{"id":7356,"date":"2019-08-12T16:53:04","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T23:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zightwebprd.wpengine.com\/sales-enablement-tools\/"},"modified":"2023-07-29T13:08:19","modified_gmt":"2023-07-29T20:08:19","slug":"sales-enablement-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zight.com\/blog\/sales-enablement-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"16 Sales Enablement Tools for Winning Deals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
If sales enablement<\/a> is the process of helping salespeople sell better\u2026Then sales enablement tools are the execution of that process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These tools provide a repository of easily accessible marketing collateral and playbooks they can use at certain points in the sales cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They give salespeople the ability to create and build enablement-focused content quickly using screenshots, video captures, and recordings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And they enable your sales reps to deploy content in meetings, on calls, or during presentations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll show you 15 outstanding sales enablement tools later in today\u2019s post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, let\u2019s take a look at how these tools were developed over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200dBefore we show you the new tools available, we want to take a trip back in time to see how sales enablement tech has developed over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, the greatest invention for salespeople and the rest of humanity in the last 50 years was the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The real start of the internet happened with the U.S. government\u2019s invention of ARPANET. The first ever message was sent in 1969 from computer science Professor Leonard Kleinrock’s laboratory at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to the second network node at Stanford Research Institute (SRI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then in 1977 Oracle was founded, producing widely-used database programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200dIn 1978 email was being used extensively by military personnel, and started to be adopted by people who could afford computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s when sales enablement technology really started heating up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big, ugly mobile phones came out in the 1980s along with a multi-function keyboard and digital Rolodex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The early 1990s saw the invention of the world wide web. That\u2019s also when IBM created Lotus Notes, the first document storage and communication platform for salespeople.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Salesforce is founded in 1999.By the 2000s, business intelligence is gaining traction and giving sales organization the ability to organize and visualize data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2007, Salesforce releases the first cloud-based CRM. At the same time, 100 million smartphones are sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And here we are in the 2010s and everything has taken off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smartphones can do everything a laptop can do and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 204 million emails are being sent every minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And everything from your CRM to your content management system is tightly integrated to maximize your productive power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizations have more freedom to pursue complex sales enablement strategies<\/a> thanks to all of the tools available to you today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond content, salespeople need powerful tools to be successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our history of sales enablement covers the commonly used tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the ones we\u2019re going to list below all focus on enhancing and heightening the sales enablement process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve broken them up into 3 categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s dive in and check them out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clearslide is committed to \u201ccreating amazing customer experiences\u201d so that every interaction with customers counts.Clearslide helps sales reps manage their presentations but it goes quite a few steps further, dragging in everything from web conferencing to email campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of its most notable features is the cloud content library that acts as a \u201csingle source of truth.\u201d It houses sales content, marketing materials, various tools, and customer-facing materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sales teams can draw from this wealth of knowledge to prepare for big meetings, write an email, or impress a prospect in the middle of their conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bloomfire enables sales teams to create, share, find, and analyze content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a single, simple search in their AI-powered search engine, Bloomfire will help you find the exact keyword or phrase you\u2019re looking for, including in videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can turn questions and answers into searchable content that anyone in your organization can benefit from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And you can create a single repository for all your information. When you need to update anything, Bloomfire allows you to archive the old and plug in the new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can even allow trusted suppliers and vendors to add information into your knowledge hub – increasing the intelligence and expertise of every salesperson instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Highspot is a total sales enablement platform that gives sales teams deep insights into how their content engages customers. And they claim they\u2019re \u201cThe highest customer-rated sales enablement platform with the highest rep adoption.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pretty impressive, if true, how does Highspot actually work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, they deliver insights to sales teams and individual reps on what content and assets are getting the best and worst responses from prospects using machine learning. And content performance is synced with your CRM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If any of your content is modified and updated (which it will be periodically), Highspot keeps a record of changes so nothing is lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And your content is scored based on its use by your sales team, how well it engages customers, and how much revenue it helped drive for your organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Qvidian focuses its software squarely on the proposal stage of the buyer\u2019s journey. It\u2019s the only one of its kind that seeks to automate and streamline the request for proposal (RFP) process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Qvidian prides itself on being available to sales reps on the go. You can access their system from your laptop in your hotel or your tablet on a train just as easily as your desktop in your office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Qvidian also boasts a centralized content library.It acts as a \u201csingle source of truth\u201d that sales reps can access in the cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All presentations and documents can be customized with your approved branding, creating consistency between all members of your sales team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, you can track your top opportunities, identify any workflow bottlenecks, and keep up with your KPIs using Qvidian\u2019s analytics tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bigtincan Hub focuses heavily on mobile-friendly content creation<\/a> and dissemination along with dramatically boosting salespeople\u2019s productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The software was designed for mobile first. Has a clean interface that makes it easy to create and edit content on the go. Delivery of content is automated. And content is available on-demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You also receive insights into how impactful each piece of content is on your customers and prospects, along with how they consume the content you provide them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On top of all that, users get tools that simplify collaboration and improve communication internally and between salespeople and customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We mentioned at the beginning of this post that some of the tools we’ll show you allow salespeople to create HDScreen recordings and record webcam videos or take screenshots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zight (formerly CloudApp) can do those things, but it also lets you make GIFs and annotate images with text, comments, or drawings too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s been ranked by G2 Crowd as one of the top sales enablement tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is it? Zight (formerly CloudApp).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zight (formerly CloudApp) allows your salespeople to present your products in the best light, engage customers with the right content at the right time, and communicate visually – increasing the likelihood of turning prospects into customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Discover how Zight (formerly CloudApp) creates better sales enablement content today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Atlassian has heaps of sales enablement tools available to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The one to know about right away is JIRA. It\u2019s a project management tool for teams practicing agile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It gives you Scrum boards for fast iteration, kanban boards for visual understanding of where a project is in development, and features a \u201croadmap\u201d that reveals the bigger picture of the project you\u2019re currently working on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you like JIRA, you can integrate it with some of Atlassian\u2019s other tools such as Confluence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Confluence allows you to keep your project plans, meeting notes, product requirements, marketing plan, and everything else you need when collaborating with other salespeople.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slack has become a household name for sales teams in virtually every industry from enterprises to SMBs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It makes communication between all members of your organization extremely easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll have numerous \u201cchannels\u201d that can divide different teams, different projects, different clients. However you choose to categorize your conversations, Slack lets you customize it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And unlike long email threads, your salespeople can pop in and out of channels as needed – allowing you to continue a conversation with other team members, while allowing that same salesperson to pop back in at any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every conversation in Slack is searchable, including the ones you\u2019ve archived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if you need to integrate Slack with your other tools, like JIRA that we just discussed, you can. Slack makes it simple to connect all the services that power your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Outreach<\/a> allows salespeople to develop and deploy sales sequences using email and phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea behind Outreach is to increase the likelihood of successfully booking a meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA Brief History of Sales Enablement Technology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In short:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
A Condensed List of the Best Sales Enablement Software Tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
Sales Management Tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. ClearSlide<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Bloomfire<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Highspot<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
4. Qvidian<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. Bigtincan Hub<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Sales Communication Tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Zight (formerly CloudApp)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u200d\u200d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
2. Atlassian<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
3. Slack\u200d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Outreach<\/h3>\n\n\n\n