It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that the use of relevant and targeted content can drive more conversations and help close more business. And given the trend that more and more customers are researching and gathering information before they even talk to another person, makes having the right information available a must have in business today. Period. End of story.
But what many may not realize is the amount and depth of content needed. One or two pieces isn’t going to be enough. Here’s a stat I found extremely interesting:
Research shows that product specialists use on average more than 17 pieces of content to enable the selling process – and that content must be relevant, meaningful and properly timed to where the buyer is in the journey.
When I tell this to my colleagues, I usually get two responses: shock that the number is so high. And disbelief there are organizations that understand how many individual pieces of content are even required. Sadly, many don’t have a clue.
Let me stay on the overall number of pieces for a minute. If we can assume 17 is the number for one product line, then consider the number of pieces required for a rep is selling multiple product lines. The amount of content required adds up fast.
And like it or not, this is the world we live in today. Furthermore, as products become more and more sophisticated and as competition increases, the need for even more content to help distinguish one brand from another is only going to increase.
But creating more clutter or noise…isn’t the answer.
There are a couple issues facing organizations when it comes to content. To start with, organizations need to better understand what’s working throughout the entire sales process. As discussed above, many have no idea of what’s working and what’s not. Many produce what they do because that’s the way they “have always done things.”
That’s not going to fly in this new era, companies need to know what type of content the buyer is seeking out when they first begin the buying process. And they need to understand what content is required to close the deal…and everything in between.
Having this baseline will allow your company to create more effective communications that will engage and motivate prospects along each phase of the journey and close more business.
But just having the right information isn’t enough. Access to the information is also critical. Let’s face it, organizations need to provide reps with easy access to all this important information. Because if your reps can’t easily access the critical selling information whenever or wherever they need it, one of two things will occur. Your reps will ignore the content, or they will create their own. It’s just that simple.
And as a result, your organization may be investing a lot of time, energy and effort creating pieces that never get into the hands of potential buyers. Or your reps are taking away time that could be better spent talking to prospects and instead using that time to create product flyers.
Either way, it’s a huge miss.
So, what’s the answer? Sales Enablement.
In today’s environment, organizations need sales enablement. A platform that will:
- Allow organizations to track and monitor what type of content is being used and pushed by your sales team.
- Act as an easy on-ramp to all the content reps need whenever they need it and, on any device, they want to use. That includes laptop, tablet, and smartphone.
- Provide the necessary training and ongoing learning to keep reps up to date on the latest changes to any and all products.
I’ve spent over 30 years in the sales game and because I felt this kind of tool was missing in the space, I helped to launch ChannelPRO. In my opinion, for too long organizations have existed in the past and now it’s time to step up the game. And I believe ChannelPRO can help.
If you think there is a way to improve the performance of your sales team or tighten the connection between your sales and marketing departments or strengthen the effectiveness of your communications, now is the time to talk. ChannelPRO can help and I would welcome the opportunity to show you how. Reach out to me at chuck@channelpromobile.com.
