Sales enablement tools, digital sales apps, and revenue enablement platforms are just a few of the many buzzwords used to essentially describe the same thing: a digital sales platform that equips salespeople with interactive content, information, and data necessary to customize their sales discussions, impress their customers, and achieve more successful sales outcomes.
“The big window of differentiation in the next five to ten years will be those companies that come up with creative, unexpected and powerful immersive digital experiences.”
Brent Adamson, Global Head of Research & Communities at Ecosystems, Formerly a Distinguished Vice President at Gartner.
Sales enablement tools are remaining firmly within the B2B sales spotlight. As Brent foresaw back in 2021, given the complexity of technical solutions, the involvement of numerous decision-makers, and significant financial investments on the line; companies that do not embrace the digital landscape to support their customer interactions are falling behind.
The days of traditional linear B2B sales presentations and static pdf documents are long gone. The key to more effective sales conversations lie in conversational selling or narrative presenting using interactive content. Sales teams can showcase the business value while instantly tailoring sales discussions to meet the unique needs of each customer. This approach creates a user-friendly digital experience that eliminates obstacles and accelerates the sales cycle.
“The next competitive battleground for leading-edge companies, whether they sell to consumers or businesses, will be in creating experiences. We are now in an experience economy.”
The Harvard Business Review
In addition, the demand for self-service options is continuing to surge, and it has become a fundamental requirement. McKinsey’s research revealed that over three-quarters of both buyers and sellers now prefer digital self-serve methods and remote engagement over traditional face-to-face interactions. This preference extends to enterprise-scale purchases, with 70% of B2B decision-makers expressing openness to making new, fully self-serve or remote purchases exceeding $50,000.
Self-service solutions introduce efficiency and speed into the purchasing process, allowing customers to place orders quickly when they’re ready to buy. A well-executed self-serve experience empowers the buyer.
Tip: If you’re new to this topic, take a look at this guide first: What is Sales Enablement?
For businesses contemplating the development of a sales enablement tool but lacking a clear starting point, here’s some insights and guidance from a selection of our customers:
Syntegon
Germany-based Syntegon is a world-leader in processing and packaging technology for the pharmaceutical and food industries. Operating from 30 locations in more than 15 countries, and with more than 6,000 employees this manufacturing giant has a lot going on!
“It was a challenge for us to demo our technology to our customers and ensure that our salespeople were communicating the most relevant and up to date information. POPcomms quickly understood the complexities of our business and the demands of our customers and created an intuitive and well designed interactive sales experience that we can easily update centrally.
The main challenge when I approached POPcomms was to bring these complex machines to life in an interactive and intuitive digital environment for our sales people to help them in customer 1:1 talks and to support individual storylines with very complex information.
In the past we used individually created PowerPoints to represent our machinery to customers, mostly with videos as our customers have to see how our machines work. The main challenge was that it didn’t speak with one voice. For example, in company messages and topics such as sustainability, it’s important they speak with one voice and follow the marketing voice so we needed control over this.
And our sales team needed everything in one tool, one single source of truth and it was very important for the salesperson to find the answer straight away in front of the customer and the tool solved that problem for them.
We have specific people for specific products, but we have one corporate message on a service level and on a lifecycle level. Tools like this really help us to bring these messages to life in an easy and interactive way for our customers
We have highly sophisticated and complex machinery, so we have a very long selling process. Our sales reps used to travel to see our customers face-to-face. Covid made things more complicated. So, it’s important for us to have a tool that can be shared through the screen, whilst following the same storyline and build up the same trust with our customers.
We moved to virtual meetings during covid and it’s our aim to have more remote one-to-ones as we can still have the same depth of conversation as the sales tool really helps us to connect with our customers.
As all marketers know there are some very busy times, so it’s really important to have a business on your side who understands. When I think about POPcomms it gives me peace of mind because they’re able to understand the pain points of our customer and how to relieve them. For me, this is most important. This is what POPcomms really understands.”
Anne-Rieke Schweigatz, Director of Marketing & Communication of Service
Syntegon‘s now possesses a unified, centrally managed sales tool that has the capacity to offer customers personalized experiences and immediate access to information, regardless of their industry or job role.
Bacardi
Bacardi Limited has a rich heritage and a diverse range of brands. Established in Cuba back in 1862 by Facundo Bacardí Massó , it has remained under family ownership for seven generations. Over the years, Bacardi Limited has expanded its product portfolio and now offers more than 200 brands and labels, including various types of spirits and alcoholic beverages. With a global presence, the company has a significant workforce of over 8,000 employees and operates in approximately 170 countries, making it one of the largest and most influential players in the spirits industry.
“Take-up of a new platform can often be a challenge, even if it ticks every box. It’s so important to get the sales team involved in the development of the sales tool from the very beginning in order to get 100% adoption. POP ran an initial workshop for some of the sales team to offer their insights and requirements.
As a result, the sales experience POP created helps our Customer Account Managers to have much more efficient meetings. The customer journey is polished, allowing them to navigate and tailor the vast amount of content – including heritage, innovation, product range and cocktail recipes – quickly and easily, so conversations continue to flow naturally and are more productive.”
Thomas Seymour, Head of UK & Ireland Commercial Capability, Bacardi
Bacardi’s sales experience assists their sales representatives in customizing their discussions effortlessly when engaging with a varied customer base, effectively addressing their unique needs and preferences.
Coloplast
Coloplast is the foremost provider of intimate healthcare products worldwide, with a global presence that encompasses over 12,000 employees. The company conducts its operations on a global scale, with sales initiatives spanning 53 countries and manufacturing facilities located in Denmark, Hungary, France, China, and the United States. Notably, in 2016, Coloplast earned the distinction of being ranked as the 22nd most innovative company globally by Forbes, highlighting its commitment to innovation and advancement in the healthcare sector.
“The sales team were pretty blown away by the Sales App. It’s the most interactive, most digital, probably coolest sales material that they’ve been given. They love the functionality.
Something that they appreciate is that they’ve been on the journey with us building it, so they feel that they are part of it, which helps the buy-in into the campaign.
I’ve never had so much feedback on a campaign where our colleagues immediately get what we are trying to do. They are bought into the campaign messages, which is the overarching aim and I think that is mainly down to the journey that we have been on with Showpad and POP.
We didn’t do anything digital in sales before Coronavirus. POP explained what the terminology meant and held our hand through the process, which is what we needed.”
Clare Dawson, Associate Market Manager and Nick Elliot, Senior Global Marketing Manager, Coloplast
Coloplast‘s digital sales experience was shortlisted for the B2B Marketing Martech Award. Th experience now sets them apart from their competitors and enables them to maintain valuable in-person or remote sales discussions.
Wienerberger
Wienerberger UK is a significant presence in the worldwide brick and building infrastructure solutions sector. Founded in Vienna in 1819, Wienerberger has its origins in Austria and has since become the largest global manufacturer of bricks. With a rich history spanning centuries, the company continues to play a crucial role in providing innovative solutions for the construction and building industry around the world.
“Revenue Enablement is quite a new concept and it can be a long road. So here are four steps to consider when thinking about that journey:
The Right Team – it goes without saying, but you really need people who are passionate about reaching the same end goal that you are and helping you manage change with your various stakeholders. It is critical that you have the right team behind you.
Planning your journey – how you want to get there is super important and it has an impact on a range of different things such as the items and tools that you end up selecting, but also the assets you develop – whether it’s videos or immersive experiences, it has a big impact, so you really need to plan that journey up front so you maximise your return on investment and your time.
Experienced guides – I love working with people who make it enjoyable, who make it easy for me, I want to have the best possible experience of the partners that I choose to work with. Partners who bring real expertise and ongoing support.
And finally it’s important that sales and marketing travel together – revenue enablement will not be a success without that alignment and collaboration between the marketing and the sales teams.
The ability of our sales team to access and share engaging content with target customers quickly, contributed to significant market share gains”
Dan Cheung, Lead Channel Marketing Manager, Wienerberger
Wienerberger’s sales tool effectively presents their extensive product range, catering to the diverse requirements of their wide-ranging customer base. POPcomms was super honored with the Best Application of Marketing Technology award at the Construction Marketing Awards for Wienerberger’s experience.
Create your digital sales experience
If these insights have sparked your curiosity and you’re eager to delve deeper, take a moment to watch our video, which showcases the features your sales experience can offer.
POP is a no-code interactive experiences platform built for sales and marketing teams to rapidly create and manage their sales presentations and touchscreen experiences across their entire organisation.
There’s a real team of sales, marketing, strategy, creative and technology professionals behind POP who have spent twenty years working with marketing and sales teams.
We’ve built POP for you knowing what you and your customers need to standout and do business. We collaborate closely with our customers to craft digital sales experiences that align with their business objectives. These journeys empower sales teams to stand out from competitors and excel in their selling efforts. To gain further insights into the initial stages of this process, explore our recent blog, which emphasizes why the discovery phase is the most important element to developing a successful sales enablement experience.
Help your buyers quickly make sense of complex products and information so they can make smarter, faster buying decisions.
Find out how you can use POPcomms interactive presentation software to support your buyers and sellers.
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