Sales enablement has become an increasingly critical function for modern businesses. According to the State of Product Marketing 2024 report, creating sales collateral and updating internal documents was a top responsibility for 75.5% of respondents, while sales enablement itself was a priority for 64.3%.
Equipping your sales team with the right tools and resources is essential for driving revenue growth. But what exactly are the most effective sales enablement assets?
In this article, we’ll explore several key sales enablement materials that leading organizations are leveraging to empower their sales teams and improve business outcomes.
- Fostering cross-functional alignment with enablement teams
- Which sales enablement assets are most effective?
- How do product marketers organize their sales content?
- Top 10 sales content tools
Fostering cross-functional alignment with enablement teams
Effective sales enablement requires tight collaboration between product marketing, sales, and other key teams.
As Andrea Saez, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Unmind, explains, “We have two very important leadership groups: PMM and Enablement. Our PMM Leadership group… enables us to make decisions as a group and ensure that we’re aligned about what is happening and why.” She emphasizes the importance of “involving team members early and often” across functions.
Emily Wengel, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Origami Risk, echoes this sentiment, noting that she “partners with client marketing, product, and service” to gather customer feedback and insights. “Partnering with clients on case studies or presentations is also a great way to learn about client use cases and success stories,” she says.
Beyond just aligning on strategy, Aphrodite Brinsmead, Director of Product Marketing at Duro, stresses the value of consistent communication and shared goals.
“Regular communication, shared goals and projects, and two-way feedback all help to make cross-functional relationships thrive,” she explains. She suggests scheduling regular check-ins and collaborating on key initiatives to build strong partnerships.
Sarah Spinosa, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Higher Logic, implemented specific programs to facilitate cross-functional alignment, such as “quarterly product marketing tours” to gather feedback from customer-facing teams.
She also held “competitive intel conversations” with sales leaders to share market insights and identify gaps. These efforts helped drive tangible business impact, reducing lost deals by 16% and status quo by 61% year-over-year.
Ultimately, as Andy Schumeister, Head of Product Marketing at Mutiny, notes, product marketing must “proactively align with sales and product on shared priorities and objectives.”
By fostering a culture of communication, trust, and shared goals, product marketers can effectively bridge the divide between teams and deliver sales enablement assets that drive real results.
Which sales enablement assets are most effective?
Sales enablement assets are crucial tools that empower sales teams to effectively engage prospects, overcome objections, and close more deals. These resources come in various formats, each serving a distinct purpose in the sales cycle.
Sales organizations can equip their reps with the knowledge, content, and proof points needed to have more impactful conversations and drive successful outcomes. But this can only be done by leveraging the right assets at the right time.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most effective sales enablement assets and their key benefits.
Customer case studies
- Highly effective for demonstrating real-world success and ROI
- Provide compelling proof points and testimonials from satisfied customers
- Should highlight specific business challenges, solutions, and quantifiable results
Sales scripts
- Useful for ensuring sales reps deliver consistent, on-brand messaging
- Help less experienced reps sound more polished and confident
- Should provide flexibility for reps to adapt to different customer contexts
Product demos
- Invaluable for showing prospects how a product works and its key features
- Allow reps to tailor demonstrations to each customer’s unique needs
- Effective at driving deeper engagement and understanding
Sales one-pagers
- Concise, visually appealing summaries of a product or service
- Quick reference guides for reps to share with prospects
- Help prospects quickly grasp core value propositions
Product sheets
- In-depth datasheets covering a product’s specifications and capabilities
- Useful for prospects doing deeper technical research and evaluations
- Should focus on highlighting differentiating features and benefits
Product comparison charts
- Allow prospects to easily see how a product stacks up against competitors
- Helpful for addressing objections and justifying a product’s value
- Should be objective and focus on relevant, head-to-head comparisons
Product roadmap assets
- Provide visibility into a company’s future product plans and vision
- Helpful for reassuring prospects about a vendor’s ongoing investment
- Can build excitement and confidence in a company’s direction
Overall, the most effective sales enablement assets are those that clearly demonstrate customer value, differentiate the offering, and address key prospects’ needs and concerns. The right mix will depend on your specific sales process and target audience.
Top 10 sales content tools
For creating impactful sales content, there are a few standout tools and strategies that can make a big difference in helping sales teams succeed.
Here are some of the top sales enablement tools frequently recommended for content creation, organization, and analytics:
Highspot
Highspot is widely used for managing and delivering content to sales teams. It provides insights on which content is being used and how it’s performing, helping product marketers refine and optimize materials for maximum impact.
DiscoverOrg
DiscoverOrg is a go-to for B2B sales intelligence, offering contact data and other sales insights to streamline targeting and outreach efforts. It’s particularly powerful for list-building and personalizing pitches.
Seismic
Seismic is another leader in content management, used to deliver tailored content to sales teams at each stage of the buyer’s journey. It’s great for version control and can help streamline content updates to keep sales teams aligned with the latest messaging.
Showpad
Showpad combines content management with interactive training for sales teams, helping them find the right content fast and stay up to speed with best practices and product knowledge.
ClearSlide
ClearSlide focuses on engaging buyers through interactive content and provides analytics on how content is being viewed, so sales teams know what resonates with prospects in real-time.
DocSend
DocSend is perfect for document sharing, tracking engagement, and getting insights into which parts of content capture the most interest, so sales teams can follow up in a targeted way.
HubSpot Sales Hub
HubSpot’s Sales Hub includes tools for email tracking, meeting scheduling, and content management. It’s excellent for smaller teams that want a full-featured CRM with content capabilities.
Guru
Guru is an internal knowledge-sharing tool that integrates with popular platforms like Slack and Salesforce, allowing sales reps to quickly access product information, playbooks, and sales tips.
Outreach
Outreach is a popular sales engagement platform that automates follow-ups, sequences emails, and integrates with content libraries, allowing sales reps to share relevant content with prospects in fewer clicks.
Bigtincan
Bigtincan uses AI to recommend content based on the sales stage and context, helping sales reps use the most relevant assets for each interaction. It’s especially useful for field sales teams on the go.
Final thoughts
Building a solid set of sales tools is essential for a successful B2B sales strategy. By giving your team a mix of customer success stories, product details, competitor insights, and forward-thinking content, you’re setting them up to have engaging, value-packed conversations that guide prospects through the sales journey.
The trick is to pinpoint which resources will make the biggest difference for your specific sales process and target buyers. Focus on creating content that highlights your unique value, tackles common pain points and objections, and shows clear proof that you can deliver real results.
In the end, effective sales enablement is all about equipping your reps with the tools and confidence to position your solutions as the ideal fit. With the right resources, they can create more personalized, consultative sales experiences that build trust, overcome challenges, and lead to more successful deals.