Documentation: The New MVP of Sales

Product documentation and sales documentation now overlap in many areas. Your clients now have access to the same data you have access to, inherently changing the way you engage the sales process and how you use your various sources of documentation. One article below suggests "If you want to keep up, you don’t just need a better sales team. You need a smarter sales team." Sales professionals can use a shared language to speak to their clients, leveraging the accessible materials for a reference guide and to promote their product even more. Since clients are able to be more educated on the product before they speak with you the conversation now begins when they are further along on their journey and are inherently more serious about their investment. Documentation also gives a good impression of the product by inspiring collaboration internally and externally, presenting honest language (not marketing/sales language), and empowering the client with the information they need to have a deeper understanding of what's to be expected upfront. Documentation has now become an essential tool in your team's sales toolkit.

Remember the joy you felt at storytime when you were younger? The excitement and anticipation you had as you neared the end? You can feel that again within various client narratives (case studies). That feeling is one of the benefits of using a narrative to explain the value of your product or service based on another organization's experience. Your prospective client reads each word anticipating the end where they learn how they can also use your product to have a similar experience. One article below explains "47 percent of B2B buyers review three to five pieces of content before contacting a vendor. (All the more reason your top-of-the-funnel content needs to really engage and inform your audience.) But instead of reading reviews on Yelp or Foursquare, prospects need access to case studies from your current customers to see that your solution actually works." Case studies are a non-invasive way for Marketing to establish faith and trust in your brand. Case studies can be used to help you demonstrate how your product or service continues to meet the needs of your clients, in-turn leading to more conversations and eventually more sales.

Your organization's knowledge base is an online resource center for your clients/customers. "With quick access to educational content, sales reps have a comprehensive resource to answer unexpected questions. Plus, an online resource library makes your product easier to sell to prospects. During product training, you can have your sales reps go over anything from the online library you want." The articles below further explain how a knowledge base leverages documents, sales collateral, videos, links, and more to serve as a resource for your sales team (your team!) as well as your prospective clients. This form of documentation used to be primarily for clients, but it is quickly shifting to be a shared space for you and them, holding the potential to enhance your sales knowledge and efforts.