Why Sales Enablement is a Great Opportunity for B2B Manufacturers

With many still on the cusp of embracing sales enablement, there’s a great opportunity for B2B manufacturers who adopt early.

Well… if you get your strategy right, that is. In this time of economic uncertainty, you may be wondering how you’re able to continue achieving consistent growth – and this applies whether you’re selling healthcare equipment, supplying defence communications, or designing automobiles.

If you don’t want to get stuck in a rut – or worse, left behind – then you may be looking for newer solutions, such as sales enablement, to move forward and get that edge over your competitors.

Here at POP, we know a thing or two about manufacturing sales enablement ourselves, as we design interactive sales tools that come in the form of touchscreen experiences and interactive presentations, for businesses looking to connect and engage with their best customers.

Below, we’re going to talk about what makes sales enablement such a great opportunity for B2B manufacturers, and where you should start.

What makes manufacturing sales enablement such a great opportunity?

Sales enablement is essentially a holistic, all-encompassing strategy that involves aligning your sales and marketing processes, and ensuring your team has all the right tools, training AND content (basically everything they need) to make that all-important sale.

But it’s also about embracing technology. Sales enablement platforms that use AI (artificial intelligence) and MI (machine intelligence) can allow for B2B manufacturers to undertake a deep dive into their customers’ buying habits, responses, and available data, to potentially reap huge rewards.

Some advanced industries (particularly R&D) are surprisingly slow on the uptake when it comes to digitising their strategies, but by introducing the latest sales enablement tech into decision-making and sales processes, your sales team can become more empowered.

And, according to Aberdeen, B2B companies who adopt and apply sales enablement correctly are outperforming their competition. In fact, they’re 96% more likely to achieve competitive levels of sales sophistication.

What do the benefits of sales enablement actually look like?

We’ve talked a little about why sales enablement is such a great opportunity, but what are the actual benefits? Here are some of the main benefits of embracing a sales enablement strategy:

• Your sales and marketing teams working together in harmony, as one, with better communication and insights available from both sides.
• More effective training and ongoing coaching (just three hours a month could increase your revenue by 30%) to ensure they’re fully armed with all the knowledge and skills they need to sell. You can find more eye-opening sales enablement statistics here!
• A fully-empowered sales team who come equipped to deliver all the right content, at the right time, and in the right way – and as a result, reducing your sales cycle as sales are achieved faster.
• All the right tools and technology to enable your sales team to deliver helpful content in engaging, visual ways (anything from an in-person presentation delivering highly-engaging visual content on an interactive touchscreen, to emailing content to the buyer per their request).
• Advanced analytics and platforms your team can access in real-time, so they can be constantly adapting and getting the most out of sales opportunities.

If all of this sounds like a positive step forward, then you might be wondering where to begin…

Where to start with your manufacturing sales enablement strategy

Feeling overwhelmed when it comes to looking at your sales processes and knowing where to begin with a sales enablement strategy? The best place to start is by looking to your customers or buyer personas, and how they like to purchase – along with the information they need in order to make informed decisions.

Big data – as long as you have a good way to manage it and glean key insights – can also help you get a better understanding of what makes them tick. Only once you have as full a picture as possible, should you begin looking at your current sales and training processes.

Think about how your sales processes could become more customer-centric, and perfectly aligned with those of your marketing team. Gone are the days when sales and marketing were working in two separate, opposing spheres.

Another big part of sales enablement is content. Tech and strategy are great, but without helpful, customer-centric content, you’ll fall short. Think of the types of content will resonate with them? Could some of that content be visual or interactive – and how will your sales team deliver this?

Tip: If you have a lot of static content – or reams of complex information you need to get across to customers – an interactive sales tool could be a good way of helping your sales team access what they need with just a few clicks.

Another Tip: Did you know that there are six key reasons why your brand should invest in sales enablement for your team?

Could you manufacture more sales?

Sales enablement is showing no signs of slowing down, and B2B manufacturers are waking up to the reality that they have a whole new arsenal of tech, platforms, interactive tools and strategies that can give them an edge and reap the rewards.

We recommend taking stock of your own sales processes, and looking at what’s on offer in terms of technology and platforms that can help you overcome any weak points in your strategy. Remember, sales enablement should be constantly evolving, so never close the book on your buyer personas and processes.

At POP, we specialise in creating interactive sales tools and content to empower B2B manufacturers and companies to maximise sales opportunities. These come in the form of visual, engaging tools that allow your team to access a wealth of content quickly and efficiently. Take a look and see for yourself!

If you’d like to know more about what’s possible with an interactive sales tool or presentation, get in touch today on +44 (0)117 329 1712 or hello@popcomms.com. We’d love to hear from you.