How to create a powerful, creative digital sales experience – words of advice from our clients

“The big window of differentiation in the next five to ten years will be those companies that come up with creative, unexpected and powerful immersive digital experiences.”

Brent Adamson, Distinguished Vice President, Gartner

Sales enablement tools, digital sales apps or revenue enablement platforms. Three buzzwords which essentially describe the same thing: a digital sales platform that gives salespeople all the interactive content, information and data they need to tailor their sales conversations, impress their customers and sell more successfully.

Sales enablement tools are in the spotlight in B2B sales right now.  Gartner’s Distinguished Vice President, and best selling business author, Brett Adamson warned (above) that companies not embracing this technology soon face being left behind. This blog will give you some background on what a sales tool might look like and advice from our clients on how to achieve success.

Gone are the days of linear B2B sales presentations. Conversational selling or narrative presenting using interactive content are key to more effective sales conversations. Sales teams can demonstrate your business’s value, while tailoring the sales conversation to the needs of the customer – instantly – creating a sales experience, not just a sales pitch.

Enhanced digital sales tools allow an omnichannel customer experience showcasing your products and services using a variety of interactive features 3D models, video, high-resolution imagery, up-to-the-minute technical data, interactivity, AR, and powerful data and analytics reporting. Putting the power into the hands of your sales teams to have more meaningful, profitable customer conversations. Take a look at our blog to discover the 7 key considerations when creating immersive interactive experiences.

“The next competitive battleground for leading-edge companies, whether they sell to consumers or businesses, will be in creating experiences. We are now in an experience economy.”

The Harvard Business Review

These sales experiences can be shared in face-to-face or remote sales meetings, displayed on large touchscreens in customer centres and marketing suites or at tradeshows or events providing the ultimate B2B omnichannel experience.

“70-80% of B2B decision makers prefer remote human interactions or digital self-serve. Why? Ease of scheduling, savings on travel expenses and (currently) safety”

McKinsey, Oct 2020

Just as recent research from McKinsey suggested, many of our clients’ customers have reported preferring remote sales conversations and the ability to self-serve information and samples. Sales teams are also able to cultivate relationships internationally without incurring travel expenses. 

For businesses thinking about developing a sales enablement tool, but don’t know where to start, here’s some advice from a few of our most recent clients.

Bacardi

“Take-up of a new platform can often be a challenge, even if it ticks every box. It’s so important to get the sales team involved in the development of the sales tool from the very beginning in order to get 100% adoption. POP ran an initial workshop for some of the sales team to offer their insights and requirements.

“As a result, the sales tool POP created helps our Customer Account Managers to have much more efficient meetings. The customer journey is polished, allowing them to navigate and tailor the vast amount of content – including heritage, innovation, product range and cocktail recipes – quickly and easily, so conversations continue to flow naturally and are more productive.”

Thomas Seymour, Head of UK & Ireland Commercial Capability, Bacardi

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Coloplast

Shortlisted for B2B Marketing Martech Award 2021

“The sales team were pretty blown away by the Sales App. It’s the most interactive, most digital, probably coolest sales material that they’ve been given. They love the functionality.

“Something that they appreciate is that they’ve been on the journey with us building it, so they feel that they are part of it, which helps the buy-in into the campaign.

I’ve never had so much feedback on a campaign where our colleagues immediately get what we are trying to do. They are bought into the campaign messages, which is the overarching aim and I think that is mainly down to the journey that we have been on with Showpad and POP.

“We didn’t do anything digital in sales before Coronavirus. POP explained what the terminology meant and held our hand through the process, which is what we needed.”

Nick Elliot and Clare Dawson, Coloplast Marketing Team

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Wienerberger

Shortlisted for B2B Marketing Award 2021 – Best Sales Enablement Initiative – winners to be announced Nov 21

The ability of our sales team to access and share engaging content with target customers quickly contributed to significant market share gains in 2020.”

Dan Cheung, Marketing Manager, Wienerberger

“Revenue Enablement is quite a new concept and it can be a long road. So here are four steps to consider when thinking about that journey:

“The Right Team – it goes without saying, but you really need people who are passionate about reaching the same end goal that you are and helping you manage change with your various stakeholders. It is critical that you have the right team behind you. 

“Planning your journey – how you want to get there is super important and it has an impact on a range of different things such as the items and tools that you end up selecting, but also the assets you develop – whether it’s videos or immersive experiences, it has a big impact, so you really need to plan that journey up front so you maximise your return on investment and your time.

“Experienced guides – I love working with people who make it enjoyable, who make it easy for me, I want to have the best possible experience of the partners that I choose to work with. Partners who bring real expertise and ongoing support.

“And finally it’s important that sales and marketing travel together – revenue enablement will not be a success without that alignment and collaboration between the marketing and the sales teams.”

Dan Cheung, Marketing Manager, Wienerberger

So what should you do now?

If these insights have piqued your interest and you’re keen to find out more take a look at our video demonstrating what your sales tool can feature.

At POP we work with our clients to develop interactive sales experiences that deliver on business objectives and create more opportunity for your sales teams to differentiate themselves from the competition and sell effectively. To find out more about the first steps in the process, read our recent blog about our Customer-First Blueprint®.

Or, perhaps you have a project in mind or just want to find out more, get in touch we’re always happy to have a chat to discuss the possibilities. Alternatively follow us on LinkedIn for our latest updates.