B2B Sales Enablement Content: What, Why, How Answered [+ Examples]

Shreelekha Singh
September 22, 2023
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77% of B2B buyers agree that the buying process has become more complex and difficult than ever before. Let that sink in. 

When buyers are struggling to make purchase decisions, you can rely on traditional sales tactics to close deals. 

You need to act as experienced guides, helping prospects navigate the complicated journey of buying new software. That’s where a sales enablement setup can work wonders.

In this article, we talk about the role of sales enablement for B2B teams and how you can create compelling sales enablement content to win over your buyers.

What is B2B sales enablement?

B2B sales enablement refers to the strategies, tools, and processes that empower sales teams in business-to-business organizations to sell more effectively and efficiently, by providing them with the necessary resources, content, and training to engage with potential business clients and close deals successfully.

B2B sales enablement content
Source: Highspot 

The role of sales enablement content for B2B sales 

In a B2B organization, the buying process is often intricate, involving multiple decision-makers and a longer sales cycle. Sales enablement content plays a pivotal role in this context. 

By creating content in various formats – be it case studies, whitepapers, videos, or interactive presentations – sales teams can cater to the diverse preferences and informational needs of their potential clients. 

Different formats can address different stages of the buying journey, ensuring that prospects receive the right information at the right time. 

What’s more, varied content types can resonate differently with stakeholders, allowing sales reps to tailor their approach based on the audience. 

This tailored approach not only positions the sales rep as a trusted advisor but also facilitates a deeper understanding of the product or solution, ultimately leading to more informed decisions by the buyer and a higher likelihood of closing the deal.

6 reasons why you *should* create B2B sales enablement content

Creating sales enablement content can be a time-consuming process. Not just that, it requires you to set up a dedicated enablement team to oversee the entire process from start to finish. Not sure if all this is worth your time and resources? 

Here are six key benefits you can get from investing in sales enablement resources:

  • Improve buyer engagement through tailored content: When content is customized to the specific needs and interests of the buyer, it captures their attention more effectively, leading to deeper interactions and a stronger connection with the brand.
  • Enhance the effectiveness of your sales pitches: Targeted collateral ensures that sales representatives are equipped with the most relevant and impactful materials, making their presentations more compelling and resonating directly with the buyer's needs.
  • Shorten your sales cycle time: Address potential objections upfront and allow sales teams to preemptively tackle concerns or questions that buyers might have, reducing the back-and-forth and accelerating the decision-making process.
  • Build better alignment between marketing and sales: Keep both teams on the same page regarding the company's messaging, goals, and target audience, leading to a more cohesive and effective sales strategy.
  • Streamline sales workflows: Give your sales team meaningful insights with access to data-driven content, sales reps can better understand their prospects, making their approach more strategic and reducing unnecessary steps in the sales process.
  • Drive higher conversion rates: Target specific pain points through your content to speak directly to your prospects’ challenges and needs. Use this content to make your solution more appealing and ramp up your conversion rate.

14 types of sales enablement collateral to create

There’s no one-size-fits-all formula to creating B2B sales enablement content. If it’s your first time creating this content, you can experiment with multiple formats. According to HubSpot’s research, these are the most popular formats of sales enablement content.

 

Sales enablement content formats

Below we’ll break down the 14 different content types you can create based on your ICP:

1. Case studies

These are in-depth narratives that detail a company's solution to a specific client's challenge and the results achieved. By showcasing real-world applications and outcomes, case studies provide tangible evidence of a product's value, helping to build trust and credibility with potential buyers.

B2B sales enablement content example
Source: Belkins

2. Product datasheets

These documents offer a comprehensive overview of a product's specifications, features, and benefits. By providing a clear and concise reference, datasheets enable sales reps and prospects to quickly grasp the product's capabilities, streamlining discussions and reinforcing key selling points.

3. Sales playbooks

These are structured guides that outline the sales process, from lead generation to closing. They provide sales reps with best practices, scripts, and strategies tailored to different scenarios, ensuring a consistent and effective approach to selling.

4. Pricing guides

These provide a transparent breakdown of product or service costs, including any tiered pricing or package options. By addressing pricing upfront, sales reps can handle cost-related objections more confidently and help prospects understand the value proposition.

Sales enablement content type
Source: Figma Cost Calculator 

5. FAQ sheets

A compilation of frequently asked questions and their answers, FAQ sheets preemptively address common concerns and queries. This not only streamlines the sales conversation but also positions the sales rep as knowledgeable and prepared.

6. Buyer personas

Detailed profiles of target customers, including their demographics, needs, challenges, and buying behaviors. By understanding their audience deeply, sales reps can tailor their pitches more effectively, resonating with the specific pain points and needs of each prospect.

B2B sales enablement content examples
Source: T2D3

7. Testimonials 

Authentic endorsements from satisfied clients or customers, testimonials act as social proof. They highlight positive experiences and outcomes, reinforcing the product's value and building trust with prospects.

8. ROI calculators

Interactive tools that allow prospects to input data and estimate the potential return on investment from using a product or service. By providing quantifiable metrics, ROI calculators help justify the purchase decision and highlight the product's value.

Sales enablement ROI calculator
Source: HubSpot

9. Demo recordings

Pre-recorded sessions showcasing the product in action. They offer flexibility to prospects, allowing them to view the demo at their convenience, and ensure a consistent presentation of the product's features.

10. Product demos 

Live or animated showcases of a product's functionality and benefits. These interactive demos simplify complex features, making your product more accessible and engaging to prospects.

11. Email templates

Ready-to-use email formats tailored to various sales scenarios. They ensure consistent messaging, save time for sales reps, and provide a structured approach to communication throughout the sales journey.

12. Presentation decks

Slide-based content that can include company overviews, product benefits, testimonials, and more. They offer a structured and visually appealing way to convey information, ensuring that sales pitches are comprehensive and engaging.

13. Competitive battle cards

Concise documents that compare a product or service to its competitors. They arm sales reps with counterarguments and unique selling propositions, enabling them to handle competitive objections confidently.

Competitive battle cards
Source: Floik

14. Discovery call checklists

Structured lists of essential questions and topics to address during initial interactions with prospects. They ensure that sales reps gather all the necessary information to understand the prospect's needs and tailor subsequent discussions effectively.

B2B sales discovery call checklist
Source: Better Proposals

How to create B2B sales enablement content: An actionable guide

Ready to create winning content for sales enablement? Here are six steps to hit the ground running:

1. Understand your target audience and market dynamics

Gaining a deep understanding of your target audience and market dynamics is a good starting point for your content creation process. This foundational knowledge will help you speak your buyers’ language and create content that resonates with them. 

Understanding market dynamics also allows you to anticipate shifts in demand and emerging trends to keep your content timely and relevant.

So, connect with your frontline sales reps to get firsthand insights into buyer queries, objections, and feedback. Combine these insights with customer feedback to learn more about what your audience values and expects from your content.

You can also use data analytics tools to track and analyze customer behavior on your website, social media platforms, and other digital touchpoints. This data can reveal preferences and areas of interest to tailor your content more effectively.

2. Engage in collaborative efforts for richer insights

Collaboration is key for producing impactful sales enablement content. By pooling knowledge from various sources, especially those on the front lines of customer interaction, you can create content that addresses real-world challenges. 

Your sales reps’ firsthand experiences can help you accurately identify your ICP’s:

  • Challenges
  • Objections
  • Concerns 

So, regularly schedule meetings or workshops with your sales team to discuss their observations on these aspects. More importantly, collect their feedback on the content they find most useful.

Cultivate a culture where feedback from sales teams is encouraged and considered a vital step in the content creation process. You can set up dedicated channels for feedback, recognize valuable insights, and showcase how feedback has been implemented in new content.

You can further enhance the quality of your sales enablement content by collaborating with industry experts. This collaboration can elevate the credibility and depth of your content to make it a valuable resource for both your sales team and potential clients.

3. Craft content that resonates and engages

The goal of every B2B sales enablement content asset is to engage your prospects and guide them through the buying journey. Here are a few best practices to ensure your message hits home in every content piece:

  • Maintain consistency: Keep the messaging, tone, and branding consistent across all sales enablement materials. This reinforces your brand identity and brings uniformity in all the information going through multiple sales reps.
  • Prioritize clarity and brevity: While it's essential to be thorough in your messaging, it's equally important to convey your points concisely. Avoid jargon and keep your content reader-friendly with plain language.
  • Update regularly: In the fast-paced world of SaaS, products and market dynamics evolve quickly. So, focus on regularly reviewing and updating your sales enablement content to keep it relevant and accurate.
  • Use interactive elements: Tools like quizzes, calculators, or interactive product demos can engage prospects actively and make them more invested in your brand. 

Whether you want to make sales outreach videos or create personalized, self-serve demos, Floik can be your ultimate sidekick for producing sales enablement content. 

You can use Floik to create:

  • Introductory videos to pitch new prospects
  • Objection handling videos to answer questions
  • Interactive demos to gain your prospects’ attention
  • How-to guides to explain any aspect of your product
  • Sales leave-behinds to proactively communicate after a demo

We purpose-built Floik for SaaS teams to give their products the spotlight it deserves and effectively engage prospects both before and after purchase. Here’s a quick look at an interactive product demo made with Floik:

 

Floik CTA

4. Continuously optimize content based on performance metrics

There’s no set-and-forget approach to producing B2B sales enablement content. You have to constantly review and optimize these materials to best meet your sales reps’ needs and align it with your prospects’ expectations. 

Tracking performance metrics can give you a fair idea of which content asset needs a revamp and which one you should use more often. You can track KPIs like page views, time spent on content, click-through rates, conversion rates, etc. to find which content is clicking the most with your prospects. 

You can also improve performance by conducting A/B tests before rolling out a resource. Ideally, you can create two or more versions of a content piece and test which version performs the best among your audience. 

This split testing method will set you up for success from the start and maximize ROI. It’ll also reveal opportunities to refine your content and make it more engaging. 

💡Pro tip: Optimize your sales enablement content for mobile viewing. Make sure the graphics are clear, text is readable, and interactive elements function smoothly on smaller screens. 

5. Maintain a consistent brand voice and ensure easy content accessibility

When you’re selling to discerning B2B buyers, it's not just about what you say, but how you say it. 

A consistent brand voice reinforces your brand identity, builds trust, and delivers uniform messaging across all touchpoints. It also cultivates strong brand recall since users would naturally identify your brand when they come across familiar messaging. 

You can build this consistency by creating brand voice guidelines. Take inspiration from this example of brand guidelines by Zendesk with details about their brand attributes, voice, logo, typography, style, etc.

Zendesk brand guidelines

Moreover, for sales enablement content to be effective, it needs to be easily accessible to your sales team. They should be able to quickly find and utilize the right content at the right time, ensuring that their interactions with prospects are timely, relevant, and impactful.

Create a centralized content repository to store all sales enablement materials. You can organize content by categories or tags, such as product type, sales funnel stage, or content format. 

Remember to regularly update this repository and ensure that the sales team is trained on how to navigate and retrieve content efficiently.

6. Invest in regular training and repurpose + update content

Sales enablement content is only as effective as the sales team's ability to use it strategically. That’s why you need to conduct regular training sessions to make your team well-versed with the latest content and understand its relevance. 

Besides keeping the sales team in the loop of all new content, you should also focus on repurposing high-impact resources across various platforms and formats. This can maximize its reach and deliver a consistent message to appeal to your prospects across all touchpoints.

Here’s a list of some actionable tips to accomplish this:

  • Use a mix of workshops, webinars, and hands-on demonstrations for training.
  • Gather feedback from sales teams, customers, and other stakeholders.
  • Update content to reflect current market conditions and challenges.
  • Identify content that performs exceptionally well in terms of engagement and results.
  • Consider adapting this content for different platforms, such as social media, blogs, webinars, etc.

Who creates sales enablement content? 

Now that we’ve answered what and how about B2B sales enablement content, let’s get to the bigger question: who creates sales enablement content?

This content is typically created with a collaborative effort involving multiple departments within an organization. Here's a breakdown of the key players involved in the creation of sales enablement content:

Marketing

They are often the primary creators of sales enablement content, given their expertise in content creation, branding, and messaging. They produce materials like brochures, whitepapers, case studies, and videos that align with the company's branding and messaging.

Sales

While they might not always be the primary content creators, their insights are invaluable. They provide feedback on what content is needed, what's working, and what's not.

They might also create specific materials like sales scripts, email templates, and pitch decks tailored to specific prospects or situations.

Product

They provide in-depth information about product features, benefits, and updates. This team can help create product datasheets, FAQs, and technical specifications.

Customer success

Their interactions with customers give them insights into common questions, challenges, and feedback. They can contribute to FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and other content that addresses post-sale customer interactions.

External contributors

Sometimes, organizations collaborate with industry experts, thought leaders, or external agencies to create specialized content. This can include guest blog posts, webinars, or co-authored research reports.

Empower sales to close more deals strategically

B2B sales enablement content is not just about producing materials; it's about crafting strategic assets that empower sales teams to close deals efficiently. 

Your sales reps need tailored content that addresses specific buyer pain points to showcase unique value propositions and streamline the sales cycle. So, use our playbook to create high-impact enablement content to support your sales team and delight buyers at every stage. 

Sign up on Floik to get started with the content creation process quickly.