Implementing Effective Sales Enablement: Key Strategies from a Top Leader

Tired of feeling like you’re constantly juggling between customer success and finding new sales opportunities? You’ve probably been told to just push harder and do it all, leaving you exhausted and stretched thin. The struggle to balance it all can be overwhelming, leaving you feeling drained and unproductive. But, what if there’s a better way to achieve both success and productivity without burning yourself out? Keep reading to find out how.

Want to revolutionize your sales team’s approach and achieve exceptional customer engagement? I’ve got the solution to help you achieve that. Let’s dive in and uncover the secrets to transforming your sales productivity and customer-centric strategies. Are you ready to level up your game? Let’s make it happen!

This is Teri Long’s story, our guest on this week’s Modern Selling Podcast:

Teri Long, the Vice President of Global Revenue Enablement at MindTickle, has had an incredible journey that led her to her current role. With more than 20 years of experience as an enablement leader, she initially spent a decade as a quota-carrying sales rep, which shaped her unique perspective on the challenges and needs of sales professionals. Teri’s unwavering passion for enabling sellers and driving customer success is evident in her varied experience, spanning startups, enterprise organizations, and fractional work within business development and operations. Her remarkable resilience and determination are showcased by a surprising and inspiring personal story – overcoming a snowmobiling accident that resulted in a six-inch titanium plate and six screws in her collarbone, followed by a swift return to snowmobiling just two months after surgery. Teri’s journey, both personally and professionally, reflects her tenacity and drive, making her insights on implementing effective sales enablement programs all the more impactful and compelling.

Humans are complex and humans aren’t linear. We need to figure out how to teach sellers and customer success that in this new world, you get a box this big, and somehow you need to translate verbal and nonverbal body language. – Teri Long

Teri Long, serving as the Vice President of Global Revenue Enablement at MindTickle, boasts 20+ years of extensive experience in enablement leadership, coupled with a decade-long tenure as a quota-carrying representative across startups and enterprise organizations. As a pivotal founding member of the Revenue Enablement Society, her influence has been instrumental in shaping global enablement strategies. Teri’s expertise lies in implementing effective sales enablement programs, making her a sought-after authority for sales enablement leaders and professionals aiming to optimize sales productivity and foster a customer-centric approach.

In this Episode, you will Learn About:

• Mastering effective sales enablement programs for exponential growth.
• Unleashing the power of a digital presence to supercharge sales success.
• Aligning customer success and sales strategies for unstoppable growth.
• Boosting sales productivity through cutting-edge technology solutions.
• Harnessing personal brand prowess to skyrocket sales performance.

Watch the video for this episode here:

The Key Moments in this Episode are:

00:00:09 – Introduction to Vengreso and FlyMSG

00:01:18 – Welcoming Teri Long

00:08:09 – Implementing Sales Enablement Programs

00:12:36 – Identifying the Biggest Problems

00:14:02 – Effective Enablement Leadership

00:14:58 – Challenging Assumptions in Sales Training

00:18:30 – Impact of Operationalizing Processes

00:20:44 – Fundamental Challenges in Sales

00:24:34 – Sales as the Art of Helping

00:28:55 – Balancing Customer Experience and Sales

00:29:35 – Restructuring Customer Success Compensation Model

00:30:39 – Misalignment Between Sales and CS

00:34:28 – Bridging the Gap Between Sales and CS

00:39:48 – Digital Presence and Relationship Building

00:43:55 – Blog Content and Social Media

00:44:35 – Connecting with Teri

00:45:16 – Personalized Connection Requests

00:45:48 – Favorite Movies

00:47:22 – Closing Remarks

Timestamped Summary of this Episode:

00:00:09 – Introduction to Vengreso and FlyMSG
Mario Martinez Jr. introduces Vengreso and FlyMSG, a free personal writing assistant and text expander application. The podcast aims to help sales leaders and practitioners grow their sales numbers at scale.

00:01:18 – Welcoming Teri Long
Mario welcomes Teri Long, Vice President of Global Revenue Enablement at Mind Tickle, and shares their history of collaboration in shaping revenue enablement sales strategies.

00:08:09 – Implementing Sales Enablement Programs
Teri emphasizes the importance of initiating enablement strategy with a charter and a listening tour to identify urgent, short-term, and long-term priorities, as well as success metrics tied to organizational business metrics.

00:12:36 – Identifying the Biggest Problems
Teri advises enablement leaders to investigate root causes by delving into data and being hyper-curious. She highlights the importance of testing hypotheses to pinpoint the reasons behind sales performance issues.

00:14:02 – Effective Enablement Leadership
Teri underscores the role of enablement leaders as investigators who test and validate hypotheses to identify the root causes of sales performance issues, emphasizing the need for a test and validate approach to problem-solving.

00:14:58 – Challenging Assumptions in Sales Training
Teri Long discusses the common assumption that sales teams need more training when they’re not selling. She challenges this by delving into the reasons behind the lack of sales and emphasizes the importance of digging through processes before jumping to training as a solution.

00:18:30 – Impact of Operationalizing Processes
Teri shares a real-life example of how operationalizing the sales process and creating a playbook led to significant impact for a BDR team. By removing roadblocks, setting clear expectations, and creating repeatable enablement programs, they saw an improvement in sales productivity and performance.

00:20:44 – Fundamental Challenges in Sales
The conversation shifts to fundamental challenges in sales organizations, focusing on individual and team productivity. Teri references the State of Sales Productivity report and highlights the importance of genuinely helping buyers during the buying process.

00:24:34 – Sales as the Art of Helping
Teri shares a personal story of how she unintentionally became a top salesperson by simply helping customers. She emphasizes the importance of authentically wanting to elevate customers and provide value, echoing the findings of the productivity report.

00:28:55 – Balancing Customer Experience and Sales
The discussion centers on the challenge of balancing customer experience and finding new opportunities. Teri highlights the disconnect between customer success and sales incentives, emphasizing the need for sales leaders to align incentives to drive adoption and renewal.

00:29:35 – Restructuring Customer Success Compensation Model
Teri suggests tying 30-35% of CS compensation to renewal to align incentives with sales. This could lead to hiring more experienced salespeople and reevaluating the CSM organization.

00:30:39 – Misalignment Between Sales and CS
Teri highlights the misalignment in compensation and expectations between sales and CS. Lack of communication between AEs and CS reps leads to confusion and potential customer dissatisfaction.

00:34:28 – Bridging the Gap Between Sales and CS
Teri emphasizes the need for CS reps with sales backgrounds and the importance of value selling in the CS role. She suggests evaluating competencies and hiring the right people to drive success.

00:39:48 – Digital Presence and Relationship Building
Teri discusses the importance of digital presence for both sales and CS teams, emphasizing the need for personalized engagement and building rapport with buyers. She also highlights the shift towards understanding digital body language and leveraging technology for customer interactions.

00:43:55 – Blog Content and Social Media
Teri discusses a new feature that allows users to generate social media posts from blog articles. The goal is to streamline the content creation process and empower sellers to be more productive.

00:44:35 – Connecting with Teri
Teri invites listeners to reach out to her through LinkedIn, phone, or email. She emphasizes her commitment to being responsive and helpful in networking.

00:45:16 – Personalized Connection Requests
Mario advises listeners to send personalized connection requests to Teri on LinkedIn. He encourages them to mention the podcast and Teri’s insights in their invitation.

00:45:48 – Favorite Movies
Teri shares her two all-time favorite movies: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “The Heat.” She expresses her love for Audrey Hepburn and Melissa McCarthy, showcasing a unique dichotomy in her movie preferences.

00:47:22 – Closing Remarks
Mario thanks the audience for listening and encourages them to leave a 5-star rating and review for the podcast on iTunes. He also promotes the use of FlyMSG to increase productivity.

Mastering Effective Sales Enablement

Effective sales enablement is crucial for organizations to align their sales teams with the overall business goals and priorities. By mastering sales enablement, businesses can enhance their sales productivity, drive better customer relationships, and ultimately boost revenue. Implementing successful sales enablement programs involves creating a clear charter, prioritizing challenges, and aligning efforts with organizational metrics.

Unleashing the Power of Digital Presence

Having a strong digital presence is essential for sales professionals to connect with customers and prospects in a virtual environment. Utilizing digital tools and platforms can help sales teams personalize interactions, understand buyer behavior, and improve customer engagement. Embracing technology and leveraging digital resources can streamline sales processes and enable sales professionals to scale their efforts efficiently.

Aligning Customer Success and Sales

Aligning customer success with sales goals is crucial for organizations to drive long-term customer satisfaction and retention. By incentivizing customer success managers based on renewals and engagement, businesses can ensure a seamless transition from sales to post-sale activities. Developing a clear handoff process between sales and customer success helps set expectations and ensures successful customer onboarding and retention strategies.

The Resources Mentioned in this Episode are:

• Connect with Teri Long on LinkedIn and send a personalized connection request mentioning the Modern Selling Podcast with Mario Martinez Jr.
• Watch the movie “The Heat” starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy for a good laugh and a memorable bar scene.
• Download FlyMSG for free to save 20 hours or more in a month and increase productivity with a text expander and personal writing assistant.

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You might also like:

• FlyEngage AI – Social media AI engagement tool.
• FlyPosts AI – Thought leadership AI post generator tool.
• FlyMSG – Auto text expander (Try it out here for free).
• FlyMSG Sales Pro for Individuals: On-demand sales training for individual sellers.
• FlyMSG Sales Pro for Teams: On-demand sales training for sales teams for prospecting. 

Install FlyMSG for free:

• As a Chrome Extension.
• As an Edge Extension.