Not heard about buyer enablement? It's the next big thing in sales. Promising to provide buyers with the resources and information they need, it's revolutionising how we approach the sales cycle.
In this article, we take a closer look at what enablement is, why sales teams should adopt a buyer enablement strategy, and the best practices for effective buyer enablement. We even provide some free templates for buyer enablement content to help get you started.
So, whether you're a seasoned sales rep or just getting started, we've got you covered. Grab a cup of coffee as we delve into the world of buyer enablement.
What is Buyer Enablement?
Buyer enablement is all about making it easier for buyers to make their way through the purchase process by giving them the right information when they need it. This means creating a customised experience for each buyer based on what they need and like.
By using a tool like trumpet, sales teams can set up buyer journeys that make it simple to share sales materials, educational content, and onboarding flows. This way, buyers can easily access, work with, and learn from this information at every step of their buying journey. This method not only helps buyers make decisions with confidence but also helps sellers close deals faster.
Buyer Enablement vs. Sales Enablement
Buyer enablement and sales enablement are both important concepts in the world of sales and marketing, but they focus on different aspects of the sales process.
- Sales enablement is all about giving sales teams the tools they need to sell effectively, such as product info, competitive analysis, and sales scripts.
- Buyer enablement, on the other hand, involves helping buyers make informed decisions by providing them with the right information at the right time, e.g., relevant case studies, educational content, mutual action plans or interactive demos.
By adopting a buyer enablement strategy, sales teams can take their sales strategy to the next level and create a more enjoyable buying experience for their prospects.
Why Should You Adopt a Buyer Enablement Strategy?
The answer is simple: it works.
Sales teams should adopt a buyer enablement strategy because it focuses on empowering and supporting the buyer throughout their decision-making process. It recognises that buyers today (thanks to the internet) are way more informed and self-reliant than ever before.
Adopting a buyer enablement strategy means sales teams can effectively engage and assist buyers in a way that aligns with their specific needs and preferences. Here are some key reasons why sales teams should embrace buyer enablement:
Build trust and credibility
By taking a buyer-centric approach, sales teams can establish trust and credibility with potential customers. When sales professionals provide valuable insights, guidance, and resources, buyers see them as trusted advisors rather than just salespeople. This enhances the overall customer experience and increases the likelihood of closing a deal.
Align with the buyer's journey
The buyer enablement strategy recognises that buyers go through a journey of their own, which often involves extensive research, comparing options, and seeking validation.
Sales teams that align their efforts with the buyer's journey can better understand their needs at each stage and provide relevant information, resources, and assistance. This approach helps build rapport and creates a smoother path towards a purchasing decision.
Digital sales rooms like trumpet are the magic ingredient for total alignment; they allow you to share and update content in a single online space that exists between the buyer and the seller – the ultimate space for collaboration and driving momentum in a deal.
Provide personalised and relevant content
Buyer enablement emphasises delivering personalised and relevant content to buyers. Sales teams can leverage data and insights to understand the buyer's specific pain points, challenges, and objectives. By tailoring the content and resources they provide, sales professionals can address the buyer's unique needs and position themselves as valuable partners.
Facilitate informed decision-making
A buyer enablement strategy aims to empower buyers with the information and resources they need to make informed decisions. Sales teams can provide educational content, case studies, product demonstrations, and other relevant materials that help buyers evaluate their options effectively. By doing so, sales professionals facilitate the decision-making process and help buyers feel more confident in their choices.
Differentiate from competitors
In a competitive marketplace, buyer enablement can be a key differentiator. Sales teams that prioritise providing value and support throughout the buying process stand out from those focused solely on closing deals. By demonstrating a genuine commitment to the buyer's success, sales professionals can build stronger relationships and increase their chances of winning business over competitors.
Foster long-term customer relationships
A buyer enablement strategy goes beyond the initial sale. By maintaining a focus on customer success, sales teams can foster long-term relationships with buyers. When customers feel supported and empowered by their sales partners, they are more likely to become repeat customers and even advocates who refer others to the organisation.
Buyer Enablement Templates and Examples
Buyer Enablement Templates
Check out 22 digital sales room templates here
Digital sales rooms (DSRs) should evolve throughout the buyer's journey. As the buyer learns more, the content available should transition from introductory guides to product comparisons and customer testimonials. Below, we detail some of the main sections you could include as you begin building your first DSR.
5 Best Practices For Effective Buyer Enablement
To help buyers navigate the complex buying process, businesses need to go beyond traditional sales enablement and adopt buyer enablement strategies. This means providing the right content and support at every stage of the buyer's journey. But how do you do that effectively?
Here are five best practices for effective buyer enablement that will help you build trust, engage buyers and get deals over the line much quicker.
1. Understand your buyers' needs and preferences.
To effectively enable your buyers, you need to understand their needs, preferences, and pain points. This involves conducting market research, analysing customer data, and building buyer personas. By understanding your buyers, you can create content and experiences that resonate with them and meet their needs.
2. Create personalised content
Buyers today expect personalised content and experiences. To effectively enable your buyers, you need to create content that is tailored to their specific needs and preferences. This can include everything from personalised email campaigns and landing pages to custom product demos and trials.
3. Train your sales reps
Sales reps play a critical role in enabling buyers throughout the buying process. To ensure that your reps are equipped to engage and support buyers effectively, you need to provide them with the right training and resources. This can include training on your products and services, your sales process, and your buyer personas.
4. Use an enablement platform
An enablement platform can help you manage and deliver content to your buyers more effectively. With an enablement platform, you can create, store, and distribute content across multiple channels, track engagement, and measure the impact of your content through the buyer journey.
With a digital sales room like trumpet, you can do all of this and so much more! With over 40 integrations, you can spice things up by embedding video content or even film your own with our nifty Video/Screen
Record tool. Plus, signing contracts is a breeze with e-signature tools. Add a personal touch to your experience with custom variables and keep track of every single move your buyer makes while viewing your content – from views and downloads to time on the page and clicks.
5. Measure and optimise your enablement efforts
To ensure that your buyer enablement strategy is effective, you need to measure and optimise your efforts over time. This involves tracking engagement metrics, analysing buyer feedback, and using data to improve your content and processes. By continually optimising your buyer enablement efforts, you can improve your overall buying experience and drive more revenue.
How To Turn Buyer Enablement Into Content?
Another important aspect of buyer enablement is the content.
Content is king in the world of sales, and it's no different when it comes to buyer enablement. But it's not just about creating any content. It's about creating content that speaks directly to your target audience.
This means understanding their pain points, their goals, and their preferences. By creating content that is personalised to each buyer, sales teams can create a more engaging buying experience that leads to a quicker sales cycle and satisfied customers.
Content you should think about from a buyer-centric approach:
Customer case studies
Sharing previous successes is a great way to connect with a prospect. However, ensure that they actually make sense to that individual. Think, is the company in the case study within a similar industry as my prospect, do they share similar values, or is my product being used by sales folks in similar job roles?
Mutual action plans
Sharing Mutual Action Plans early on is a clever way to test the waters with your buyer and see how serious they are about progressing the deal. They also show that you're serious about moving forward and have a super clear, concise plan to do so.
Maps get everyone involved in the buyer journey on the same page and help any new stakeholders who join later to get up to speed. We recommend using our Mutual Action Plan Widget in trumpet to give your buyers a super collaborative experience; let them tick actions off the list themselves and join forces as you move through the journey together.
Data
Share relevant data that reflects what your buyer has mentioned they might be struggling with, e.g. "I'm struggling with XYZ when it comes to X," which gives you the opportunity to share some clear data that proves how you/your product can solve that pain point for them.
Blog posts
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Give your buyer insights they might find interesting. If you're sending outbound content to a prospect and have noticed they've mentioned certain topics on their LinkedIn, you could share with them blog posts from your company that they might find interesting and relevant to their job.
Video
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There's nothing more powerful right now than leveraging video as part of your sales content pipeline. Over 60% of viewers will watch business-related videos all the way to the end if they're less than 60 seconds.
Start sending your buyers personalised video pitches, demos and intros to get them engaged quicker. With a digital sales room like trumpet, you can record video content without limits using the Video/Screen recording Widget – and then track engagement insights in real time.
eBooks & White papers
This is great marketing content to share, as long as they make sense to the prospect. To really impress your prospect, extract key information from these long-form pieces of content and turn it into a personalised one-pager just for them.
How Do You Create Personalised Content At Scale?
This is where an enablement platform like trumpet comes in. Instead of sending all of the above as email attachments, drop them a one-link buyer journey with all the relevant content attached.
With the help of drag-and-drop widgets and one-click personalisation, sales teams can create microsites in trumpet that are personalised to each buyer in seconds (mutual action plans, videos, proposals and quotes, data, case studies and beyond).
This not only saves time but also ensures that each individual buyer receives the information they need to make informed decisions.
Adopting Buyer Enablement To Streamline The Sales Cycle
In addition to personalised content, sales teams also need to focus on the sales process. By creating a streamlined sales process, sales teams can improve their overall productivity and win rates. This means using technology to automate tasks and streamline workflows.
Our favourite tech stack to kick off your buyer enablement strategy includes:
- Lavender – AI Sales Email Coach
- Humantic AI – Deliver hyper-personalised messaging
- Loom Vidyard – Add video to your messaging
- Arcade & Storylane – Share interactive demos
- trumpet – Personalised digital sales rooms in seconds
Measuring the Effectiveness Of Your Buyer Enablement Strategy
Finally, it's important to measure the effectiveness of your buyer enablement strategy. This means tracking engagement and adjusting your strategy accordingly.
Now, we don't want to keep banging our own drum, but a buyer enablement platform like trumpet’s digital sales room can help you track engagement by providing behavioural analytics on how buyers are interacting with your content.
Such as how many pages in your Pod they clicked, how long they spent viewing the page, and if they downloaded any files or shared the Pod with others. By analysing this data, you can identify what's working and what's not and adjust your strategy accordingly.
It also gives you a bird's eye view of your deal and gives you the right information to know when to reach out (without pestering your buyer).
In the end, buyer enablement is about putting the buyer first and creating a personalised buying experience. So, if you're looking to improve your sales process and create a better buying experience for your customers, it's time to adopt a buyer enablement strategy.
