If you’ve ever been stuck in “Who approved this?” purgatory, you know that getting sales decks and collateral signed off can feel like herding cats. Marketing wants one thing, sales wants another, and legal just wants fewer surprises. If your team is tired of endless email threads and version confusion, this guide’s for you. We’ll walk through how to use Livepreso to actually make the sales content approval process less painful, more organized, and maybe even faster.
Why Content Approval Is Such a Mess
Before we get into the how-to, let’s be honest about why this is such a headache:
- Too many cooks: Everyone’s got an opinion—marketing, sales, legal, brand.
- Version chaos: Files live in email, SharePoint, random Google Drives…good luck finding the “final” deck.
- Missed feedback: Someone always gets left out or ignored, and the approval cycle starts over.
- No clear trail: It’s hard to prove who approved what and when, which is a compliance nightmare if you’re in a regulated industry.
Livepreso isn’t a magic wand, but it’s built to tackle these specific headaches—if you use it right.
Step 1: Get Your Team and Content in One Place
First things first: centralize. If your content lives all over the place, approvals will too.
Set Up Your Livepreso Workspace
- Add the right people: Invite marketing, sales, legal, and anyone else who needs to review or approve content. Don’t go overboard—too many reviewers slow things down.
- Organize folders: Create a folder structure that makes sense for your team. For example:
- “Drafts” (work in progress)
- “Under Review”
- “Approved”
- “Archived”
- Upload master versions: Only upload the most current files. Old drafts just confuse things.
Pro tip: Limit edit access. Give most users “view” or “comment” rights. This keeps things from going off the rails.
Step 2: Build a Clear Approval Workflow
Don’t wing it. Decide how content moves from draft to approved.
Map Out Your Stages
Here’s a simple, effective approval flow:
- Draft created: Marketing or sales uploads their draft.
- Internal review: Key stakeholders (like product or legal) comment and suggest changes.
- Final review: Decision-maker (CMO, head of sales, etc.) approves or rejects.
- Approved: The content is now ready and searchable for reps.
Set Up Workflows in Livepreso
- Assign reviewers: For each content piece, tag who needs to review. Don’t just blast it to everyone.
- Set deadlines: Give people a clear “respond by” date. Livepreso lets you nudge folks, but nothing replaces a little accountability.
- Track status: Use Livepreso’s status labels (“Draft,” “Reviewing,” “Approved,” etc.) so everyone knows where things stand.
What to ignore: Fancy, multi-stage workflows with 10+ steps. They look impressive, but usually just slow things down and confuse people.
Step 3: Collect Feedback Without the Chaos
This is where most systems break down—feedback gets lost, ignored, or comes in too late.
Use Livepreso’s Commenting Tools
- Threaded comments: Keep feedback tied to specific slides or assets, not buried in email.
- @Mentions: Tag people directly for input (“@Jane can you check the pricing slide?”).
- Version control: Livepreso tracks changes, so you can always roll back if someone makes a mess.
Keep Feedback Focused
- Set expectations up front: Are reviewers looking for typos, compliance, branding, or all of the above? Be clear.
- Limit rounds of feedback. Two is usually plenty—more than that and you’re just spinning wheels.
Pro tip: If you get conflicting feedback, don’t try to please everyone. Escalate to the decision-maker fast and move on.
Step 4: Approve (or Reject) and Move On
Approvals shouldn’t be mysterious or political. Someone needs to own the decision.
How to Approve Content in Livepreso
- One-click approval: Approvers can mark content as “Approved” with a single click. It’s logged for future reference.
- Rejection with feedback: If something isn’t ready, reject it and explain why. No cryptic “Needs more work” comments—be specific.
Audit Trail
- Every approval, comment, or edit is tracked. If legal or compliance ever comes knocking, you’ll have a clear record.
What works: Transparency. Everyone can see where content is and who’s holding it up. Passive-aggressive email threads are a thing of the past.
What doesn’t: Letting approvals drag on. Set deadlines, and if someone doesn’t respond, move forward or escalate.
Step 5: Make Approved Content Easy to Find and Use
Congrats, your content’s approved. Now make sure reps can actually find it.
Organize for Findability
- Use clear naming conventions (“2024 Product Overview – Approved” beats “Final_v3_EDITED” every time).
- Tag content by use case, audience, or product line.
- Archive old versions so nobody accidentally sends out last year’s pricing.
Train Sales (Briefly)
- Show reps where to find approved decks and assets in Livepreso.
- Make it clear: If it’s not marked “Approved,” don’t use it.
Pro tip: Set up automated notifications for reps when new approved content is available, so you don’t have to chase people down.
Step 6: Keep Improving the Process
No tool fixes a broken process on its own. Keep things simple and tweak as you go.
- Review your workflow: Every quarter or so, ask what’s working and what’s not. Streamline steps if approvals are getting stuck.
- Measure turnaround time: How long does it take to get something approved? Look for bottlenecks.
- Don’t add complexity: Resist the urge to bolt on more steps, forms, or approvers unless you really need them.
What to ignore: Endless process mapping sessions. Most teams just need clarity, accountability, and a place to keep things organized.
Real Talk: What Livepreso Can’t Fix
No tool, including Livepreso, solves every problem:
- People still matter: You need someone to own the process and chase things up.
- Culture trumps tools: If your team loves endless debate or hates making decisions, no platform will save you.
- Garbage in, garbage out: If your uploads are sloppy or outdated, your “approved” library will be too.
But if you’re willing to set up a clear workflow and stick to it, Livepreso can take a lot of the grunt work (and guesswork) out of getting sales content ready for primetime.
Keep It Simple—And Keep Moving
Streamlining content approval isn’t about fancy tech or process charts. It’s about getting the right people, the right feedback, and a clear path to “approved”—with as little drama as possible. Livepreso can help, but only if you use it to cut noise, not add to it.
Start small, keep your workflow lean, and don’t let perfect be the enemy of done. The less time you spend chasing approvals, the more time your team can actually spend selling. And that’s the real win.