Full-Service Implementation Helps Teams New to Sales Collaboration

We get it. Signing up on a website, never talking to a salesperson, and doing everything on your own during a software purchase is very appealing. 

At the time, it feels frictionless — only to find out that the friction happens after. 

When you don’t fully understand the software. When you’re not using it to its full potential. When your team isn’t adopting it because they weren’t included in the process.

In our experience, to truly get the full benefits of sales content collaboration software, you need an ally in implementation. An expert who understands the platform and its best practices, understands your process, and works diligently to marry the two to create a harmonious experience. 

In our 5 years of experience offering full-service implementation, we’ve seen customers benefit in four main areas: 

Having true product experts at your disposal. 

No matter how good the support team’s video walkthroughs and FAQ articles are, there’s nothing like the real deal, especially when it comes to something as fluid yet critical as sales content. 

Our customer success team often says, “every sales request is like a snowflake — no two are the same.” With deliverables as variable as these, it’s essential to set your system up to ensure you’re harnessing the full power of categorization and machine learning to support the automation of content creation and relevancy of content suggestions from previous deliverables. 

This is where a dedicated implementation specialist shines. They know the platform inside and out and can help optimize content input to maximize the output.  

Finding the ideal process for your specific team.

For every sales request that exists, there are an unimaginable number of processes possible to complete the response. 

Every software vendor is going to give you a blog or one-pager of how you should use their solution in an “ideal world.” But that’s not the world we live in. We all have our closet of skeletons full of stale content, outdated processes, and inefficiencies. Your team isn’t going to be perfect — and that’s okay.

A good implementation team will say, “we can fix those!”

A great implementation team will say, “we’re not going to fix those today, but we’ll work with you to enhance those going forward.”

Including your entire team in the process. 

Buying sales tech can be a minefield because, at the end of the day, the downstream effects of that purchase will impact your entire team — not just the revenue team. 

How often are you engaging your SMEs across various departments? Did they have a say in the software purchase? Do they have access to it? Do they find value in the process of engagement today?

Especially in competitive sales cycles, effectively using subject matter expertise can mean the difference between Closed - Won and Closed - Lost. 

What an implementation provides here is process discovery. In larger teams, this may be multiple meetings asking each group their specific pain point and their processes today. Even if you’ve been diligent in asking about these sentiments during the sales cycle, they may be more open to talking to a neutral third-party than a member of the team — especially if it’s part of your process that’s a pain point for them. 

Including the entire team in this process gets buy-in from all of them by letting them be heard.

Ensure sustainability of your processes over time. 

Have you ever tried to update a process or start something new at work, and it’s great for the first few months, and then it just fizzles out, and people go back to the old way of doing things?

That’s the last thing you want to happen with your investment in sales content collaboration software. 

We don’t want this to be like a fad diet plan - we want you to keep the “weight,” inefficient processes, and stale content off.

That’s why having a dedicated customer success manager for the long haul can keep the benefits coming long after the initial implementation. What happens to your sales content and requests when, down the line, you acquire a few companies? Launch a new product line? Open new markets? 

All of a sudden, the way you set up your system and processes might not be ideal. Communicating those changes and creating new and better processes is what a customer success manager is there for. They’ve likely seen the same situation before and can help guide you through that change, so you can have one less thing on your plate when those big, structural changes get announced. 

Start setting yourself up for long-term success.

Sometimes the path that looks easier, to begin with can cause problems down the road. 

Having a dedicated resource in your corner can boost adoption, smooth processes, and ensure your investment pays for itself in efficiencies, win rates, and user satisfaction. Just ask Magellan Health or BCD Travel how they felt about having an ally and sales content expert on their team.