Up The Content Game to Optimize Sales Enablement
Sales enablement is key to doing business. A great sales team has the know-how, skills, and the right behaviors to get the most out of every customer interaction. It is marketing’s job to bestow the knowledge that the sales team needs. These days a big chunk of that knowledge is given through content. When Seismic surveyed 375 business-to-business executives they found that most of them were unsatisfied with the content that their marketing teams were producing.
In this post, we will discuss the stats from the Seismic and CSO Insights studies, and find out what the executives favorite types of content are.
Just under half (48.6%) of the executives in the study think their marketing teams are shooting par or better when it comes to the amount of content they can submit to sales. A few less (43.9%) say the content is of standard or greater quality.
Most Effective Customer – Facing Content Tools
You know what sales is. You know what enablement is. So you should know what sales enablement is … right? The truth is that sales enablement differs significantly among different companies. While one team might solely focus on providing content for the sales force, another might also have a hand in event planning, or cross-selling. At one organization, sales enablement might sit in Sales, while at the company down the road, it might make its home in Marketing, or Product. What is the definition of sales enablement? Study participants identified nine different tasks that could fall under the sales enablement umbrella, including coaching, onboarding, content creation, and other duties. ~ HubSpot
Product collateral, the main support system of the ad campaign is considered the most effective type of content. Out of the executives that were surveyed, 55% of them were satisfied with the content in this area. Even though it is ranked the highest 55% isn't that great. That means there are a lot of marketing teams out there that need to step it up. Technical and product presentations are the next best content tool with 53% of the executives approving the quality of this content. These two content tools are the types favored by tech buyers.
Content Tools that Need an Overhaul
Client – focused presentations are one of the content tools that is holding back sales enablement. Most of the executives in the study say this tool needs greater development (43.6%) or a completely new blueprint (12.8). Customer case studies are lacking in luster as well. These are very important because according to a study from LiveHive, this type of content that corporate executives respond well to. Only 42% of executives surveyed feel that their marketing teams are producing acceptable customer case studies. Last but not least the executives would like to see a progression in collaboration with corporate functions. This time, 51% of the executives think that this content needs to be enhanced or transformed.
The organizational challenge of sales enablement
The vast majority of executives have sales reports funnel through the highest levels in structured organizations with over seventy-five percent of sales teams in compliance. The annual expenditures of these organizations are $250,000 annually on sales enablement tools and processes. When firms roll-out sales enablement processes the goals are to decrease new sales team member ramp up time, increase time that sales team members are actually selling, improve client communications and to streamline opportunity management.
The problem is that the goals do not seem to be aligning with the execution of the sales enablement processes as implemented. Over half of the executives reported that the training process was informal at best, thus the uptake by the sales team was not correlating to efficient and effective use of the tools. In fact, 64% of executives reported that such tools are being taken away from sales teams in order to have them revamped. Over 80% of executives blamed the lack of cross-collaboration when creating sales enablement tools.
In conclusion focus on your product collateral and the technical & product presentations, as the tech buyers eat these up. Depending on the performance of your marketing team, the client – focused presentations, customer case studies, and cross – functional collaboration tools may need a complete change to get the results you want. Having the right tools in the hands of your sales team is only a fraction of the overall implementation. It is clear through this study that sales teams need formal training and on-site implementation followed by revisions that are triggered by actual use versus developer assumptions of use.
No nonsense, all honesty.
When the team at Viral Solutions brings their minds to your business, you are getting all of our collective experiences. We will never sugar coat the reasons behind our input. We will not withhold our best solutions. We will not limit our implementation strategies.
Instead, we tell you exactly how we see it and how you can proceed with your digital marketing to experience the best results. These results will be the sum of your strategy, your defined target audience, your commitment to serve your customer and our process of delivery. That means we are an integral part of your team!
Copyright 2016 Viral Solutions LLC
Prior to joining Viral Solutions, Christine held executive leadership roles at some of the largest small business consulting firms in the USA. Her experience includes leading direct reports of over 130 remote sales agents who generated $38mm in annual revenue. She obtained her Marketing degree from British Columbia Institute of Technology. Bring her C-Suite experience to your small business. Although our company is virtual, and we can work with you wherever you are located, she is located in Denver, Colorado and owns a second home in Vancouver, BC Canada.
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner and an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant.
We help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves – so business can be fun again.
At Viral Solutions we are committed to seeing YOU succeed. It is our goal to grow your business with proven digital marketing strategies that will help your business for the long haul.
Stay Up To Speed in the Ever Changing World of Marketing!
Sign-up today for FREE, monthly marketing tips, loopholes, and news to EXPLODE your Return on Investment!
Share your knowledge and gain exposure by becoming a guest author on our blog! Learn how to write for us.