A beginner's guide to digital sales enablement
Published by
Ethosh
on Oct 13, 2021.
With the switch and adoption to digital sales enablement for the team, be sure to stand out in the competition. It's reeking of benefits of which cost-effective, timesaving, high ROI are just to name a few.
3. Pitching to prospects -
Some two decades ago, customers depended on magazines, yellow pages, newspapers, radio, teleshopping channels, cold calling, and email to get the necessary information about the various products and services. Honestly, these traditional modes of communication have not been the most successful resources. And a report by Investopedia(1) clearly states that cold calling only produces a success rate of 2% for most skilled professionals.
As the corporate world has become highly competitive, organizations must equip their sales and marketing teams with the latest tools and information. It will not only help to reach a larger target audience but also generate huge revenues.
Through this blog, we will learn what digital sales enablement is and how the advent of this concept has introduced the corporate world to new possibilities. Apart from this, we shall also look into different digital aids available for sales enablement across organizations. Overview of the blog,
Digital sales enablement
In the simplest terms, Digital sales enablement provides your marketing and sales force teams with advanced technology to be more efficient and effective. The ultimate objective of digital sales enablement is to give your representatives suitable sources of information while saving valuable time.
The entire perspective of digital sales enablement revolves around 3 essential prospects -
a. Creation of objectives and strategies which suit the technology
b. Using technology as a resource to identify problems and collect necessary information which helps in the engagement
c. Creation of content to provide your sales representatives to engage with the customers successfully
Using digital aids to enhance sales enablement
We know for a fact that the sales enablement gives a necessary boost to the sales and marketing team. Through this segment, we will further focus on how digitalization has enabled both sales and customer journeys as they complement each other.
To understand this, let's take the case of Jane, a young scientist looking for new research equipment, and Kimberly, who is a sales executive at Right Labs. Let's combine their journeys and understand how digital aids enabled Jane and Kimberly's thresholds.
1. Need and deliberation -
Jane googles for analytical equipment and stumbles across a blog on advancing digital engagement solutions from Right Labs. After scouting through the blog and learning about the different products and services provided by Right Labs. She decided to fill out the Call-to-Action form on the website.
2. Prospecting/ Lead qualification and research -
Kimberly received information from her team that Jane has inquired about the company's digital engagement solutions. The first thing which Kimberly did is that she started to research on Jane and her company to understand the prospect's requirements.
3. Pitching to prospects -
Before Kimberly could pitch to Jane, she wanted to present the pitch to the client with due preparation. This means that she needs to make sure that she knows everything about the products and services that Right Labs are offering.
To enable herself, Kimberly used the following tools to prepare herself for the pitch: -
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Mobile-based micro-learning - Kimberly started prepping for her pitch to Jane by going through training modules about different products and services of the company. She did this through a mobile-based micro-learning application provided to her by the company.
| A smartphone-based application may be the only education tool a sales team needs. An intuitive program helps sales team members develop vital skills online or offline, at their own pace, and with complete control of their learning experience. |
- Gamified product introduction – After learning and completing the training modules, Kimberly decided to attempt a quiz on the course to retain the information she had learned. The gamification of the quiz made the process fun to learn. This creative way encourages employees to attempt quizzes to be up to date with the organization's proceedings.
| A gamified approach to learning about new products and technology offers the best return on your education investment. Kimberly also took a quiz to make sure she retained the information she had learned. |
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Interactive sales tool kit - After Kimberly completed the training module and the gamified quiz, she started preparing for her meeting with Jane. She began by looking through all the resources, including case studies, corporate presentations, customer testimonials, and product demonstrations. The use of these resources helped Kimberley make an outstanding pitch to Jane. And an interactive sales tool kit helped boost her confidence further.
| An interactive sales tool kit that consists of a company's cumulative resources helps the sales and marketing team with information about the different products and services of the company through various interactive mediums. |
Jane wished to receive some of these resources from Kimberley to show them to her manager and team. Kimberly did a few clicks on the interactive sales tool kit and converted some of the resources into an E Detailer PDF.
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E Detailer is an interactive, visually inspiring tool that will help the sales team explain your product and its features and benefits to prospective customers, creating an accelerated sales cycle.
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4. Resurgence of interest -
After the pitch, Jane goes back to her manager David and explains what happened.
When David heard about the entire meeting proceedings, it didn't convince him until he saw the actual product. He informed Jane that there was no way to physically see the product demonstration as he did not have any dates available. So, Jane went back to Kimberly, asking to set up the product demonstration in their office.
Kimberly's responded by sending two VR headsets with the interactive product demos to Jane. The demos prove to be an exciting experience for Jane and her team. Next, Kimberly and Jane met to learn the product offerings better, and Kimberley explained all the product's capabilities using an interactive sales toolkit.
| Interactive Product Demos allowed users to explore the instrument and learn more about its value propositions. The experience was hosted on a custom-designed webpage with lead generation features to ensure follow-up and increase sales. |
5. Reassurance and conversion -
David was impressed by the product demonstration. But he still had more questions in his mind. One of them was that whether the analytical equipment would fit in the room that David allotted. In response to this, Kimberly sent David an AR QR code. Scanning the QR code resulted in the virtual machine popping up on the screen, allowing David to place the device (the dimensions of the machine are mentioned for the customer's convenience) wherever he would like in the room.
| AR QR Code Application allows Lab Directors to virtually figure out where they can place their equipment's in the specified room. The specified measurements on the application can help them identify a place and adjust the equipment without wasting much space in the room. |
6. Closing the sale -
David and the Lab Director wanted to know about the product's credibility and after-sales service. Kimberly used a Digital Value Calculator that allows a sales team to handle every objection by providing scalable product cost and value metrics to demonstrate a potential customer's investment return better. Kimberly sent the quotation for the service to Jane and David.
| Digital Value Calculator allows a sales team to handle every objection by providing scalable product cost and value metrics to demonstrate the return on a potential customer's investment. |
Few days have passed since Kimberly sent the offer to David, but there was no response. Kimberly asked Jane whether there was something wrong with the proposal. Jane explained that the proposal was perfect, and the team members were convinced with the offer, but David was still having second thoughts. Noticing this, Kimberly decided to send an email to Jane inviting her to a virtual event on the equipment she was planning to buy. Jane and David registered for the event right away. The virtual event provided David and the entire team with a life-like experience on the functioning of the equipment in his organization. This event convinced David, and he accepted the quotation. Kimberly immediately sent him the purchase order confirmation through the integrated CRM tools in the interactive sales tool kit.
| Virtual Events is a cost-effective way to foster global relationships, easy to scale and get faster sales cycles. |
7. After sales services -
A few weeks later, Jane needed help with a slight problem with the equipment. Immediately after reporting the issue, Kimberly sends Jane a link that takes to the interactive service manual. Jane can log in by putting in her credentials to access the manual.
| The interactive service module presents Jane with troubleshooting tips that help her in resolving the problem. Thus, Jane completes her research well before the deadline. |
Reason for sales success
You must wonder how Right Labs could transition through all these phases smoothly and how they could make the sale?
Well, the major credit went to Right Labs marketing executives Mike and Laura, who worked behind the scenes to make sure that the sale happened between David, Jane, and Right Labs.
Mike and Laura's contribution came in the form of working on the customer journey with the help of Digital Engagement. Also, both of them worked on the following aspects of the sale:
- Understanding the customer's persona - Mike and Laura focused on identifying and mapping out Jane's journey
- Defining the right touchpoints for her as the customer
- Updating and altering Right Lab's content in a way that aligned with these touchpoints
- Ethosh helped Mike and Laura develop the digital engagement tools and campaigns at all the customer journey touchpoints
Sales enablement
As per HubSpot(2), "Sales enablement is the iterative process of providing your business's sales team with the resources they need to close more deals. These resources may include content, tools, knowledge, and information to sell your product or service to customers effectively."
Sales enablement is a complete package as it provides benefits to both sales and marketing teams as well as the prospecting customers.
In marketing, the tables have turned around with changing times. Consumers now are a step ahead of the salesperson with access to unlimited sources of information from the internet. As the world is swiftly transforming to digitalization, the sales team is in dire need of an upgrade. One should not underestimate the contributions made by the sales team as they are the ones responsible for bringing in the revenue to the company. A successful campaign is no longer just about building brand awareness or generating leads but also sales enablement, specifically, Digital Sales enablement.
Benefits of sales enablement to businesses
- Promotes agility within the sales representation, which allows them to sell more to the customer while taking minimum efforts
- Giving your organization a competitive advantage in the industry
- Engaging customers by educating them on different products and services
- Faster Conversion of Prospects
- Maintaining relationships with prospective customers
- Saving time and keeping goals aligned
- Helps driving revenue
- Turning customers into Ambassadors
- Training of sales representatives
- Managing content resources
Benefits of sales enablement to customers
According to a Forbes article(3), 74% of buyers choose the sales representative who is the first to share insight and bring value to the consumers. Therefore, sales enablement allows consumers to receive high-value products and services, making quick purchase decisions. It also educates consumers on different aspects of the product and the service, providing them with a broader understanding.
Enhancing sales enablement through continuous development
At Ethosh, we know that maintaining sales content and solutions is an ongoing endeavor. We understand that keeping up with the pace of today's digital marketing world requires constant review and revision efforts. Our dedicated team of sales and content experts, along with our technology developers, will ensure that you are continually provided with effective, customized solutions for sales enablement at scale, speed, and cost advantage.
Reference and Citation-
2. https://www.hubspot.com/sales-enablement
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