Why Don’t Sales Reps Use Marketing Content to Sell More?
The age-old problem, ‘why sales reps don’t use marketing content?’
Sales reps don’t use marketing content because they don’t know how or it’s crap. After 25 years in sales and managing over 150 sales reps, I know what works to move sales through the sales cycle better.
The problem is grown more now than ever with remote workers and distributed networks. I can’t see the issue because we often wonder why we were paying $35
Sales reps often rely on personal relationships to close deals, but they could be using marketing content to attract potential customers and help with sales. Marketing content can be used to support sales representatives in their efforts.
For example, blog posts can show potential customers that the sales representative is an expert in the industry, case studies can show how the product has been successful for other customers, and infographics can be used to make complex information easy to understand.
If sales reps were to use marketing content in conjunction with their relationships, they would be able to close more deals in a shorter amount of time. So let’s get into the weeds on how sales and marketing work together
Why personal relationships are more important than marketing content for sales reps
There are several reasons why personal relationships are more important than marketing content for sales reps.
First, personal relationships provide a way for sales reps to build trust with potential customers. Potential customers are more likely to buy from someone they trust, and personal relationships help create that trust.
Second, personal relationships allow sales reps to learn about potential customers’ needs and wants. This information can be used to create marketing content specific to those customers’ needs.
Third, personal relationships allow sales reps to connect with potential customers on a more personal level. This connection can persuade potential customers to buy from the sales rep.
Fourth, personal relationships are more effective than marketing content at creating long-term customers. Customers who have a good experience with a sales representative are more likely to buy from that representative again.
While personal relationships are important for sales reps, marketing content can still be useful. Study through which medium are sales primarily conducted face-to-face telephone email and internet
It can help sales reps attract new customers, leading to personal relationships. It can keep long-term customers engaged and interested in the product.
By using both personal relationships and marketing content, sales reps can close more deals in a shorter amount of time.
Marketing content should be used in addition to personal relationships.
Sales reps should not rely on marketing content alone to close deals. Personal relationships are still important for sales representatives. How can marketing help sales needs to be asked?
However, by using marketing content and personal relationships, sales representatives can close more deals in a shorter amount of time.
Additionally, marketing content can help sales reps attract new customers and learn more about potential customers’ needs. Finally, using marketing content can keep long-term customers engaged with the product.
What is marketing content?
Marketing content is used to attract potential customers and help sales reps close deals. It can be used in several ways to support the efforts of sales representatives, such as blog posts, case studies, and infographics.
Using marketing content with personal relationships can lead to an increased chance of closing more deals in a shorter amount of time.
What types of marketing content are most effective for sales reps?
Sales reps need a variety of marketing content to help them close deals. This content can include blog posts, use cases, war stories, case studies, and infographics. Using different content, sales reps can attract new customers and learn more about potential customers’ needs. Marketing content can keep customers interested in the product.
The benefits of using marketing content to close deals
Marketing content is used to attract potential customers and help sales reps close deals.
It can be used in several ways to support the efforts of sales representatives, such as blog posts, case studies, and infographics. Using marketing content with personal relationships can lead to an increased chance of closing more deals in a shorter amount of time.
What types of marketing content are most effective for sales reps?
Sales reps need a variety of marketing content to help them close deals.
This content can include blog posts, use cases, war stories, case studies, and infographics.
Using different content, sales reps can attract new customers and learn more about potential customers’ needs.
Marketing content also can keep long-term customers interested in the product. Frameworks like PAS, BAB, and ADIA to drive interest.
Start Closing Deals Faster with a Provocation-based Selling
Three topics related to the hand-to-hand combat required for modern sales teams and executives to close deals. These topics have been covered before in our insights.
- What do you say to the ‘big dog’ to get them interested in your potential solution?
- What are the main priorities for marketing to support the field?
- How do you take account of the differing interests of the various target constituencies you must deal with in typical enterprise-level sales cycles?
What do you do with struggling salespeople or sales teams? It’s a problem vexing corporations and start-ups, sales managers, and CEOs. We learned how to use the hand-to-hand combat required for the B2B sales teams and executives to close deals.
It’s hard to know when to pull the trigger on removing underperforming sales reps when it could be that the staff just needs a little guidance, encouragement, or training to get back on track.
A little professional nudge in the right direction is a more economical choice over the time-consuming and expensive process of hiring replacement sales reps.
Many sales professionals would rather give their struggling salespeople a chance to improve and bring their results up to company standards. Your marketing content can educate and support the sales rep in all cycle parts.
The CMO must because resources help at every stage of the sales cycle. They will learn.
How to make marketing content easy for the sales reps to access
Making marketing content easy to access is essential for sales reps. By providing a variety of content types, sales reps can learn more about potential customers’ needs and attract new customers.
Marketing content should be easily accessible on all devices so that sales reps can access it anytime, anywhere.
How does HubSpot Marketing Hub enterprise make marketing content easy for the sales reps to access
Sales reps often don’t use marketing content because they believe it’s more important to focus on personal relationships.
However, if they were to use marketing content in conjunction with their personal relationships, they would be able to close more deals in a shorter amount of time.
This is where HubSpot Marketing Hub enterprise comes in, making marketing content easy for the sales reps to access.
With HubSpot Marketing Hub enterprise, sales reps can quickly and easily find the marketing content they need, focusing on their relationships with potential customers.
Additionally, HubSpot Marketing Hub enterprise provides sales reps with insights into how potential customers engage with their content to adjust their approach accordingly.
Ultimately, HubSpot Marketing Hub enterprise makes it easy for sales reps to use marketing content to attract potential customers and close deals.
Sales Rep Content Marketing Framework
When it comes to sales, it’s important to have a content marketing framework in place to reach your target audience effectively.
The Sales Rep Content Marketing Framework is a great tool for doing that. The framework provides sales reps with the necessary tools and resources to create and distribute content that will help them attract potential customers and close deals.
The framework consists of five steps:
- Identify your target market
- Understand your target market
- Create content that resonates with your target market
- Distribute your content
- Evaluate and adjust your strategy
Each step is important, as it helps sales reps create relevant and engaging content for their target market.
Additionally, the framework helps sales reps track their progress and measure the effectiveness of their content marketing strategy.
The Sales Rep Content Marketing Framework is a great tool for sales reps who want to use marketing content to attract potential customers and close deals.
Sales representatives have long been using personal relationships as their main weapon for selling their products or services.
And for a good reason: it works. However, many sales reps don’t realize that they can use marketing content to complement their relationships, which will help them close more deals in a shorter amount of time.
How marketing content can support sales reps in their efforts
To make this sales process work, the sales team needs significant marketing support in these four areas: introductions to line-of-business executives, provocation development and delivery, war stories, and diagnostics. Each requires a program to develop. Here are some key learnings:
- Introductions to line-of-business executives. This is the only lead generation program that matters. Be careful not to waste many resources on getting leads lower down in the organization. That tactic works for mature markets, not for emerging ones. Instead, the vendor should focus on getting the organization chart right, targeting the key individuals, and then working its executive network and contacts to find a way in. Treat the way in as a precious resource, and be sure the sales team is well prepared before you use it. Second chances are rare.
- Provocation development and delivery. This is a job for the brain trust. The sales team should have developed an industry-wide point of view on the key issue that is truly provocative. At the same time, research on each prospect, particularly a study of securities analysts’ reports, blog posts, news releases, and SEC documents, should provide additional material. The field cannot be expected to do all this without marketing support. I use several tools: LinkedIn, Datanyze, Buzzsumo, and HubSpot.
- War stories. This is a job for the salesforce. At every gathering, webinars, trade show, seminar, or the like, everyone in the sales team needs to interrogate customers, partners, even competitors about what is working, what is not, and who is trying what with what success or lack thereof. Marketing’s job is to read the blog posts, news articles, periodicals and comb the web for the same information. Sales and marketing should gather to capture and share war stories twice a year. Again, these are not customer references but customer anecdotes about the broken process they are suffering from. They are the mainstay of establishing credibility in executive conversations.
- Diagnostics. Marketing should work with the best minds in the organization to set out a template for a diagnostic specifically targeted at the problem being addressed. The field should be familiar with this template but should still call in the “A-Team” for top prospects, not because the field could not do the work but because we want to build deeper connections to the prospect team.
See why is it beneficial for a firm to coordinate its marketing and sales efforts? And how sales and marketing work together?
Target Job Titles
To sell a complex enterprise-wide solution or project to a large corporate or government customer, sales teams must inevitably target ‘C’ level executives during the sales process to be the key sponsors of any enterprise-critical investment, alongside the middle managers and others. They also play important roles in the relationship.
Furthermore, to align interests, it is important to consider the different roles that each constituency has in the decision process. Here are some general examples, each with their respective concerns and responsibilities:
- Chief Executive Officer (CEO): Ultimately responsible for the company’s competitiveness and success in the market, thus for strategic investment decisions. Normally delegates the vendor selection decision but uses trusted strategy advisers on key issues. It becomes more engaged in signing-off on key investments in difficult economic times.
- VP-level line-of-business executive (such as VPs of marketing, sales, operations, or engineering): Ultimately responsible for the effectiveness, efficiency, and integrity of their organization’s operations and results. May have strong vendor preferences in their area of expertise, related to which vendor best understands how to address their business problem. May or may not delegate the vendor selection decision.
- Chief Financial Officer (CFO): Ultimately responsible for the Return on Invested Capital and thus the funding decision. Normally participates in the vendor selection decision as a steering or investment committee member.
- Middle manager (in marketing programs, product lines, materials management, supply chain, regional sales, customer service, etc.): Ultimately responsible for managing the resources and projects under their direct authority, related to their primary functional goals. Has strong views about the productivity and efficiency of their department’s activities and tends to defer to IT specialists in their department or central IT function for IT product selections and investment decisions.
- Chief Information Officer: Ultimately responsible for information systems enterprise-wide. Cares about maintainability and compatibility with legacy systems. Has strong technology preferences relating to aspects such as architecture and scalability and strong ‘SLA’ preferences, which impact the vendor/product selection decision.
- Purchasing/procurement manager: Ultimately responsible for supplier selection, pricing, and sourcing decisions. Has strong views about pricing, discounts, and other terms and conditions that impact vendor and product selection.
- End-user (in any operational or administrative functions): Ultimately responsible for using technology to do their job more efficiently. Generally has strong views about feature/function/benefit attributes of offerings from technology vendors.
- IT Director for line-of-business: Ultimately responsible for installing, training, and supporting their user community. Cares about user satisfaction and productivity.
Conclusion – Why Sales Reps Don’t Use Marketing Content
Sales reps don’t use marketing content because they believe it’s more important to focus on personal relationships.
However, if they were to use marketing content in conjunction with their personal relationships, they would be able to close more deals in a shorter amount of time.
Using marketing content can help sales reps better understand their customers’ needs and align their interests with the company’s.
How Matrix Marketing Group can help with marketing content
Matrix Marketing Group is a content marketing agency that creates meaningful and relevant marketing content for your business.
Whether you’re looking to attract more customers, close more deals with existing customers or build your brand, our experts are here to help. If you don’t have an inbound marketing plan, we go way beyond inbound into a full-omnichannel approach.
Matrix Marketing Group helps create and curate the right message for conversion. We can develop, manage and distribute content using a variety of mediums, including web copywriting services, email marketing campaigns & social media posts, to understand the needs of your target audience and how they want to be interacted with accordingly.
Contact us today at 303-351-1645 or hello @ matrixmarketinggroup.com
General FAQs Why Sales Reps Don’t Use Marketing Content
Why is marketing content important for sales?
The answer to this question is that marketing content is important in sales because if a sales rep doesn’t have the right message, they won’t be able to close a deal. Marketing content can help sales reps better understand their customers’ needs and align their interests with the company’s. Additionally, marketing content can help sales reps attract potential customers and build relationships with existing customers.
How can Matrix Marketing Group help with marketing content?
Matrix Marketing Group helps create and curate the right message for conversion. We can develop, manage and distribute content using a variety of mediums, including web copywriting services, email marketing campaigns & social media posts, to understand the needs of your target audience and how they want to be interacted with accordingly.
Does your target audience want to be contacted differently based on their age or location?
No. A salesperson may not have the same degree of knowledge about different generations, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they will contact them differently. It is more important to focus on the individual and what they are looking for. Problem-centric content. Try PAS – problem, agiaite, and solution. That is what we do. Do you fill your tank with $5/gal because you like the price? Or need to go somewhere.
How can marketers create more relevant messages to increase engagement and conversion?
One of the best ways to create more relevant messages is to understand your target audience. Find out their interests, what kind of content they like to consume, and how they like to be contacted. Additionally, you can use marketing automation tools to help you send more relevant messages to your target audience.
