What Have You Done for Your Sales Team Today?

sales team

Marketing departments have been put to the test over the past year, and supporting our struggling sales teams became a top priority—at least, it should have. But plenty of marketers seem to have missed the memo, leaving sales struggling to shift to an all-virtual climate. How much sales enablement content have you developed to help them bridge the gap?

The goal of sales enablement content is to help sales usher leads through the sales journey toward conversion—answering questions and overcoming objections as they build productive relationships. Rather than speaking directly to customers, sales enablement assets prepare your sales team to make the most of every conversation with a prospect, whether that’s in person, over the phone, through email or via social media networks. In the absence of face-to-face communications, this kind of content is more vital than ever.

If sales enablement has slipped off your radar, here are several ways you can support your sales teams.

Content Cheat Sheets

Don’t make them scour an in-depth research report or a dense white paper—no matter how much blood, sweat and tears you’ve poured into them. Content cheat sheets or summaries get them up to speed painlessly.

The more you can condense these robust assets into bullet points, the better. Feed them the most impactful nuggets of foundational information—the high-level topic or trend, the target audience and how the content is positioned (Is it focused on solutions and services, or is it an overarching industry trend piece?). Include relevant statistics, tips and best practices they can reference in emails and social media posts, or even in one-on-one conversations.

Ready-Made Social Media Posts

Your sales team can help you spread the word about your latest E-book or a brand-new checklist on LinkedIn and your other favorite platforms if you make it easier for them with plug-and-play posts and images. These pre-packaged posts will give you greater visibility for your content and give them more fuel for their conversations with prospects.

Include bitly links to keep character counts in check, images to catch attention, and a variety of options to tailor the pitch. One approach could include relevant stats and data points while another focuses on topic teasers. They’ll share these copy-and-paste posts more often, and they’re practically guaranteed to stick with marketing-approved messaging.  

Targeted Toolkits

Ask sales which categories they’ll find most useful, and deliver bundles or toolkits in a way that’s clear and simple to use. Collect the content they need to reference for each prospect type—different verticals, company sizes, personas or solutions—at each buying stage. Make it clear which assets are most relevant for their target buyers.

Add Interactivity

Interactive tools are almost always more engaging than their static counterparts. Instead of a PowerPoint presentation, build sales decks in Ceros or another interactive platform. Consider developing an ROI calculator to help them prove the value of an investment. Give sales a product selection tool to guide prospects toward the best solution by answering a short series of questions. Create an interactive assessment to rate buyers’ current practices against what they could achieve with your help, complete with detailed recommendations.

These interactive tools are more than just flashy props; they’re also a great way to spark a conversation that helps your sales team build relationships.

Make It a Habit

Consider your sales team a key persona, not an afterthought, in your marketing plans. Make it a habit to update their existing materials and share new assets (even blog posts!) on a regular basis, along with clear notes on how to use them. A sales content hub or dedicated folder in their cloud server stocked with pre-approved content can help streamline the process.

The most important habit of all is to communicate with each other. Understand and prioritize the needs of your sales team, and empower them to help you promote the content that will help you both succeed.

If you lack the time or in-house resources to prioritize sales enablement content, we can help. Contact us to get started or to learn about our sales enablement planning and creation capabilities.

Holly Celeste Fisk is an accomplished marketing pro with 20+ years of experience in B2B and B2C. She’s responsible for Content4Demand’s internal marketing efforts, managing everything from content creation and email marketing to events and sponsorships, blog publishing, website management and social media presence. When she’s not working, you’ll find her sliding into third at softball, buried in a book or practicing her Italian. 

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