After navigating challenges brought on by the pandemic, manufacturing companies are now dealing with concerns surrounding inflation, signaling the potential for uncertainty moving forward. According to a Deloitte outlook survey of manufacturing executives, 72% of respondents believe the persistent shortage of critical materials and the ongoing supply chain disruptions present the biggest uncertainties for the industry in the coming year.
The attraction and retention of talent also present significant challenges for the industry. In the survey, Deloitte found that one-in-three executives listed retaining high-performing employees as a strategic priority for 2023.
In times like these, it’s more important than ever for manufacturers to focus on their people, technologies, and processes to ensure that their organizations can execute their sales strategy and go to market quickly and efficiently.
Sales enablement is just one of the technologies manufacturers can invest in. This can help them train new hires, upskill existing talent, and ensure that their sellers are prepared to deliver personalized experiences in a highly competitive landscape.
How manufacturers go to market
Today, sellers are being asked to manage more and unique products, service teams are strained, and marketing has little visibility or data about activities in the field. This slows down the sales process and decreases overall efficiency.
But there are ways to make the go-to-market process smoother. Sales enablement software like Seismic frees up time for manufacturing sellers so they can spend more time with their customers. Content management and automation capabilities allow sellers to personalize engagements for each individual buyer while simplifying access to content where and when they need it.
Never stop growing.
Sales enablement fuels manufacturing sales engines
When content is stored in different locations, it’s difficult for sellers to create meaningful buyer engagements. Searching for content across different repositories means less time spent selling. It also means that the content that sellers share may be inaccurate, outdated, or lacking personalization. Sales enablement helps manufacturing sales organizations overcome these challenges by helping sellers:
- Find the right content at the right time
- Personalize content at scale
- Ensure version control
- Deliver continuous training and coaching to sellers
These are just a few of the ways sales enablement helps manufacturing companies mitigate business challenges.
1. Retain and upskill talent with continuous learning
Training and coaching don’t stop once a new hire is onboarded. Continuous learning opportunities are the cornerstone of a thriving workforce. Sales enablement software that includes employee training provides teams and individuals access to the learning materials they need when they need them. It also helps organizations continuously invest in their existing talent and provide opportunities for them to grow within their current or new roles.
2. Increase customer engagement with personalized content
Buyers and channel partners have become accustomed to receiving unique content in their personal lives, such as through Google, Amazon, and Netflix. Now, they are also demanding the same personalized experiences from suppliers and partners through value-added solutions and customized information. The right tools let you delight the customer with personalized sales collateral that can be built with the click of a button and distribute only relevant content across geographies, business units, and sales teams.
3. Maximize sales and marketing efficiency enterprise-wide with automated content generation
In matrixed organizations like manufacturers, it’s easy to lose track of the core value proposition and a single source of content truth. Your go-to-market sales engagement platform should automatically surface approved content when and where the seller needs it. This gives sellers more time to sell effectively, unifies the message, and reduces risk across the organization.
4. Quantify the ROI of sales materials with data and analytics
Without a clear view of how content is performing in the field, manufacturing companies risk reinforcing messages that don’t resonate with target customers. Sales enablement technology lets you gain visibility to your content’s impact on business results, easily audit the content library and justify marketing budgets based on real-time content-performance feedback.
Build a brighter future with sales enablement
When sellers have access to the right tools and technology to do their jobs effectively, they stay longer and deliver more revenue. In a time of uncertainty, it’s more important than ever to have confidence in the way your sellers go to market. Sales enablement helps by helping sellers develop the skills they need to effectively engage buyers while ensuring they have access to the right personalized content when they need it. If your organization would like to learn more about how it can build together with Seismic, get a demo.
