Today, content is critical to success. Sales reps need the knowledge and skill to understand your industry, products, customers, and competitors, as well as compelling and relevant content to engage buyers at every stage of the journey.
From internal training and coaching content, to your website, to customer-facing presentations and collateral, your Sales team needs to be studying and handling this content daily.
Sales, Marketing, and other teams within your organization need access to this content, which is far easier said than done. In fact, ensuring everyone is working off the same plane is nearly impossible without an enterprise content management system.
What is a Content Management System?
A content management system (CMS) is a platform that mitigates the disconnect between the creation and use of impactful Sales content. It’s features allow users to create, maintain, update, distribute, and track content, which can be anything from customer-centric pieces such as blogs, case studies, presentations and other collateral, or internal content like demo and call scripts, training materials, and product sheets. It can be either open source or proprietary to the company. The benefits of open source content management platforms is that users in the open source community can provide regular updates to plugins and other CMS features.
Marketing uses a CMS for creating content, document management and storage, and make necessary updates as industries and customers evolve. Sales can quickly find the most relevant, up-to-date content they need
[optin-monster-shortcode id=”zgtvpu461fxtmzeexrtf”]
Features and Benefits of a Content Management System
Web content management tools have functionality that create a hassle-free system and provides various benefits:
Makes content more available.
Rich content like presentations, brochures, white papers, and case studies can all be used to develop and nurture leads. Often times, these materials are spread amongst different folders or platforms, and they end up being largely unused (up to 70%, in fact, according to SiriusDecisions). A content management system’s features include easy functionality, a responsive design, and a user-friendly interface to a suite of relevant content sales reps can use to engage buyers.
Boosts productivity.
With less time spent searching for information or putting together their own presentations, content management solutions allow Sales reps to devote more time connecting with buyers in order to move them across the stages of the cycle and close deals.
Bridges the gap between sales and marketing.
With both teams using the same content management system tools, sales and marketing are more aligned. Marketing stores and categorizes all web content in one central web content management platform, and sales reps can browse that content with AI-driven recommendations to find the most contextually relevant materials they need to move a buyer forward.
Tracks content performance.
The materials marketing creates are only beneficial if they a) get used by reps, and b) resonate with buyers. Content management system tracking capabilities show how often a certain content piece is interacted with by users, and how much of an influence the content had on users. Based on performance, marketers can refine pieces to increase their impact.
Tools and Resources for Content Management
To be completely effective, the content management platform you decide to implement must have the necessary elements for Marketing to create, and Sales to use, training and e-learning content, customer-facing presentations and product sheets, site content like blogs and landing pages, social media posts and messages, and more. All these elements work together in your content strategy not just to receive clicks or likes, but to connect with buyers on a level that gets them excited about you and pushes them closer to converting.
Achieving this requires determining and planning what messages will appeal to audiences across all stages of the buyer’s journey. Those messages must be taken into account for content creation, which then must be distributed in a timely manner for Sales to access and use. This is where your content management software comes in. It serves as a central hub to store the most relevant, up-to-date materials for Sales reps to easily find and use.
How Content Management Tools Benefit Sales Enablement
A content management system is at the center of Sales enablement software and the first step in implementing an enterprise content program. Readily-available content, training, and customer data – essentials of your Sales enablement platform – equip Sales reps with the functionality they need to succeed. Everyone working in harmony, using the same platform, drives a more efficient and effective content and Sales process, and overall Sales enablement.
Content is at the heart of Showpad’s enterprise Sales enablement software, helping Marketing and Sales teams create compelling content for users, evaluate buyer engagement, and determine the right content for the right buyer at the right time. Learn more and get a free demo of our platform today.
