Time to Dump Positive Thinking for Machine Thinking?

It seems almost everyone loves a good read about positive thinking and a “how-to” on harnessing the power within us to achieve success. Americans continue to snap up self-improvement books and other items that promise we can be smarter, faster, happier and more successful.

It is no surprise that self-improvement is a multi billion industry.  In a recent survey, 94% of respondents said money spent on this pursuit was a worthwhile investment.  It isn’t limited to books and tapes either.  The top five purchases for self-improvement were athletic gear, multivitamins, diet foods, gym memberships and smartphone/ tablet apps.

Businesses are no different from individuals as they are constantly looking for the inspiring idea or hot new item to step up their game – especially the gadgets that fall into the tech/ app category to power up our sales numbers.

That’s where the best sales enablement platforms come in to play.  The technology is ideal for helping your sales people connect with prospects by recommending what to say and when. It is very similar to knowing the habits of highly effective people and emulating them in real time.

The latest versions of sales enablement technology promote working smarter rather than harder by suggesting which specific piece of content to present with the most likelihood of success. Knowing the best practices on when and what content to present is invaluable.  The longer the machine learning tools are in play, the more accurate the predictions. Gain better insights with machine learning and the sales team will be better at understanding the overall competitive landscape and how to stand out from the crowd.

veelo sales enablement

We know that tech tools can handle routine tasks and process orders quickly and accurately so that people can focus on building relationships and being problem solvers. This obviously saves money, allows more for more efficiency for both the supplier and the customer, and frees up time for building loyal relationships.  Now that sales reps have the time for the conversation, sales enablement can help with the right thing to say.

Even better, sales enablement technology also ensures that sales reps have the latest information without drowning in information overload.  Whether it’s a positioning of a brand new product or keeping up to speed on the latest market dynamics, with sales enablement technology acting as an assistant, sales reps have what they need at their fingertips.  Even marketing benefits.  With tracking of usage, marketers can see what marketing content is used, when it is used and ultimately, what content helps close sales.  Marketers no longer need to guess about their content ROI.

Everyone is looking for the secret to self-improvement, and in this case, how to boost sales. With technology, harness the power of knowledge, take advantage of sales tools, and seamlessly replicate the effective patterns that make more sales.

 

Learn more about how to optimize sales enablement for sales people, in this free on-demand webinar.

optimzing sales enablement

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Veelo Adds San Francisco Office to Better Serve Bay Area Clients

Feb. 15, 2016 – Portland, Ore. – Veelo, announced that the company is adding an office location in San Francisco, California.  CEO Chanin Ballance says, “We are excited to announce this additional office space located at 555 Clay Street in San Francisco.  It reflects our growth and improves our ability to serve the many tech clients we have in Northern California.“

veelo san francisco office

Veelo focuses on delivering the best in class sales enablement platform, leading to increased performance by sales teams and customer facing employees.  The Veelo platform is easy to use and integrates with the most common B2B systems and tools used by companies today. It helps salespeople quickly find sales and marketing content using a proprietary machine-learning algorithm, and it delivers short bursts of coaching and knowledge just in time, making sellers more effective.

Ballance notes, “Improving sales performance is a high priority for many organizations and the industry that support these initiatives is a high growth area.  Veelo has experienced 100% year over year growth and continues to expand within technology, service and manufacturing verticals.”

Notable customers include Google, Rubrik, Coudability, TE Connectivity and more.

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6 Types of Content to Help Sales Win More

We’ve all heard the phrase “content is king,” and while that may be true, that’s really only the case if your content is created with purpose.

It’s easy for marketers to get caught in an execution wheel where they’re pumping out content in droves but quickly lose sight of what the purpose is of each piece of content. And then of course there’s the equally important part of getting that content in the hands of the sales reps. And if you’re in charge of sales enablement, you can oftentimes be stuck in the middle

This 2-part blog will provide an overview of what types of content is most valuable for sales reps (part 1), and how you can more effectively get that content to the reps when it matters (part 2).

Let’s go ahead and jump right in to the 6 types of content that will help sales win more deals.

Talking Points or Sales Scripts

In an ideal world, you’d never want a salesperson to read a script line-by-line because, well, that just doesn’t usually sound very authentic. You do however want them to stay on message. Developing talking points is a great way to provide sales with brief bullets of information they need to really focus on the value proposition and benefits that your product or service provides.

Depending on the experience level of your reps, however, you may want to also include a basic script that can be used during sales training and for junior reps. This can help increase their comfort levels on the phone and eventually get off script (but still on message).

Data Sheets

Data sheets are an important piece of content that all sales reps should have handy. These are valuable resources for prospects during their buying journey as they determine which solution meets all of their criteria. Having data sheets that are well-designed, easy to read and call out all of the key features and pricing can help speed up the sales process and help the prospect make the best decision which in turn helps you build trust.

Typically, data sheets include information like:

  • Who the product is for
  • What does it do
  • Pricing information
  • Use cases
  • Features

Battle Cards

Battle cards are another vital asset for sales to have on deck. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “battle cards,” they are short one-pagers that are focused on differentiating your product or service from each of your competitors. These help your reps go into conversations with confidence, especially when they know that their prospect is evaluating other solutions as well, including your competitors.

Good battle cards are concise and often include differentiators that are important to different members of the buying family. Keep it in an easy-to-read format so they can quickly skim the cards to find what they need fast.

Pitch Decks

Pitch decks can come in a few sizes and forms. In general, the pitch decks are usually owned by product marketing and developed in conjunction with sales leaders. These slides are used by reps during their first few calls with prospects and typically set the stage for the conversation by focusing on the challenges that face the prospect as well as the the solutions.

Pitch decks are not one-size-fits-all since different prospects have different pain points and needs, but some simple PowerPoint formatting allows you to break them out into different sections that make it easier to reps to narrow in on the key sections that are most relevant.

Case Studies

Case studies are one of the more common things you hear about, and for good reason. Case studies can really help give your business the credibility it needs for a sales rep to close that deal. The best case studies showcase how other companies, with similar characteristics to that of the prospect you’re working, have used your product or service to solve their challenges. When developing case studies, try to incorporate different types of companies from different industries or verticals so that you have at least one that is relevant to each of your target markets.

Playbooks5 ways you are sabotaging your sales playbooks

Sales playbooks are valuable content assets for sales teams and are often created for specific verticals or industries. Playbooks include things like buying family information, pain points, and even email templates. Companies often create individual playbooks for each industry or buying group they target which helps ensure sales is armed with the most relevant information at any given time during a sale.

Check out our eBook that highlights 5 common ways that companies sabotage their sales playbooks. Download here

 

Stay tuned for part 2 to learn more effective ways to deliver the most up-to-date content to sales reps. 

 

Watch our 30-minute webinar, now on demand, to learn how you can leverage brain science principles to help your reps better retain (and retrieve) information, ultimately improving their efficiency & performance.

science of sales enablement

 

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