Sales Enablement and Actionable Content
Something happened this week that I don’t think has ever happened before.
We were meeting with a prospect, more specifically with that prospect’s SVP Sales who emphatically stated that one of their top priorities was, “Making sure their field sales reps were better informed about the verticals they sell into.” If you meet with sales leaders on a regular basis like we do, I’m guessing that’s not a top priority you’d hear stated on a frequent basis (if ever).
Driving lift, increasing pipeline, accelerating sales cycles, impacting top line, driving demo requests, etc., are far more commonly stated goals. We hear those every day. But making sure their people are well informed? No way.
But, as with most great truths, this SVP’s comment while seemingly unconnected with these more commonly stated goals, actually goes to the very heart of sales performance.
We have the luxury of working with a large number of tech company sales teams, high-performing sales teams, all of whom want to drive lift, pipe, etc. That goes without saying; there isn’t a sales person on the face of the planet who doesn’t want that.
However and in our experience, those that actually do make those things happen are those that both drive to the core of what makes for a high-performance sales team and are bold in trying new strategies and practices, and that includes making sure their people are well-informed of sales enablement.
Back to the SVP’s comment. What surprised me was that it WAS the first time I’ve heard a sales leader state this as a priority and it’s exactly the kind of thing I’ve been hoping to hear.
Being informed is one of those fundamental things that so often (borderline always) get lost within a larger organization; people simply don’t have access to the right information, the information they need, when they need it.
If we’re being honest, most people don’t have a clue what the latest news is regarding their company, co-workers, the competition, prospects, etc.
All of which begs the question: how could you expect your salespeople (or anyone for that matter) to succeed if they don’t have that information? You can’t. At least you can’t expect them to succeed as well as someone who does, which chances are, includes your competition.
Not having this type of information is the ultimate handicap; it may not appear to be hardwired to topline lift, however, if you follow that thread to its terminus, you’ll find that it is.
Interested in doing a better job at providing sales enablement with relevant, actionable content? Awesome! Below are four types of content that your salespeople will benefit from having at their fingertips and represent a great starting point in your efforts to keep your team better informed.
Product Announcements
According to an internal study we performed, 65% of sales people are unaware of a given new product announcement. If a tree falls in the forest but no one is there… If your salespeople aren’t aware of the new products your company is releasing, how could you expect them to be competitive in the marketplace?
Providing your people with a simple, regular update that includes all the latest product updates and news is a simple and effective way to keep your people up to date.
Competitor News
Likewise, competitor news and announcements is absolutely critical information to be providing your sales reps. What customers have they signed, what customers have they lost, how was their last quarter, do they have a new CEO, who else just joined their team, etc.
This information is something that your salespeople should be aware of and some of it is going to be actionable and give your people a much-needed edge.
While some companies fret about providing salespeople with competitive intel – oftentimes sales leaders have an irrational fear around providing news about the competition to their team – we’ve only ever see it have a positive effect on a company’s win rate and sales effectiveness.
Like all relevant content, if your people are aware of it, they’re going to be better prepared to compete.
Prospect Updates
Quite possibly the most important type of content. While you need to continuously be providing your people with the product and competitor news, prospect updates are usually where the rubber really hits the road and is most often something that you need to enable your individual reps to track for themselves.
Want to learn how to improve your buisness branding? Here are four tips to improve your buisness branding with content.
Tracking Prospect Updates
Did a contact just change roles, did they change companies, are they attending an event you’ll be at, did they just connect with a competitive rep – is typically a part of a larger social selling strategy, however, and in and of itself can be the most actionable type of content you provide your salespeople.
For us and many of our clients, tracking prospect updates has become standard practice for all members of our team.
What’s Next?
So, all this may sound great, but how do you provide your people with this content without requiring you or them to spend a bunch of additional time sourcing and sharing it?
That’s where EveryoneSocial comes in. EveryoneSocial is a social selling platform that makes providing your team with the content they need a breeze. Specifically, EveryoneSocial helps you:
- Easily find and disseminate critical content to your team
- Make sure your people get the content they need, based on role/team/geo, etc.
- Enable them to track prospect updates and news based
- Give them tools to engage with prospects directly on social media
- Track everything and record it in your CRM (directly integrated with Salesforce)
Want to learn more? Request a demo and we’ll be happy to take you through the EveryoneSocial platform, share some more details and best practices for sales teams, and talk about how we might best meet your goals.
