If your company relies on a field sales team to drive growth and bring in revenue, then you’re probably making a big investment in content in hopes of improving customer engagement and sales.

Sadly, all of the collateral you’re spending time and money on is likely going unused because of how you’re serving it to your sales team.

Wasted collateral happens to the best of companies, and it all comes down to one major problem that most companies haven’t solved. What is the one giant hurdle between your sales team and your content? Accessibility.

Just because you create product spec sheets, case studies, and pitch decks and make them available to your sales reps in one central location, it doesn’t mean they can access these resources when they need them.

Let’s take a look at how a lack of accessibility might be keeping your sales team from using your content and what you can do about it.

Your Content Management System is Not Optimized for Field Sales

Because field sales teams move from site to site and interact with leads face-to-face, they can be particularly challenging to equip with content and sales tools.

Field sales reps need to be ready for any and all questions your prospect might have. If your sales reps are going to use content to answer questions or move conversations in the right direction, they need to be able to access content quickly and intuitively during sales conversations.

While you may think you’re providing your sales team with everything they need in an organized way with SharePoint, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox, field sales reps don’t have the time to go digging through files searching for the right collateral to put in front of the prospect. If they’re fumbling around looking for content, they look unprepared and they’re losing valuable time better spent connecting with leads.

Nothing halts a sales conversation like a sales rep that looks unprepared – and frankly – it’s embarrassing for your sales reps.

Most content hubs simply aren’t designed for field sales teams, and they only solve one sales enablement hurdle – siloed content.

The ideal sales enablement solution needs to go beyond putting your collateral in one place. It needs to push your content to your sales teams in real-time with an intuitive, easy-to-use interface.

Your Sales Reps Have to Rely on Slow, Unreliable Internet or No Wi-Fi Connections

On top of trying to engage in natural, relationship-building conversations with your prospects, your field sales reps often have to contend with spotty or no Wi-Fi connections available onsite.

Asking field sales reps to rely on the internet connections at your prospects’ business locations puts the sales team in a difficult position.

The lack of reliable internet access in the field can leave your sales reps empty-handed with no ability to retrieve or use the materials you’ve made available to them. They’re left with nothing to support the conversation or help them close the deal.

This scenario is not only embarrassing for your reps – it’s also a lost opportunity for them to be a valuable resource to your potential client, and it leads to lost sales.

Field sales reps should be supported with a sales enablement solution that gives them offline access to the most up-to-date content and selling tools.

Your Field Sales Reps Don’t Know Which Content to Use

You’ve probably put a lot of thought and effort into creating content for each stage of your buyer’s journey. After all, you know how effective it is to present a prospect with the right message at the right time.

But, do all of your sales reps know when to put a spec sheet in front of a buyer or present a demo of your product? Some will and some won’t. And, even the best sales reps could use a little assistance when the lead in front of them takes a left turn.

Plus, if you’re relying on your sales team to pull content, they’re likely missing valuable collateral.

Luckily, with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning growing more and more sophisticated, the best sales enablement technologies are able to suggest content to field reps in real-time to facilitate conversations.

Your Content Isn’t Working – But Your Reps Aren’t Saying Anything

If your sales team isn’t using your collateral, you need to know why. It’s the only way to adjust your content or course-correct if needed.

Field sales reps are the ones out there putting your content to the test, seeing what works and what doesn’t as they build relationships with prospects. They can give you invaluable feedback, but they may be too busy or choose not to for any number of reasons.

Plus, relying on anecdotal evidence can leave you with biased information that’s unhelpful at best.

To prove your content ROI, you need measurable data, including content usage and customer engagement metrics. Simply checking the content box and calling it good enough means missing opportunities and potentially wasting a lot of money.

The best sales enablement tools today capture actionable data to help your reps meet their sales goals and help your marketing team produce the most engaging content.

Use A Purpose-Built Technology to Promote Content Accessibility

Equipping your field sales team with effective collateral presents unique challenges. The last thing you want is your field sales reps out there hunting for the right information in file folders or left with nothing to show prospects because of unreliable Wi-Fi.

StorySlab is a modern, purpose-built technology that specifically addresses content accessibility challenges for field sales teams. The intuitive, easy-to-use platform pushes sales content to reps when and where they need it – on all of their devices – whether they’re online or offline.

With StorySlab, you get what you need to drive content use and customer engagement as well as the data you need to prove content ROI and plan for what comes next.

To learn more, book a demo with our team.