Digital sales content management for sales goes beyond simply storing and organizing files. It's an approach that directly impacts the way your sellers interact with prospects and customers.
Sellers having unhindered access to the relevant materials translates to increased sales efficiency, allowing them to focus on building relationships and closing deals. HubSpot states that sales reps spend an average of 31% of their time looking for or creating content, time that could be better spent engaging with prospects.
In this blog, we'll look into what a robust digital sales content management system can solve for your sellers and what features to consider based on your specific needs. By implementing the right solution, you can empower your sales team with the tools they need to cut down on wasted time, close more deals, and drive significant revenue growth.
What you'll find in this blog:
What is Digital Content Management?
Digital sales content management is the centralized organization, storage, and distribution of all your sales-related materials – presentations, brochures, proposals, service configurators, and more.
According to G2, over 70% of buyers prefer remote interactions over in-person meetings. This shift, combined with the growing prevalence of virtual and global sales teams, demands a new approach to sales enablement.
Role of Digital Content Management in Sales
Modern sales require a collaborative approach, connecting your customers, employees, partners, and products. A robust digital sales content management system provides this vital link.
Let’s look into the impact of this robust tool in sales:
Provides Ease of Access to Sales Materials
A digital sales content management system provides a centralized location with anytime, anywhere availability. Sellers can access all sales materials, from presentations and brochures to service configurators and competitor battle cards, on demand.
This ensures your team is prepared for any situation and even in a location with spotty internet thanks to offline access features. Your sellers can confidently present the information the client needs to make an informed decision.
Eliminate Bottlenecks When Looking for Content
G2 reports that sales reps waste an average of 440 hours annually searching for content. That is plenty of hours wasted hunting for outdated sales materials buried in email chains or shared drives.
A robust digital sales content management tool provides a centralized, searchable repository where everything is organized and easily accessible. With advanced search functionalities and clear categorization, finding the right content becomes easier and faster.
This eliminates a broken content management process and translates to increased productivity for your team, allowing them to focus on what matters most – closing deals.
Equipping Global Dealer Networks
In some organizations, sales teams are often geographically dispersed. This can lead to inconsistencies in messaging and branding during customer interactions.
Digital content management ensures a unified brand voice across all sales touchpoints. By providing access to a single source of truth for sales materials, you can guarantee that everyone is using the most up-to-date and approved content.
This fosters a seamless buying experience for customers, regardless of who they interact with or where they are located.
Better Prepared and Empowered Salespeople
Knowledge is power, especially in sales. A digital content management platform equips your team with the resources they need to be confident and persuasive during customer interactions.
They can access product information, competitor comparisons, customer testimonials, and best practices – all readily available at their fingertips.
Your sellers' preparedness impacts their effectiveness. With data, sellers can engage prospects with greater confidence, engage at the right moment, and answer questions thoroughly.
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💡 Partner sales can be quite complex and we understand that choosing the right partner enablement tool can seem like a daunting task. But that’s where this guide comes in. Here's your Guide to Finding the Right Partner Enablement Solution. |
Challenges Faced Without Digital Content Management for Sales
Effective digital content management is crucial for a simplified and effective sales process. Several challenges commonly occur with the absence of one, leading to frustrated sellers and missed opportunities for your business.
Here's a closer look at these issues and how to address them:
Scattered Sales Materials
Scattered sales materials can cripple your sales efforts. It might be the case that your team is struggling to find the latest product brochures or flyers, wasting time searching and sending outdated information. Inconsistent messaging confuses prospects, hindering trust and sales.
A digital content repository acts as a central hub for all your sales content, ensuring everyone has access to the most up-to-date and relevant materials. This eliminates confusion, streamlines workflows, and empowers your team to focus on closing deals.
Inconsistent and Outdated Content
Keeping your sales materials up-to-date is crucial and a best practice. This is typically done by tracking buyer engagement and adjusting content accordingly. But managing updates can be a headache without the right tools.
Manually updating content across multiple platforms is time-consuming. Inevitably, outdated information creeps in, and version control becomes a nightmare. With a sales content management tool, updates happen in real-time, across all devices.
Not only does this simplify the process for your marketing team, your reps and dealers always have the latest content, saving you time and ensuring consistent messaging.
Difficulty Finding and Accessing Sales Materials
Without a proper digital content management solution for your sales team, they waste valuable time searching for materials before meetings. This delays their prep and potentially undermines their effectiveness. Inaccessible content means reps might go into meetings unprepared, scrambling for the resources they need.
This leads to a broken content process called content chaos – a situation where sellers create their own materials, resulting in inconsistent messaging that weakens your brand and creates compliance risks. They might even download outdated content, further hindering their presentations.
Confused prospects experience a disjointed buying journey, ultimately impacting your sales bottom line.
A sales content management system simplifies access. Imagine it as a central hub where reps can easily find relevant materials, empowering them to be efficient and effective in their roles.
System and Tool Integration Challenges
Don't worry, a content management solution isn't here to replace your existing tech stack. It's designed to meld with your current tools, creating a smooth and unified system.
Think of it this way: a content library lets your team focus on what matters most – closing deals. You leverage technology for the heavy lifting, automating tasks and streamlining workflows.
Without an content management system, integrating with common sales tools can be a headache. This can hinder your team's ability to scale and work efficiently as your pipeline grows. Remember, as your business expands, your tools should adapt with you. You want automation and streamlined workflows to free up your team for high-impact activities.
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💡 Various technologies can assist your sales team in accessing the necessary information for their work, such as sales enablement tools, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, sales training platforms, and cloud file storage systems. But the question is, What is the Best Way to Provide Content to Your Sales Team? |
What To Look For: 8 Features of a Digital Content Management Tool
Here are some of the most common and powerful features that will benefit you and your team:
1. Centralized Content Hub
Say goodbye to digging through emails and cloud storage! Look for a digital content management solution that provides a centralized content repository, allowing you to store all your sales materials in one easily accessible location.
Videos, 3D designs, PDFs, images, and more – a tool where everything you need can be organized and readily available for your sellers.
2. Flexible Organization
Don't force your needs to fit the tool – let the tool adapt to you. Opt for a tool where you can easily organize files and folders based on your preferences, whether it's by region, product, buyer persona, or stage in the sales journey.
Every piece of content should have a clear purpose and place, eliminating ambiguity and ensuring your sellers are using only the most effective materials.
3. Granular Access Control
Don’t be mistaken! A content library isn't just about organization – it's about controlling who sees what. The platform should allow you to create user groups and assign specific access permissions. This is especially important if your organization operates with a dealer network.
This eliminates the need for multiple content repositories for different teams. All content lives in one place, with roles determining who can access what.
4. Seamless Version Control and Device Sync
No more individual edits or sending out updated materials every time something changes. Look for a content repository tool with a feature that automatically updates your content across all user devices.
You can even send push notifications to inform users of any changes, ensuring your team is always using the latest and most accurate sales materials.
5. Intelligent Search: Find What You Need in Seconds
Time is of the essence in sales. A digital content management solution should empower your team with an intelligent search function.
Sellers can quickly pull up the files they need by typing in a file name, type (e.g., presentation, case study), or keyword tags associated with the content. This eliminates wasted time searching through folders and ensures sellers are prepared for every interaction.
6. Offline Access
Never let a spotty internet connection derail a sales opportunity. Consider a tool that allows your sellers to access essential sales materials even when offline.
With offline access features, your sellers can confidently walk into any meeting, knowing they have everything they need to engage prospects and close deals, regardless of internet connectivity.
7. Content Customization
Look for a tool that allows sellers to mix and match content on the fly, incorporating different file types like videos, presentations, and case studies to capture prospect attention and tailor the message for maximum impact.
This empowers sellers to create a dynamic and personalized experience for each buyer.
8. Digital Sales Rooms: Personalized Engagement
Last but not the least, consider a platform that can take personalization a step further with Digital Sales Rooms. This feature allows sellers to create secure, interactive online spaces for each prospect.
Within these rooms, sellers can add, remove, and modify content based on the specific buying stage and needs of the prospect. This fosters deeper engagement, streamlines communication, and positions your team as a trusted advisor throughout the buying journey.
Showell: Sales Enablement as a Sales Content Management Platform
Sales enablement is the process of providing your sales team with information, content, and tools to help them sell effectively. And tools like sales enablement enables your salespeople to be more efficient when it comes to finding and sharing materials with prospects.
Showell embodies this philosophy by providing a robust digital content management solution with a suite of features designed to achieve exactly that.
Say Goodbye to Content Chaos
Eliminate the frustration of scattered sales materials. Showell acts as a central hub, allowing you to centralize, organize, synchronize, and authorize all your sales collateral in one easily accessible location. No more wasted time searching through emails or cloud storage – your team has everything they need at their fingertips.
Personalize the Buyer Journey
The best content management solutions go beyond storage. Showell empowers your sellers to tailor content for maximum impact. Mix and match different file types – videos, presentations, case studies, and more – to create dynamic presentations that capture prospect attention and resonate with their specific needs.
Digital Sales Rooms for Deeper Engagement
Take personalization to the next level with Showell's Digital Sales Rooms. These secure, interactive online spaces allow sellers to create a dedicated environment for each prospect. Sellers can add, remove, and modify content based on the buyer's stage in the journey, fostering deeper engagement and positioning your team as trusted advisors throughout the sales cycle.
Seamless Workflow for Sellers and Buyers
Showell goes beyond content management. It streamlines communication by allowing sellers to easily share and track sales materials with prospects. Additionally, Showell integrates with various sales tools, creating a unified and efficient sales ecosystem. This translates to a smoother experience for both your sellers and your buyers.
By implementing Showell, you're not just investing in a content management tool; you're investing in a robust sales enablement solution designed to empower your team, personalize the buyer journey, and ultimately close more deals.
Summary
Managing your sales content effectively can have a huge impact on your sales process. It can improve your sales efficiency, customer engagement, brand consistency, and overall sales performance.
Your teams should have easy access to the right information, wherever they are.
Collaboration is key in modern sales, and having a system that connects your customers, employees, partners, and products can give you a complete picture of the buyer's journey. Digital content management is a vital piece of that puzzle.
If you're looking for a robust content management solution with a comprehensive suite of features, get Showell Free or book a demo with us to see Showell in action.
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