No one ever wants to clean up a mess.
That’s one reason why it’s important for you to actively manage your sales content. Who wants to go through boxes of brochures and online files to make sense of them? It’s a big-time drain.
However, keeping things tidy may be the least important reason for active sales content management. Here are nine even BETTER ones.
1. It makes sales reps more productive.
Reports show that salespeople, on average, spend one week per month searching for sales content. It’s a major waste of time that could be better used selling. Actively managing and distributing your content through a sales enablement system makes it MUCH easier for salespeople to quickly find materials. There’s no time wasted trying to figure out which pieces are the right ones to use with buyers. The latest materials can be organized by product or service type, themes, campaigns, audiences, and more.
Distributing your content through a sales enablement platform like Mobile Locker’s could be one of the best investments you make in increasing sales productivity.
2. It makes sales teams more agile and effective.
With more and more businesses selling digitally all over the globe, large and small organizations alike need every advantage to succeed. Active content management ensures sales reps have materials readily available to sell any place, any time, in person or virtually, to anyone, anywhere in the world. It’s the ultimate advantage for small to midsize businesses that want to compete — and win — on a bigger and broader global platform.
3. Active management speeds sales closings.
A solid sales content management system helps to reduce the time it takes to close deals by providing reps with the tools needed to:
- Answer virtually every customer question on the spot.
- Help buyers compare different products and services so they can make better-informed decisions.
- Take advantage of timely opportunities no matter when or where they arise.
- Seamlessly integrate the closing process into your sales cycle.
4. It enforces brand compliance.
Nothing can be worse for the reputation of a company than having reps deliver a less than ideal customer experience using the wrong — or completely outdated or non-compliant — collateral. The bad experience won’t be limited to the buyers involved, it’s also likely they’ll spread the word among their friends, family members, and co-workers. You’ll lose your chance to do business with them.
Active collateral management prevents this by ensuring sales reps only have access to the latest materials that they’re properly trained to use with customers. This helps prevent unfortunate incidents that could hurt your company’s reputation over the long term.
5. It gets everyone on the same page.
Do you find that marshaling the people on your sales and marketing teams is like herding cats? It’s often the case. By actively managing your materials through a sales enablement system like Mobile Locker’s, your marketers and salespeople will have a single view into your content development process, sales materials, training, and overall results. It will help them see selling in the same way, which will bring unity and cohesion to your operation.
6. It helps onboard salespeople faster.
The worst thing a business can do is let sales reps sell before they’re ready. It often leads to embarrassing mistakes that can do serious harm to your brand. It’s why onboarding is critical. It provides your salespeople with the knowledge required to sell your products and services accurately and effectively, using the correct sales materials. No errors. No mistakes you have to pay for over the long term. Plus, the onboarding process is quick and efficient.
7. It makes it easier to track content effectiveness.
How can you know what content is working if you don’t know what content you have? It seems like a simple premise, but it’s an issue many businesses deal with. They can’t figure out what’s resonating with customers because they don’t have a clear inventory, with each piece mapped to projected results that can be measured against.
Active management makes it possible for you to make the most of materials that are performing well and fix — or cut losses on — pieces that aren’t effective. It’s the best way to gain an edge in today’s dog-eat-dog world of sales and marketing.
8. It ensures prospects don’t get dropped.
Defining what content your sales reps should use, and when, helps keep them connected with their prospects from the beginning to the end of the sales cycle. Sometimes, when the sales process stalls out, reps don’t know what to do to restart things and get them moving again. Having content that gives them a reason to contact prospects they’re out of touch with can help get the conversation going once again. Providing salespeople with answers to frequently asked questions and ways to overcome objections helps prevent sales opportunities from shutting down in the first place.
9. Eliminates user bias.
Sales reps believe — often without reason — that their own, self-developed sales content is stellar. Distributing organization sanctioned content through a sales enablement system like Mobile Locker’s makes it possible to track its effectiveness. It provides reps with data that will give them the confidence to use it. It discourages the use of “shadow” materials they create on their own that could have a negative impact on your brand, present your organization in a bad light, open you up to legal liability and limit sales.
Need help actively managing your content? Contact the friendly experts at Mobile Locker. They’ll take time to understand your current situation and make specific recommendations that will help you get your collateral system in order and maintain it over time. They’ll show you why the Mobile Locker platform is a powerful tool for helping marketers and salespeople manage their collateral and make it more effective over time.
