How To Create A Sales Enablement Program in 2021 (Plus 9 Sales Content Examples)

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By

Mohammed Shehu

But what is sales enablement content, and why do you need it?

Sales enablement content is any helpful or valuable content relevant to a new sales rep, their sales manager, or a senior sales leader. You use such collateral to educate your sales department on the buying process, the market, the product, or the customer profile.

Sales enablement content differs from marketing content in that the latter focuses on building awareness in a potential customer, while sales enablement content is about influencing consideration and driving conversions.

You can give your sales reps collateral at different points, such as:

• Before they make contact with a potential customer (e.g., a list of client names);
• During their first contact with a lead (e.g., a cheat sheet presenting key metrics);
• In the middle of the sales pipeline (e.g., a demo video); or
• After reaching someone important (e.g., a data-packed infographic).

Sales enablement content is about influencing consideration and driving conversions.

Content marketers typically handle the sales content creation process, but more and more companies are creating dedicated sales enablement teams to handle that process. As a sales manager or executive, assess your team or company’s content creation capacity and decide whether to craft your content in-house or outsource it.

Types of sales collateral for your content strategy

Sales teams use different types of sales collateral, but there are a few that have become more popular over time. In no particular order, these are:

1. One-pagers
2. Sales decks
3. Sales playbooks
4. Sales talk tracks
5. Email templates
6. Sales battle cards
7. Persona documents
8. Competitor comparisons
9. Datasheets and product documents

One-pagers

The one-pager (or one-page sheet) is a sales tool that summarizes your marketing message into an easily digestible, visually exciting, and interactive format.

While other sales content such as white papers, e-books, or case studies may offer more detailed and descriptive information about a product, service, or industry, a one-pager is designed for quick consumption.

Beyond a succinctly-written executive summary, a one-pager includes the following sections:

• Statistics: Numbers convey credibility and help your customer make a more informed decision.
• Benefits: Customers buy benefits and outcomes, not features. A compelling one-pager outlines the clear benefits to your customer of buying your product - and the adverse outcome of not buying it.
• Features: Once a potential customer is sold on the “why,” you can then describe “how” your product works and what they can expect. Highlight any features that are better than the competition.
• Support: Customers want to know they can still reach you after the sale. This section describes the kind of after-sales support they can expect from you and the period during which they can get it.

Sales decks

Sales decks help you show people what your products look like, how they work, and why you’re the right company for them to buy from.

Sales reps typically use decks as a closing tool, but they can also use them to sway potential customers who aren’t ready to buy now but might do so later. Sales decks can also educate other stakeholders within the target company who may not be directly engaged with your sales team.

Here are 5 tips to help you craft better sales decks:

1. Make each sales deck relevant to the buyer persona: Your product overview should directly relate to your customer’s needs and not just be a generic set of slides.
2. Get to the point: Skip the long, winding intro and get to the point. Customers want to know how your product will solve their problems, not listen to the history of your company.
3. Keep a consistent look: A sales presentation is an opportunity to solidify your company’s branding in the customer’s mind. Use a consistent set of fonts, colors, and graphics throughout each slide.
4. Heavy on visuals, light on text: You want customers listening to your sales reps, not reading slides during the presentation. Include more graphics and limit the text on each slide.
5. Stick to the 10-minute rule: Human brains tune out after about 10 minutes of the same activity. Keep your sales presentations to 10 minutes or less — or switch every 10 minutes.

Sales playbooks

Sales playbooks map out exactly what your sales reps should say and do during each step of the sales funnel. Think of them as a collection of critical sales steps in your sales cycle. They serve as an excellent resource to ensure that your team consistently sells with precision.

Sales playbooks include things like:

• Outreach templates: Step-by-step guides on how to reach out to prospects.
• Sales process diagrams: Things your reps need to know about the entire sales process.
• Qualification checklists: Instructions on how to select prospects with high buying intent.
• Sales scripts: The exact words to say at each stage of the sales process.

Sales talk tracks

A sales talk track gives your team a blueprint of how a sales conversation should progress. Each rep can use them when talking to a potential customer to ask the right questions, evaluate answers, and identify pain points.

Here are 3 tips to improve your sales scripts:

1. Personalize the call: Refer to each potential customer by name.
2. Ask open-ended questions: Leave room for the customer to explain the problem in their own words.
3. Handle objections: For example, if the client says they’re not ready to buy just yet, the salesperson should know which resources to direct them to while they make their decision.

Email templates

Emails offer the chance to reach customers at different points in their journey - whether they are trying to make decisions or simply want to learn more. A well-designed email template can amplify brand awareness and drive purchase consideration.

You can create a set of email templates for your sales reps to send to each customer depending on their buying stage, such as:

• Welcome
• Product info
• Discount offer
• Sales reminder
• Webinar invitation
• Payment follow-up

Sales battle cards

Sales battle cards are printed cards packed with strategies to help sales reps prepare for pitches or demos and share relevant competitive intel. Battle cards are another way to visually anchor sales reps and keep them focused on the things that matter.

Buyer persona documents

A buyer persona document provides information on a potential customer’s preferences, needs, and desires. Sales staff can use persona documents to understand their clients more deeply and tailor their pitches to them.

Competitive battles cards

You can increase your sales reps’ effectiveness by giving them competitor information they can refer to when speaking to a customer. The goal, naturally, is to show how much better your product is by comparison.

Datasheets and product documents

Product sheets are a useful tool in a B2B sales rep’s toolbox. They provide information in an easily digestible, visually oriented format that allows prospects to review your products’ most important features quickly.

How to build a sales enablement program

A robust sales enablement program empowers your team with all the tools they need to succeed. However, it has to be built on your company’s strategic objectives for it to be effective.

Here’s how you can start building a sales enablement program in just 4 steps:

1. Analyze your business needs
2. Source input from different departments
3. Create high-impact content
4. Track usage, measure impact and iterate

Analyze your business needs

To kickstart your sales enablement content strategy, analyze your business needs to determine where the gaps are and how sales enablement material would fill them.

Source input from different departments

Different departments in your company can tell you the problems they’re facing and the type of content they need to solve those problems.

Create high-impact content

After you’ve analyzed and prioritized your company’s sales content needs, it’s time to create the content. For this phase, you might need:

• Copywriters for email copy and sales scripts
• Designers for presentations and product sheets
• Voice and speech coaches for sales call training
• Animators and video editors for sales videos, etc.

Track usage, measure business impact and iterate

After creating sales enablement material, it’s essential to track its usage and impact and use that information to make it better. To track usage, you can ask each sales rep questions such as:

Once you’ve identified the winning content and approach, double down on it and decide whether to improve the duds or cull them from your sales enablement strategy.

Get Started

An effective sales enablement strategy arms sales teams with the content they need to succeed. Implementing a sales enablement process can increase revenue, drive more efficient prospecting, integrate the sales and marketing department better, and support a continuous learning culture.