Document management is a critical aspect of sales and marketing initiatives. When it’s ineffective or doesn’t follow a process, it can lead to higher costs, wasted time, noncompliance, and general frustration. This can erode productivity and cause friction between sales and marketing. Thus, it’s not something you want to ignore or implement inconsistently.
Let’s break down the common mistakes of document management within sales enablement and how to avoid them.
1. You’re failing to centralize document management.
Think about digital document management the same way you would hard copies. If what you need to use every day was in 10 different file cabinets scattered throughout your organization, you would feel like you were running around all day looking for what you need.
The same concept applies when documents and content live in multiple digital places. You aren’t running with your feet but instead with your mouse. If there’s no centralization, there’s also no governance. That means if you find what you need, you might not be confident it’s the latest and greatest version.
Such a scenario is frustrating for sales teams. They already have full plates with time-consuming activities. They don’t need one more thing to drain their productivity.
In addition to this chaos, not centralizing can also be a hidden cost of document management if you’re paying for numerous file-sharing platforms.
How to avoid it:
- Make your sales enablement platform the single source of truth and ensure that it can house all different file types, including rich media.
- Put controls around content to ensure the correct versions of documents are in use.
- Organize your content in the system in a way that makes sense for users. It should also have search functionality.
2. Team members have problems accessing documents.
If you store documents in different places, then sales reps need multiple logins, links, and so on. There may be permission issues that trip them up. Additionally, they’re only able to retrieve documents while online.
When there are barriers to access, users may begin to download versions and keep them on their physical computers. This can be troublesome for several reasons. First, they may not be using the approved version. Second, items on a physical computer can be accessed by unauthorized people, modified, or even stolen, which could mean a risk to your intellectual property.
How to avoid it:
- Use a system that has permission controls so that each person can access what they need.
- Opt for a sales enablement platform that works online and offline.
- Deploy a platform that “pushes” content to the right users, so they don’t have to look for it. Such a system organizes it for sales reps, so they always have it with them, no matter the device.
3. You’re using multiple systems depending on the type of content, which creates complexity.
Sales and marketing teams develop and use many types of content: product information, presentations, content marketing materials, rich media, and training. Organizations often think they need to keep it segmented. They keep training in a learning management system, marketing content on a shared drive, and video in a special repository. That’s not sustainable at scale and can be expensive.
With this complex system, consider how hard it is to onboard new employees. They’ll need a cheat sheet to find content to help them do their job.
How to avoid it:
- Rethink how you organize sales enablement content so it can coexist in one hub.
- Educate your teams on where each type of content lives in the platform.
- Ensure new hires have one place to find all their onboarding materials, so they aren’t overwhelmed on day one.
4. You aren’t tracking document expiration.
In highly regulated industries, compliance is a key part of content. It needs the correct
disclosures and notations; otherwise, you could suffer a noncompliance fine. If you can’t track this automatically, then you may be relying on spreadsheets or other inefficient means that are open to the risk of being forgotten.
How to avoid it:
- Implement a platform that has these controls in place so that marketing doesn’t forget to make updates, which could put sales in peril.
- Define updating of these documents into a simple process, including users receiving notifications when this happens.
5. You’re losing out on insights from content analytics.
If your documents live in standard repositories, you’re not collecting any data on their usage. While tools such as Dropbox or Google Drive can manage multiple formats and organize, they don’t have any analytics features. These tools are clunky, aren’t a sales solution, and anyone with access to them can delete a file.
You could be missing out on valuable information for both marketing and sales to understand what’s resonating with buyers.
How to avoid it:
- Put a sales enablement platform in place that tracks content usage and provides analytics on what people viewed and for how long.
6. Your sales and marketing teams aren’t in alignment.
One of the biggest threats to effective document management is a lack of sales and marketing alignment. The teams are at odds about what should go where, and problems continue to arise.
Sales may think it’s solely the responsibility of marketing, while marketing says sales reps don’t follow the rules. The reality is that both groups should work together to have a streamlined document process that serves all needs.
How to avoid it:
- Cultivate trust and respect between the two groups by collaborating on a document management strategy.
- Make sure all stakeholders voice their ideas and concerns before determining how it will work.
- Ensure sales and marketing are comfortable with the new process and adopt it with regular communication and conversations.
What do your teams gain with sales enablement software with document management at its core?
The best way to avoid the most common document management mistakes is to employ a sales enablement platform that delivers functionality and features in one system. With vablet, you can enjoy:
- Centralization and searchability
- Accessibility from anywhere on any device
- Push functionality that enables users to get the right content in a convenient way
- Ability to track and measure content usage
- Controls for compliance
- Features for notifications, search, and more
You can learn more about the power of sales enablement software by downloading our e-book, Secrets Revealed: How Marketing Can Help Increase Sales Using a Sales Enablement Platform.
After reviewing, you can experience all of vablet’s capabilities by requesting a demo.
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