Why your product portfolio is underused and how to turn things around
Article
Why your product portfolio is underused and how to turn things around
5 min read
9/4/2026
Sommaire de l'article
Your company may have spent months designing new products, creating sales materials and producing marketing content. Yet part of your portfolio remains invisible at the most important moment: when the sales rep is talking with the customer.
The problem is not necessarily the quality of your products. It often lies in your teams’ ability to present them, put them in context and recommend them at the right time.
An underused product portfolio is therefore much more than a lack of visibility. It leads to lost sales opportunities, a lower average deal size and a growing disconnect between marketing and the field.
A product portfolio doesn’t sell itself
Having a broad range is a competitive advantage… provided that range is actually known, understood and used by sales teams.
In many companies, the product portfolio has been built up gradually:
- launch of new products;
- expansion of the range;
- acquisitions or integration of new offers;
- development of complementary products;
- adaptation to different customer segments;
- creation of specific solutions for certain markets.
Over time, the offer becomes richer, but also harder to leverage. Sales reps naturally focus on the products they know best, the ones they have been selling for a long time or the ones that meet customers’ most explicit requests.
The other products stay in the background, even when they could meet a real need.
This is the paradox of an overly broad product portfolio: the larger the offer, the greater the risk of underuse.
An offer that isn’t presented at the right time has little chance of being chosen, even if it perfectly meets the customer’s need.
In Zélit’s sales playbook, this issue comes down to one central challenge: reducing the loss of marketing content between its production and the customer meeting. Marketing can create relevant materials, but their commercial value depends on how they are actually used in the field.
Why some products remain invisible
1. Sales reps can’t sell what they can’t find
A catalog can contain dozens or even hundreds of products. If access to information is slow or poorly organized, the sales rep won’t risk searching during a meeting.
They will fall back on the products they already know well.
The difficulty is therefore not only about documentation. It is operational. In a sales situation, information must be:
- quickly accessible;
- organized by need or by customer type;
- available in a format suited to the meeting;
- clear enough to be presented without further explanation;
- shareable directly with the customer.
A PDF buried in a shared folder is not necessarily a sales enablement tool.
2. Content is produced without a strong enough link to sales situations
Marketing teams often produce product sheets, presentations, videos, sales pitches, case studies and brochures. But this content is sometimes organized according to the company’s internal structure rather than the customer journey.
The sales rep then has to answer several questions in the middle of the conversation:
- Which product matches this specific need?
- Which argument should be used for this industry?
- What proof should be presented?
- Which complementary product should be recommended?
- What differentiator should be highlighted against a competing solution?
- What material should be sent after the meeting?
If the answer isn’t immediately available, the product remains theoretical.
3. The sales pitch focuses on legacy products
Older products generally enjoy better internal awareness. Sales reps have presented them more often, objections are better known and materials are easier to find.
Conversely, new offers or niche products can be underrepresented in meetings, even when they have strong potential.
This creates a cycle that is hard to break:
- the product is rarely presented;
- it generates little field feedback;
- marketing considers it a lower priority;
- sales reps have fewer proof points and less content;
- the product is presented even less.
The central role of marketing content
Marketing content shouldn’t just inform. In a sales context, it must help move a conversation forward.
An effective product sheet is not limited to a list of features. It must allow the sales rep to quickly connect:
- a customer problem;
- a product answer;
- a concrete benefit;
- a proof point;
- a next step.
The value of a portfolio therefore also depends on the quality of its activation system.
Produce less, but use it better
The volume of content doesn’t automatically solve the problem. On the contrary, several studies point out that a significant share of the B2B content produced by marketing is rarely or never used by sales teams.
A frequently cited analysis by SiriusDecisions, now part of Forrester, estimated that 60 to 70% of B2B marketing content went unused. This historical figure should be interpreted with caution, but it illustrates a persistent difficulty: producing content doesn’t guarantee its adoption in the field.
"A significant share of B2B marketing content remains unused by sales teams"
— SiriusDecisions, now Forrester
So the point is not to keep creating more materials. It is to make existing content:
- easier to find;
- more relevant to each situation;
- easier to present;
- easier to share;
- measurable after use.
60 to 70% according to a historical SiriusDecisions study - Unused B2B marketing content
Turning every meeting into an opportunity to showcase your offer
The sales meeting is the moment when the product portfolio can become tangible.
This is when the sales rep understands the customer’s context, identifies their priorities and can select the most relevant products. But this activation only works if the tools genuinely support the conversation.
Moving from a catalog approach to a recommendation approach
A catalog presents the entire offer. A sales enablement tool must guide the sales rep to the content that is useful at a given moment.
The difference is essential.
| Catalog approach | Sales activation approach |
|---|---|
| Present every product | Select the relevant products |
| Organize by range or category | Organize by customer need or use case |
| Describe features | Highlight benefits |
| Provide a generic document | Tailor content to the context |
| Measure downloads | Measure content used and shared |
| Inform after the meeting | Support the conversation live |
In this approach, a platform like Zélit doesn’t replace the CRM, sales training or prospecting tools. It comes into play during the meeting, making marketing content available to both the sales rep and the customer.
Zélit’s role is in particular to:
- centralize and prioritize sales content;
- provide quick access to materials;
- present content together with the customer;
- work offline too;
- share content in a personalized space;
- report on usage and views;
- automate meeting reports;
- feed the CRM dynamically.
The goal is therefore not to add yet another tool. It is to bring the right content closer to the right sales conversation.
Surfacing complementary products
An underused portfolio is not only about overlooked products. It is also about additional sales that are never proposed.
When a sales rep presents a core solution, several questions can be built into the journey:
- Is there a complementary offer?
- Is a premium version suited to the need?
- Could an associated service strengthen the value of the solution?
- Does another range better address the constraint expressed?
- Does a recently launched product deserve to be presented?
The goal is not to artificially push more products. It is to give the sales rep the means to make a more complete and more relevant recommendation.
How to measure how well your portfolio is really being used
Revenue by product isn’t always enough to understand the problem. It shows what sells, but not necessarily what could have been sold.
To identify areas of underuse, it helps to cross-reference several metrics.
The metrics to track
| Metric | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Content usage rate | Which materials are actually used |
| Breakdown of presentations by product | Which products come up in meetings |
| Products shared with customers | Which content extends the conversation |
| View rate after sharing | Which materials generate real interest |
| Conversion rate by product | Which offers convert best |
| Sales of complementary products | How well expansion opportunities are leveraged |
| Sales rep feedback | Which content is missing or hard to use |
| Time to access information | What friction exists during the meeting |
This data helps marketing move away from an approach based solely on production. The question becomes: which content is used, in which situations and with what results?
Measuring usage rather than mere availability
A company can have a perfectly organized document library without its sales reps actually using it.
You therefore need to distinguish three levels:
- The content exists.
- The content is accessible.
- The content is used in a sales interaction and helps move the opportunity forward.
This third step is the most important.
Content usage rate, win rate, quota attainment and ramp-up time - The most tracked metrics in enablement programs
The method for better activating your products in the field
1. Map the portfolio by customer situation
Start by moving beyond your internal product classification. Organize your offer around the problems your customers face:
- need for performance;
- cost reduction;
- securing a process;
- productivity improvement;
- moving upmarket;
- compliance;
- operational simplification;
- extension of existing equipment or an existing solution.
This mapping makes it easier to recommend during the meeting.
2. Identify underpresented products
Analyze the gaps between:
- a product’s strategic potential;
- its presence in meetings;
- the number of content assets available;
- its conversion rate;
- the objections encountered;
- how well sales reps understand it.
A product that sells poorly isn’t always a bad product. It may be poorly positioned, poorly presented or not accessible enough.
3. Create short content paths
Sales reps shouldn’t have to browse an entire library. They need access to a simple path:
- need identified;
- recommended product;
- main benefit;
- proof point or case study;
- detailed content;
- next step.
The shorter the path, the more likely it is to be used in real situations.
4. Involve sales reps in improving content
Sales teams know which arguments work, which objections keep coming up and what information is missing from the materials.
It is therefore essential to set up a feedback loop:
- which content is used?
- which is ignored?
- which is too long?
- which customer questions remain unanswered?
- which products are hard to explain?
- which materials are requested after the meeting?
Marketing shouldn’t just distribute content. It must learn from how it is used.
5. Connect content usage to sales data
The activation platform shouldn’t operate separately from the CRM. In the Zélit playbook, the value lies notably in the ability to generate an automated meeting report and feed the CRM dynamically.
This connection makes it possible to link:
- the product presented;
- the content used;
- the content shared;
- the customer’s reaction;
- the next action;
- how the opportunity evolves.
"Sales teams should measure how content contributes to journey stages and outcomes, rather than limiting themselves to the volume of content produced"
— 6sense
What a company risks by leaving its portfolio underused
A poorly activated portfolio has several knock-on effects:
- sales reps always sell the same products;
- product launches deliver a lower return on investment;
- customers know little about the full range of the offer;
- complementary sales are missed;
- marketing content is seen as disconnected from the field;
- teams recreate their own materials;
- the sales pitch varies from one rep to another;
- managers have little visibility into what really happens in meetings.
Over time, this situation can also weaken the product strategy. Decisions are then based on historical sales, without distinguishing between a lack of demand and a lack of activation.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my product portfolio is underused?
Start by comparing the breadth of your offer with how often each product is presented. Also analyze the products shared with customers, complementary sales, conversion rates and feedback from sales reps. If most of your revenue relies on a handful of products while your catalog is much broader, your portfolio is probably underused.
Is the problem necessarily the sales reps?
No. Underuse often stems from a system problem: content that is hard to find, unintuitive organization, overly generic materials, lack of training or no data on usage. Training and tools complement each other: training passes on the method, while the tool makes it easier to apply in the meeting.
Does a sales enablement platform replace a CRM?
No. A platform like Zélit doesn’t replace a CRM such as Salesforce, HubSpot or Microsoft Dynamics. It can connect to it to report information from meetings, the content used and customer interactions.
How can I encourage sales reps to present more products?
Avoid overloading them with information. Sales reps will more readily present complementary products if recommendations are contextualized, content is quickly accessible and benefits are clearly worded. The goal is not to ask them to memorize the entire catalog, but to give them the right materials at the right time.
Which metrics should I track first?
Start with four metrics: content usage rate, the breakdown of products presented, the view rate of shared content and conversion by product. This data makes it possible to link sales activity to how the portfolio is really being used.
Key figures
60 to 70%: the share of B2B marketing content estimated to go unused in a historical study by SiriusDecisions, now Forrester.
54%: the share of B2B buyers surveyed in a study cited by Cirrus Insight who say they feel overwhelmed by the volume of content available. Relevance and targeting are therefore becoming more important than quantity.
6 to 7 weeks: how much earlier first contact between buyers and sellers is estimated to happen according to 6sense’s 2025 data, which reinforces the importance of having useful content from the very first interactions.
22 people: the average size of a complex B2B buying group according to industry data drawing on a Forrester study. The same portfolio must therefore be explainable to several stakeholders and functions.
Conclusion
Your product portfolio may be performing better than it seems. The real problem isn’t always the offer, the price or market demand. It may lie in the gap between what your company has produced and what your sales reps actually manage to use in front of customers.
To close this gap, you need to make content more accessible, organize your offer by customer situation, measure how materials are really used and connect sales interactions to CRM data.
A well-used product portfolio isn’t simply a broader catalog. It is an offer that is better understood, better presented and better activated in every meeting.
It is precisely this continuity between marketing, sales and the reality of the field that turns every customer interaction into an opportunity to showcase the full richness of your offer.
