As we work with each vendor on GTMSoftware, we are digging into which industries vendors focus on and where they have the most success. This article considers tools you can use in Sales Enablement for manufacturing businesses.
This breakdown ignores specific use cases, company sizes, target buyers, and so forth — that level of recommendation can be shared via our Personalized Recommendations.
Note: As we continue to gather more data from vendors more feedback from prospects and customers, we will continue to update this article.
Quick Take for Content-Related Solutions
| Capability | Showell | Saleshood | Paperflite | Highspot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Sales Rooms | Solid capabilities, dynamic content (optionally), security. | Solid capabilities, dynamic content, but no security. | Solid capabilities, dynamic content (optionally), security, chat/conversation capabilities. | Solid capabilities, dynamic content, security.. |
| Content Playback | Good playback includes annotations and the ability to save notes. | Basic, No Annotations or Notes | Basic, No Annotations or Notes | Unclear |
| Search | Title, Description | Title, Description | Title, Description | Title, Description |
| Reporting | Sellers can use reporting to identify customer engagement, identify who to reach out to and what to discuss. | Sellers can use reporting to identify customer engagement, identify who to reach out to and what to discuss. | Sellers can use reporting to identify customer engagement, identify who to reach out to and what to discuss. | Sellers can use reporting to identify customer engagement, identify who to reach out to and what to discuss. |
| Email Integrations | None | None | Gmail, Microsoft Outlook | Gmail, Microsoft Outlook |
| CRM Integrations | Salesforce | Salesforce | Hubspot, Pipedrive, Microsoft Dynamics | Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics |
| Pricing | Free – Up to 25 documents – Up to 5 users – Basic theme – Self-service onboarding – Help Center and tutorial videos – Virtual product training – Community Slack support Essential $18/user/month – Up to 50 documents – Up to 20 users – Basic theme – 1-to-1 virtual onboarding session – Help Center and tutorial videos – Customer support – Community Slack support Professional No pricing published – Unlimited volume & storage – Unlimited users & admins – Custom themes – Onboarding program – Dedicated customer success manager – Premium support – Showell community | Try Free $50/user/month All Pricing | Try Free $50/user/month All Pricing | Not Published |
| Evaluate Now | Evaluate Now | Evaluate Now | Evaluate Now | |
Now, let’s dive in.
Sales Enablement Content for Manufacturing
Showell 
Showell is a content-focused Sales Enablement tool.
It is the only pure Enablement platform with a FREE option, working sufficiently well for smaller to mid-sized manufacturers. Still, manufacturers with larger workforces may want to upgrade to the paid version to integrate with Salesforce (if you are using the Salesforce CRM, of course).
Showell is the only vendor in the Sales Enablement for Manufacturing tool list at the Trusted Vendor status level, demonstrating a level of confidence in their toolset that we applaud.
And, manufacturing is their area of deep expertise.
Two other Trusted Vendors are on the Must-Consider list if you seek solutions for digitally transforming your bookshelves and file cabinets into more scalable digital solutions.
Sales Enablement All-in-One Solutions for Manufacturing
If you are looking for a complete Enablement solution, with content, training, and coaching capabilities, for the Manufacturing space, we would recommend any of these three vendors.
Highspot
Highspot is a complete Sales Enablement solution with content, training, and coaching capabilities built into one platform stack.
The content portions of Highspot are more mature, and certified customer feedback to the GTMSoftware notes that “The LMS functionality is still very early in its development, so most mature teams will need to have a separate system for CMS and LMS.”
Highspot is a participating vendor, not a trusted vendor, so we do not have unfettered access to the platform to evaluate more fully on our own.
There is only one additional vendor we can add to this list for consideration, Saleshood.
Comparison – Highspot vs. Showell vs. Paperflite vs. Saleshood
For this broad use case of Sales Enablement, let’s do a quick comparison.
| Capability | Showell | Saleshood | Paperflite | Highspot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Sales Rooms | Solid capabilities, dynamic content (optionally), security. | Solid capabilities, dynamic content, but no security. | Solid capabilities, dynamic content (optionally), security, chat/conversation capabilities. | Solid capabilities, dynamic content, security.. |
| Content Playback | Good playback includes annotations and the ability to save notes. | Basic, No Annotations or Notes | Basic, No Annotations or Notes | Unclear |
| Search | Title, Description | Title, Description | Title, Description | Title, Description |
| Reporting | Sellers can use reporting to identify customer engagement, identify who to reach out to and what to discuss. | Sellers can use reporting to identify customer engagement, identify who to reach out to and what to discuss. | Sellers can use reporting to identify customer engagement, identify who to reach out to and what to discuss. | Sellers can use reporting to identify customer engagement, identify who to reach out to and what to discuss. |
| Email Integrations | None | None | Gmail, Microsoft Outlook | Gmail, Microsoft Outlook |
| CRM Integrations | Salesforce | Salesforce | Hubspot, Pipedrive, Microsoft Dynamics | Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics |
| Pricing | Free – Up to 25 documents – Up to 5 users – Basic theme – Self-service onboarding – Help Center and tutorial videos – Virtual product training – Community Slack support Essential $18/user/month – Up to 50 documents – Up to 20 users – Basic theme – 1-to-1 virtual onboarding session – Help Center and tutorial videos – Customer support – Community Slack support Professional No pricing published – Unlimited volume & storage – Unlimited users & admins – Custom themes – Onboarding program – Dedicated customer success manager – Premium support – Showell community | Try Free $50/user/month All Pricing | Try Free $50/user/month All Pricing | Not Published |
| Evaluate Now | Evaluate Now | Evaluate Now | Evaluate Now | |
Sales Enablement Training and Coaching
Manufacturers come to manufacturing sales teams with a great deal of insight.
They often know the industry, and even your solutions, as well or better than you do.
To be successful, you have to invest time in training your sales teams on all of that, of course, and give them the tools they need to find information at the moment of need (as there is too much information for any of us to retain without out).
To meet the challenges sellers have around staying ahead of buyers, you need solutions that:
- Deliver scheduled micro-learning solutions to sellers to reinforce areas you know they need.
- Deliver access to training and insights when they need it (from the CRM, email, or other tools they are working within).
There are tons of excellent tools available in this space to help with these needs, here are our current favorites.
Summary – Sales Enablement for Manufacturing
The manufacturing sector has not always been a prime focus for Sales Enablement vendors. However, we see Sales Enablement for Manufacturing businesses rising in prominence and expect to see far more vendors providing support for this vital industry soon.
See our article on manufacturing sales trends.
Let’s Talk Problems — And Solutions
If you are looking to deploy Sales Enablement in your manufacturing business, let’s chat about how you can maximize your current investments.