Frankendecks can undermine a company's brand and value proposition. Marketers work hard to engage prospective customers, and if their first experience is a Frankendeck then it can destroy the overall customer experience which dramatically reduces the likelihood of a successful revenue outcome.
Liz Hajjar, Senior Director of Sales for Northern Europe at Highspot, the sales enablement platform, looks at why Frankendecks have plagued the lives of marketers and salespeople, and why we need to immediately put a stop to them.
What exactly is a Frankendeck? And how are they created?
Frankendecks start off as new assets created by the marketing team which are then passed on to sales. Overtime, sales people tend to make amends to the assets based on customer feedback, change in structure, or their personal preferences. This version may then be edited further and passed on to others within the sales team who each do the same.
Without version control and visibility of how the assets perform, marketers produce more materials to be used by the sales team without having any clarity on what has been edited or what is contributing to the bottom line.
And just like that, several Frankendecks are formed!
At their worst Frankendecks can contain outdated assets, data, inaccurate pricing, and repetitive information that's impossible for any customer to follow or digest - let alone for a sales person to present.
So what is the solution?
It truly comes down to communication, accurate information and most importantly, sales enablement.
Sales enablement is the process of equipping sales teams with the content, guidance, and training they need to effectively engage buyers. Sales enablement analytics provide marketing and sales teams with data-driven insights to optimize their business and drive revenue.
Surely ‘sales enablement’ is focussed on sales, right?
Don't let the term fool you, sales enablement is just as much for marketers as it is salespeople.
Sales need to understand what messages marketing goes to market with to understand why someone might want to speak with a sales rep. Marketers need to understand what assets are working for sales and what messaging is resonating with the customer.
Communication and having one source of truth for both teams eradicates the need for individuals to edit assets. Working in parallel together means that marketing is able to see what sales are doing and sales know where to find the most up-to-date content.
This helps inform marketers where best to spend their time creating material for the customer to see. They’re able to see where their messages are landing and gain insight from the sales team as to why. Overall, this refines the messaging customers receive and saves both marketing and sales time.
Why hasn't this been solved sooner?
Sales enablement is a relatively new term. All businesses will recognise the issues it solves, but won’t be familiar enough with the term to identify the solution as sales enablement.
As a result, for a lot of businesses, implementing a sales enablement software for their marketing and sales teams is a net new investment. It’s hard to justify the budget for a tool you’ve never used before.
The benefits of a world without Frankendecks
A life without Frankendecks are what every salesperson and marketer dreams of.
For salespeople, using a sales enablement tool to rid themselves of Frankendecks will save them time. With this time saved, they’re able to spend more of their working week building valuable relationships with customers.
For marketers, sales enablement software gives them visibility over the success of their content. This content is then tracked through the sales cycle to gain insights. Marketers can monitor how it's performing, as well as where in the cycle it performs best. As a result leads to better, more informed content for salespeople to present to potential prospects.
