Brainshark Releases Brainshark Live for Sales Accelerator

Brainshark, a provider of sales enablement solutions, added to its Sales Accelerator platform today with Brainshark Live, which enables real-time content sharing. Released in 2014, the Sales Accelerator package was engineered to give sales reps convenient access to onboarding and training resources, coaching opportunities, and content that aligns with the needs of buyers in particular sales conversations. Brainshark Live will focus on making that content easier for salespeople to share on demand, within one clean interface in Salesforce.

"Sales reps spend up to 40 percent of their time finding content for sales interactions or—even worse— creating their own," says Alex Salop, director of enterprise and product marketing at Brainshark. "Brainshark Live mitigates those problems."

Built on the SlideShark technology that informs Brainshark’s presentation-sharing capabilities, Brainshark Live aims to streamline the way salespeople conduct presentations. Instead of forcing users to rummage through their materials when they need them, users can click on a link and open a presentation, and invite others to participate via email. Within that presentation environment, they can share slides featuring videos or articles tailored specifically for the encounter, depending on the type of client and their stage in the buying process. Reps can also share slide decks that clients can then view or share at their leisure. And sales reps can open presentations on any device within the Salesforce interface, without having to wade through content outside of CRM systems or force prospects to download additional programs.

One of Brainshark Live's added benefits, Salop says, is that helps sales organizations prepare sales forces effectively and use only the strongest approved materials. With analytics, managers can evaluate their reps' activity and determine which content or strategies work best. Users can also see who watched the presentation when and on what device. "We’re hoping that organizations will see that productivity increase is directly related to the content that is used for live sales interactions," Salop says.

For Brainshark, the release aligns with its belief that a salesperson's activity is important during every stage of a B2B buying cycle, and not just the later ones, as popular opinion would suggest. Joan Babinski, vice president of corporate marketing at Brainshark, points to recent research from SiriusDecisions, which aims to debunk myths surrounding the changing nature of the buying processes. 

According to Marisa Kopec, vice president and group director at SiriusDecisions, "Buyers still need contextualization…[and] information that will help them think through their problems and see opportunities in new ways."  So long as that remains the case, the human element is needed, in the form of a guide who can help buyers see how a product or service will meet their needs.

Over the past few years, Brainshark has focused on strengthening its portfolio for Salesforce customers, but Salop says the company is open to exploring opportunities with other CRM vendors, including Microsoft Dynamics.

As for future enhancements, the company will continue to add functionality to the Sales Accelerator. "We will be announcing enhanced analytics that will be coming very shortly. It [will provide a] more direct correlation between activities and changes and opportunity outcomes," Salop says. 

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