Is sales enablement one of your marketing priorities? It should be.

Every working person needs some type of tools to get the job done. The better the tools and your understanding of how they work, the more successful you can be. Sales enablement is the process of equipping your salespeople with the tools they need to conduct every sales call and in-person meeting most effectively – giving them powerful written and visual content to accompany their discussions with their prospects.

Sales enablement is powerful. It seamlessly integrates marketing and sales activities so both operate at peak performance. And when that happens, you can:

• Build rapport with prospects.
• Close sales in less time.
• Meet your quota faster.

Better results. That’s why sales enablement should be one of your top marketing priorities.

Putting it into play.

You need marketing materials your salespeople can use after they start the personal contact process with highly qualified leads. You also need tools your marketing people can use for pre-sales lead nurturing. Salespeople need “conversation-starter” items to initiate with new leads or re-initiate with unresponsive leads. They also need “leave-behind” materials they can give prospects at the conclusion of sales calls.

Examples include online content such as e-books, links to product demo video and webinars, links to relevant blog articles and email follow-up, both individual and automated. Offline examples include useful office promotional products like mugs, calendars or other items that reflect your company’s products or services.

The key to success is ensuring you have the right selection of tools and resources that will resonate with each of your leads no matter where they are in your sales funnel. For instance:

• Infographics are a visual, attention-grabbing way to get data across to people in a way that’s easy to assimilate. Share them on social media or in your blog, or print them as handouts for trade shows, etc.
• Case studies can be valuable in two formats – as a one-page synopsis that hits the key points or a lengthy, detailed “whitepaper” style document. Either way, they highlight the specific way(s) in which your products or services have helped customers resolve problems or improve their business or personal lives. They make excellent premium online content, and the abbreviated ones make great leave-behind pieces.
• Short videos allow you to share educational content with leads or customers, but you can also produce internal videos to train your salespeople.
• Promotional items reinforce branding and keep your name top-of-mind with prospects and existing customers. You can use them to thank a customer for their first purchase.

Which online or offline tools are the best choices for you depends on your type of business and marketing targets.

Be strategic about it. Create a plan.

A surprising number of companies complain that their sales team doesn’t actually use their sales enablement materials and other collateral. What a waste! Either the sales people need better training on how to put these tools to work, or – more likely – this is another instance where marketing and sales are not working together toward a common goal: more revenue.

You can avoid these pitfalls by creating a sales enablement plan as part of your overall marketing strategy. It’s essential that marketing and sales collaborate on this, so get them together to think about how you can improve the sales materials you’re using now and what new items you need – online content, printed documents and promo items.

And be sure every salesperson knows how to make the most of each tool. Tools and resources are only as good as your sales team’s comfort with using them.

About the author:

Ryan Wright is an Account Executive at ClearPivot, a Denver-based digital marketing agency. When working with ClearPivot’s clients, Ryan’s continuous goal is to develop custom marketing solutions for them that exceed their expectations and make their Marketing Directors look like heroes.