Instructions:
An effective competitor battlecards equips your sales team with quick, actionable insights to win head-to-head deals. It outlines your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, common objections, key differentiators, and effective talk tracks—so reps aren’t caught off guard during calls.
This template has been put together using Salesforce as an example. Replace the information with details of your own competitor.
Salesforce is a global leader in customer relationship management (CRM) software, offering a cloud-based platform that helps businesses of all sizes manage sales, service, marketing, and other customer-focused operations. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, Salesforce pioneered the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, enabling organizations to access powerful CRM tools via the internet without the need for complex on-premise infrastructure. Its flagship product, Sales Cloud, is complemented by a broad suite of applications including Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud and Commerce Cloud.
✔️ Extensive and integrated product ecosystem
✔️ Strong brand recognition and market leadership
✔️ Scalable solutions for enterprises of all sizes
✔️ Robust partner and developer ecosystem
✔️ Regular innovation and product updates
❌ High total cost of ownership for large deployments
❌ Complexity in implementation and customization
❌ Potential for vendor lock-in
❌ Steep learning curve for new users
❌ Need to buy multiple products to unlock full value
🏢 Financial Services
🏢 Retail
🏢 Healthcare
🏢 Manufacturing
🏢 Technology
🏢 Coca-Cola
🏢 Amazon Web Services
🏢 Toyota
🏢 American Express
🏢 Canon
✔️ Ease of Use and Onboarding: HubSpot offers a more intuitive, user-friendly interface with faster onboarding—especially appealing to small and mid-sized businesses that lack dedicated IT teams.
✔️All-in-One Freemium Model: HubSpot’s free CRM and bundled tools for sales, marketing, and service provide immediate value and lower barriers to entry, making it a popular choice for growing companies looking to scale gradually.
✔️Native Marketing & Content Tools: Unlike Salesforce, which requires add-ons or integrations (e.g. Pardot, Marketing Cloud), HubSpot was built with marketing automation, CMS, and SEO tools at its core, enabling seamless campaign execution within one platform.
✔️ Faster Time to Value: HubSpot customers often get up and running in days or weeks, not months. With built-in tools and simpler configuration, teams can start seeing results—like improved pipeline visibility or automated outreach—much faster than with a complex Salesforce rollout.
✔️ Transparent Pricing: HubSpot offers more straightforward, tiered pricing. In contrast, Salesforce’s costs can escalate quickly due to add-ons, required customizations, and implementation services.
❌ Enterprise-Grade Customization: Salesforce offers deeper customization, automation, and advanced workflows suited to large enterprises with complex sales processes, multiple business units, or highly specific use cases.
❌Robust Ecosystem & Integrations: With the AppExchange and a larger partner network, Salesforce provides greater flexibility to integrate with enterprise software stacks, including custom-built tools and industry-specific apps.
❌Global Scale & Industry Trust: Salesforce is a trusted choice for Fortune 500 companies and regulated industries due to its compliance capabilities, global data infrastructure, and proven performance at scale—areas where HubSpot is still maturing.
❌Limited Custom Logic & Scalability for Complex Workflows: HubSpot’s workflows and automation are great for most SMBs, but enterprise teams with highly customized processes, conditional logic, or cross-object automation may find Salesforce more capable. Salesforce’s Apex code, Flows, and custom objects provide the flexibility needed for large-scale, nuanced operations.
🧠 Your solution is too expensive
I hear you—budget is always important. But many of our customers found that what looked like a higher price upfront actually delivered a faster ROI. For example, automating key sales processes reduced time spent on admin and helped reps close more deals. I’d be happy to show how this could impact your numbers specifically.