12 Types of Sales Enablement Content Your Team Needs

What is Sales Enablement Content?

Sales enablement content refers to the tools, documentation, and resources you provide to your sales team to help them be successful. It arms them with the knowledge and collateral needed to resonate with prospects, communicate value compellingly, and close deals. In today’s fast-paced selling environment, providing your team with well-crafted sales enablement materials is paramount for growth.

Types of Sales Enablement Content

Let's delve into 12 types of sales enablement content your team needs to excel, exploring what each encompasses, its benefits, and valuable tips for optimal utilization.

01. Customer Personas

Customer personas are profiles of your ideal customers, detailing pain points, goals, professional responsibilities, common sales objections, and other details that provide a better understanding of who your customers are and what they care about.

With this knowledge, sellers are better equipped to personalize their sales approach, share the right collateral, and improve their chances of closing. Clearly defined personas can also help sellers prioritize leads and cultivate a promising pipeline. Additionally, knowing your target personas also helps you customize other sales enablement content for maximum effectiveness. 

02. Sales Playbooks

Sales playbooks are comprehensive guides for your organization's sales process that contain scripts, objection-handling techniques, and closing strategies. Their benefits include standardizing the sales approach and enhancing consistency, as well as helping sellers navigate challenges during the sales process. To ensure your organization's sales playbook maintains its value over time, be sure to regularly update it based on real-world feedback from your sellers.

03. Blog Posts

As sales enablement content, articles published on your company's blog can serve as high-value references that can keep sales professionals up to date on things like industry news, use cases for your company's solutions, and information your target personas are interested in. They can also work as sales collateral that sellers can send to prospects to answer questions, showcase your company's thought leadership, or help support a business case for your product. 

04. eBooks and White Papers

eBooks and whitepapers are comprehensive resources about proprietary research, industry trends or predictions, or detailed analyses of an industry-relevant issue that's important to prospects. They can be leveraged in a way similar to blog posts – to educate sellers and/or help convince buyers. Additionally, by "gating" this high-value content behind a lead gen form on your website, eBooks and whitepapers can enable sales by feeding new prospects into the sales funnel.

05. Case Studies

Case studies are in-depth analyses of successful customer experiences. They provide specific details about the challenges faced, solutions provided, and results achieved in a succinct and digestible format. Reviewing case studies is a great way for sales professionals to familiarize themselves with the real-world applications for the solutions they're selling. Plus, sharing a case study that aligns with a prospect's pain points is a strong tactic for advancing the sale.

06. Testimonials

Testimonials are statements from satisfied customers, offering first-hand endorsements of your solutions and company. They instill confidence in prospects and provide social proof. Sellers can add testimonials to sales proposals, case studies, and presentation materials to enhance trust and showcase positive feedback from a variety of the prospect's peers.

07. Webinars

Webinars are live online events that engage prospects with real-time interaction and Q&A opportunities. Unlike a more traditional sales presentation, webinars are less of a "hard sell" and are more focused on showcasing the expertise of subject matter experts within the company and in-depth product capabilities. From a sales enablement standpoint, webinars can be a great lead gen and prospecting tool. Recorded webinars can also be sent to existing prospects as part of the sales process.

08. Product Demo Scripts

A product demo script and/or flowchart provides a structured guide for live product demonstrations, offering step-by-step instructions, optimizing the flow of the demo, and making sure that no key features are missed. They ensure consistency, improve communication of the product's value, and help sellers listen more effectively to customer feedback rather than trying to plot out the next stages of the demo. We recommend creating multiple demo scripts designed to address the specific needs of each of your target personas.

09. Sales Call Planners

Sales call planners are guides for phone conversations, covering opening statements, probing questions, objection handling, and transitioning into the next stages of the sale. They improve communication and help sellers stay on track during calls. To be effective pieces of sales enablement content, call planners should always be evolving based on the results of sales calls and which parts of the script were most effective.

10. Email Templates

Email is an efficient way for sales professionals to connect with many prospects simultaneously and stay in touch with leads as the sales cycle progresses. Like call scripts, email templates help sellers apply consistency and effective messaging while still being flexible enough that sellers can easily adapt the content to suit the unique needs of each lead, fostering meaningful and impactful interactions. Plus, by monitoring metrics like open, click-through, and response rates, you can identify the content that works best and continuously improve your templates.

11. Competitive Intelligence

Competitive intelligence, sometimes referred to as sales battlecards serves as a go-to reference whenever a prospect starts to bring up competitor offerings. They list out competitor strengths and weaknesses, key differentiators, and how their solutions compare to yours. Their benefits lie in equipping sales reps with competitive intelligence. Competitive intelligence should also cover the common buyer objections to any of your solution's competitive weaknesses and strategies for how sellers can address them, as well as how to best promote your solution's strengths.

12. Sales Training Materials

Sales training is a critical part of sales enablement. Because it helps sellers acquire new capabilities and hone existing skills, ongoing training is critical for supporting sales growth and the continuous improvement of team members. In addition to things like role-specific development, win/loss stories, and closing techniques, ensure that you have training materials covering how sales professionals can use your company's library of sales enablement content to their advantage.

Enable the Success of Your Sales Team

It may take a lot of time and research, but building these 12 types of sales enablement content will empower your team to navigate the complex sales landscape with confidence and competence. Regularly updating and tailoring these materials ensures your team stays ahead of the competition and consistently delivers value to your prospects.