Last week, Mediafly announced our acquisition of value-selling tools leader Alinean Inc. This acquisition combines the power of Mediafly’s best-in-class sales enablement platform with Alinean’s interactive selling tools and advisory services to create a new Evolved Selling™ experience.
Earlier this year, I authored a blog post titled What is Sales Enablement?. That blog remains the most popular blog on Mediafly.com. This makes sense if you consider that sales enablement is a relatively new concept and one that more companies than ever are trying to identify if they need (spoiler alert: they do). But if you read that post or any of the information surrounding our recent acquisition of value-selling tools leader Alinean Inc., you’ll quickly realize that Mediafly’s version of sales enablement differs a bit from most others in the industry.
Why? We recognize that buyers have changed. In a digital-first world, they’re doing more research on their own and engaging with sales reps later in the buying cycle than ever before. In fact, up to 70% of the information B2B buyers see on your product is self-discovered online, not given to them by sales reps. So why, according to Forrester Consulting, are 80% of sellers still pitching products and services when buyers are looking for more? Today’s buyers care most about their unique challenges and the business value outcome of proposed solutions. Can your sellers effectively communicate the business value your product or service provides in the context of your buyer’s business?
Focused on our mission to create a world where buyers enjoy being sold to and actually look forward to the next sales interaction because of the value it brings, our approach to sales enablement is less about providing a sales solution for training and onboarding and more about impacting the live engagement between buyers and sellers. Specifically, our goal is to help companies transform the seller-buyer dynamic by shifting boring, static sales presentations to interactive, value-based sales experiences. Sure, we have standard sales asset management (SAM) or digital content management for sales (DCMS) capabilities, and those features lend themselves to increased organizational efficiency and sales effectiveness. But at Mediafly, our ultimate goal is to exceed the expectations you have for your sales enablement technology and take your organization to a state of Evolved Selling™ where you can drive competitive differentiation and revenue. Combining the power of Mediafly’s best in class sales enablement platform with Alinean’s best of breed interactive tools and services will help us do that.
A new Evolved Selling experience
Companies that adopt an Evolved Selling approach can expect to accelerate deal closure by up to 43% percent and drive company growth by as much as 60%. Evolved Sellers experience a 70% lift in buyers purchasing more than the original scope of the project because of the value and insights added throughout their sales interactions. They also drive repeat business, with buyers 82% more likely to consider them for future opportunities.[1] How?
Evolved Selling incorporates sales engagement methodologies and technology to enhance how brands engage with prospective buyers, empowering sales reps to make sales interactions much more impactful and successful every time. The four pillars of Evolved Selling are:
- Inspiring – Do you have the right content? Is it relevant and engaging? Does it support the types of stories you want your reps to tell? Effective sales content will help your sellers to differentiate themselves through conversation, and more importantly, inspire your buyers to change.
- Influential – Are your sellers using the right content at the right time? Is your content easily accessible to sales reps preparing for presentations and at the moment of impact during a live sales interaction? Is it Dynamic? Modularized? For content to drive results, your reps need the flexibility to tell the story of the value your product or service brings in the context of the buyer’s business, industry, or challenge – when the buyer needs it.
- Interactive – Are sales meetings collaborative and conversational? Or are your sellers talking at their prospective buyers with linear and boring PowerPoint decks? Can they capture real-time input from buyers to help guide more productive sales discussions? Can they visualize data in a way that is convincing and easy to understand? By merging Alinean’s capabilities into Mediafly, we can use our new advisory services to first teach companies how to articulate their value story in a dynamic and interactive way. And then quickly deploy best-in-class interactive selling tools, including ROI and TCO calculators, to help them execute these new value-driven selling stories in a way that resonates with buyers. According to a Forrester Consulting study, commissioned by Mediafly, sellers who use interactive sales tools to convey the value their product or service will bring to a buyer have an easier time engaging higher level stakeholders in sales conversations, getting subsequent sales meetings, and accelerating deal closure.
- Intelligent – Is your solution properly integrated with the other key components of your sales tech stack for a holistic view of your buyer? Does it incorporate new and emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)? Can you effectively track and measure the impact your content has on revenue? Understanding how your content is being used, knowing what content works and what doesn’t, and utilizing those insights to optimize future content efforts ensures your marketing and sales teams have what they need to move deals forward.
As you embark on or continue your search for the right sales enablement solution for your organization, consider whether you need a solution to keep reps organized and educated or a solution that will revolutionize the way your reps approach buyer-seller engagement for more deals won. Select the technology that will drive the greatest sales outcomes for your organization.
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