Sales enablement has become an increasingly critical function for modern businesses. According to the State of Product Marketing 2024 report, creating sales collateral and updating internal documents was a top responsibility for 75.5% of respondents, while sales enablement itself was a priority for 64.3%.

Equipping your sales team with the right tools and resources is essential for driving revenue growth. But what exactly are the most effective sales enablement assets? 

In this article, we'll explore several key sales enablement materials that leading organizations are leveraging to empower their sales teams and improve business outcomes.

  • Fostering cross-functional alignment with enablement teams
  • Which sales enablement assets are most effective?
  • How do product marketers organize their sales content?
  • Top 10 sales content tools
Source: State of Product Marketing 2024 report

Fostering cross-functional alignment with enablement teams

Effective sales enablement requires tight collaboration between product marketing, sales, and other key teams. 

As Andrea Saez, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Unmind, explains, "We have two very important leadership groups: PMM and Enablement. Our PMM Leadership group… enables us to make decisions as a group and ensure that we're aligned about what is happening and why." She emphasizes the importance of "involving team members early and often" across functions.

Emily Wengel, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Origami Risk, echoes this sentiment, noting that she "partners with client marketing, product, and service" to gather customer feedback and insights. "Partnering with clients on case studies or presentations is also a great way to learn about client use cases and success stories," she says.

Beyond just aligning on strategy, Aphrodite Brinsmead, Director of Product Marketing at Duro, stresses the value of consistent communication and shared goals.

"Regular communication, shared goals and projects, and two-way feedback all help to make cross-functional relationships thrive," she explains. She suggests scheduling regular check-ins and collaborating on key initiatives to build strong partnerships.

Sarah Spinosa, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Higher Logic, implemented specific programs to facilitate cross-functional alignment, such as "quarterly product marketing tours" to gather feedback from customer-facing teams. 

She also held "competitive intel conversations" with sales leaders to share market insights and identify gaps. These efforts helped drive tangible business impact, reducing lost deals by 16% and status quo by 61% year-over-year.

Ultimately, as Andy Schumeister, Head of Product Marketing at Mutiny, notes, product marketing must "proactively align with sales and product on shared priorities and objectives." 

By fostering a culture of communication, trust, and shared goals, product marketers can effectively bridge the divide between teams and deliver sales enablement assets that drive real results.

Which sales enablement assets are most effective?

Sales enablement assets are crucial tools that empower sales teams to effectively engage prospects, overcome objections, and close more deals. These resources come in various formats, each serving a distinct purpose in the sales cycle. 

Sales organizations can equip their reps with the knowledge, content, and proof points needed to have more impactful conversations and drive successful outcomes. But this can only be done by leveraging the right assets at the right time. 

Let's take a closer look at some of the most effective sales enablement assets and their key benefits. 

Customer case studies

  • Highly effective for demonstrating real-world success and ROI
  • Provide compelling proof points and testimonials from satisfied customers
  • Should highlight specific business challenges, solutions, and quantifiable results
What is a case study in marketing?
A case study is a testimonial outlining your customers’ success with using your product, explaining how your product’s key features led to benefits for your customer such as productivity and through increases and time and cost savings.
Product Marketing AllianceAsya Bashina

Sales scripts

  • Useful for ensuring sales reps deliver consistent, on-brand messaging
  • Help less experienced reps sound more polished and confident
  • Should provide flexibility for reps to adapt to different customer contexts
Sales script template
A structured outline that guides reps through the key stages of a sales call.
Product Marketing AllianceJames Shaw

Product demos

  • Invaluable for showing prospects how a product works and its key features
  • Allow reps to tailor demonstrations to each customer's unique needs
  • Effective at driving deeper engagement and understanding
State of the Interactive Product Demo 2024 Report
Download this report to learn how to elevate your interactive product demo strategies and captivate your audience like never before.
Product Marketing AllianceCharley Gale

Sales one-pagers

  • Concise, visually appealing summaries of a product or service
  • Quick reference guides for reps to share with prospects
  • Help prospects quickly grasp core value propositions
“Death to one-page product documents” with Logan Hendrickson, Product Marketing Lead at 15Five
Find out how you can ditch the one pager product documents right here.
Product Marketing AllianceAnthony Witherspoon

Product sheets

  • In-depth datasheets covering a product's specifications and capabilities
  • Useful for prospects doing deeper technical research and evaluations
  • Should focus on highlighting differentiating features and benefits
Product sheet template | Download
Create a concise, compelling overview of your product’s features, benefits, and unique selling points.
Product Marketing AllianceJames Shaw

Product comparison charts

  • Allow prospects to easily see how a product stacks up against competitors
  • Helpful for addressing objections and justifying a product's value
  • Should be objective and focus on relevant, head-to-head comparisons
How to create a first-class product comparison page
If you stand behind your product and know it’s the best on the market, then comparison gives you the chance to prove this, you’ve just got to clearly show how it beats all the others. Enter a kick-ass comparison page.
Product Marketing AllianceRebecca Lawson

Product roadmap assets

  • Provide visibility into a company's future product plans and vision
  • Helpful for reassuring prospects about a vendor's ongoing investment
  • Can build excitement and confidence in a company's direction
Communicating your product roadmap and vision
The product roadmap is the most important communication and planning tool that your product management counterparts own. The roadmap offers a high-level visual summary of the product vision and the direction your product will be taking over time.
Product Marketing AllianceAlison Haytor

Overall, the most effective sales enablement assets are those that clearly demonstrate customer value, differentiate the offering, and address key prospects' needs and concerns. The right mix will depend on your specific sales process and target audience.

Top 10 sales content tools

For creating impactful sales content, there are a few standout tools and strategies that can make a big difference in helping sales teams succeed. 

Here are some of the top sales enablement tools frequently recommended for content creation, organization, and analytics:

Highspot

Highspot is widely used for managing and delivering content to sales teams. It provides insights on which content is being used and how it’s performing, helping product marketers refine and optimize materials for maximum impact.

DiscoverOrg

DiscoverOrg is a go-to for B2B sales intelligence, offering contact data and other sales insights to streamline targeting and outreach efforts. It’s particularly powerful for list-building and personalizing pitches.

Seismic

Seismic is another leader in content management, used to deliver tailored content to sales teams at each stage of the buyer’s journey. It’s great for version control and can help streamline content updates to keep sales teams aligned with the latest messaging.

Showpad

Showpad combines content management with interactive training for sales teams, helping them find the right content fast and stay up to speed with best practices and product knowledge.

ClearSlide

ClearSlide focuses on engaging buyers through interactive content and provides analytics on how content is being viewed, so sales teams know what resonates with prospects in real-time.

DocSend

DocSend is perfect for document sharing, tracking engagement, and getting insights into which parts of content capture the most interest, so sales teams can follow up in a targeted way.

HubSpot Sales Hub

HubSpot’s Sales Hub includes tools for email tracking, meeting scheduling, and content management. It’s excellent for smaller teams that want a full-featured CRM with content capabilities.

Guru

Guru is an internal knowledge-sharing tool that integrates with popular platforms like Slack and Salesforce, allowing sales reps to quickly access product information, playbooks, and sales tips.

Outreach

Outreach is a popular sales engagement platform that automates follow-ups, sequences emails, and integrates with content libraries, allowing sales reps to share relevant content with prospects in fewer clicks.

Bigtincan

Bigtincan uses AI to recommend content based on the sales stage and context, helping sales reps use the most relevant assets for each interaction. It’s especially useful for field sales teams on the go.

Final thoughts

Building a solid set of sales tools is essential for a successful B2B sales strategy. By giving your team a mix of customer success stories, product details, competitor insights, and forward-thinking content, you’re setting them up to have engaging, value-packed conversations that guide prospects through the sales journey.

The trick is to pinpoint which resources will make the biggest difference for your specific sales process and target buyers. Focus on creating content that highlights your unique value, tackles common pain points and objections, and shows clear proof that you can deliver real results.

In the end, effective sales enablement is all about equipping your reps with the tools and confidence to position your solutions as the ideal fit. With the right resources, they can create more personalized, consultative sales experiences that build trust, overcome challenges, and lead to more successful deals.