Competition has always been a key factor in any business environment. It has become even more significant today, especially in the online market where barriers to entry have been reduced massively. To gain a competitive edge over your rivals, you need to have effective marketing and sales strategies.
While marketing focuses on branding, messaging, and demand generation, sales focus on lead qualification and upselling. It makes for a natural synergy that can be elusive when marketing and sales don’t work together. As such, it’s imperative that you teach your employees in both of these departments to work together, and that’s where a learning management system (LMS) comes into play.
LMS has the potential to help close that synergy by offering a platform for integrating and streamlining your online training efforts with your entire sales process.
Here’s how sales enablement software can boost your revenue:
1. Drive More Leads with Sales Training
According to McKinsey, companies lose out on nearly $300 billion every year due to a lack of sales training. Customers have become savvier and know precisely what they want. The market also has a lot of alternatives. As such, customers aren’t ready to sacrifice their experience when they can get better services elsewhere. This has forced companies to invest in innovative features. Therefore, integrating LMS into your operations will enhance your competitiveness in the market.
With the rise of online video, companies can use LMS to spread best practices at scale and reduce costly mistakes. It can help companies create a better customer experience, which will lead to more sales opportunities and revenue.
2. Increase Sales Productivity with LMS
Sales enablement software makes it easier for your team to manage data and other materials from a central location. This can boost productivity by getting your reps on the same page as much as possible. According to a report, the average sales rep only works on five to ten deals per year.
This is because of the lack of focus and misaligned priorities. Employees waste time scrambling from one call to the next rather than making activities repeatable and measuring results.
LMS can help by creating a culture of learning that instills discipline for reps to engage in daily training sessions before they head into their daily calls or meetings. There are even tools to track reps’ locations and activities to get instant notifications when it’s time to engage in training or meetings.
3. Build a Community of Trainers with LMS
LMS can also help build a community in your company dedicated to sharing knowledge and best practices. Sales teams want to know they can rely on one another for best practices.
LMS can capture information from your top reps and create opportunities to share it with their teammates – whether that’s reviewing new customer quotes, learning about a new product feature, or discussing creative ways to close more deals.
4. Leverage Unlimited Access with LMS
Learning doesn’t have to occur during office hours or even while you’re at work. The internet has changed the way people learn and made it easier for companies to provide training materials whenever a rep needs them. LMS can also give reps a path to advance their skills and career.
A Salesforce LMS can store training materials in one place, make them easily searchable by your team, and provide the ability to access the training whenever is most convenient for them.
Whether that’s through a desktop or mobile device, reps will find it easy to stay trained on new products and customer inquiries while on the go.
5. Create a Culture of Learning with LMS
LMS is about creating a culture that prioritizes learning and development at its core. Rather than waiting to learn new skills when required, employees should view training as something they need to do on their own time to advance their careers and help drive the business forward.
LMS can be a great tool to get employees engaged in the training process and reinforce a learning culture. Ensure your LMS is customizable, so reps from all over the company feel they have ownership within it.
6. Monitor Skills Development with LMS
LMS can help give managers insight into which skills their reps need to work on and what they’ve already mastered. Sales reps who know the ins and outs of your products will provide a better customer experience, which means more satisfied customers and increased revenue.
Your LMS should provide a graphical representation of this data so managers can make better decisions about training and development in the future.
7. Streamline Your Sales Process with LMS
LMS can also help streamline your sales process by making it easier for reps to access the information they need at any given point. Sales reps constantly deal with new customers and learn about their needs, which means they’re looking up information constantly.
Rather than having to go through several different sources – email, shared drives, customer portals – LMS can provide reps with instant access to information so they can give your customers the best possible experience.
8. Keep Skills Current with LMS
Training is crucial for sales reps, but it doesn’t stop when training sessions are over. Good reps will constantly be learning new skills and data points that can impact their performance on the job. This means they’ll need a dependable source for these updates.
As your company continues to grow and change, the skills you need in sales reps will evolve too. Your LMS should handle changes in products, needs in the industry, and anything else that comes up.
Wrapping Up
Investing in sales enablement software is one of the best decisions you can make for your business today. The best way to be competitive in this day and age is by taking advantage of modern innovations, and this advanced technology is one of them.
Ensure it’s easy for employees to submit requests or feedback through your platform, so it always stays up to date and relevant. In addition to giving reps instant access to information, an LMS can also be used as a platform for collaboration within your team. In the long run, you’ll be able to boost your team’s productivity, which has a direct impact on your company’s revenue generation.
