While football has been off the air for a while, it’s managed to stay in the news recently with a flurry of trades and free agent signings.
For example, Percy Harvin’s trade from the Minnesota Vikings to the Seattle Seahawks made for some interesting discussions about sending away one of the best wide receivers in the game. Sure, the Seahawks lost a few valuable draft picks in the process, but you have to think they’re excited about the upgrade to their depth chart.
This got me thinking – how great would it be if we could make some trades of our own to help improve our sales processes and productivity? To maximize your sales enablement efforts, here are just a few trades that could set your team up for a winning 2013.
#1. Trade text-heavy emails for emails with video links
A lot of the time, reps get their leads from marketing but still need to engage these prospects and move them along the sales cycle. It’s less effective these days to do that with run of the mill, long emails that most people don’t have the time to read.
Video presentations included in a short email are a great way to cut through the clutter of expanding inboxes. Not only does the message stand out, but it also makes the salesperson more familiar to the prospect, helping to strengthen the relationship and accelerate the sales cycle. By trading text-heavy emails for ones with video links, you can effectively drive higher click-through rates and stand apart from your competitors.
Learn more: Why Video is an Email Marketing Goldmine
#2: Trade in-person training for on-demand video learning
Considering that 90% of knowledge acquired in training is lost after six months, doesn’t it make sense to provide reps with a way to quickly and easily refresh their know-how? I’m not saying that we need to trade ALL live training sessions (definitely keep your MVPs), but they can still be augmented with on-demand videos that can be accessed any time on any mobile device or computer.
Providing a way for your sales team to retain what they learned is essential to closing more deals. You don’t have to spend a lot of time on production either. Brainshark makes it easy to take the PowerPoint slides you already have, add voice-over and easily edit your presentations. Content creators can also add polls, surveys and questions to training presentations to ensure that reps understand the material.
Learn more: A Blended Learning Approach to Save Time and Money
#3. Trade laptops for iPads
Laptops are clunky, take a while to set up, and generally use older technology. iPads, on the other hand, are sleek and turn on in a blink of an eye. They’ve also become great tools for presenting to potential customers.
SlideShark makes it simple to present and control PowerPoint presentations on the iPad (and iPhone too, for that matter), making for a much more engaging presentation. Most salespeople tout their products as industry leaders – so why not use industry leading technology to get the message across?
Learn more: How iPads are Transforming Sales Meetings
#4. Trade follow-up emails for trackable presentations
After a meeting, most clients request PowerPoint slides be sent to them. That’s great, but once you email the slides, your presentation is subject to misrepresentation and your message can get be weakened or lost altogether. Also, once it’s out of your hands, people can easily make edits and you could lose control of the message that way as well. Not to mention the fact that you don’t have a way of knowing who is viewing the presentation and how many times it’s viewed.
By taking those slides and creating a voice-enriched video presentation, you have control of the message AND you can track who is viewing it. Additionally, if you are presenting on the iPad with SlideShark, the “share” button instantly sends a presentation link to those who request it and provides tracking details. Either way, your sales team will have a better indicator of interest for follow-up as well as be able to improve forecasting numbers.
Remember – NFL teams aren’t the only ones who can make moves this time of year. With a few smart trades of your own, you can make your sales team stronger and more productive in 2013. Here’s to a great selling season!
More sales enablement tips and ideas:
- Sales Team Enablement Content: Are You Prepared?
- Are Tablets Now the Preferred Tool for Salespeople?
- Just-in-Time Learning: Re-Imagining How Today’s Salespeople Prepare
