Jul 10, 2020
Most of us are working from home right now, which unfortunately means we can’t turn to our coworker next to us to ask a quick question. But working remotely doesn’t mean sharing best practices has to stop altogether. In fact, it shouldn’t. Continuing to share knowledge across remote customer-facing teams is key to making sure everyone is using the same playbook to effectively engage with customers, partners and internal teams, no matter where they are.
Leaders in sales enablement and marketing have a big role to play here, aligning all remote team members on messaging, sales processes and requirements. To develop and deliver personalized, adaptive and contextual content, sales enablement and marketing teams should work closely with reps to identify the following:
- Cohorts in accounts they call on. Understanding cohorts or personas in accounts is a critical early step, as it informs the messaging and content that needs to be developed to address the concerns and needs of each stakeholder involved in a purchase. For example, a CEO’s concerns will be different than that of an HR manager. Messaging should be tailored to each one to address those unique concerns. Once determined, reps should be aligned on how to approach each cohort.
- Sales processes they go through. As reps move through the sales cycle, it’s not uncommon to miss steps in the process. Aligning on sales processes helps identify potential gaps, which in turn can trigger the development of tools such as value-messaging workshops.
- Field requirements for collateral. Field reps need different content and collateral at each stage of the sales cycle. Sales enablement and marketing can help these reps stay remote and ready by aligning on what they need at what stage, and where. For example, should FAQs and objection handling guides be pushed out as spreadsheets or in a weekly digest or daily notification? If an organization is rolling out a competitive program, field reps may do best with a combination of instructor-led workshops that offer call-an-expert sessions.
- Common buyer objections. Overcoming objections is often the most difficult skill for a rep to master. Reps typically learn them at the beginning of their tenure at an organization, but it’s not a “one and done” skill; that is, becoming adept at handling buyer objections comes only with time. As marketing and sales enablement uncover the common buyer objections field reps face, they can use this information to guide the development of relevant tools, such as objection-handling training, that can accelerate the mastery of this skill.
Working remotely is no excuse to pull back on knowledge-sharing, as customers and prospects are savvier and have higher expectations than ever before. In order to be remote and ready, customer-facing reps must continue to hone their sales skills and stay updated on all aspects of their customers’ business and market. Sales enablement and marketing can empower customer-facing reps to do so by sharing content and collateral that aligns the entire team on messaging and processes. And, when delivered through a Sales Readiness platform, this task is simplified, personalized and more engaging for the learner.
