Sales Asset Management: The First Step Toward Sales Enablement

The most common question business owners ask themselves after being introduced to an inbuilt sales asset management system is, why doesn’t our CRM offer this? It seems logical to want to give your sales reps easy access to tools such as flyers, loops, product brochures, and more during the sales process, but for most sales teams, that isn’t happening.

Whether sales materials are scattered across various digital media management tools or still being shared via email, the result is organized chaos. In fact, the most commonly reported reason that sales reps give for failing to use sales materials is that what they have access to is irrelevant, outdated, or incorrect, and what they want is not easy to locate or not easy to send to their prospect.  

And while many businesses have seemingly found a way to survive without a proper asset management strategy, they’re failing to realize the amount of potential revenue they are leaving on the table each and every day. We’d love to help them understand that asset management systems play an enormous, yet often overlooked, role in determining the amount of revenue a team will be able to generate and explain why some leads that should’ve closed, didn’t. 

Asset Management Systems Streamline Storing and Sharing Data

A surprising number of interactions and communications occur during a modern-day sales journey. And during those interactions, a large amount of data and information is passed along or exchanged. The way asset management systems help is by reducing the instances where that data or information can be lost, mishandled, or misinterpreted. 

To put things in perspective, you have sales managers, sales reps, and prospects. The sales managers must collaborate with the marketing department to create and receive assets. They must also deliver administrative materials, coaching and training, and other important materials to every member of their sales team on a regular basis.

On the same note, sales reps communicate with their managers, share resources with their peers, and send sales materials to their prospects, in a timely manner and at times simultaneously. When time represents money, it becomes very clear how having a centralized system for sharing and storing assets is a vital part of improving your numbers. When you invest in removing delays, detours, and obstacles from the sales journey, you take pressure off of your sales team, and more leads get converted. 

Stop Wasting Time Searching for Files

If you’ve spent any amount of time in the sales industry, you’ll know first-hand how searching for files can be a daily source of frustration. With files coming and going in every direction and from so many different platforms, it’s becoming difficult to find the file you need in time, which can make or break a sale. A media management system can help you find the files you’re looking for by creating a centralized location where all your team’s important documents are stored.

That way, when someone needs to share a document for an upcoming pitch or meeting, they won’t have to waste valuable time searching through their inboxes or personal hard drives trying to find something relevant—they’ll know exactly where everything is at all times. Once your rep can easily find the file or information they’re looking for they can provide a quicker reply and answer a prospect more accurately. 

Aside from accessing data and information, asset management systems make it easy to sales managers to give members of their team administrative powers to maintain and update information as it is required. These allow them to update, change, or replace files.

While some CRMs (customer relationship management) and LRMs (lead relationship management) platforms offer some help with this process, they fall short of offering a complete solution. More robust LRMs provide additional functionalities designed specifically around managing the files and assets used during interactions across multiple channels, allowing access to important materials related to each one. 

This includes things like:

• Templates/Scripts
• Proposals/RFPs
• Logos/ Graphics
• Partnership Assets

This means that if someone needs access to any materials or assets, there will be no problem finding the most updated and accurate version since it’s already been organized within the system. 

Another benefit is that it makes it easy for your sales team members to collaborate on presentations and materials related to different types of content at once. This means more efficient workflows for everyone involved! Plus, having all this content in one place means there’s less chance for mistakes or miscommunications between departments.

Eliminate Email as a Way to Share Assets

Email is a terrible way to share assets. It’s slow, error-prone, and, now more than ever, risky. Email also doesn’t provide a permanent record of your files so if you lose them, they’re gone forever. In addition to that, there’s no guarantee that people will actually see what you’ve sent them via email—they might delete it without reading or it may end up in the wrong inbox.

Bottom line, if you’re still using email as your primary method for sharing assets with your team, customers, or prospects, a sales asset management system will revolutionize your process.

You might agree that building a better way for your team to share and manage sales materials isn’t a revolutionary idea, but it is a concept that very few systems actually deliver effectively. But when it is, it enhances every part of the sales process, from delivering presentations, collaborating with peers, sending over proposals, or even just saying, “thank you for your business”.

The most important factors are that your asset management system is always accessible to your team during the sales process, ideally as an integral part of your CRM or LRM, and not a separate tool that your sales reps have to fumble around with to use.

This means no more time wasted trying desperately (and probably unsuccessfully) to find that old email or searching through a thousand folders to find that one long-lost attachment you need.

All of these materials will be just a few clicks away—whether a rep is on a laptop in an airport or on a tablet during a coffee break—there won’t be any delay when it comes time to make an offer or respond to questions from a prospect. 

Manage your Assets from Anywhere

Building and maintaining a unified message in a multi-channel sales landscape is not a task you should take on alone. An inbuilt asset management system will help you manage, update, or replace assets with ease, regardless of the location or size of your team.

Plus, when an asset management system is in one central location, you can start to understand the benefits of organizing and tracking the use of each asset. Giving businesses direct guidance on which assets are driving sales, and which should be disposed of to save money. 

In 2022, there’s no reason not to take advantage of asset management, especially when it comes to a free feature on platforms.