Examples of Sales Enablement Content

From sales training materials and competitive intelligence battlecards to resources that answer buyers’ questions throughout the sales process, content plays a key role in sales enablement. Effective sales enablement content helps sales people attract and engage buyers, address their concerns, handle objections, and ultimately close sales.

In some organizations, it can be difficult to define sales enablement content — and who owns it — since many sales enablement content assets are also used as buyer-facing content in marketing and lead generation programs.

In this article, we go in-depth on sales enablement content to clear up any confusion and share examples of proven sales enablement content strategies used by brands of all sizes.

Contents:

Sales Content Versus Marketing Content

Though both marketing and sales enablement teams focus on content creation and management, they differ when it comes to their primary audience. Marketing teams focus on creating assets for buyer audiences while sales enablement teams focus on assets that help sales people understand and distribute that content to engage buyers.

Marketing
Sales Enablement

Types of Sales Enablement Content

According to Salesforce, 58% of pipelines stall because sales people are unable to add value for buyers during the sales process. Sales enablement content can address this in two ways:

  1. Buyer-facing content adds value for buyers by answering questions at key stages of the buyer journey. This content is usually targeted at specific personas that the sales person will encounter during the sales process.
  2. Sales-facing content adds value for buyers in a less explicit way than buyer-facing content. It ensures that sales people are informed — about the products they are selling, the industry they are selling to, the potential pain points of the buyer — so they can deliver an exceptional experience to the buyer and guide them toward a solution to their problem.

Buyer-Facing Sales Enablement Content

With so much of the modern buying process happening digitally — and independently of sales people — sales and marketing teams are coming together to find more ways to understand and influence buyers online.

The modern buyer wants to engage with more content throughout the sales process. 95% of buyers choose a provider who delivers the content to help them navigate through each stage of the buying process (see the Sales Enablement Content Mapping section for more on buyer journey stages).

Effective buyer-facing sales enablement content includes:

1. eBooks, whitepapers, webinars

eBooks, whitepapers, and webinars address the needs of high-potential prospects and often contain valuable information including industry trends, research and statistics, best practices, and technical solutions architectures. Sales people can leverage ungated versions of these assets in customer emails and follow up conversations to add value during the sales process.

EXAMPLES BY TPM:

Squirrel Systems Whitepaper
Squirrel Systems Whitepaper

Project: Transform Your Guest Experience: 5 Steps to Replace Your POS

This guide was part of a campaign to help merchants successfully migrate to a new point-of-sale system.

Adobe Commerce eBook
Adobe Commerce eBook

Project: PayLater for the Holidays

Adobe Commerce eBook 2
Adobe Commerce eBook

Project: Integrated Payment Solutions for eCommerce Growth

Adobe Wayflyer Guide
Adobe Wayflyer Guide

Project: Guide on Applying for a Wayflyer account and Funding For Adobe Merchants

2. Blog posts

Blog posts are typically used to attract top-of-funnel prospects. They are optimized for search so Brands often create pillar and cluster strategies to optimize their blogs to appear in top searches for certain keywords. In the sales process, sales people can use blogs similarly to eBooks and whitepapers. They are excellent conversation starters and provide a good reason for a sales person to re-engage via email or phone.

EXAMPLES BY TPM:

Turnium Blog
Turnium (or Multapplied)
AISN Pillar Page 1
AISN Pillar Page:
13 Best Practices for Information Security
AISN Pillar Page 2
AISN Pillar Page:
8 Key Steps for Cloud Enablement Success
TPM Partner Enablement Series
TPM Partner Enablement Series

3. Guides, checklists, and infographics

Guides, checklists, and infographics are great tools for a sales person to use in the consideration stage of a buyer journey. They are typically more visual than eBooks or whitepapers and offer practical advice and tips for potential buyers to solve their problems.

EXAMPLES BY TPM:

PayPal RAMP Playbook
PayPal

Project: RAMP Playbook

Turnium Managed Cloud SD-WAN Guide
Turnium

Project: Managed Cloud SD-WAN Guide

Synctera Fintech Guides
Synctera

Project: Fintech Guides

Turnium Disaggregated SD-WAN for Service Providers
Turnium

Project: Disaggregated SD-WAN for Service Providers

Adobe eCommerce Future Trends Guide
Adobe Magento

Project: eCommerce Future Trends Guide

Created in conjunction with 13 Magento ecosystem partners, The Future is Now is a blueprint for e-commerce success today and beyond.

Adobe Journey of a Gift
Adobe Magento Checklist

Project: Journey of a Gift

The Journey of a Gift campaign was designed to give e-commerce retailers a roadmap to help them succeed ahead of the holiday season.

Hootsuite Executive Snapshot
Hootsuite Executive Snapshot

Project: Social Selling Checklist

4. Case studies/testimonials

Case studies (video, PDF, or web format) are the most valuable tools in a sales person’s belt. They can be even more valuable when they focus on a specific use case, industry problem, or persona.

EXAMPLES BY TPM:

Squirrel Systems Case Study
Squirrel Systems Case Study

Project: Manitoba Board of Liquor and Lotteries Point of Sale (POS) Upgrade

The government agency needed help upgrading their POS, and this was not an easy feat. Squirrel Systems was brought on board to help with the complex transition, and this document captures their success story.

5. Analyst reports

Other than customer case case studies, the most validating content comes from third-party experts and analysts. Analyst reports help sales people communicate the industry trends and best practices and position their solution as the best to solve the buyer’s problem.

EXAMPLES BY TPM:

Forrester Total Economic Impact Study
Adobe | Magento and PayPal Report

Project: Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study

Insights from Forrester’s Total Economic Impact™ study are summarized in this report. It examines the revenue potential ROI merchants could realize by participating in the Mobile Optimization Initiative.

6. Product one-pagers

Product one-pagers clearly articulate the benefits of a product or service and how it acts as an effective solution to a challenge faced by a high-potential prospect. They are ideal tools for sales people to boost their knowledge or to send to prospects who are currently in the decision-making process.

EXAMPLES BY TPM:

Adobe Product One Pager Sell Sheet
Adobe Product One Pager Sell Sheet

Project: Unified Payment Platform and Services Solution

PayPal Mobile Optimization Initiative Sell Sheet
PayPal One Pager

Project: Mobile Optimization Initiative Sell Sheet

This one-page sell sheet was built to support PayPal’s Mobile e-commerce Optimization Initiative campaign to help merchants increase their mobile commerce sales.

7. Business case templates and ROI calculators

When a buyer is in the consideration stage of their journey, tools that can help them convince other people in their buying group are very helpful. Return on investment calculators or templates to help them build an internal business case can be valuable assets. These tools position a sales person as a trusted advisor to their buyer.

EXAMPLES BY TPM:

Hootsuite Case Template
Hootsuite Case Template

Project: Unlocking Budgets for Successful Social Selling Programs in Financial Services

8. Decision-stage content

Decision stage content includes assets like demo videos and technical reference architectures that provide buyers with a “look under the hood” of your product. They are used by sales people (or sometimes by technical sales engineers) to show how a solution works. They are most effective when they can be tailored to a specific use case.

EXAMPLES BY TPM:

Turnium Technical Briefing
Turnium Technical Briefing

Project: Turnium SD-WAN Technical Briefing

Turnium Solution Brief
Turnium Solution Brief

Project: Secure Turnium Network Architectures

Turnium Solution Brief
Turnium Solution Brief

Project: Cloud Extension by Turnium

9. Retention-stage content

Once the sale is closed, content plays a key role in customer retention and loyalty. Some examples of powerful retention content include:

  • Onboarding guides
  • How-to videos
  • How-to blog posts
  • Quarterly/annual business review
  • Newsletters

EXAMPLES BY TPM:

PayPal Onboarding Guide 1
PayPal Onboarding Guide 1

Project: Growing the Travel Vertical and Understanding Sales Markets

PayPal Onboarding Guide 2
PayPal Onboarding Guide 2

Project: APAC and Growth Market Monetization Programs and Partners

Sales-Facing Content

1. Competitive positioning tools

Competitor research and analysis (sometimes called battlecards or cheat sheets) gives sales people insights into how their competition is connecting with their target audience and highlights the areas where they are lacking.

EXAMPLES BY TPM:

PayPal BT Key Differentiators
PayPal BT Key Differentiators
Fabric Competitive Intel Battlecard
Fabric Competitive Intel Battlecard
PayPal vs Stripe Battlecard
PayPal vs Stripe Battlecard
PayPal Zettle Comparison Guide
PayPal Zettle Comparison Guide

2. Sales nurture emails

Email is still the most effective tool for sales outreach. According to Hubspot, email is 40 times more successful for acquiring new clients than Twitter or Facebook. However, poorly composed email copy can negatively affect the results. By providing nurture email templates, marketers and sales enablement teams can ensure sales people have clear, effective communications tools to engage buyers.

3. Sales scripts

Sales scripts are a prescribed set of talking points used by sales people. They should be aligned with the information a buyer has already consumed while also providing new educational content to persuade them to make a final purchase decision. They provide the correct voice and tone and help guide the conversation.

EXAMPLE BY TPM:

Synctera Sales Script
Synctera Sales Script

4. Proposal templates

Proposals and quotations are the final hurdle for a sales person. However, they can create the biggest hurdle. A poorly composed or sloppy proposal can undo all the good work performed in the earlier stages of the sales process. Arm your teams with beautiful proposal templates and draft content snippets for them to use where appropriate.

EXAMPLE BY TPM:

TPM Proposal Template 1
TPM Proposal Template 1

Project: Product Marketing Playbook

TPM Proposal Template 2
TPM Proposal Template 2

Project: Value Proposition & Messaging Focus

5. Sales playbook

A sales playbook is a complete how-to manual for sales people. It covers everything from the ideal customer profile and buyer personas to messaging and positioning, competitive analysis, and objection handling FAQs.

EXAMPLE BY TPM:

Fabric Sales Playbook
Fabric Sales Playbook

Project: B2B Commerce for a Better Buyer Experience

Squirrel Playbook 1
Squirrel Playbook 1

Project: Guide for Restaurant Payment Systems for On-Premise and Online Ordering

Squirrel Playbook 2
Squirrel Playbook 2

Project: Guide to Digital Transformation in the Service Industry

PayPal Sales Playbook
PayPal Sales Playbook

Project: Risk Solutions Guide for Merchant Sales

Sales Enablement Content Mapping

To determine what sales enablement content already exists within your organization and identify gaps, consider conducting an audit and mapping your content as follows:

Sales Enablement Content Mapping

Managing Sales Enablement Content

Because s​ales enablement content is created and managed by multiple teams, it can easily get out of control. Think about it. Your marketing team creates many assets and stores them in a content management system (CMS) to track performance during lead generation efforts. Sales teams download these assets to use in their own outreach campaigns.

However, when marketing updates the assets on the CMS, removes old material, or changes direction on brand designs or messaging, sales people still circulate the older versions — creating an inconsistent experience for buyers.

Intranets and sales enablement platforms are essential tools for marketers and sales teams to host and manage all sales enablement content. Highspot and Seismic are just two examples of effective sales enablement platforms that can provide visibility across the sales content lifecycle. They have powerful search, scoring, and syncing capabilities that keeps marketing and sales organized, aligned, and on-brand.

Keeping Sales Enablement Content Fresh

Organizations will often outsource the development of sales enablement content creation to expert third-party agencies like Total Product Marketing. This frees up marketing teams to focus on lead generation or other revenue generating tasks and frees up sales enablement teams to focus on training strategies and performance metrics.

Third-party agencies also bring a fresh perspective on creating and testing buyer personas, buyer journeys, content mapping, and sales enablement. TPM works with organizations of all sizes to help them shore up their sales enablement content and processes.

Organizations like PayPal, for example, work closely with Total Product Marketing to build creative sales enablement materials that are aligned with the organization’s sales framework and methodology.

Total Product Marketing builds everything from interactive sales playbooks and presentations and sales sheets and FAQs for product launches and updates to internal and external communications. If you’d like an expert opinion on your own sales enablement content strategy, don’t hesitate to reach out.

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