In business we see it time and again when a company decides to launch a brand new sales enablement initiative. Marketing churns out a bevy of fresh collateral: sell sheets, PowerPoint presentations and more. They post it all onto a shiny new sales portal and give reps access. The company waits for the money to roll in. It never does. The sales reps stick to the stuff they’ve written out themselves, and rarely even touch the portal. The whole team deems the sales content management initiative a failure.
The problem isn’t sales enablement. Rather, it’s the approach (and, maybe the sales rep software chosen). Here’s why the collateral dump technique isn’t working:
1) Too much information
When the sales portal is viewed as a dumping ground for collateral, everyone starts contributing. Sales managers, marketing managers, sales reps, and etc., load up the system with too much information. Not only is it difficult for reps to sift through all of it, it’s impossible to keep it up to date. It’s nothing short of catastrophic when a rep delivers a sales presentation riddled with misinformation.
2) You talkin’ to me?
Collateral piles do not speak the language of the sales rep. Frequently, the biggest hurdle for reps is that the collateral is thoughtlessly organized. Perhaps it’s arranged alphabetically. Worse yet, it could be arranged by something like file type. This is not how a salesperson operates! When they’re looking to respond quickly and accurately to a lead, they don’t have time to think like a sales portal. They want to know what to say to a customer when they present a specific obstacle. That’s when they go rogue with their own prepared materials.
3) I forgot my password…
Collateral boxes are separate, isolated systems with separate logins and interfaces. And, they’re only accessible on certain operating systems. Real sales enablement solutions integrate with the sales rep’s favorite devices, whether PC or mobile, and they integrate with other applications that they use every day, like CRM systems.
Perhaps you’ve put your digital sales content in a box. Take it out and let it breathe! Sales enablement isn’t about dumping collateral online. It’s about keeping a rep’s conversations fresh and applicable so that customers choose to move forward in the buying process. A sales enablement platform delivers real sales enablement success when it provides a rep with exact messaging that’s written in the right language, and it’s delivered via the perfect device.
Are you ready to help reps deliver the right message to the right person?
Still interested? click the image below for access to our white paper on why reps choose sales enablement solutions.
