What’s in it for Sales and Marketing?
Knowledge management can benefit practically any business these days. Because if you think about it, practically every business transaction requires reliable information. And any time customer service is involved, that’s more relevant than ever — because the customer always expects excellent service. Sales and marketing benefit in particular when customers, products, and pricing information are up-to-date and available at all times.
Most companies don’t sell a single product or service, but rather a great many. And they sell them at different prices, with different discounts, and using a number of different marketing materials. That means there is a great deal of knowledge that sales and marketing staff must be able to apply at all times. In the real world, this is frequently anything but simple. Departments often have to weed through a number of different databases, file servers, and paper files. It’s rare for all employees to truly know where things are located and what is still current. It’s this jumble of old folders and new files that causes confusion and errors, which can be costly.
Organized knowledge saves time
That’s why companies that organize their sales knowledge in a knowledge management system get better results. The system acts as a central repository for all information and files, constantly providing access to authorized individuals. In addition, the search features of such applications allow users to search by path, filter, or tags, making it even easier to find information. And even better, good knowledge management applications support what are known as editorial workflows. Editorial workflows allow specific users to review, approve, or block individual items. This also helps marketing and sales to work closely together.
A good knowledge management system thus keeps all stakeholders in a project up-to-date. For instance on the latest flyers, price lists, presentations, messaging, and market analyses. The editorial team keeps these items as well as logos and the corporate design current at all times to ensure that marketing collateral is not used incorrectly.
Within enterprises which may be operating across multiple regions or even countries, this powerful software can also provide information in the local language. The Italian representative of a German company could for instance access the Italian version of a marketing campaign with just a few clicks — including posters approved for use across southern Europe. External sales staff also benefit from apps that allow them to access knowledge right on their smartphones or tablets.
Digital knowledge increases satisfaction
With knowledge management, you save yourself and your employees time and aggravation. That’s something your customers will notice, because employee satisfaction has an impact on how your company is perceived. Satisfied sales managers who know where to find information will give customers much better consultations than those forced to chase down answers from individual departments within the company.
Being able to multiply information and have it available at several locations at once is one of the biggest developments of the digital era. All departments enter their knowledge into the SABIO system themselves, and that benefits the entire value chain. Whether it’s Planning, Design, Production, Marketing, Sales, or After Sales — everybody benefits from a single source of truth that is infinitely expandable.
Misunderstandings are avoided and information remains within your organization, even if an employee does not. SABIO is indispensable as one of the building blocks of a modern enterprise, because having ready access to information is extremely valuable — and so is your employees’ time.
What can better knowledge management do for you? Find out yourself — take SABIO for a free, no-obligation test drive. Get more information, consultation, and access to a demo version at www.getsabio.com