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5 Tips from The Office to Inspire Your Sales Enablement Strategy

Oct 26th, 2017

Art is often inspired by real life events, and television sitcoms are no exception. Recently, we discussed 5 sales enablement lessons from Curb Your Enthusiasm, and now we’re bring you learnings from the classic workplace comedy, The Office, to inspire your sales enablement strategy.

So whether you are looking to improve your sales content, get sales kickoff ideas, or hone your sales coaching program, here are 5 GIFs from our friends Dwight Schrute, Michael Scott, Jim Halpert, and more.

1. Don’t drop the ball (or the chili) when planning sales kickoff

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Sales kickoff isn’t just an event where companies bring in motivational speakers and invite their sales reps to a nice dinner. It’s a chance to set the tone for the rest of the year, with your whole team under one roof, and provide real value to reps before, during, and after the event. One way to do this is by assigning pre-work to reps prior to the event. Sales kickoff pre-work ensures reps are adequately trained beforehand so there’s more time for team building exercises, peer-to-peer learning, and breakout sessions during the day.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Sales Kickoff Readiness & Planning

2. Make sure reps are saying the right things on calls

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Sales reps are in charge of bringing in revenue for the entire company, so it’s important that sales enablement and sales leadership are confident that reps are fully prepared for each and every buyer interaction. Video coaching technology ensures that confidence by allowing sales reps to practice pitches or skills via  coaching challenges. Sales enablement or sales managers view rep submissions and provide feedback to help reps improve. Screen recording adds another layer of verification so managers can view what reps are showing on their screen during product demos.

3. Reps can learn a lot by imitating ‘A’ players

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They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it’s also one of the most effective ways for sales reps to learn best practices. In fact, 91% of reps say learning from peers is helping them succeed, according to the Association for Talent Development. Peer learning involves the sharing of knowledge and ideas that occurs among salespeople. Many sales organizations adopt technology to support peer learning so they can create, distribute and catalog  the best content so all reps can learn from it.

4. Convenience is key when it comes to sales content

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The last thing you want is for your sales reps to spend hours searching for content. To maximize selling time for your reps, sales content should be available where your reps work. Sales enablement technology that integrates with your CRM and email client allows reps to easily search, preview and select  content so they can be more prepared for buyer interactions.

5. Don’t force feed learning – make training content engaging and fun

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More knowledge is retained when training is delivered in engaging, bite-sized amounts. According to Forrester Research, 75% of salespeople are more likely to view video lessons than read a document, email, or web article. Inject some personality with video content – this could be as simple as adding a voiceover to a PowerPoint presentation or getting creative with music videos (it worked for our client, Ping Identity!) By creating better sales content and switching up the format, reps will actually want to consume your training. You can also gauge whether your content resonated with reps by incorporating quizzes and assessments.

Related: 6 Creative Ways to Get Reps to Consume Sales Content

Looking to incorporate technology to help improve your sales enablement strategy? Download this exclusive Sales Readiness Technology Buyer’s Guide today.