Why Content Strategy and Sales Enablement Go Hand In Hand
It shouldn’t come as a big surprise — the use of relevant and targeted content can drive more conversations and help close more business.
And given the trend that more and more customers are doing research before they even talk to a salesperson, makes having the right information available a must have in business today. Period. End of story.
What many may not realize is the amount and depth of content needed. One or two pieces isn’t going to be enough. Here’s a stat I found extremely interesting:
When I tell this to people, I get two responses. Shock that the number is so high.
And disbelief there are organizations that understand how many individual pieces of content are even required. Sadly, many don’t have a clue.
Now for your business it might be less, it might be more. But I think what we call can agree on this: a handful of generic content won’t cut it. Not in today’s hyper-competitive environment. Not even close!
Let me stay on the overall number of pieces for a minute.
If we assume 17 is the number for one product line, then consider the number of pieces required for a rep is selling multiple product lines. The amount of content required adds up fast.
Ahh, this is the world we live in today. As products become more and more complex and as competition increases, the need for even more unique content to help distinguish one brand from another is only going to increase.
But creating more stuff…isn’t the answer.
There are a couple issues facing organizations when it comes to content. To start with, they need to understand what’s working throughout the entire sales process.
As discussed above, many have no idea of what’s working and what’s not. Many produce what they do because that’s the way they “have always done things.”
That’s not going to fly anymore. Companies need to know what type of content the buyer is seeking out when they first begin the buying process. And they need to understand what content is required to close the deal…and everything in between.
Remarkably, data is used ad nauseum on the consumer side whether digital ads, social posts, and the like to see what’s working, what’s not and quickly optimize. But for B2B collateral… not so much.
Having this baseline will allow your company to create more effective communications that will engage and motivate prospects along each phase of the journey and close more business.
But just having the right information isn’t enough. Access to the information is also critical.
Let’s face it, organizations need to provide reps with easy access to all this important information. Because if your reps can’t easily get to the critical selling information whenever or wherever they need it, one of two things will occur. Your reps will ignore the content, or they will create their own. It’s just that simple.
And as a result, your organization may be investing a lot of time, energy and effort creating pieces that never get into the hands of potential buyers. Or your reps are taking away time that could better spent talking to prospects and instead using that time to create a product flyers.
Either way it’s a huge miss.
So, what’s the answer?
Sales enablement. They need a platform that will:
- Allow organizations to track and monitor what type of content is being used and pushed by the sales team.
- Act as an easy onramp to all the content reps need whenever they need it on laptop, tablet and smartphone.
- Provide the necessary training and ongoing learning to keep reps up to date on the latest product, market or customer changes.
I’ve spent over 20 years in the sales game and this tool was missing in the space.
If you think there is a way to improve the performance of your sales team, or tighten the connection between your sales and marketing departments, or strengthen the effectiveness of your communications, let’s talk.
