As one of the most recognizable brands in the world, Coca-Cola is at an advantage: All of its potential customers are familiar with its products. The sales team does not have to educate buyers about the product. Instead, they’re challenged to connect emotionally with prospects and deliver an exceptional buyer experience.

“Grocery stores know who we are,” says Gregory Capidis, field sales enablement manager for Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ Brussels office, which serves Belgium and Luxembourg. “So what we need to do is give them information that has added value. We want to give them an experience they won’t get from anyone else.”

To build this emotional connection and establish salespeople as trusted partners, the sales enablement team needed a way to make messaging more consistent, give marketing better visibility, and cut down on rogue sales decks. Misalignment between sales and marketing meant salespeople had less customer face time because they were scrambling to find content. It was all over the place, and there wasn’t a system to ensure the content they found was the most current.

“It was a mess,” Gregory says.

Showpad Content streamlined the buying experience and helped sales focus more on selling. In 2016, the company rolled out the sales content management solution to a team of 50 salespeople. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners found Showpad organized its material intuitively while giving the Marketing team visibility into the most effective content.

“Showpad created efficiency — not just in our people but in our overall performance,” Gregory says.

Today, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ sales team of nearly 400 people is equipped with Showpad. “They speak about Showpad like it’s their Bible because they have all the information they need to conduct a sales conversation,” he adds.

Buyers also can access content through an interface that is easily accessible via a mobile device. Also important is that salespeople are given the ability to instantly deliver content via email, whether they are connected to the internet or not.

Content is now tailor-made to buyers and presentations, includes more relevant information, and is easier to digest.

“Before, our presentations used to run 40 pages long. Now we can get them a one-pager, heavy with visuals, that can make the emotional argument,” Gregory says. “We can give the right information to the right person.”

Capidis’ team also uses short videos — a first for them. Buyers appreciate the ROI calculator where they can plug in different scenarios to see how they can best profit from their relationship with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. “That’s how we want to work with our clients,” he says. “We want to be their partners and to gain their trust. We want to show them we can solve all the problems they face.”

Showpad’s support staff was not just there whenever Capidis had questions, but they were also open to feedback to improve the experience for his customers. “We liked the way people at Showpad listen to you and take all your feedback to create something even better,” he says.

Overall, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners established stronger relationships with its buyers, making it not just easier for them, but for the salespeople tasked to sign them up. Even though their buyers may have been familiar with Coca-Cola European Partners products all their lives, there is now an opportunity to build excitement around the products.

Because, as Capidis says, buyers can see the product in new ways. “We don’t sell very complicated products, but the emotional part of the product is very important,” he says. “We have to tell our story, and Showpad gives us the way to do that.”