We live in an age of instant communication, but there's still room for improvement. Now more than ever, the ability to align goals, messaging and information across teams in an effective manner is vital, especially if you're dealing with a hybrid workforce, digital teams or large dealer networks. While you can undoubtedly ping a message to your teams quickly, a little more finesse is required for sales content. Without a content hub and sales enablement tool, your marketing materials could just be sitting there or missing the mark time after time.
The Challenge with Hybrid Teams and Dealer Networks
Companies have been using this justification for years to deter people from working remotely: collaborating with your colleagues online will be challenging. It's true. If you don't have the right ecosystem to make it all click, communicating solely online can lead to misalignment on topics and means messaging can become like a game of telephone.
It's harder to create a repertoire with dealer networks and remote sales teams. If you're unlikely to meet them face to face, it's all the more critical that your digital touchpoints make the right impression.
After all, they're the ones that need to sell you; they'll do a better job of that if they think highly of you.
There are inevitable gaps in communication when it comes to fragmented teams; you can't continually notify everyone when you've moved a file or updated an image in a document without becoming a nuisance. Ultimately, there will be disorganization that will need to be addressed. The most glaring issue is being able to keep brand consistency. This is crucial because if your salespeople lack or cannot locate the relevant content they need, they will create their own, and it won't adhere to your brand's tone or style. Inconsistency like this can send the wrong message.
10 Unnecessary Inefficiencies Which Sales Enablement Software Solves
1. Unnecessary chaos with little brand control
If your internal teams can’t create, share and manage content in an orderly manner, how can your dealer network be expected to use these tools efficiently? They can't. Without a sales enablement tool, disorder breeds quickly.
2. A matter of chance
Creating marketing materials is a gamble without any analytics. Without data, you're creating marketing materials that you think might work, with no overview of what helps to convert prospects into customers, what bottlenecks are occurring and where people drop out of your sales funnel.
Learn more about the data, analytics, and insights:
3. Unnecessary admin tasks
Without a sales enablement tool, the role falls on someone to spend excessive time coordinating with dealer networks and hybrid teams on messaging, collaterals, and where to find them. That's essentially time spent looking for the correct file and sending attachments to the relevant parties over and over. It's an administrative- problem-solving task that takes way too much time and can be spent better elsewhere.4. Scattered content
Housing content across multiple platforms is a recipe for disaster. Particularly if you're catering to different dealer networks that require varied formats and marketing tools. This is a surefire way to get wires crossed and lose track of where content is supposed to be.
5. Poor accessibility
Easy access to content is not prioritized nearly enough! When content is not instantly accessible, salespeople start riffing to buy time, leading to them over or underselling your products. When you're pushing products, you're not only trying to win over the end customer; you've got to cater to your dealer network, so they choose to push your products as well. It's a game of pick me, and you want to be first.
6. Little visibility on dealers
Not knowing which dealer is pushing your products most and what materials they've had the greatest success with is a pretty big blind spot. Information like this can shape your next move and help you target which salespeople might need more training.
7. No insights on customers
Without a sales enablement tool, you only see a partial picture of your customer's engagement. You lack data that helps you improve your marketing materials, and you have no visibility on if they even set eyes on the presentation you’ve shared.
8. Unsynchronized presentation tools
Using outdated or poorly formatted presentations significantly impacts the customer experience and your brand's credibility. It doesn't matter who's doing the talking, if at the 11th hour, your dealer's PowerPoint presentation goes haywire; it reflects poorly on your brand.
9. Short-sighted business overview
Sure, it's essential to plan for the immediate future, but without a sales enablement platform, that's really all you can plan for. With a lack of data, organization and cohesive messaging, you're driving a car with 4 wheels that move independently rather than in unison. You're preventing yourself from making great strides forward.
10. Working harder, not smarter
Without a platform that connects your sales cycle, marketing and content together, you're working harder on things that should be effortless. Meaning you're spending less time actually selling. Every minor inconvenience, oversight and inconsistency adds up and hinders the way you sell.
Now let's look on the bright side. When you've got a sales enablement tool that empowers a more savvy way of working, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Your most essential departments become like a chorus, with content, marketing, and sales harmonizing to make each other better! Your operations become all the more cohesive and targeted. Best of all, every pain point above vanishes instantly. Want to know how? Dive into ‘Everything You Gain When Using A Sales Enablement Tool →
Are you considering between sales enablement platforms?
Read more about how Showell is an alternative to Showpad, Seismic, Highspot, or Mediafly.