What Kinds of Content do You Need for Effective Sales Enablement?
- Sales enablement content examples come in three categories that correspond to different parts of the sales funnel.
- Blog posts, white papers, and case studies available to visitors boost lead generation and are useful sales tools.
- Talking-point scripts, product data sheets, and competitor comparisons give your sales team more ammunition.
- Sales and marketing teams together can develop one-pagers and detailed presentations that help close deals.
- Smart Funnel SDRs implement sales enablement strategies so our clients can focus entirely on fulfillment!
Sales enablement is a relatively new sector of sales strategy. It has only come into existence in the last few years since the rise of inbound marketing. It owes its existence to the fact that sales efforts have become increasingly complex over the past decade. It’s more difficult than ever to get a response to a cold call or a cold email. Now more than ever, sales work is based on relationship building. Sales enablement is all about making it easier to build those relationships through the creation of useful content. This content helps sales professionals make stronger and more informed connections. In this post, we’re going to take a look at some sales enablement content examples. This should give you and your sales team an idea of what the possibilities are.
3 Categories of Sales Enablement Content Examples
Sales enablement content examples can be broken down into three categories that correspond to different stages of the sales funnel.
We’re first going to take a look at content that helps accelerate lead generation so that you get more and better prospects. After that, we’ll look at some content that helps make the actual sales process smoother once it has started. Finally, there are other forms of content that can make it more likely that you’ll get a conversion.
Lead Generation Accelerators
The first thing any sales process requires is prospects to sell to. These prospects have to come from someplace and usually, that is through lead generation efforts the company conducts. If the company is using its own content to generate leads, it’ll generally result in more qualified prospects then simply buying a list. But what kind of content should a company be creating?
Content that generates leads can include a company’s own blog posts, downloadable white papers or ebooks, and case studies posted on their main websites.
The effectiveness of each one of these content types depends on how well they respond to customer questions and concerns. The best place to find that particular information is from the sales staff themselves, and from the company’s customer service representatives. Without that crucial data, your content might end up answering questions that nobody is asking, and providing information that nobody needs.
Another crucial aspect of the success of this type of content is making sure that every member of the sales team is aware of its existence. Sales professionals tend to come and go. There’s always somebody in your organization who doesn’t know about all the tools that are available to them. Your job as a team leader or manager is to provide them with those tools.
Sales Process Supports
What do you do when your sales professional actually gets through all the gatekeepers and makes a connection?
Some sales and marketing executives may roll their eyes at this. As a matter of fact, though, professionally written content for this part of the sales process is often missing from the professional toolbox. This leaves reps unprepared for first meetings. This next group of sales enablement content examples is what to fill that box with.
Call Scripts
Sales professionals do better when they have effective outlines of relevant data on hand when they make contact with a potential prospect. Now, nobody likes listening to a sales professional literally read a script word for word over the phone. Even an experienced sales professional that doesn’t at least have some critical talking points about the product’s benefits for that prospect can easily end up lost and flustered by a sincere but unexpected question, though.
Product Detail Sheets
Likewise, it’s incredibly useful to write out product sheets that detail the nature of the product or service itself. This can answer questions such as who it’s for, what it does, how it helps them, and what it will cost to implement. This kind of simple and easy to understand content is crucial for helping sales professionals quickly identify the best version of your product or service for that potential prospect. This increases the likelihood of a conversion since the prospect will find greater value in things that are better presented and more relevant to their needs.
Competitor Analyses
Another important type of content for this stage of the sales funnel is a competitor comparison. This will take some research, but it’s seriously worthwhile. Your sales representatives should be able to clearly explain to their prospects what the competition is doing, how it’s different from what you’re doing, and why what you’re doing is better.
Conversion Boosters
Of the six different types of sales enablement content examples we have already covered, the first three are meant for wide public consumption to build interest. The second three are meant exclusively for in-house use. In between those two domains, and at the end of the sales process, there’s one more category of content that you will need to distribute on a limited basis.
The scripts, product sheets, and competitor comparisons that your sales professionals will use in conversation with prospects won’t necessarily provide all the information the prospect requires to make a decision. This is where one-pagers and presentations come in. These types of content should be developed in close collaboration between sales and marketing teams. Neither team is likely to have the complete perspective needed to make this content as effective as possible. Marketing teams tend to look at the big picture. Sales teams tend to focus on the nitty-gritty details of what actually closes a deal. You need both in these types of content. Work together to make sure that the one-pagers really are one pagers; that they’re not too information-dense, but that they do answer likely customer questions at a glance.
You Can Use The Same Content Generation Processes for Email and Social Outreach!
This category is also where you’ll want to look at email templates. We’re now in the age of intense personalization in sales. Having templates for canned emails may not seem like the most productive use of your time. If you do it right, though, with input from both marketing and sales perspectives, you can create a series of highly flexible email templates that cover all kinds of customer interactions. Sales Professionals can then adjust those emails as needed, for maximum personalization. You can use the exact same process to generate more effective social media messages as well.
Smart Funnel Sales Enablement
The critical component to the success of any of these sales enablement content examples is effective communication between your sales and marketing teams.
At Smart Funnel, we bridge that divide.
Our sales enablement strategies center on our team of sales development representatives. These SDRs are experts at quickly pivoting according to the needs of any clients sales campaign. What’s more, Smart Funnel will implement a comprehensive marketing and sales outreach strategy for your products and services. The only thing you have to worry about now is fulfillment!
Contact us today to start implementing more powerful sales enablement and lead generation strategies for your business!