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Jan 202318 min read

Digital Sales Room: Everything You Need To Know

There is no denying the fact that everything is shifting to a digital alternative in the current age, and buying and selling are no exception. As foreseen by Gartner in this report, Digital Sales Rooms (DSR) are set to become the industry standard for creating a solid customer repertoire and solidifying the ability to close deals faster.

DSRs embody the essence of modern and digital selling. It creates a seamless experience for your buyers to access and engage with your content without hassle.

With a wealth of real-time sales content analytics, you gain a holistic view of your buyers’ needs wherever they are in the sales journey. 

Here you’ll find in the blog:

 

What is a Digital Sales Room?

A Digital Sales Room is a digital environment where salespeople can share personalized sales materials and interact with potential buyers. It is a secure, branded micro website that facilitates all relevant sales information and resources under one hub.

DSR is where buyers can easily access and review information about your product that is relevant to their needs at that given stage in the sales cycle.

Picture of a digital sales room full of sales collateral

DSR is a secure, branded micro website where buyers can easily access and review information about your product that is relevant to their needs at that moment.

Typically your buyers are bombarded with information as they navigate the buying process. The Digital Sales Room provides a more efficient and convenient way to deliver those materials, and allows them easy access at their convenience.

Buyers can easily access and review information about your product that is relevant to their needs at that moment.

Overview of Typical DSR Features and Functionalities

A Digital Sales Room consists of the following basic features and functionalities:

  • A content library for various content formats (e.g., product and service information, case studies, customer reference videos, forms, configurators, 3D models, etc.)
  • Automatic file updates and device synchronization
  • Customizable DSR branding
  • Content sharing and presenting within the DSR
  • Seller’s contact details
  • Sales content analytics
  • Other features such as PIN code and email access, DSR expiration date, personalized message, etc.

dsr-features-1

Why Use A Digital Sales Room?

The sales process is loaded with bureaucracy, encumbered by several stakeholders who need to be convinced to buy in and a steady stream of questions.

For example, according to Gartner, by providing easy access to relevant information that speaks to the needs and concerns of your buyers, you make the decision-making process easier for them, enabling a much stronger customer relationship.

Digital Sales Rooms eliminates redundant tasks that sellers work through on a day-to-day basis. 

Digital Sales Room not only allows your buyers to move down the sales funnel much quicker but also enables your teams to be more efficient and productive. DSR eliminates redundant tasks that sellers work through on a day-to-day basis. 

Illustration of global sales network

Digital Sales Room for Sellers

Every salesperson wants to get into the mind of their client and better understand their wants, needs, bottlenecks they face, and how to best appeal to them. This is where the sales content analytics feature of DSR comes into play.

Through the data collected through analytics, you gain an insight into your buyers' needs through their behavior– how they consume your content in the DSR.

Data can feed all aspects of the sales cycle and inform how you approach different stakeholders at various times. It's handy for building out different sales personas and creating content based on what information they might seek out.

For example, how you present to an end user may have different nuances than how you present to a distributor. When using DSR with sales content analytics, all the data for each account will be stored in the same Digital Sales Room, allowing insights to be readily available and easy to digest.

 

📊With content analytics, you can see exactly which pieces of content are most effective at each stage of the sales process. Learn The What, Who, Why, and How of Sales Content Analytics.


How DSRs Make Salespeople More Successful at Selling

Data analytics is the closest thing to mind reading, and with a Digital Sales Room, it fits right into the sales funnel. Gathering insights behind the scenes as pitching and information exchange unfold.

The analytics can tell you who viewed which content, for how long, and whether they shared those materials with new decision-makers.

Salespeople can adapt their outreach and presentations based on what and how clients interact with materials. The analytics can tell you who viewed which content, for how long, and whether they shared those materials with new decision-makers.

With DSR and the help of analytics, you now have a concrete indication of how all the content you're using to sell impacts the sales cycle and your audience.

Sales content analytics and Digital Sales Room combined in one tool can become a salesperson’s best friend . DSR provides sellers with data-proven sales content and can offer buyers tools that ease their decision-making, like investment calculators, product configurators, and 3D models. 

 

👉As long as you keep your focus on your buyer, ensuring their needs are at the forefront of your presentation, you’re guaranteed a meeting that resonates with your prospects every time. Read more and Learn 8 Rules of Tailoring Your Presentations.

 

Digital Sales Room for Marketers

Digital Sales Room offers just as much value to marketers as it does to salespeople. It creates a strong bridge of collaboration and cohesion between sales and marketing teams.

Marketing has a better understanding of what content salespeople use and on the flip side, salespeople benefit from up-to-date and always-relevant content.

 

👉 It solidifies a stronger synergy between sales and marketing with a clear feedback loop of data points. Marketing can now better understand the needs of sales better. Here’s a more in-depth look at Digital Sales Room - What’s in it for marketers?

 

How Digital Sales Room Improves Marketing Activities

According to Forbes, sales increased for up to 80% of the companies that implemented personalization in their strategy.

When that strategy is applied to an entire business pitch, the effects and impressions it has on potential clients are even more effective, making the likelihood of conversions even higher.

tailored-platform

Simply put, marketers create a seamless, branded environment for memorable experiences at every touchpoint. 

Based on how buyers interact with content in the DSR, marketers are able to anticipate buyers’ needs better. As a result, marketers can efficiently personalize content centered on their needs at any given stage.

It’s a win-win situation. It makes updating and improving content much more efficient by only focusing on content that is proven to be effective.

Simply put, marketers create a seamless, branded environment for memorable experiences at every touchpoint. You allow your products or services to shine and showcase themselves while marketers and the DSR takes care of the buyer experience. 

Digital Sales Room for IT, Security, Legal, and Compliance

As for IT, security, legal, and compliance teams, they are in charge of ensuring that anything that happens in a company follows certain rules and regulations, and can be controlled to some extent.

Companies must ensure they do not share outdated or wrong information.

In some industries, like banking and pharmaceuticals, this is self-evident. Content shared with customers may include information that is controlled by law, so companies must ensure they do not share outdated or wrong information.

Using DSR for Added Security and Control

But for all other businesses, the Digital Sales Room adds an extra layer of security and control. Here are a few examples:  

  • Lowers the risk of spam; a higher chance that content reaches the target audience
  • Increased control over what can be shared, what can be downloaded, ability to close/shut down shares, update content
  • Capability to see and analyze who is receiving, opening, and viewing content shared
  • Capability to see who shares content
  • Capability to restrict who can download shared content
  • Capability to secure shared content with a PIN code

Digital Sales Room increases security and offers capabilities to make sure teams are following rules and regulations in a secure digital space. 

Illustration of Digital sales room that is protected by PIN code

Digital Sales Room Customization and Branding

When diving into the realm of Digital Sales Rooms (DSRs), customization is the doorway to creating a digital environment that resonates with your brand's identity and ethos.

Now, let’s unlock the potential of customization and branding features common in DSRs:

1. Theme Customization

Tailoring the look and feel of your DSR to mirror your brand's aesthetics is pivotal. Through this, you can paint your digital sales room with your brand colors, logos, and imagery, creating a familiar ambiance for your team and clients alike.

2. Custom Domains

Having a custom domain for your DSR not only exudes professionalism but also fosters brand recognition. Most DSR providers allow you to set up a custom domain, ensuring a seamless brand experience right from the URL.

3. Custom Content Layouts

A cluttered DSR is a big no-no. Designing how your content is laid out, creating intuitive pathways to information, and ensuring easy navigation is critical.

When looking for a DSR, look for a user-friendly interface that allows for custom content layouts, making sure your sales materials are organized and easy to access.

4. Personalized User Roles and Permissions

With varied roles in your sales process, having the ability to customize user permissions is key. This lets you define who gets access to what, even the ability to create user groups to ensure a streamlined flow of information within designated channels.

5. Custom Analytics Dashboard

Tracking and analyzing user interaction within your DSR should be as branded as anything else. This feature is highly beneficial for salespeople, while keeping your brand in the spotlight even in the nitty-gritty of data analysis.

6. Customizable Sales Presentations

Crafting presentations that resonate with your brand’s message is crucial. This feature allows for the customization of sales presentations, ensuring a consistent brand narrative.

Customization isn’t about changing something for the sake of change; it's about creating a digital sales environment that's a natural extension of your brand.

 

💡 With Showell's robust customization and branding features, you’re not just setting up a DSR; you’re creating a branded digital universe where every interaction is a reflection of your brand’s uniqueness. Find out more about Showell's Digital Sales Room.

 

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Practical Examples of How You Can Use Digital Sales Room

“Okay, so I’m convinced that DSR would be great for me and my team. But where and how do I even start?” We get it. The worst thing that can happen is when you realize you’ve adopted a new tool that you can’t incorporate into your day-to-day tasks.

So we’ve come up with a few starting points for you:

Digital Sales Room as Part of the Sales Process

Every salesperson emails their prospects after every call or meeting to send over any relevant sales materials. That’s just sound practice. But not knowing whether or not your sales materials were even opened or shared is where being ineffective comes in.

Or worse, your prospect couldn’t open that 3D model or 2GB product video you sent. Sales become a guessing game and you start losing when you start guessing.

 

👉 When it comes to optimizing your sales process, not only does the lack of tools play a big part in causing inefficiencies but it might be worth looking into other root causes of it as well.

We go in a deep dive in this topic from our blog Fixing Sales Performance Issues: A Guide to Sales Process Optimization.

 

Your prospect only needs a browser to open the link. And based on how they perceive your content, you’ll be able to craft your sales materials better to their requirements.

Digital Sales Room is a solution for all of that and more. Not only can you share and open various content types and sizes in the DSR, you only need a weblink to access and share the Digital Sales Room.

Your prospect only needs a browser to open the link. And based on how they perceive your content, you’ll be able to craft your sales materials better to their requirements.

 

👉 Your sales team can accelerate the sales funnel by reducing the number of unnecessary meetings and getting key points across more clearly. See Why Digital Sales Room is Key to Modern Selling.

 

This creates certainty at every touchpoint with your buyers. You’ll rest assured that your buyer gets the most personalized experience with content targeted to their specific needs at any given time.

Digital Sales Room for Social Selling

Digital Sales Room is a modern approach to social selling. It's like a virtual showroom where you can showcase your products or services to potential customers 24/7. You can share the link to the room on social media platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter to get more eyes on it.

You can share the link to the room on social media platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter to get more eyes on it.

You can answer any questions visitors might have and give them more information about your offering. This eliminates that initial barrier between your product and a wide audience. It's a simple way to make sales without even leaving your home office.

And what's the best part? You can acquire all the visitors' email addresses when they access your content. These email addresses can be then used in multiple ways for sales and marketing outreach. 

Digital Sales Room for Product Launches

DSR can also be a valuable tool when launching new products. Just like a virtual showroom, you can use it to provide detailed information about the upcoming product, such as its features, specifications, and pricing.

Additionally, you can use the DSR for virtual product demos, sales presentations, and Q&A sessions, which can help potential buyers understand the value of the new product. 

Digital Sales Room for Email Campaigns

Yes, you can use a Digital Sales Room for email campaigns. You can include a link to the DSR in your email marketing campaigns, allowing potential customers to access relevant material easily. In the DSR, you can provide detailed information about your products or services, such as product or service specifications, pricing, and demos.

You can use the analytics and tracking features of a DSR to measure the performance of your email campaigns and make adjustments as needed.

By including a link to the DSR in your email campaigns, you can allow potential customers to learn more about your products or services and interact with your company in a more engaging way.

In addition, you can use the analytics and tracking features of a DSR to measure the performance of your email campaigns and make adjustments as needed.

Digital Sales Room for Internal Communication and Knowledge Sharing

DSR can also be leveraged for internal communications in different ways. It can be used for training and onboarding new employees or a dealer sales network. The DSR acts as a source of interactive and engaging content about the company such as product offerings or a sales playbook.

It can be used for training and onboarding new employees or dealer sales network.

It can be used as a platform for employees to share and access critical documents, files, and other resources. This can streamline internal communications and make it easier for employees to access the information they need.

 

🚀 Effective sales content management greatly impacts the way your sellers sell. It can greatly improve various aspects of your sales process - sales efficiency, customer engagement, brand consistency, and overall sales performance. Read more about All You Need To Know About Sales Content Management.

 

Best Practices for Digital Sales Rooms

A DSR can be a powerful tool if you’re looking to streamline your sales processes. With the right approach, DSR can help you showcase your products or services engagingly and interactively. This will make it easier for potential customers to learn about what you have to offer.

We’ve come up with some best practices so you can ensure that your DSR is used in the most effective and user-friendly way, helping you to increase conversions and boost your bottom line.

Illustration of sharing sales materials via digital sales room

Only Share Content That is Relevant to the Buyer

It's key to focus on providing relevant, engaging content for potential buyers. This means providing information that is directly related to the products you are selling, and keeping it simple and focused.

By only sharing relevant content, you can help to keep your buyers engaged and interested in what you have to offer. This can help to increase the chances that they will take action, such as making a purchase or requesting more information.

It’s also beneficial for your buyers if you segment your audience. It can be done by providing different information for different personas, stages of the funnel, or even their location or language.

 

👍 Whether you’re a seasoned sales professional or you’re about to have your first sales meeting, it’s always best to show up prepared so you can leave a memorable impression on your prospects. Learn How to Begin Your Sales Presentation and the 10 Secrets To A Winning Sales Presentation.

 

Support Sales With Interactive Tools and Immersive Content

Another excellent practice when using DSR is to support sales with interactive tools or engaging content. This can include a variety of different types of interactive elements such as interactive animations, virtual tours, or engaging materials like customer reference videos and 360-degree and 3D product views.

Support Sales with interactive animations, virtual tours, or engaging materials like customer reference videos and 360-degree and 3D product views.

In addition, interactive tools can provide valuable insights about your visitors, such as their preferences, interests, and buying behavior, which can be used to improve your sales strategy.

These interactive tools can help to engage visitors and make the experience of exploring your products or services more engaging and interactive.

Illustration of interactive product configurator for sales

Regularly Analyze the Data

By regularly analyzing data gathered from DSR, you’ll be able to pinpoint where your strengths lie and replicate them. It also shows you opportunities for improvement.

Gain insight into how your content and the overall sales process is performing and where improvements can be made.

Analyzing data includes monitoring metrics such as open or view rates, share rates, and user behavior. This will enable you to gain insight into how your content and the overall sales process is performing and where improvements can be made.

By understanding what is working well and where there may be issues, you can optimize your sales strategy for better results and a more effective sales process.

Showell's Digital Sales Room: What Can it Do?

Showell's Digital Sales Room is all about improving the buyer's experience, guiding sales and marketing teams to keep content relevant, optimizing the ease of content sharing, pairing intuitive conferencing tools with a presentation hub, and creating a branded environment that leads to fewer sales touchpoints. All these factors increase the velocity of closing deals.

Image of digital sales room vs. sending materials as email attachments

Digital Sales Rooms will not only become the norm but the expectation when buying in a B2B environment.

McKinsey found that video conferencing accounted for 43% of the average B2B company's revenue during the pandemic, and that isn’t likely to go away. While Gartner found that 80% of B2B sales between suppliers and buyers will occur through digital channels by 2025.

All the statistics point in one direction and one direction only. Digital Sales Rooms will not only become the norm but the expectation when buying in a B2B environment. The question is, will you embrace the future now or later?

How Do I Get Started?

So whether you’re looking to upgrade your sales platform, streamline your sales processes, or simply want to see where a DSR can fit in your strategy, it’s fairly simple to start.

If you’re looking for an intuitive tool that is highly rated and quick to take on, Showell's DSR is the easiest to use in the market and is loved by sales and marketing professionals worldwide. Showell’s Digital Sales Room is free with no strings attached. Get Showell Free and start with your very own Digital Sales Room today!

Banner promoting Digital Sales Room and how to get one for free

Digital Sales Room is Great For Driving More Sales in a Controlled Manner

A Digital Sales Room is a valuable asset for companies looking to expand their reach and drive sales remotely. By carefully planning and customizing the DSR, you can create an interactive and productive digital sales environment that aligns with your specific role and objectives.

Digital Sales Rooms are worth considering to become an integral aspect of your sales strategy.

By selecting the appropriate platform, creating relevant content, incorporating brand elements, ensuring ease of navigation, and having a follow-up strategy, you can use DSRs to connect with buyers, establish trust, and ultimately close deals conveniently and efficiently.

As the trend of remote work and digital communication continues to evolve, Digital Sales Rooms are worth considering to become an integral aspect of your sales strategy.

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