If you work in marketing communications, youve probably seen this scenario a dozen times: A harried sales guy, shirts-sleeves rolled up to the elbow, storms into your cubicle. I got a hot sales call in Toledo in three weeks. I got to have a brochure to leave behind, he says, smacking his fist into his open palm.

You sigh. So it begins -- yet another brochure. And you know how itll end: Thousands of dollars and multiple late-nights-against-deadlines later, hell have his brochure. But the company wont have the sale. And youll have a coat closet stacked with bulging boxes of forgotten collateral.

Is there a better way to support sales? Something you can leave with prospects thats just a bit more memorable -- and more effective -- than the standard brochure with its forced march through company visions, product descriptions, and corporate bios? Yes, indeed. I offer eight suggestions, not as comprehensive answers to every sales-communications situation, but as inspiration and provocation for creating material less likely to gather dust -- and more likely to draw your company closer to a sale.

1) Make it a magazine. David Ogilvy once asked why print ads had to look like print ads -- why not make them look like articles? I say, why not go one step further and make your brochures look like magazines? Instead of the usual ho-hum content, create articles that position your company, products or services as ways to solve problems or achieve customer-desired goals.

For about a decade, Baystate Health Systems in Massachusetts has published a beautiful four-color glossy magazine, AlphaSights, that they distribute to referring medical professionals in central Massachusetts. Distributed three times a year, AlphaSights is loaded with articles about new procedures, protocols and initiatives at its flagship hospital, Baystate Medical Center. Its been a phenomenal success: The first issue alone attracted an increase in referrals that more than offset the entire years production costs.

2) Make it useful. Heres another lesson from healthcare. Every day, legions of pharma and medical device representatives leave tons of samples, coffee mugs and brochures in physician offices across the country -- clutter, clutter and more clutter. In a competitive field, how do you stand out?

One medical products manufacturer got wise. They developed a pad of forms, 8.5 x 11, with pre-assigned check boxes and fast, no-brainer ordering fields a physician can complete in seconds. All she has to do is fill a few boxes, sign it, and run it through a fax machine to order the product. In a crowded field of competitors, this manufacturer got the most orders -- not because it had the nicest mug or the most beautiful brochure, but because they left something behind that made their product the easiest to get.

3) Make it educational. Give your prospects a taste of your expertise. Professional services companies have been doing this for your years with the ubiquitous white paper, a kind of extended essay about a relevant topic of business interest.

Why not apply the report idea to products and consumer services as well? For years, the Wall Street Journal has been offering personal finance guides as subscription lures. Anything complex could benefit by an educational report that simplifies: Imagine a guide to countertop selection for a kitchen remodeling firm, or an explanation of housing values for real estate agencies. With a little research and imagination, these businesses and others like them can distinguish themselves as authorities, not just other runners in the pack.

4) Make it handy. Two of my current clients are getting lots of mileage by packaging tips -- handy advice and/or insights that are just long enough to be helpful, but short enough to be easily digested. Its a format people love -- in fact, youre reading a tips-based article right now!

The key is to break your know-how into bite-sized bits busy people can consume on the fly. Of my two tips clients, one is targeting the multi-billion dollar mergers and acquisitions market with a top ten tips guide; the other runs a tips-based website on a variety of subjects that interest consumers -- and draws eager sponsors who want to reach them. Upscale or down-market, tips attract favorable attention either way.

5) Make it keepable. When I was a kid, a mechanics garage just wasnt real if it didnt have at least one girly calendar, sponsored by a Joes Auto Parts or Cranwicks Plumbing Supply on its walls. Cheesy? Perhaps. But you can be sure that the target audience saw the sponsors name and phone number every day -- often long after the calendars expired!

In addition to calendars, consider attractive posters, playing cards, puzzles and entertaining cubicle toys. Of course, you want to select options that are as closely associated to your business, proposition or message as possible. I know of one enterprise that creates decks of custom cards for authors (especially consultant or motivational authors), with each card serving as a chapter or topic summary. The decks are much more memorable than business cards or brochures, yet are less cumbersome and expensive than giving away free copies of books themselves.

6) Make it from the customers point of view. If the familiar brochure format still remains as your best option, then at least consider changing the perspective. Too much collateral is narcissistic, packed with empty chest-beating that attempts to wow the reader with the companys alleged greatness.

Instead, write from the customers point of view. Skip the boring company history and honors won stuff, and talk about the real problems or issues your customers face. Then tell them how you solve these problems with precise, specific evidence that makes your claims credible. By adopting this shift in perspective, you demonstrate empathy with the customer -- youre on their side -- and you show a grasp of real-world circumstances prospects can recognize and respect.

7) Make it mailable. Or, if its going to be shared by hand, easy to ship or transport. In any event, consider how youre going to distribute your new collateral before you commit to creating it.

Years ago, I worked on a spiral-bound booklet that the client adored. Unfortunately, the spiral binding bulged within its envelope and jammed the post offices machines. Worse, the book was an awkward size -- just small enough to rattle around in an ordinary cardboard express envelope. While the design was lovely, the project was impractical and ultimately failed its intended purpose. Dont make the same mistake: If youre distributing in large quantities, make it easy to mail.

8) Make it work for you. A final thought: Youre not in the business of publishing collateral for its own sake; you should always have a specific marketing or business goal in mind for each piece you create. Everything you make must serve a dynamic role in your sales process, an objective that moves the prospect one step closer to buying. What do you want the customer to do as a consequence of getting or receiving your piece? Whatever that is, make it explicit.

If nothing else, at least end your collateral copy with a call to action, a directive to phone, write or otherwise respond to you. If you can provide an incentive -- a discount, a premium, a free analysis -- all the better. But at the very least, ASK for the response and tell readers exactly how to reach you.