Your Website Should Help the Sales Team Do Its Job
Getting the Sales Rep Is Only the Beginning
Imagine an independent sales rep comes to your website and sees a clear invitation to work with your company. They’re interested, they apply and eventually become part of your sales network.
That’s where the website can take on a completely different job.
For one manufacturing website we built, the opportunity to become a sales rep is easy to find right from the homepage. But once someone becomes a rep, they don’t keep using the public website the same way everyone else does. They receive their own login and access to a private area built around the work they actually need to do.
That difference matters.
Give Sales People a Place Built for Them
Independent reps and field sales teams are often working away from the main office. They may be meeting with a customer, preparing a proposal or trying to answer a question while they’re on the road.
They shouldn’t have to call the office every time they need something.
A private sales area can give them one place to find current product information, marketing materials, training, sales tools and other resources. Depending on the company, they may also need access to leads, performance information, project data or information about opportunities in their territory.
The goal is simple: give them what they need to keep the sales conversation moving.
Accurate Information Builds Confidence
A sales rep is representing your company every time they speak with a customer.
If they’re working from an old product sheet, searching through emails for the latest file or wondering whether a piece of information is still correct, that creates a problem for everyone.
The website can become the reliable place they know to check first. That may mean current product documents, sales sheets, technical information, webinars, training or marketing materials.
The exact resources will be different for every company, but they should be easy to find and easy to trust. When the rep knows the information is current, they can focus on selling instead of checking whether they have the right version.
Support Can Go Beyond Product Information
Every sales funnel follows the same basic path. Someone is introduced to the company, the relationship is built over time and eventually the right lead becomes a customer.
Experienced sales reps know how much thinking goes into moving someone through that process. Who needs a follow-up? When should they hear from you again? What information should they receive next? Which leads need attention today and which ones need more time?
Now imagine taking some of that mental load off your sales team.
A connected digital system can help build that process around them. A rep can know which leads need attention, when a follow-up is due and what the next step should be based on where that person is in the sales process. Email campaigns can keep the relationship warm between conversations, while workflows can move a lead forward based on when the first contact happened or what action came next.
Instead of asking the rep to remember every detail, the system helps keep the process moving. The salesperson can spend more of their time having the conversations, building relationships and closing business.
That same support can include qualified web leads, project opportunities in a rep’s territory, market information, training, onboarding and other tools that help them know where to focus.
The technology isn’t replacing the salesperson. It’s taking care of more of the engine so the salesperson can focus on the part only a person can do.
Build Around How Your Sales Team Actually Works
Not every sales team needs the same portal, resources or sales workflow. That’s why we start by understanding how the sales process actually works.
Where are your reps working? What are customers asking them for? What information do they use the most? What does the office have to send them over and over? Where are leads getting lost or follow-ups being missed?
At Bright Cloud Studio, those questions are part of the bigger conversation we have during Discovery. A website shouldn’t only make your company look good. It should support the people doing the work behind it.
If your sales team is still piecing together the information and follow-up they need to sell, there may be an opportunity to build something better.
Contact our team and tell us how your sales process works.