Picture this: You𝓀’re a salesperson getting ready ꧟for a call with a prospect.

You’re anticipating any and all possible buyer questions and ready to provide articles, case studies, details, and expertise needed to answer them.

Then, in the caꦏll itself, just when you’re preparing to answer those same old questions, something magical⭕ happens...

There are no questions.

The prospect already has the answers.

Every single one.

Your prospect already has all the information they need. They already 168极速赛车平台:trust your business and they're e🐼ager to move forward into the next stages of the sales pro෴cess.

This is 168极速赛车平台:assignment selling in action.

Simply put, assignment selling i꧃s the practice of using educational content about𒐪 your products and services to help speed up the sales process.

This content helps answer questions before the♈y come up, making sales calls more productive and efficient.

Hoꦇwever, like most great sales and ♍marketing tactics, assignment selling is easy to get wrong when you're new to it.

Assignment selling is sales enablement — but better

The theory behind assignment selling is simple: An 🌌educated prospect is more likely to become a customer — and do so faster.

In practice, assignment selling usually beꦰgins before a first sales call, when a salesperson sends pieces of content to the prospect to review before the call takes place.

The content is designed to answer 168极速赛车平台:the most pressing questi🍷ons🍸 that buyers have at that stage in the sales process.

Once a prospe💫ct has gone through the material, ideally, they'll be better educated and prepared for specific conversations.

With many of the standard con༺cerns addressed ahead of time, you can focus on that prospect's specific needs during the meeting. 

On the flip side, some prospects mayꦬ opt out of the sales process (or n🍎ot complete the assignment at all). While no salesperson likes canceled meetings, anyone who opts out is likely a bad-fit prospect, so your time is saved in the long run.

Overall, assignment selling can bꦅe a sales rep’s greatest tool, b♑ut only if it's done well. 

Here are some common mistakes to avoid.

Avoiding 4 common assignment selling mistakes

If you're just getting st💯arted with ssi🐈gnment selling, you can avoid some common mistakes others have made.

Here are four common things to avoid:

1. Assigning too much or too little content
2. Moving forward even if the prospect blatantly ignores the assignment
3. Using only text-based content
4. Not selecting unique content for each prospect or situation

Let's dive into each to see how you can avoid it.

1. Assigning too much or too little content

How much is too much content?

Imagine you're a prospect. If you received an email with 15 different links you were supposed to read before your call, would you do it?

You want to give each prospect enough information to have a better sales conver﷽sation, but you don't need to assi⛦gn them the entire encyclopedia.

If you assigꦏn too much, you're more likely to get ignored. 

How to fix it:

I recommend two or three pieces of content ahead of each call. Any more than that and you're pushing it. 🧸; 

However, you can provide more content as long as you don't assign it. Something like a buyer's guide might be lengthy, but prospects can use it as a reference material they can look through, readin🎶g what they'd like.

Also, explain whꦡat each piece of content is and why it's relevant and helpful (if that's not obvious from the title).

2. Moving forward if the prospect doesn't complete the assignment

So, wh𝕴at do you do if a prospect doesn't c🍬omplete the assignment? Unfortunately this happens, and it's usually for two possible reasons.

Either they're not ﷽that serious about buying or they're t🐼oo busy or forgot.

Shrugging tꦚhis off and moving forward with the sales proceꦗss can waste your and the prospect's time. 

How to fix it:

The day before your call, respond to your prospect with a short but sincere email that s𒀰tresses the importan⭕ce of reviewing the material.

The email could look something like this:

Hi [prospect name],

Confirming our 2:45pm EST call today.

This is a reminder to make sure you have had time to go through the resources below before we speak. If not, it may make sense to reschedule. I want to ensure we make the best use of our time together.

• Marcus Sheridan’s free courဣse: They Ask, You Answer Fundamentals

• What Is a Learning Center and Why Doe💛s My Website Need One?

If you haven't had time to look at the above material, here is my calendar to book another time.

Keep me posted!

Tom

If you need to resc♔hedule the call, so be it. If the prospect didn't complete the assignments because 🌜they are not serious, you've saved yourself the time that would have been wasted on an unqualified prospect.

If they didn't get to it, pushing back the meeting gives them the time they need to really focus — and also reinforces the importance of the🍬 materiaไls.

3. Using only text-based content

Articles are great, but many prospects prefer to consume information in different ways. This may mean podcasts, inf🎃ographics, videos, or even interactive tools. 

Video can be one the most usefu📖l tool in educating quickly and thoroughly.

In fact, when asked how they’d most like to learn about a product o🅺r service, over other forms of content.

Knowing this, it's a ღhuge mistake to not incorporate other mediums, especially video, into y💝our assignment selling materials. 

How to fix it:

Meet with your marketing te🦂am to talk about creating a wider variety of content. Can they help you by produ▨cing video content? Are there other types of content they can make?

Be clear with them: sales enablement materials should takܫe different♔ forms to suit different buyers.

You can also take matters into your own hands.

Use your smartphone or laptop camera to record a video reciting some of the insights shared in an article or use a tool like to crꦅeate an infographic on your o⛦wn.

to help you ൲turn your copy into a compelling infographic to share with your prospects without any design experience. 

🔎 Not sure what kind of video to make? 168极ꦇ速赛车平台:You can learn more ab꧂out what we call 80% videos.

4. Not selecting the right content for each buyer's stage

A prospect just getting to know your company is not in the same position as a final-stage buyer 168极速赛车平台:deciding between two options. Both need infor🍨mation from you, but their needs and mindsets are vastly d꧟ifferent.

As a salesperson, if you blast out the same content email to every prospect, you're going to come off asꦅ genericꦓ and insincere.

You may be sending along inform🐎ation that is of zero interest to your prospect and, in turn, you're missing a huge opportunity to resonate and bu🉐ild trust. 

How to fix it:

Build up a library of sales enablement materials that answer as many buyer questions as possible and keep them organized by things like the stage of 💙the buyer's journey or pain point. 

You can use a tool like , , or  to organize and track your con🌸tent.

From there, whenever 168极速赛车平台:you send an assignment selling email, you can check your library and choose the material that is best suited to that prospect based on conversations you've already had and conversations s🦂till to come. ꧟;

The right path for sales enablement

Your website and digital content a🌠re the best sales tools your reps will ever have.

Delivering content to prospects allows your sales teams to s♒pend their time in the right places — closing deals, no𓃲t "working" deals.

Assignment selling is the key to:

• Better qualifying a prospect's commitment to the sales process
• Shortening the sales cycle
• Devoting time to more qualified leads
• Dramatically improved close rates

Avoiding the common mistakes above will help you use this process in the most effe🔥ctive way possible. Keep tweaki🐼ng and evaluating as you go, sharpening your skills and improving your technique.

Want to dive deeper into assignment selling a🔜nd how to do it right?

Take our free course "" today!