What is Sales Enablement Content?

What is one of the biggest challenges for B2B enterprises in 2020? Lack of alignment between sales and content marketing teams. 

The sales team complains about poor quality leads. The marketing team complains about the low close rates. Instead of trying to find common ground and finally boost sales, two teams keep blaming each other.

Does it sound familiar to you? Sales enablement content is one way to fix this challenge.

Related Content: Get Sales & Marketing Talking to Close More Deals

What is the difference between content marketing and sales enablement content?

Before we start, let’s talk about the difference between traditional content marketing and sales enablement content.

Traditional content marketing is all about creating content that appeals to customers. It’s used to raise brand awareness and to move prospects through the content marketing sales funnel.

Sales enablement content is about assisting sales representatives and closing deals. 

Do you see the difference? Both types of content are equally important, but they can’t be used interchangeably. To be effective, they should complement each other and be used at different stages in the buyer cycle. 

Ultimately, to achieve the goals of both parties and eliminate the friction of “poor quality leads” and “low close rates”.

Types of sales enablement content 

Let’s talk about the different types of sales enablement content you’ll need to create to improve the performance of your sales team.

Sales scripts

Basically, sales script is a “prescribed set of talking points.” It’s a document that helps sales representatives to direct the conversation with the prospects in the right direction and close a deal.

What is the key benefit of using a sales script? Timothy Collins, a content creator at TrustMyPaper, believes that the key benefit is that “The script ensures consistency within the sales team. When all sales representatives stick to the same guidelines, they achieve the same high results.”

Product sheets

A product sheet is a brief document that contains a summary of the performance and technical features of a certain product. It explains how the item works and how it differs from other products in the market. This document is a must for every sales team.

Competitor comparisons

Your sales representatives should be aware of the products offered by your competitors.  Otherwise, they will not know how to market your product the right way. 

Your task is to create a document that highlights the differences between your product and your rival’s products. The task of your sales team is to analyze the document and steer the prospect’s attention to the advantages of your product as well as the disadvantage of your competitor’s products.

Onboarding content

Onboarding content is the type of content that presents the company’s mission and values. Also, it demonstrates the tone of voice that must be applied to customer interactions. 

You can leverage onboarding content to help new sales team members to learn more about your company and your product. Besides, you can use it to teach new employees to take advantage of the content your company provides.

Blog posts

Ok. This one overlaps with content marketing. But blog posts can be useful not only for attracting new prospects but also for educating and motivating the sales team. Interesting articles with pro tips – it’s what your sales representatives need to keep growing professionally.

One-pagers

One-pager is another excellent example of sales enablement content. It’s a one-page document that clearly articulates the benefits of a product and provides a perfect solution to a specific challenge experienced by a prospect.

Sales content management

Sales content management is the multi-stage process that includes content production, curation, organization, and distribution. It’s aimed at facilitating the sales team’s work and increasing the number of products sold. 

What are the benefits of sales content management? If you manage sales enablement content wisely, you will achieve the following:

• Align Marketing and Sales
• Improve sales team effectiveness
• Accelerate sales cycles
• Increase sales

How can one improve sales content management?

Do you want to take advantage of sales content management? Here is a short guide:

• Make a plan. Set your short-term and long-term goals. Define the steps you should take to achieve your goals.
• Run a survey or talk to your salespeople. Find out what content they find useful. Make a list of relevant content ideas.
• Encourage content marketers and sales representatives to work together toward common goals. Make sure that teams do not compete with one another.
• Evaluate the quality of your current sales collateral. If it’s outdated, get with your content writers to refresh it.
• Organize and centralize your sales content into categories. Create a clear structure.
• Embed your sales enablement content in your CRM. Make sure that every employee has access to essential documents.
• Monitor the performance of your sales content. Make some adjustments, if necessary.

A few words about aligning Content Marketing and Sales

Effective communication between the Content Marketing department and the Sales department is crucial. When sales representatives provide marketers with quality feedback, marketers create better content. And when the Sales team uses high-quality content, they close more deals.  All the business processes are interrelated. 

Therefore, if you want to take your B2B company to the next level, you should motivate employees from different teams to communicate with each other. You should find the roots of conflict between Sales and Marketing and eliminate them.

If you don’t do it right now, your business will become vulnerable. And once you face intense competition, your company will fail.

The success of your B2B enterprise is in your hands. Revisit your sales and marketing strategies today, focus on high-quality content production, and you will achieve high results.

Related Content: Why Your Sales and Marketing Teams Need to Align Their Goals

Final Piece of Advice

In 2020, sales enablement content is a must. Don’t give your competitors a chance to steal your customers because their Sales teams are better equipped.

Get Content Marketing and Sales aligned today and equip your Sales team with quality content to close more deals. 

Guest Author

Donald Fomby is a freelance writer and content creator. He provides custom dissertation writing help to students and young professionals. Donald has a keen interest in B2B branding, revolutionary technologies, and innovative products.