In today’s market, more and more is expected of sellers.
Just to function in their job they likely have to learn how to operate 5/6 different pieces of software, learn about one or more technical products that can be applied across multiple use cases and may integrate with multiple systems in the buyer’s existing tech stack
In addition, Sellers need to learn how to engage and nurture relationships with prospects that probably know more about the seller’s product and their competitors than the seller themselves.
Even when they have a good relationship with a prospect, it is unlikely to be with the person who makes the final decision. Instead, they need to initiate, nurture relationships with multiple stakeholders, some of which have no knowledge or experience of the solution being sold. Some stakeholders like Procurement or Legal operate on a totally different set of principles than the operational managers that are buying the product.
In short, the volume of knowledge that sellers are expected to absorb and apply is enormous.
At the same time, the pressure to get new sales professionals productive is increasing.
This means that locking new hires in a room for 4 weeks to learn what they need to know is not an option.
In this interview, we talk about how companies are approaching the challenge of enabling their sales teams by providing knowledge at the moment of need.
We interview Louis Jonckheere founder of Showpad, a leading sales enablement platform that helps sellers become more productive by providing knowledge and sales resources at the moment of need in the sales process.
Key Areas of Discussion with Louis:
- Why are sellers finding it harder and harder to have effective sales conversations?
- How technology is changing the role of the seller in the sale process?
- What salespeople need to know and be able to do to succeed in today’s marketplace
- What types of content are companies producing to help sellers at different stages of the sale process?
- How does a sales team balance personalisation with the volume of activity in today’s market
- How are companies building out an enablement strategy in a multi-product environment?
- How have you embedded a coaching culture within your organisation?
About Louis Jonckheere:
Louis is the co-founder and president of Showpad. Louis has always believed in making the most of technology when enabling sales. So when the iPad was created, Louis and his co-founder did not talk long to realise how it could transform the life of field sales reps.
Since then, Showpad has developed into one of the world’s leading revenue enablement platforms. Helping sales professionals improve the quality of conversations sellers have with clients by knowing what to say when.
Louis‘ Dream App:
Louis would love to create an AI powered sales assessment tool that would give sellers questions, answer or word tracks during live conversations with their clients.
How cool would that be to have a sales co-pilot helping you do, say the right thing at the right time!
The hard things about the hard things by Ben Horowitz, a fantastic book for founders to learn about the challenges they might face and the different ways to resolve those issues
Louis’ Favourite Box Set:
The Crown, a semi fictional series that dramatizes the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that have shaped her reign.
