Sales Enablement can be defined as the tools, training, and content that sales teams need to increase their efficiency and sales for their products or services.
As a B2B copywriter, you’re most interested in the Sales Enablement (SE) content part of the picture. And in particular, content projects that help sales teams save time and sell more products. Some of these SE projects are: cold prospecting email templates, follow-up email templates, battlecards, call scripts, one-sheets, sales decks, and proposals.
For more information about these B2B SE copywriting projects, see my article Sales Enablement: The 6 Most Popular Content Projects B2B Sales Teams Are Clamoring For.
Now, suppose you’ve learned all the details about writing these sales enablement projects. You’ve decided on a niche you’d like to write for and made a list of companies or organizations you want to target for your services. The next question is: who in the company should you contact?
While every company is different, your best approach for sales enablement prospecting is to contact at least one of the following decision-makers:
- Sales Director or Manager
- Marketing Manager
- Owner or CEO
Here are the pros and cons of working with each of these company personas:
Sales Director
Of all three executives, you should usually reach out to them first for sales enablement writing projects. Here’s why:
- They need materials but don’t have the time or patience to write content for their team.
- Their primary motivation is to help their team sell more. Their bonuses often depend on the team’s success! And they’ll directly benefit from your sales enablement content projects.
- They may be wary of what Marketing produces for their team and prefer their own materials. This is because Marketing is not in the “trenches” every day and often doesn’t know the crucial issues and objections Sales has to deal with.
- They tend to be personable and friendly (they’re in Sales after all!), and more open to contact than, say, the overworked Marketing Manager.
- They’re willing to consider new ideas, as long as there’s a good chance they will boost sales. Of course, this is precisely what your sales enablement copywriting will do!
- While they’re not accustomed to being approached by a copywriter — unlike the Marketing Manager or even the CEO, who are often in contact with copywriters, designers, and other service providers — they can understand what well written content can mean to their team.
- On the flip side, even if they’re receptive to the idea of working with you, they may still have to get buy-in from the Marketing Manager or the CEO. And possibly also get approval from the CFO to make sure there are funds in the budget for your services.
Marketing Manager
- They are accustomed to being approached by copywriters and other creatives, although few copywriters specialize in Sales Enablement at this time.
- They have a lot on their plate and are constantly under pressure to complete content projects. So, if you win a writing project from them, be sure to complete the project on time, or even before it’s due!
- They’re motivated to produce content and marketing campaigns that get bottom-line results to show off to others in the C-suite.
- They’re used to receiving agency-quality work. This means they have high standards for the content you will produce — so make sure it’s your best work!
CEO/Owner
- They run a small to mid-sized business.
- Even though they may have a Marketing Manager and/or a Sales Manager (in many cases, they don’t), they are still actively involved in both business areas.
- They care about the sales messaging for their company. They’ll likely give you valuable input for your sales enablement content.
- They certainly want to grow the company. This means they’ll be open to ideas of how SE content or copywriting can help do this.
- They likely believe that their sales team could be doing a better job or that sales could be higher. So once again, if you can show them how more and better sales enablement content can help Sales, you’ll be their new buddy!
- As the CEO, they are being pulled in many directions simultaneously. It could be challenging to grab their attention.
These C-suite persona characteristics should help you decide who to engage in your sales enablement prospecting. I would suggest contacting the Sales Manager first. However, sometimes it can be difficult to find the names or email addresses of the three company executives. In that case, you’ll have to contact whatever decision-maker you can find.
Most people like to be helpful. So if you’ve contacted the wrong person about your sales enablement copywriting services, they will more than likely steer you in the right direction!
