(Spoilers Ahead – If you are caught up on Season 7, read on!)
Game of Thrones season is upon us, and Winter is finally here, and the Night King is proving to be a dominant force to be reckoned with. But it’s not simply through his mystical powers that he and his Army of the Dead are such a well-oiled machine—it’s through practices also used by highly effective sales teams.
Preparation
While his competitors are busy with internal unrest, the Night King and his Army of the Dead focus solely on their primary goal—complete domination—all while staying well prepared and ready to execute. The Night King leverages a central hub in the Land of Always Winter to align with his army and hone their skills, like walking in a slow-but-ominous manner, screeching incessantly, and spear throwing. Through their preparation, the team can execute when a big, dragon-sized opportunity presents itself.
Similarly, a highly effective sales team leverages tools that ensure they’re fully prepared to engage with prospects and clients when opportunities arise. They have a central source to stay up to speed on the latest internal developments and product innovations, company and industry trends—while being able to quickly access content with precise and relevant messaging. When they are face-to-face with a dragon-sized prospect or client, they are more than prepared.
Consistency
No White Walker or Wight is the same—just like no salesperson is the same. But the Night King knows he has the best brand in Westeros (icy blue eyes) and he ensures that every team member remains on-brand and consistent in their engagement. This way, the Army of the Dead has brand integrity and consistency for effective outreach (eliminating humans).
Sales teams can ensure that same uniformity with a sales enablement platform, knowing that every piece of content is glowing with fully on-brand and approved messaging whenever they engage with a prospect or client. This way there is no internal confusion or external scrutiny, and sellers aren’t thrown through a Moon Door trying to create content themselves.
Efficiency
The Night King is a simple man with simple dreams. In effect, it’s no surprise that he understands how to strategically expedite. Instead of manually turning each fallen Wildling and Crow into a Wight, The Night King leverages a powerful, tried and true tool (his arms) to turn them all into blue-eyed beauties. Were he to fail in leveraging his most efficient assets, Jon Snow, Daenerys and his largest competitors would send him packing.
Similarly, sales teams with the right sales enablement strategy can eliminate manual efforts, such as developing, updating and personalizing materials, enabling them to outcompete by spending more time with clients and prospects. They won’t slow Marketing down with ad-hoc requests, and they will have access to marketing approved, self-created client materials. This ensures the Sales team can all be blue-eyed, deal-closing beauties.
Innovation
The Night King knows that barriers like The Wall cannot be surpassed on a whim, and he must constantly be innovating for his team to push toward his long-term goal (world domination, eradication of sunburns, etc.). He understands that adopting an innovative, powerful asset like a giant ice dragon can be the difference between winning and losing to the competition. With this innovation, the Night King can eliminate the barriers that hold the door to his victory.
Of course, sales teams can’t necessarily utilize a giant ice dragon to break down the walls between themselves and Marketing and close deals. But sales enablement may be able to help.
With sales enablement, sellers can work in perfect unison with Marketing during every stage in the sales cycle, fully equipped with the right content at the right time. They move swiftly down the path to close with recommended content that speaks directly to a buyer’s direct needs—and don’t need to waste time climbing giant ice barriers like searching for and creating content themselves.
Winter is here
Winter is here in Game of Thrones, but it’s also arrived for modern sales organizations. Leading sales and marketing teams know that “when the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.”
By collaborating though a sales enablement platform, Sales and Marketing can work together to put an end to the storm for good.
