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To Write Or Not To Write: Should Sales Take Part In Creating Content?

Jamie Shanks
Jamie Shanks

content creation for salespeople

Short answer: it depends.

First of all, your sales professionals should be sharing content with the market at the bare minimum. Buyers are already 57% through the purchase process before sales professionals even speak to them. If you want to hit quota, it’s important that your salespeople are present in shaping their buyers’ journeys.

ceb buyers research

If you want you sales professionals to go above and beyond, they should be taking part in content creation.

What are the advantages of involving your reps in content creation?

  1. You empower them to share their first-hand insights with the market, which positions your team as trusted advisors & subject matter experts.
  2. Publishing blog content will help build each of their personal brands & networks.
  3. By allowing salespeople to take place in the content creation process, you’re breeding an internal culture of alignment between sales & marketing.
  4. Salespeople are the ones having conversations in the market, so they know your buyers better than anyone else in the organization. They have in-depth insight to create content that most resonates with your buyer.
  5. Increasing their confidence by giving them a voice through your company’s platform.

neale post engagement

What are the disadvantages?

  1. Not everybody can write, so tasking salespeople without strong copywriting skills to blog is counterproductive. This could lead to other people having to spend more time on editing and revising than it took to write the post in the first place.
  2. If you have identified salespeople that would be suitable content contributors, ensure you don’t overcommit them to writing. It could result in a loss of focus from core function & revenue generating activities.
  3. Newer salespeople may not have enough industry expertise or understanding of your ideal customer profiles to be able to create content that speaks to the buyer’s needs.

How to get your sales team to create content

neale martin blog I have been given the opportunity here at Sales for Life to become a frequent contributor to our company blog, which has done a few amazing things for me. Here’s my take on how you can get your sales reps to participate in creating content.

  1. First of all, identify who in your sales organization would be interested in contributing to the blog, and invite them to the next content planning session.
  2. Next it’s important to determine how your salespeople would like to contribute to creating content. Some may simply want to participate in brainstorming sessions to help with ideation, while others will prefer to write full-length blog posts.
  3. Task your new content contributors with a blog post theme or title, and give them ample time to get it completed to ensure they don’t end up wasting an entire afternoon trying to finish it up at the last minute.

The Bottom Line

I have developed a passion for contributing to the Sales for Life blog as it help me build my personal brand, positions me as a subject matter expert, and gives me something of my own to discuss with potential buyers in the market.

If you enable your sales organization to create their own content, it will help them on an individual basis, but also contribute directly to overall revenue generation & pipeline growth.

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