Building a Modular Sales Materials System for a Complex, Multi-Segment Organization
Energy Systems Group | Newburgh, Indiana
The challenge.
ESG, a leading provider of energy management and sustainable infrastructure solutions, was experiencing growing pain. As the organization expanded its footprint across markets (K-12, municipal, corrections, federal, and higher education) and geographies, its sales teams needed materials that could adapt quickly to different audiences, regions, and use cases.
Instead, sales enablement had become fragmented:
- Existing tools were overly specific to one market segment or geography.
- Materials were difficult to customize without design support.
- Updates created rework and version sprawl.
- One-off requests slowed response time and increased rework.
ESG’s sales teams needed flexibility, and the internal marketing team wanted to provide them with some autonomy. However, the existing marketing systems were not designed to scale with that reality.
The strategy.
Rather than creating more one-off collateral, we recommended a modular sales enablement system built around three core principles:
1. Modular by Design
Each asset was designed to stand alone or work in combination so sales teams could “bolt together” what they needed, print or digital, without needing custom design work. The system includes:
- Segment flyers and rack cards with fronts and backs
- Case study one-pagers
- Offer and solution one-pagers
- Finance and funding explainers
- Sales-rep-specific or generic contact backs in 8.5x11 and rack-card dimensions
2. Consistent Structure, Flexible Use
We standardized such elements as page hierarchy, visual language, iconography, and layout logic (what belongs on a front vs. a back). At the same time, we avoided over-templatization by:
- Allowing different visual treatments for case studies vs. offer materials
- Designing assets to work across multiple segments and states
- Supporting both print-first and digital-first workflows
3. Built for Real Sales Behavior
The system was designed around how ESG sales teams actually work:
- Print-ready assets that could be assembled quickly
- PDFs that could be emailed as “pre-reads”
- Versions that worked with or without sales rep photos
- Content that could be reused across markets without rewriting
The results.
Marketing shifted from “creating materials” to maintaining a system, leading to such benefits as:
- Faster sales response times. Sales teams could assemble tailored packets without waiting on marketing.
- Reduced design rework. Standardized structures eliminated repeated layout requests and last-minute edits.
- Improved consistency across markets. Materials felt cohesive regardless of segment, geography, or use case.
- Scalable foundation for future growth. New segments, acquisitions, and campaigns could plug into the same system without starting over.
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