Every sales and marketing team needs documents and collateral in order to do its jobs effectively. These days, collateral includes videos, PDFs, HTML files, images, and other new types of data.
Managing all of these documents and files the old-fashioned way—i.e., using a combination of email, random Dropbox and Google Drive accounts, and local storage—is a massive headache.
Not only does this level of document control lend itself to errors (e.g., using the wrong version of a file), but it also makes it incredibly difficult for salespeople to find the information they’re looking for with any sense of urgency. In fact, one recent study found that the average worker spends as much as 2½ hours looking for information every day!
Luckily, there’s a better approach: document management software. With a robust document management software solution in place, your sales team can find the right documents quickly, intuitively, and efficiently. Not only does this make their jobs easier, but it also enables your organization to enjoy better business outcomes.
What are the primary benefits of document management software?
If your organization doesn’t have a modern document management system in place, it’s impossible for your sales team to reach its full potential. Not only will they waste time searching for documents unnecessarily, but they are also more likely to pitch using outdated collateral, which could either confuse prospects or give them the wrong information.
Depending on the industry, there could be significant implications of using an old version of collateral to sell something. For example, in the healthcare and life sciences industry, outdated versions could provide incorrect or outdated information. Sales reps could end up handing a doctor documents that no longer comply with regulatory guidelines. In turn, they might make medical decisions based on inaccurate information, and your organization could suffer because of it.
Luckily, document management software solves all of these problems. But the benefits of the technology don’t stop there. Here are five primary reasons why more and more organizations are investing in modern document management solutions.
1. Centralized Management
If you’ve ever needed to find a file and couldn’t, you know how frustrating the experience can be. You hop from one repository to the next, hoping you’ll eventually stumble upon what you’re looking for. The longer it takes, the more frustrating the experience becomes. Before you blow a gasket, you enlist the services of a teammate to see if they know where you should look. Fingers crossed they do. Otherwise, the search continues.
This scenario is more common than you might think. Luckily, it’s an easily solvable one. Modern document management software solutions give organizations like yours a central repository that all team members can use to store and access the files they need to do their jobs every day. With the right solution in place, your team will be able to reclaim a ton of time each week, and they also won’t have to waste their colleagues’ time asking for help finding something.
In addition to increasing team productivity, this also improves employee morale by ensuring salespeople don’t get frustrated during endless searches for documents.
2. Content Control of Documents
Getting the best sales results possible starts with ensuring your team is using the right collateral that’s proven to be most effective every time they engage with prospects and clients.
Document management software can help here too. With the right solution in place, you can keep proprietary control of sensitive documents while making sure content can be revoked from the field and deleted when devices are lost or when an employee leaves the company.
If your company has distributors or independent contractors representing your products, you need to have the ability to control your sensitive content wherever it is, and a DMS solution gives you that capability.
Also, you will want to limit what reps can do with sensitive files, such as not allowing files to be emailed, printed, or downloaded. A good content control platform will provide these features and more.
3. Version Control for Sales Usage
Without a centralized document management system in place, sales teams will struggle with version control issues. Most sales collateral is a work in progress. After all, markets change, products evolve, and consumer sentiments shift.
Pitching from outdated documentation can cause problems from a branding and compliance perspective. For example, maybe you’ve recently overhauled your organization’s branding, and a prospect sees documents that reflect both the old and the new style. This wouldn’t exactly inspire the most confidence in your organization.
At the same time, when salespeople use outdated information to engage clients, there’s a chance that compliance problems may materialize too. For example, a salesperson might pitch using content that has expired or outdated information. What happens if the prospect relies on it?
If your goal is closing as many deals as possible, you need to make sure your team is using the most up-to-date documentation and collateral you have in place. It’s that simple.
Leading document management solutions enable you to ensure your team is always using the right version with push notifications that track who has your content in the field, when they are using it, and which version they are using.
4. Budget Management
Organizations invest a lot of money in creating and updating marketing and sales materials. While these investments are no doubt worthwhile, no company wants to spend money building the same thing more than once.
Without a centralized document management system, it’s impossible to understand the status and usefulness of all of the collateral your company has at any given time. This leads to duplicative work and unnecessary creative expenditures.
Document management solutions solve this problem by giving your organization a bird’s-eye view of all the collateral you have under your roof at any point in time. This enables you to focus on the most pressing content needs you have.
5. Ease of Access
Think of a document management solution like a manageable digital content library that’s accessible from anywhere.
Rather than searching in vain for documents and collateral, your sales team can access this library from any device. At the same time, the marketing team can also distribute new materials to salespeople rapidly—even when they’re on the road.
Bottom line? By increasing the ease of access to all documents, the sales team always has the collateral they need to get the job done.
Are you ready to invest in document management software?
If your organization is still taking an ad hoc approach to document management, it’s time to reconsider the way you do things.
Stop relying on a decentralized system that has been in place for years, a system that makes work stressful and confusing while preventing your organization from getting to the next level.
By investing in a document management solution, your company gains instant access to a centralized repository that houses all of your documents. You’ll also be able to make sure your team is always using up-to-date, compliant collateral that contains relevant information and has current branding.
At the same time, document management systems enable you to stretch out your budget further, ensuring you don’t waste valuable marketing dollars on duplicate work. As a bonus, your sales team will be able to easily access the documents they need from any device, increasing their productivity whether they’re in the office or out in the field.
Keep in mind that today’s technology is designed to make life easier for you and your business. Leading solutions are easy to deploy, and, in most cases, your IT team won’t have to devote any resources to getting up and running; that’s all taken care of by the vendor.
Are you ready to bring your document management system into the modern era and start reaping the benefits right away? Demo vablet today to learn more about the easiest way to transform your approach to document management.
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