Just 5% of a customer’s time.
A 2020 Gartner report says that’s all the time a salesperson has during a B2B buying journey. And since 8% of all sales interactions occur through digital channels, you’re competing for attention in a (very) noisy environment.
On top of that, as buyers today feel they can rely less and less on sales professionals, they’ll be more knowledgeable than ever about the options out there thanks to the sheer amount of information readily available at their fingertips.
Now, this is a good thing — you want an informed buyer 🕵️. But, the only way to guide such a buyer through an experience that ends with your solution as the most obvious, natural choice for them is to deploy a well-structured, cohesive sales enablement strategy.
In this blogpost, we’ll explore the benefits of sales enablement and provide tips for implementing an effective sales enablement strategy to drive revenue growth.
What is Sales Enablement?
At its core, sales enablement is a process that equips sales ops with the tools, resources, and information they need to effectively engage with prospects and close deals. When business owners or leaders of organizations knit these tools together into a dependable and well-structured process, they’re able to see significant turnarounds in sagging sales and major gains in revenue.
In fact:
- When businesses articulate and implement a sales enablement initiative, their sales teams achieve a 49% win rate on projected deals.
- Sales enablement transforms every aspect of the sales cycle — both customer-facing and internal: businesses that use sales enablement also saw a 31% improvement in sales messaging and a 15% improvement in low-performing sales professionals.
- 89% of customers make a buying decision on the overall sales experience — regardless of price or functionality!
Are you starting to see the argument in favor of sales enablement? 😉
<div class="cms-tips"><div>💡</div><p>The goal of sales enablement is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the sales process, leading to increased revenue (revenue growth), staying ahead of the competition, and higher customer satisfaction.</p></div>
Sales enablement takes a range of very familiar activities and connects them together. These include:
- Sales training
- Content creation
- Lead generation
- Analytics and reporting
You could even look forward to shorter sales cycles when these “pieces” are used in the right way at the right times.
Remember how we noted that buyers have more information about products and services than ever before? They feel that they don’t need salespeople because of the wealth of information. That’s marketing — inbound strategy, to be precise — at play, clearly working well.
But even the most informed buyers need a sales professional to help them make that eventual decision.
Sure, inbound marketing materials can speed up their journey from top-of-funnel to bottom. But customers still need salespeople with access to relevant, accurate, and timely product information and marketing collateral that wins their trust and differentiates your business from the competition.
That’s sales enablement in action.
And keep in mind: part of sales enablement is the ongoing training and support for salespeople that helps them succeed in their role 🏅.
Sales enablement benefits
Have you ever heard of the Adobe sales enablement program, “Adobe Insider?”
The program is part of the Adobe Sales Academy training and it’s designed to help its sales teams better understand customer needs and preferences, and to effectively communicate the value proposition of their products.
Using Adobe Insider, sales teams had access to a wide range of resources, including product training, sales enablement tools, customer insights, and competitive analysis. The program also provided ongoing coaching and feedback to help sales reps improve their skills and performance.
Adobe saw significant improvements in its sales productivity and revenue growth. Sales reps were able to close deals more quickly and efficiently, and were better equipped to meet the evolving needs of customers. In addition, customer satisfaction improved as sales reps were able to more effectively communicate the value of Adobe's products and address customer concerns.
The Adobe case study tells us a lot about the benefits of sales enablement strategy.
Here are five distinct ways in which the sales process stands to win with enablement strategy:
1. Improved sales productivity
By providing sales teams with the right tools and resources, sales enablement can help them to be more efficient and effective in their selling efforts. This can lead to more sales, shorter sales cycles, and higher revenue.
DocuSign’s sales enablement success is a fantastic example of how a team can improve sales productivity. The team of 40 sales enablement professionals completely transformed their selling systems and processes.
They also integrated an innovative quarterly “Accelerate" program, which brought together product training, highly focused marketing materials, and a list of target accounts that matched their ICP.
Their strategy, with its multiple moving and interconnected parts, gave sellers a very well-defined sales play.
In a single quarter, they increased the pipeline for just one of their products by over 120%.
2. Better alignment between sales and marketing
Sales enablement can help to align sales and marketing teams around a common set of goals and messaging. This can lead to more effective marketing campaigns and more successful sales efforts.
The good news is that B2B organizations aren’t ignorant to the pains — and very real costs — of a misalignment between these two juggernaut departments. The State of Pipeline Marketing survey shows that “sales and marketing alignment” is one of the top three priorities for B2B marketing and sales departments.
And the two are natural allies — yet, consistent misalignment between sales activities is costing businesses more than a trillion dollars per year.
3. More effective sales training
Sales enablement can provide sales teams with ongoing training and development opportunities, helping them to stay up-to-date on the latest products and industry trends.
In other words, your outbound sales team needs the right people, armed with the right content, and empowered with the right approaches to be able to be successful and close deals.
Yet, 26% of sales reps say that they feel their training is ineffective.
Ongoing sales training can help salespeople to better understand customer needs and preferences and to more effectively communicate the value of their product or service. And it’s also a good idea to track the efficacy of your programs — “effective” sales coaching can increase close rates by 29%!
4. Improved customer engagement
By providing sales teams with the right tools and resources, sales enablement can help them to more effectively engage with customers throughout the sales process. This can lead to better customer relationships, increased customer satisfaction, and ultimately, more revenue.
Kristy Traill, VP Customer at Hootsuite shows how keeping the customer in mind as a “golden thread” running through sales, growth, and marketing, has paid off big time. Hootsuite uses a total focus on customer experience and engagement to drive revenue growth, employee engagement, and even hiring and training.
See, most businesses focus on lead generation and procurement of high-quality leads. No doubt that’s important — without a consistent, well-oiled machine of inputs primed to buy, you’d have no one to sell to.
But what happens to the customer experience when they’ve converted? Many organizations miss the fact that post-sales customer experience is just as important — and is actually a legitimate part of the sales cycle. It’s not just about getting these prospects to renew and repeat, it’s also about these satisfied customers being a significant part of your referral engine.
5. Consistent messaging
Sales enablement can help to ensure that sales teams are delivering a consistent message to customers across all touchpoints. This can help to build trust and credibility with customers and to improve their overall experience with the company.
How to implement a sales enablement strategy
Just like a sales enablement strategy is a multistep process for sales teams, so too is the building of a sales strategy a multi-stage undertaking.
Let’s dive into what you’ll need to do:
Step #1: Identify your sales teams’ needs
Start by conducting a thorough needs' analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the sales team. This can involve conducting interviews, surveys, and analyzing sales data to determine the areas where the sales team requires the most support.
Step #2: Define your sales enablement objectives
To define your sales enablement objectives, start by reviewing your business goals and identifying the role that sales enablement will play in achieving those goals. Determine how sales enablement can support your overall business objectives, such as increasing revenue, improving customer satisfaction, or expanding into new markets.
You’ll also want to identify the key challenges that the sales team is facing and determine how a sales enablement strategy can help overcome those challenges. This can involve analyzing sales data, conducting interviews with sales reps and managers, and assessing the effectiveness of current sales processes and tools.
Once you have a clear understanding of your business goals and key challenges, establish measurable objectives that align with those goals. For example, you may set objectives to increase win rates, improve sales productivity, or reduce sales cycle times.
These objectives should be based on their importance and impact on your overall business goals. Focus on the objectives that will have the biggest impact on your sales team's performance and success.
Step #3: Develop relevant marketing and sales assets
Part of identifying your sales team’s needs was understanding the buyer’s journey. It will also impact the creation of your relevant marketing and sales assets.
Analyze the different stages of the buyer's journey and determine the types of assets that will be most effective in supporting sales at each stage. For example:
- At the top of the funnel, you may need assets that focus on building awareness and generating interest
- In the middle of the funnel, you may need assets that focus on educating and nurturing prospects.
Collaborate with sales reps to develop assets that meet their specific needs. Sales reps can provide valuable insights into the types of assets that are most effective in supporting their sales efforts.
Make sure to leverage different types of multimedia to engage prospects and support sales. This can include videos, infographics, podcasts, and interactive content.
Step #4: Organize and structure your team
Sales enablement success relies heavily on establishing clear roles and responsibilities of each member of the sales team. This can include sales reps, sales managers, and sales enablement specialists. Ensure that everyone understands their responsibilities and the expectations for their role.
From here, develop a comprehensive sales enablement plan that outlines the objectives, goals, and tactics for supporting the sales team. The plan should identify the key challenges that sales reps face, the types of content and resources that they need, and the metrics that will be used to measure success.
Your sales team will thrive when you foster a collaborative and communicative culture within the sales team. Encourage team members to share best practices, successes, and challenges, and facilitate regular meetings to ensure that everyone is aligned and working towards the same goals.
Step #5: Provide sales training
Sales training is a significant aspect of your sales enablement strategy. Without team buy-in and ongoing coaching, you won’t be able to support your team to achieve success.
Begin by identifying the specific training needs of your sales team. This can include training on product knowledge, sales techniques, objection handling, and customer relationship management. Conduct a skills assessment or a survey to determine where training is needed.
Next, develop a comprehensive training plan that outlines the objectives, goals, and tactics for supporting the sales team. The plan should identify the types of training that will be provided, the frequency of training sessions, and the metrics that will be used to measure success.
This can include online training modules, video tutorials, and interactive quizzes. Sales enablement platforms can also provide valuable training resources and help track training progress.
Training should be interactive and engaging for your sales team. This can include role-playing exercises, group discussions, and case studies. Interactive training can help reinforce learning and improve retention.
Provide ongoing coaching and support to reinforce the training and help sales reps apply the concepts they have learned. One-on-one coaching sessions, performance feedback, and regular check-ins can help sales reps stay on track and continue to improve their skills.
Step #6: Leverage technology
Leveraging technology is the key to sales enablement success. While the previous five steps define what needs to be done, harnessing the power of technology tells you how to get it done.
There are a variety of options you can use in your sales enablement stack:
- Use a CRM: A CRM will allow you to manage your sales pipeline, track customer interactions, and measure the effectiveness of your sales efforts. By using one, you can keep all of your sales data in one place, automate follow-up tasks, and provide your sales team with real-time data and insights.
- Implement automation software: Automation software like Captain Data can help you automate repetitive tasks and streamline workflows. For example, you can use a data automation software to source leads from targeted sites like LinkedIn with ease.
- Use sales enablement platforms: Sales enablement platforms provide your sales team with the content, tools, and resources they need to close more deals. These platforms can include training modules, product demos, case studies, and other resources that can be accessed from anywhere, at any time.
- Utilize analytics software: Analytics software can help you measure the effectiveness of your sales enablement strategy and track key metrics like conversion rates, win rates, and customer lifetime value. By using analytics software, you can identify areas where your sales team may be struggling and make data-driven decisions to optimize your sales enablement strategy.
- Bring in collaboration tools: Collaboration tools can help your sales team work together more effectively, share best practices, and stay aligned. These tools can include messaging apps, project management software, and video conferencing tools.
Conclusion
Whether you're implementing a CRM system, providing sales training, or leveraging technology to streamline workflows, the right sales enablement strategy can help you achieve your sales objectives and meet the needs of your customers.
To get started with sales enablement, companies can conduct a needs assessment, define their objectives, and develop a comprehensive plan that incorporates technology, training, and support.
With the right sales enablement strategy in place, companies can unlock their sales potential, differentiate themselves from competitors, and drive sustainable revenue growth over the long term.
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