The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

What does your sales content library look like? Back in the old days of selling (the 1990’s), the sales library was a janitor closet with a few shelves to store corporate brochures, product sheets, and other printed sales material. Prior to going into the field for their appointments, the sales team would stock up on materials to hand out to prospects. Back then it was a long and cumbersome process to produce new material. It was also expensive to print, so refreshing and replenishing supplies was rare. Consequently, the content was written and produced in a way to be applicable to a large diverse audience and last a long time. Or in other words, the content was relevant to few, meaningless to many, and rarely had any impact on actually advancing the sale.

By the year 2020, it’s estimated that there will be over 6 million inside and outside sales professionals in the U.S. alone. They represent an incredibly valuable resource for companies across a variety of industries, and it’s clear that sales leaders nationwide are continually searching for new ways to get the most out of their sales teams.

It makes sense then that the sales acceleration technology market recently reached approximately $13 billion in North America, as companies dedicate themselves to finding better ways for their salespeople to connect with customers and improve productivity. Almost every sales manager will be faced with the prospect of searching for acceleration software, and there are several steps that must be completed before, during, and after any such search.

Supporting a sales team with the proper tools is equally important in every industry. For example, as a sales manager, your job isn’t dissimilar to that of a homebuilder. Only in this case, you’re supplying tools to strengthen the performance of your sales reps, rather than nail guns and paint. And in the end, you’re responsible for setting them up for continued success.

There’s no question about it: Outstanding sales performance begins with outstanding salespeople.

So, how can you help give your salespeople the tools for success?

For many of you, the thought of relying on technology to grow your customer base may seem awkward and  uncomfortable. I get it! But I also want to remind you… not that many years ago, using a mobile phone and email for business communications seemed awkward and uncomfortable too. Imagine if you didn't jump on that bandwagon!

Often the things that make us uncomfortable are also the things that grow us.

It's a fact. Using technology to assist in acquiring new customers is effective. But even more importantly, if you are going to survive, it’s essential! 

LeadG2 has been working with sales and marketing teams for the last five years to help them overcome important business needs. We've learned about the challenges of over 100 companies in the process.

We recently analyzed our data on these companies and learned that certain challenges rise above the rest as consistent and pervasive. Here's what we learned about these top five challenges that companies say they're facing in today's business environment. 

Today we have a guest post from Rachel Davidson. Rachel is a content specialist for Highspot, the sales enablement industry’s leading platform for content management, customer engagement, and analytics.

As sales teams grow, it can be challenging to make sure each team member has quick access to resources needed to do the job: case studies, email templates, product sell sheets, whitepapers, etc.

When huge amounts of content are fragmented and spread throughout multiple systems and platforms, reps can spend more time searching than selling. This is where sales enablement technology comes into play. By using a smart sales enablement tools that allow reps to access content and automate tasks, sales teams put themselves in better position to save time and engage customers more effectively.

At its heart, sales enablement creates more opportunities for reps to do what they do best: sell. Today we’re going to share ideas on improving the bottom line of your business by achieving faster conversions and higher sales via sales enablement.

We recently spoke with Karen McCandless, market researcher at GetApp (a sales management software review company) about her latest study, which sampled 250 sales professionals and 200 consumers. The study sought to uncover today's key challenges for salespeople as well as what successful salespeople are doing to overcome those problems.