are. 😉)