HELP! I'm frustrated! What is the best way to create sales collateral?

[JonPayne]

It can take ages to create the documents, PDFs and downloads that support the sales team in their efforts to help buyers along the journey to become delighted client. 

PROBLEMS

The marketing team doesn't have the in-depth knowledge needed to create content

The sales team doesn't have the time to create content

The sales team doesn't have the skills to make content look good

When they ask for information, the marketing team get ignored by the sales team.

HOW WOULD YOU SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS?

There are lots of clever people with many different experiences in this group - I'd love to hear all your ideas, so we can all learn! Please help 🙂

[carias]

It's important to create a schedule for team's meetings to discuss different topics about job and how to resolve it, share ideas and working on it together bringing support between each other

[ReganRoss]

We find uploading PDFs to the Sales > Documents space works well... but I know it would be better to create something public facing with another marketing tool... we're just not there yet with Hubspot. Anyone have a suggestion that works good for their outbound / link-sharing efforts and use of Hubspot? Good question @JonPayne 

[JonPayne]

Agree, for in the sales process the Sales Document tool is brilliant. Particularly in the ABM space when a lowly employee forwards that document link on to thier boss who can only download by giving you THIER email address.

To answer your question (I think, anyway - let me know if I understand it correctly) - when we are getting a client set up with HubSpot we typically make several Sales Template emails (for the various stages of buyer journeys) with links to content on their website. That content is normally really engage level stuff, Case Studies work particularly well, as do product explainers, questionnaires and explanations of what will happen once they've signed the deal. Often we'll use PandaDoc or similar to make contract sharing  super simple and friction free, if the HubSpot quote system isn't up to the task. 

For example:

1. Incoming enquiry
2. Sales rep sends sales template email including their meeting link for next step (dicovery)
3. Once meeting is booked; trigger template email including link to sales questionaire
4. Answers from questionaire get added to contact record ready for discovery meeting
5. After discovery meeting sales rep sends sales template email including links to case study
6. Sales rep sends sales template email including their meeting link for next step (presentation)
7. Once meeting is booked; trigger template email including link to "what to expect" video
8. After presentation meeting rep sends sales template email including contract link
9. After contract signed, onboarding rep sends service template email including links to SLA

A super simple example - there's loads of if/then/else forks in the road at each email send which might trigger off different elements of the sales / marketing or service process in HubSpot or other integrated system.

Does this help? Did I get close? Let me know of any specific examples you need help with and maybe I can be a bit more helpful. DMs open if you'd prefer not to do that in public 😁

[ReganRoss]

That is the holy grail for sure @JonPayne ... we're a couple years away from that though. 
Thanks! Will keep that on file.

[JonPayne]

If you want a little help with your specific requirements, maybe we can accellerate you by a few months. DM me if you want a chat. No selling from me, just sharing ideas 😇

[ReganRoss]

Let me rain check that offer... scrambling to close year-end deals.
Thanks Jon!

[JonPayne]

Your rain check is as good for as long as I'm in the group, mate 👍

[JJohnston3]

At the risk of seeming self-serving, another option is a freelance sales enablement copywriter. I and other SE content creators write prospecting and follow-up email templates that sales people can customize. We also create battlecards, call scripts, one-sheets, and sales deck slides. Templates for proposals as well.

[JonPayne]

Good stuff @JJohnston3 😊 Will definitely think about that in future. I'd love to know how you get the right info from, say the sales teams... How do you get them to brief you, so you know what to write?

[JJohnston3]

I meet with the person who leads the Sales team (VP Sales, Sales Director, etc.) and ask a series of questions. These include who they're selling to (ICP and persona), the product/service, its features and benefits, common objections, and who the competition is. If possible, I like to have one or two sales people there to get a clear idea of the objections and how they resolve them.

I like to record those meetings, as there's often a gem or two I can mine, especially from what the sales people mention.

[JonPayne]

That's really helpful, Jeff. More and more meetings are being recorded these days too - as you say, useful to go back and find those gems.

Question. Does ICP = Ideal Customer Profile in this case? 👍

[NancyRobbins]

Love the word "smarketing"😁

[JonPayne]

I can't take credit. The magnificent @dtyre coined it. He's worth looking up on Twitter as he's always sharing great stuff: https://twitter.com/dantyre

😁

[Justin_Graci]

Hey Jon,

Here are a few ideas and ways I've made this work:

• Require marketers to ghost listen to at least one sales call per week (this puts them in a sales rep's shoes, understand how prospects interact, and uncover areas where content could fit in)
• Host a monthly 'sales panel' where 5-10 sales reps (ideally those who are interested in marketing/sales alignment and see the value in providing feedback to marketing). Marketing/enablement can join these panels whenever they have an idea for content, a question for how a process works, or to gather feedback on what's working/what's not from the sales floor. They present, listen, and collect feedback.
• Survey the sales floor on what their 'wish list' would be, or show them a few examples of content and ask them what they like or don't like. 
• If marketers are being ignored, get leadership to step in. Or find one or two sales reps who see the value in providing info/feedback and get them to advocate for marketing. Finally, find some quick wins where sales sees the value marketing can provide. I've noticed that when you bring sales into the process and make them feel like they're guiding the direction of content, they're more bought into it.
• Personally, I have a couple of sales reps who I have a great relationship with. I often reach out to them first on projects to 'pressure test' an idea or piece of content, so I get started in the right direction

[JonPayne]

This is all brilliant, thanks Justin! Love the idea of a monthly sales panel, particuarly. 😁

[KatieRoberts]

For anyone in the group interested in how I solve these problems:

Hold a "smarketing" meeting at least once a month with a detailed agenda. You can use this time to share ideas on sales collatoral and it gives the marketing person / people an opportunity to hear about FAQs from prospects.

Once the marketing person knows what collatoral the sales person needs, they can interview members of the team who have to answers in order to create the content  / delegate!

Interviewing members of the sales team REALLY helps with time saving, making content look good and preventing being ignored too! I, as a sales person, rarely have time to write blogs nor am I the best writer! However I can talk for hours about inbound sales / HubSpot and then something with more time and better writing skills can shape my answers into something legible! 

I hope this makes sense? Please feel free to ask me to elaborate on any of the above 😀