Automated Sales Enablement without communication freezes up. Communication, in turn, needs a message like a song needs a tune. The essence of a message lies in its content, and compelling content can shift sentiments in a few words. Put it all together, and content enables sales if its on-point, but unfortunately disables it if not. Content is the key to engaging new customers and holding onto existing ones.
In the 2015 Forbes Report – The Power of Enablement – an intensive research study determined that the most successful enterprises depend on communications prioritizing thoughtful content as a sales momentum energizer for outstanding achievement.
The most Positive Sales Momentum Characteristics in Seller Organizations
When content is penetrating and relevant it supports reps efforts in every way. The most observable results of this are:
- Reps sell to customers the way they want to buy.
- It empowers modern sellers to deliver the right message for every conversation.
- It allows buyers to buy faster and smarter.
- It uplifts ROI for both seller and buyer.
Put across in this way, the content concept sounds like a simple proposition, but far from it. All benefits emerge only if there’s accessibility to the right content at the right time, delivered through the right media – a corporate challenge of gargantuan proportions.
Content is a Sales Enablement hot potato.
So much time is taken up in seeking content out; it somehow blinds objectivity in many ways. When eventually found, it may be outdated, superseded, or inapplicable to changed circumstances; the problem is that salespeople immersed in the search are generally the worst possible judges of content applicability. Frustration and stress frequently lead to reps creating imaginary content to fill the gaps, ultimately accelerating sometimes-irreversible brand erosion.
Buyer expectations
There’s an extensive list, but here are the prominent ones:
- Don’t waste their time.
- The sales organization must engage them in meaningful conversation.
- Create a more personalized buyer experience.
- Give them something different.
In short, they are looking for the rep to impart useful information – content that will make life easier. The way to a buyer’s heart is to engage in content-rich communications that promise the quickest time to value. The more the rep can do that, the higher his or her perceived credibility will be.
What else did the Forbes report tell us?
There was a pivotal question leveled at sales teams that proved to be revealing: What are the aspects of content that resonate with you the most? Here’s what emerged:
- Content that’s firmly connected to the customers’ needs.
- Content that delivers a message containing a tangible and realizable value for the customer.
- Ability to take the lead in providing customers with valuable content.
- Provide the infrastructure to find the right content faster and easier.
- Move away from content everyone else has. Pinpoint content features that are differentiating and unique.
- Make it easier to identify the content specific to resolving a customer’s pain area.
- Strengthen everyday selling with content that’s dynamic and trains reps at the same time
So let’s move on to find the best content placement and ways to boost sales enablement through communication.
1. Know your customer inside out
Whatever content you create that relates to the persona of your customer is worth its weight in gold. Digging into how your customer thinks (right down to why he’s interested in the first place), and his most apparent action triggers as they relate to buying behavior is the shortest route to meaningful connection and ultimately closing the deal.
In practical terms, customer persona content involves detailing customers’ prominent pains, biggest obstacles, priorities, and the convolutions of his or her decision-making process (i.e., does he or she make the decision, or are others involved). Content dissemination can range from one-pagers to full-on presentations; social media formats, and messaging apps (e.g., WhatsApp) – don’t exclude any of them from the armory.
2. Get your product content right.
Duh! Yes, that’s always a rep’s first response to the above heading, “What! You think I don’t know what I’m selling?” That may well be the case, but often the written content doesn’t align with what’s in the minds of sales personnel. Web pages and brochures, for example, invariably contain old information urgently in need of updating. Customers will refer to this, and disconnect is sure to emerge. There’s nothing worse than being stalled, or trying to explain a marketing department’s neglect and inefficiencies; the latter inevitably detract from moving forward in the sales process.
Moreover, make sure that the product content relates to the customer’s hot buttons: For example, it should highlight features that deliver value fast; provide data-driven backup to recommendations, and measure up to the highest standards of innovative, on-brand capabilities.
Other vital content focus areas are:
- Highlighting all-in-one solutions (if applicable). Customers love this.
- Distinguishing the seller as the best service and technology provider.
- Projecting the seller as a strategic consulting partner with innovative sales and marketing solutions.
- Identifying that the product links to the best service and technology provider, and the seller as a partner in strategic consulting solutions.
- Offering unsurpassed, industry-leading implementation services.
- Demonstrating proven global acceptance and scale excellence.
3. Content and Blogging
There’s no better way to keep relevant content flowing than the blog format. Not only is it an opportunity to outline new product benefits and features, but blogs also contain the capacity to relate these to prominent customer needs at the same time. Alongside employment of best B2B SEO practices, informative and engaging blogs create seller authority. They clear out potential buyer doubts before the first customer meeting. Blogs are a digital loudspeaker of product introductions and updates. Moreover, customers are interested in behind-the-scenes activities of their suppliers; so newsworthy articles fit this bill exactly.
4. Content and Case Studies
Case studies are realistic, engaging, true-to-life depictions of a company’s integrated sales effort in the marketplace, outlining experiences the customer can relate to quickly and personally. Case studies, if well constructed, create credibility for the product and the team selling it. They reflect as objective demonstrations of marketing and sales efficiency, notwithstanding that in reality, their objectives are promotional in nature.
5. Conversational content
Nothing is more potent, decisive, or penetrating content-wise than direct sales rep/ customer discussion. At the same time, nothing’s more short-lived or disastrous if the marketing material, web site, and any other supporting content are unaligned. Rep input that’s consistent with the overall communication strategy has a good chance of delivering the right message for every conversation. It creates the most significant opportunity to turn new prospects into new customers.
Conclusion
In the real estate world, the key to success is “location, location, location.” In automated sales enablement, the mantra is “content, content, content.” The two are wedded; there are no two ways about it. Pitcher – a company at the cutting edge of the activity – is the go-to entity for advice when it comes to content structuring and its employment in the market place. Review Pitcher’s engaging blogs and case studies as a demonstration of its comprehensive capabilities in this dynamic arena.
To experience Pitcher first hand, interested parties can request a demo at pitcher.com.