In recent weeks, companies across industries have been relying on their sales and marketing teams to fill revenue gaps created by COVID-19. With more on the line for your business, it’s more important than ever that your sales team is empowered with the right customer-facing resources to help guide prospects through the sales process and maximize ROI.
Having a strong sales enablement strategy is essential for shortening the sales cycle and converting new leads into opportunities. From well-designed sell sheets to innovative videos, developing resources and establishing a sales enablement toolkit can help your sales team effectively communicate your company’s capabilities in a compelling way and increase your velocity to win rate.
To ensure your sales team is set up for success, below are a few key points to consider when developing your sales enablement strategy, as well as three fundamental B2B sales resources we recommend you have in your toolkit during this time.
The benefits of sales enablement
Sales enablement is a strategic process for equipping your sales team with the resources they need to engage in valuable conversations with customers at each stage of the sales cycle. As sales reps rely on collateral spearheaded by the marketing team to move prospects through the funnel, sales enablement helps bridge the sales-marketing gap by opening clear communication between teams to ensure everyone is aligned on objectives and messaging tactics that are effective in closing new business.
Additionally, by empowering your sales reps with memorable, relevant resources for each stage of the sales process, a robust sales enablement toolkit can help build credibility for your business and streamline the selling process so you can generate more revenue in the short-term. Having engaging content that speaks to the specific needs of a prospect at each point of their decision-making journey is a crucial part of moving deals forward, so now more than ever, it’s important that your sales team has access to up-to date resources that are useful and easy to consume.
Sales enablement tools to move prospects through the funnel
Whether you need to create new materials from scratch or update existing materials to reflect the most relevant information to your audience during this time, here are three sales enablement resources that you can leverage at various stages of the sales cycle to round out your toolkit and drive revenue:
Convincing case studies
Especially in B2B, having real-world results you can point to is a must. By telling in-depth stories about how your product or service has benefited your customers, case studies are great assets that help contextualize your company’s offerings to prospects in the evaluation or consideration phase. Since each customer is different, it’s best to have a variety of case studies in your toolkit that speak to your different use cases. While you may use a standard structure of Key Outcomes – Challenge – Solution – Results to maintain consistency, it’s important to have case studies that speak to each of your product features or customer industries. Case studies can also be distributed in a range of formats including a website landing page, sales decks or email. Check out Our Work page for an example of how we showcase our customer success stories.
Sophisticated sell sheets
Whether they’re used as a primer to introduce the prospect to your business or as a follow-up document to keep the conversation going, well-designed sell sheets are an imperative resource to help sales teams ace a first impression and stay top of mind with high-value prospects. With only one page worth of real estate to capture the viewer’s attention, flawless design and persuasive copy is a must. In the current climate, it’s also important to make sure that your sell sheets are up to date with your current capabilities and contact information, and are formatted to facilitate easy sharing via email. Last but not least, be sure to highlight a distinct call-to-action in order to keep the sales process moving forward.
Cutting-edge videos
Animated videos are a great way to create unique and compelling content that builds trust in your offering. While there are a variety of videos you can produce for the selling process, one common format is an explainer video that presents a high-level overview of your capabilities and how your customer can benefit from your product or service. Through the use of distinct and ownable branded animations, not only does video provide a captivating touchpoint that guides prospects through the decision-making process, but it can also be re-purposed on social media or pre-roll advertising so you can reach customers at different points in their buyer journey.
For an example of how this could look for your brand, check out this animated video we created for leading B2B payments solution provider, MSTS.
In today’s tumultuous business landscape, your sales enablement strategy can make all the difference in how fast you close deals and boost revenue. Get in touch today or check out our B2B Sales Enablement offering to learn more about how Walker Sands can help create your dream sales enablement toolkit and position your brand for future growth.
