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Sales battlecard templates: 6 formats with filled examples (copy as Markdown)

Six sales battlecard templates, each with its fields and a filled example: objection handling, feature comparison, customer stories and three more.

Taka MorinagaCo-Founder, SteveOctober 14, 2026

Start with the Objection Handling battlecard template: one card per objection, with a headline in the buyer's words, a one-sentence answer, one dated proof point and the competitor's comeback. Add Feature Comparison, Customer Stories, Single Competitor, Multi Competitor and Canvas as your deals need them; each comes below with its fields, a length limit per field and a filled example for Acme, a sample competitor.

To copy all six templates at once, open this page as Markdown. Steve's template site offers PDFs with the same six names after a short form.

The Objection Handling template filled for Acme, one objection per card.

Acme

Steve

Objection Handling

"Acme quoted us half." Acme's quote is its Starter tier; SSO and the audit log are on Business. Proof: Acme's pricing page, checked 2 Oct 2026.

Which battlecard template should you use?

Most downloadable templates put every section on a single card. The Product Marketing Alliance's has eight: overview, pain points, features, differentiators, proof, sales tips, pricing and testimonials. A rep in a live call cannot find one answer in eight sections while the buyer waits, so pick the template by the question being asked.

Template	Use it when	Who opens it
Objection Handling	A buyer repeats a competitor's claim or pushes back on yours	Reps, during the call
Feature Comparison	The buyer asks "do you have X?" about a short list of features	Reps and sales engineers
Customer Stories	The buyer needs proof from a company like theirs	Reps, before and after the call
Single Competitor	You need the whole picture of one competitor	PMM, CI owner, new reps
Multi Competitor	The buyer is evaluating three vendors at once	Reps, in a competitive deal
Canvas	You are collecting research before writing any card	PMM and CI owner

Every filled table below uses the same deal. You sell a B2B workflow tool, and Acme is the cheaper rival; Emca joins in the multi-competitor case. The customer, prices and dates in the filled tables are sample text, not a real account.

Objection Handling template

Use the Objection Handling template when the same objection comes up in more than one deal. Write one card per objection, never one card for all of them.

Field	What goes in it	Limit
Headline	The objection in the buyer's own words	One quoted line
Answer	The whole answer, with no setup	One sentence
Proof	One fact, with its source and the date you checked it	One line
Their comeback	What the competitor says next, and your reply	Two lines
Owner and checked date	Who keeps the card true, and when the proof was last opened	One line

Field	Filled for Acme
Headline	"Acme quoted us half."
Answer	Acme's quote is its Starter tier; SSO and the audit log are on its Business tier, so the like-for-like price is close to ours.
Proof	Acme's pricing page lists SSO under Business only (checked 2 Oct 2026).
Their comeback	"Most teams don't need SSO in year one." Reply: ask when the buyer's security review is scheduled.
Owner and checked date	PMM lead; 2 Oct 2026

For more answers to the price objection specifically, see five talk tracks for "your competitor is cheaper".

Feature Comparison template

Use the Feature Comparison template when the buyer is checking a list of features. Keep it to six features at most; a 40-row grid invites the buyer to compare on the competitor's terms.

Field	What goes in it	Limit
Feature	The capability, named the way buyers ask for it	Six rows at most
Us	Yes, partial or no, with one line of detail	One line
Competitor	Yes, partial, no or not public, with one line of detail	One line
Source and date	Where the competitor's cell came from, and when	One link
What to say	The sentence a rep uses when this row comes up	One sentence

Feature	Us	Acme	Source and date	What to say
SSO	Yes, every plan	Business tier only	Acme pricing page, 2 Oct 2026	"SSO is in the price you were quoted."
Audit log	Yes, 12 months	Business tier, 90 days	Acme help centre, 2 Oct 2026	"Ask how long your auditors need history."
Salesforce sync	Yes, two-way	Partial, one-way export	Acme integrations page, 2 Oct 2026	"Ask who will keep the records in step."
Uptime commitment	99.9% in the contract	Not public	Acme trust page, 2 Oct 2026	"Ask Acme for the number in writing."

When a competitor does not publish a fact, write "not public", never "no", and tell the rep what to ask.

Customer Stories template

Use the Customer Stories template when the buyer asks for proof from a company like theirs. Only use a story the customer has approved for that use, and match it to the buyer's industry and size.

Field	What goes in it	Limit
Customer	Name if approved; otherwise industry and size	One line
Switched from	The competitor or the manual process they left	One line
Problem	What was not working, as the customer described it	One sentence
Result	What changed, with the number and the date it was measured	One sentence
Permission	Named, anonymous, or internal only	One word
Use against	The competitor and objection this story answers	One line

Field	Filled for Acme
Customer	A 60-person logistics software company
Switched from	Acme Starter
Problem	SSO needed an upgrade to Acme Business, which doubled the bill the month the security review started
Result	Passed its security review on the first submission, March 2026
Permission	Anonymous
Use against	Acme, "Acme quoted us half"

Single Competitor template

Use the Single Competitor template for the one profile per competitor that every card draws from. New reps read it once; its owner keeps it current.

Field	What goes in it	Limit
Who they sell to	Segment, size and buyer role	One line
How they price	Model and public tiers, with the date	One line
Where they win	The deals they take from you, honestly	Two lines
Where we win	The deals you take from them	Two lines
Top objections	Links to the Objection Handling cards for this competitor	Three links
Last change	What moved most recently, and when	One line
Owner	One named person who keeps the profile true	One person

Field	Filled for Acme
Who they sell to	Teams of 10 to 50, buyer is an operations lead
How they price	Per seat; Starter and Business on the pricing page (checked 2 Oct 2026)
Where they win	Small teams with no security review; buyers who start a trial alone
Where we win	Any deal with SSO, an audit, or a Salesforce requirement
Top objections	"Acme quoted us half"; "Acme is easier to set up"; "Acme has more templates"
Last change	Moved SSO from Starter to Business, January 2026
Owner	PMM lead

Multi Competitor template

Use the Multi Competitor template when the buyer has three vendors on the shortlist and asks how they differ. One row per question, one column per vendor.

Field	What goes in it	Limit
Question	What the buyer is comparing	Five rows at most
Us	Your answer	One line
Each competitor	Their answer, taken from that competitor's profile, where its source and date live	One line each
Trap question	A question that makes the difference visible	One per row

Question	Us	Acme	Emca	Trap question
Who it's for	Teams with a security review	Small teams	Enterprises with an admin team	"Who will run this day to day?"
Pricing model	Per seat, SSO included	Per seat, SSO on Business	Annual platform fee	"What does year two cost?"
Setup	Self-serve, one day	Self-serve, one day	Implementation project	"When do you need it live?"
Salesforce	Two-way sync	One-way export	Two-way, paid add-on	"Who fixes a record that disagrees?"

Canvas template

Use the Canvas template for research, before any card exists. A canvas is a board with one column per topic and one item per claim, so you can see what you know about a competitor, how sure you are, and what is out of date.

Field	What goes in it	Limit
Column	Positioning, product, pricing, customers, recent activity, open questions	Six columns
Item	One claim about the competitor	One sentence
Source and date	Where the claim came from, and when you checked it	One link
Status	Confirmed, needs verification, or unverified	One word
Feeds	Which card uses this claim	One link

Column	Item	Source and date	Status	Feeds
Pricing	SSO is on the Business tier only	Pricing page, 2 Oct 2026	Confirmed	Objection: "quoted us half"
Product	Salesforce sync is one-way export	Integrations page, 2 Oct 2026	Confirmed	Feature Comparison
Recent activity	Hiring two enterprise account executives	Careers page, 30 Sep 2026	Needs verification	Single Competitor
Open questions	Is a Teams app coming?	Forum post, undated	Unverified	Nothing yet

An unverified item stays on the canvas and off every card until someone confirms it.

How to keep a battlecard current

Update a battlecard when its evidence changes, not when the calendar says so. A quarterly sweep leaves a wrong price on the card for weeks after the competitor changes it, and the rep often hears it first from the buyer. Give each field its own trigger.

Field	What changes it	When to check
Pricing and packaging	The competitor's pricing page	Every week; edit the same day it moves
Feature claims	Release notes and changelog	Every week; rewrite the card the day a release closes a gap
Security and compliance	The competitor's trust or security page	Monthly
Customer stories	Permission changes, a customer leaving	Monthly
Positioning	Their homepage and messaging	Quarterly

Three more rules. Every proof line carries the date it was checked, so a rep can see how fresh it is. A line whose source can no longer be opened comes off the card that day. Reps can propose corrections, but one owner approves each change, so reps do not end up quoting two versions of the same answer. For how to write the card so sellers use it, read the three-line battlecard format; for how AI tools draft and maintain cards, see AI battlecards.

Where Steve fits

Steve includes six templates with these names, Objection Handling, Feature Comparison, Customer Stories, Canvas, Single Competitor and Multi Competitor, and you can build your own. It drafts each card from its competitor research; every line shows Confirmed, Needs verification or Unverified with links to its sources, and claims are checked against the live web for up to ten rounds. When news or an uploaded document affects a claim, Steve drafts the replacement, and a person approves it before reps see it. Cards reach the team in Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom Team Chat and the CRM.

The tradeoff: Steve drafts and checks, but it does not decide your positioning. A named person still approves every update, so a programme with no owner ends up with drafts nobody approves. See how the cards work on the Steve battlecards page.

Frequently asked

What should a sales battlecard template include?

Every template needs short answers and a source, with the date it was checked, for each claim. The Objection Handling template adds the buyer's words as the headline, a one-sentence answer and the competitor's comeback. Anything longer belongs in the Single Competitor profile.

Which battlecard template should I start with?

Start with Objection Handling. It is the card a rep reaches for during a live call, and the objections you hear most tell you which Feature Comparison or Single Competitor cards to write next.

How many battlecards do you need per competitor?

One per recurring objection, plus one Single Competitor profile. Plan for four or five objection cards for a competitor in most of your deals; one you meet twice a year needs only the profile.

How often should battlecards be updated?

Update a card when its evidence changes, not on a calendar. Watch pricing pages and release notes every week and edit the day something moves; recheck security pages and customer stories monthly; review positioning once a quarter.

What is the difference between a battlecard and a competitor profile?

A battlecard answers one question during a call; a profile holds everything you know about a competitor. Of these six templates, Single Competitor is the profile and Canvas is the research behind it; the other four are cards.

Can I copy these battlecard templates into my own docs?

Yes. Open this page as Markdown and copy the tables into any editor that reads Markdown. Steve's template site, battlecard-templates.hiresteve.ai, offers PDFs with the same six names after a short form.

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Six templates, drafted and sourced for you

Steve drafts each card from its competitor research, shows Confirmed, Needs verification or Unverified on every line, and waits for a person to approve each update.

See Steve battlecards