A salesperson is about to join a meeting in a few minutes. A customer asks a question during a call. A follow-up needs to be sent while the conversation is still fresh.
In these moments, they need the right content immediately. But instead, they search. They switch between tools. They guess where something might be. Or they give up and use outdated materials or create something new.
This slows them down, breaks their workflow, and impacts deal momentum.
The impact goes beyond sales. Time is wasted across teams, content is underused, and the effort put into creating and maintaining it does not translate into results.
The issue is not the amount or quality of content. It is how that content is structured and accessed.
This article shows how to structure your content in Showell so salespeople can quickly find, trust, and use it in real selling situations.
How to Structure Sales Content for Better AdoptionTo make sales content easy to find and use, structure it based on how your sales team actually works, not how content is created. 5 content structure approaches:
Best practices:
Key principle: Content only delivers value when salespeople can find and use it in real sales situations. |
Why Sales Content is Not Being Used and Hard to Find
The problem is rarely the content itself. In most organizations, there is no shortage of presentations, brochures, case studies, or videos. The real issue is that salespeople cannot find or trust the right content when they need it.
Content is structured for internal logic, not for selling
In many cases, content is organized based on how teams create and manage it. Marketing might group materials by campaign, format, or internal categories. From an admin perspective, this makes sense.
But for salespeople, this structure does not match how they work. When preparing for a meeting or responding to a customer, salespeople are not thinking in terms of “presentation” or “PDF.” They are thinking:
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What do I need for this customer?
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What helps me move this deal forward?
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What can I share right now?
If the structure does not reflect these questions, it becomes unintuitive in real situations.
Lack of alignment between sales and content owners
At the center of all of this is a more fundamental issue: a lack of alignment between sales teams and those managing the content.
Marketing, enablement, or operations teams often define the structure based on what they believe is logical. But without direct input from sales, this structure rarely reflects how deals actually progress or how content is used in real situations.
Salespeople need quick access to specific materials before a meeting, during a conversation, or right after a call. If the structure does not support these moments, even well-created content becomes difficult to find and use.
5 Best Practices for Structuring Content in Showell
There is no single correct way to structure sales content. Every organization is different, with its own sales process, markets, and ways of working.
But while structures vary, one principle remains constant.
The goal is not just to organize content. It is to enable salespeople to find the right material in seconds, trust that it is up to date, and use it immediately in conversations.
A structure that supports real sales workflows may take more effort to maintain. But it leads to better adoption and more effective use of content. When done right, it keeps sales focused on selling, not searching.
1. Start by identifying who will use Showell and how
Before defining your structure, clarify who your main users are. Is it your internal sales team, a dealer network, or both?
Different users have different needs. Internal teams may require access to training and pricing, while external users need simpler, ready-to-use materials.
If you work with global dealers or partners, consider how language and regional differences impact content usage. They may need localized materials in their own language, with a structure that makes it easy to find relevant content for their market.
Your structure should reflect these differences from the start.
2. Align with sales leadership on how content should support the sales process
Content structure should not be defined in isolation by marketing or enablement teams.
Sales leaders and management own the sales process. They define how deals progress, what content is needed at each stage, and how salespeople are expected to use it. Before building or restructuring your content in Showell, align with them on how the sales process works in practice and how content should support it.
Without this alignment, structures are based on assumptions and will not match how salespeople actually work.
3. Validate the structure based on how content is used
Once the structure is in place, do not rely on assumptions or one-time feedback sessions to validate it.
Instead, look at how content actually performs:
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Are salespeople using the content?
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Which materials are consistently used, and which are ignored?
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Are certain folders or areas rarely accessed?
These patterns reveal whether your structure supports real usage.
When issues appear, follow up with sales to understand why. Is the content not relevant, or is it difficult to find? Use this insight to make targeted adjustments.
4. Consider access and permissions when designing your structure
Access and permissions should not define your structure, but they should be considered early.
In regulated industries or when working with dealers and partners, not all content should be visible to everyone. This means you need to think about:
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What content should be available to all sales users
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What should be restricted to internal teams
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What external users such as dealers or partners should see
The goal is to ensure each group sees only what is relevant, without adding unnecessary complexity.
5. Use Showell’s capabilities to build a structure that supports your sellers
Showell is designed to support flexible content structures. This means you can structure content based on your sales process, products, customer segments, or a combination of these.
To do this effectively, make use of key capabilities:
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Layout Builder allows you to design how content is presented and navigated, going beyond simple folder structures.
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Workspaces help you separate content for different business units or use cases, teams, regions, or partner networks, keeping content relevant and reducing clutter.
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Multi-language support ensures sales teams and global dealers can access the right content in the right language.
The value comes from structuring content in a way that supports how your sales team actually works.
5 Sales Content Structures That Improve Usability
The right structure depends on how your sales team works, what you sell, and who you sell to.
Below are five approaches that improve usability when applied correctly.
1. Structure content based on the sales process
When a salesperson needs content, it is usually in a time-sensitive moment, preparing for a meeting, answering a question during a call, or following up right after.
In those moments, they are not thinking about folders. They are thinking about where they are in the deal.
This structure should be defined together with sales leadership. Identify the key stages of your sales process and the content needed at each stage, then organize your content accordingly.
For example:
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Prospecting: intro decks, outreach materials, industry insights
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Discovery: product overviews, case studies, needs analysis guides
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Proposal: pricing materials, ROI calculators, proposal templates
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Closing: contracts, onboarding materials, customer references
This approach depends on a clearly defined sales process, owned by sales leadership, and consistently followed.
2. Structure content by product or brand
If your sales conversations are primarily product-focused, structuring content by product or brand is a practical and widely used approach.
In this model, all relevant materials are grouped under each product or brand. This includes presentations, videos, case studies, brochures, and pricing related to that specific offering. For example, your top-level structure might look like:x
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About Us
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Product Line A
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Product Line B
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Product Line C
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Add-ons and Maintenance
Each product section then contains all supporting materials related to that offering.
This is one of the most common approaches among Showell customers because it is simple, intuitive, and easy to scale as your product portfolio grows. It is especially effective in product-driven sales environments.
3. Structure content by customer segment
If your sales approach varies significantly depending on the customer, structuring content by customer segment can make it easier to find relevant materials.
Content is grouped based on who you are selling to, such as enterprise, SMB, public sector, or partners. For example, your structure might look like:
- Enterprise
- SMB
- Public Sector
- Partners
Each segment then includes the relevant presentations, case studies, brochures, and videos tailored to that audience. This works best when your messaging and content differ clearly between customer groups.
4. Structure content by material type
This is one of the most straightforward ways to organize content, grouping materials by format such as presentations, videos, brochures, or training materials. For example, your structure might look like:
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Presentations
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Videos
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Brochures
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Learning and Training
This approach is often intuitive for admins because it makes content easy to upload, manage, and maintain.
5. Use a hybrid structure to support different entry points
Even with a well-defined structure, sales conversations do not always follow the same path.
In one deal, a salesperson may follow a structured process. In another, they may jump directly to a product or respond to a specific need.
Sales leadership defines the primary structure, typically based on the sales process. A hybrid structure adds additional entry points to the same content.
For example, your top-level structure might include:
- Sales Process
- Products
- Customer Segments
- Quick Access
- Internal Only
These are different ways to access the same content, not separate structures.
Keep the top-level structure focused and aligned with the most common use cases. This approach supports real usage while maintaining consistency.
Conclusion: Structure Drives Adoption and Sales Impact
Content only delivers value when it is used.
When your structure supports how salespeople actually work, the impact is immediate. Sales can access content faster, have more effective conversations, and spend less time searching or recreating materials.
A simple way to get started is to look at one real scenario. For example, preparing for a meeting. How easy is it to find the right content today? If it takes time or requires guessing, there is room to improve.
Identify where the lag exists and adjust your structure based on how salespeople actually use content, not how it is organized internally.
Showell gives you the flexibility to build a structure that supports your sales process, your teams, and your markets. The results depend on how well that structure reflects how your sales team works.