Content management is primarily seen as a marketing tool, but it is also one of the most critical pieces of the sales enablement equation.
A robust content management system (CMS) will store content in one place for sales reps while giving them confidence that they’re using the most up-to-date materials. At the same time, it measures the effectiveness of content throughout the sales process.
Content management makes the right content easier to find
A content management system is crucial for organizing, distributing and maintaining content. Marketing teams have to make the difficult decision of how to turn company information, data, and stories into content that effectively articulates the full company value. They’ll convert this value into words and pictures (videos, PDFs, sell sheets, presentations, etc.). Eventually, there is so much content created that sellers don’t know where to find it.
Content management systems should be organized in a way that allows sellers to quickly find what they need, regardless of file type. Marketers and sellers think about the organization of content very differently. For example, marketers might categorize content based on file type, but sellers might think about content in terms of the buying journey.
A CMS solution that supports custom navigation is beneficial so sellers can find content in the way that makes sense to them, even if marketing thinks differently. Within this idea, the method to navigate content might differ by seller and situation. For example, two sales reps both selling the same product might want to find it differently; one based on industry and the other based on the buyer profile. A navigation theme should allow easy discovery for both of these situations, and this brings us to our next point:
Content management reduces sales bias
Salespeople tend to be strong at selling what they are familiar with, but as a company adds new solutions or acquires companies, the sellers may not be comfortable with these new offerings. Sellers tend to stay in a “comfort zone” of what they know or what they’ve always done. Some sellers can still be very successful and reach their quota, but the organization could make more money if all sellers could sell all solutions.
Leveraging a content management system with easy navigation allows sellers to quickly find the materials they need to speak to a specific product or offering, even if it is something they do not know a lot about. If a buyer asks about a product a salesperson is not familiar with, there is a much more significant impact delivered by pivoting and pulling up relevant content, as opposed to saying, “Let me send you follow up materials on that.” The momentum doesn’t halt, and the buyer is getting value out of the interaction, even if it’s not in the seller’s wheelhouse.
The flip side of having the latest content available is making sure that the old, unused, irrelevant content is purged. There is a tendency with marketers to keep content around longer than it is useful to the field. A content management solution should allow marketers to see what content is not being used and will enable the creation of a rule to auto-archive content that has not been used for a specified period. Auto-archiving old content will keep the library up-to-date and useful.
Content management measures engagement and provides flexibility
In every organization, there is a struggle between the content needs of sellers and the content generated by marketing. However, a salesperson is not going to be able to create compelling, targeted content for each buyer persona, opportunity or meeting. In an ideal world, marketing would fully understand what content created compelling sales stories.
For decades, sellers have been trained to sell with linear, static Powerpoint decks. Marketing creates the decks, sellers customize them (often to marketing’s dismay), and then they present in a linear fashion. Let’s get real; No one has ever been excited about a Powerpoint presentation.
There is a better way! Next generation sales content should be dynamic. Making modular content available enables sellers to hand-pick content that best suits the buyer’s journey. In this way, marketing can create richer sales stories that are nimble. Sellers could easily adapt the story beforehand, and then pivot on a dime in the meeting based on the buyer’s needs.
This is part one of our four-part series on sales enablement. Sign up for our Blog Newsletter to get the next part of the series straight to your inbox.
About Mediafly
Mediafly was founded on the principle that people hate being sold to because it rarely addresses their needs. By using our technology, the world’s top companies are able to shape sales presentations in real time, rather than boring their customers with generic pitch decks built the night before. Sales teams using Mediafly are more effective in each meeting because they engage their customers with insights that are relevant to them. We call this Evolved Selling™.
Evolved Selling™ takes sales enablement to the next level by incorporating methodologies and technology that enhances engagement with prospective buyers. Read more about our approach to Evolved Selling™.
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