Hand and Pie Chart displaying Sales Enablement elements

What Is Sales Enablement? The Complete 2024 Guide

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Your sales team needs more than a slick marketing campaign and great products and services. There’s a host of other elements that help power the success of your salespeople. And that’s what sales enablement is all about.

To maximize the chances of success for sales reps this 2024, it is crucial to have top-notch sales training, resources, comprehensive information on your products or services, an exceptional CRM, and powerful sales and enablement software.

In this article, I will cover the basics of sales enablement and how you can build a successful sales enablement team at your sales organization to support your sales org.

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What Is Sales Enablement?

Sales enablement is, quite simply, giving your sales org everything they need to be successful at their jobs. That applies whether you’re establishing a strategy for either B2C or a B2B sales enablement.

close up of hands on a tablet looking at graphs for sales enablement

If your organization doesn’t have a dedicated sales enablement department, the marketing team is the most obvious choice to empower salespeople in reaching out to potential buyers and prospects.

What Is Marketing’s Involvement?

The marketing team has to let the world know that your product or service exists and create a desire for it.

Generating warm leads can give your sales representatives an advantage in reaching out to potential clients. Whether you are creating physical advertisements like flyers, brochures, and newspaper ads, or digital campaigns and social media activities, warm leads can help you connect with potential clients faster.

Even if the client hadn’t previously heard of your company or its products, a well-designed sales collateral piece (a tri fold brochure or a video, for example) is a tangible way for the salesperson to convey key features of what they’re offering.

This is particularly important when selling a service because there’s no physical product for the potential client to pick up.

Physical vs Digital Sales and Marketing Collateral

Let’s say, for example, that you are selling a CRM. A brochure can be a great tool for presenting facts such as the number of active users, statistics on its effectiveness, and customer testimonials.

However, the software itself remains a vague concept in the buyer’s mind unless they can see it in action. That is where a live demo or a free trial are useful.

Or let’s say you are offering virtual sales training, like we do here at Vengreso.

The sales team would need a great landing page with testimonials, a one-page document with the main selling points, video explainers and video testimonials, infographics, and other assets.

Now let’s dive in and explore the sales enablement best practices for your company and how everyone can reap the benefits of sales enablement.

Sales Enablement Basics

In the short video below, I interview Mark Hunter, a.k.a. The Sales Hunter, about the importance of simplifying sales enablement.

He suggests you begin with an issue, and then build your approach from there.  Don’t hurriedly dive in and invest in sales enablement technology simply because a sales leader or Influencer recommended it. They may not understand your business’s pain points.

As Mark points out, sales enablement tasks were once called “sales operations.” Don’t let the coolest, most innovative sales enablement tools and technology cloud your judgment about what your team needs. He says your sales rep needs to: “Keep your focus on the focus.”

Focus on Tech, Team or Buyers?

Are you applying technology without a plan or using it to address a problem or void? At the core of your sales enablement efforts is your buyer’s experience.

hands typing on a laptop keyboardYour sales and marketing objective should always center on the buyer’s journey and the buyer experience. Best practices include an enablement process that helps to serve your customer in the most efficient, effective manner, and to optimize value for them.

Circle around what makes the best and fastest impact. I suggest you ask yourself this simple question, “How can I better enable sales and my sales teams?”

In the areas of content, tools, and guidance, here are five more questions to direct your sales enablement approach:

  1. Can your reps find the content they need to engage buyers?
  2. Are your sales reps and sales teams hitting their quotas or are they below average?
  3. How long does it take for a new sales rep to be fully productive?
  4. Does your organization offer ongoing sales coaching?
  5. Are your sales tools going unused?
  6. Are your salespeople less productive than you’d like them to be?
In the areas of content, tools, and guidance, here are 5 questions to direct your #sales enablement strategy, shared by @M_3Jr and @TheSalesHunter. #SalesEnablement #B2BSales Click To Tweet

Why Is Sales Enablement Important?

woman smiling looking at a man that is also smiling looking at a document in an office environment at a deskSales enablement is about selling faster and increasing win rates. What could be more important than that?

When your sales force has access to the best tools and sales content, their prospecting efforts will be much easier.

Imagine a sales call where a rep has to explain a complex product to a prospect just by talking. Now, imagine if the seller had a well-designed slide deck along with videos and supporting materials. That would make a great difference, especially in a remote selling environment, where you need to use remote selling tools.

In a recent episode of The Modern Selling Podcast, I interviewed Kyle Healy, the SVP of Sales Enablement and Strategy for NFP. He said something that really caught my attention:

“Make your salespeople really effective marketers. I know that sounds really silly or maybe pretty basic but for us, it’s hyper-specialization. Make sure you’ve got something of value to give and then upscale those traditional marketing skills like demand generation and content creation.

I want my sellers to be thinking more like marketers and less like sellers, that we get into this digital environment where email becomes questionable as the primary means by which you get somebody’s attention.

I want people to focus on being fantastic. If every one of my sellers could be a really successful social influencer, we’d be doing okay.”

If you want to know more, you can listen to the whole episode here:

Sales Enablement Framework

Companies will normally establish a sales enablement management team. To guarantee a cohesive sales enablement strategy, the management team should be drawn from all areas of the company. There needs to be a unified way of thinking across the departments involved.

It’s natural for the primary focus to be on sales effectiveness for the marketing and sales teams. The results of their work can be seen in the sales content delivered and sales enablement metrics. However, this is just the front end of the business.

It’s important to remember that no department can work in isolation from other parts of the business, because everyone’s work affects colleagues in other areas of the company. Utilizing a team management tool can help ensure effective collaboration and coordination across different departments

Playing Nice

To keep everyone on the same page, you need sales enablement software or a sales enablement platform that suits your business.

Regardless of their role, everyone in your business should be aiming to have a positive impact on their colleagues’ ability to perform their jobs.

For example, although sales and marketing traditionally get most of the attention, back-office functions such as sales admin, IT, HR, and payroll are also vital. With these departments running smoothly, the sales team has the support they need to focus on selling.

In their Fifth Annual Sales Enablement Study, CSO Insights reports that, from over 900 participating companies, over 60% have sales enablement strategies. It also shows that companies with sales enablement strategies have a 15% higher win rate for forecast deals than those without one. The benefits of sales enablement are reflected in your bottom line.

How To Build a Sales Enablement Team

As we previously mentioned, companies usually create a management team to ensure that the sales enablement approach stays on track and that all stakeholders fully understand it.

It will usually include managers from various departments to ensure that the process stays on message. As well as implementation, they will also be responsible for sales enablement training.

many people gathered around a table in an office setting with computer in front of them as a sales enablement team

A specific sales enablement manager or leader may be selected to lead the sales enablement process. Larger companies may have enablement sales leaders each in specific departments.

Play it By The Numbers

To monitor the effectiveness of your sales enablement efforts or strategy, you need metrics. It’s essential to have someone on the management team who’s specialized in data crunching.

You’ll also need a bridge to the firm’s executive team, so it’s recommended that you have at least one member from the company’s C-suite on the sales enablement team.

They’ll help to reinforce the urgency of the sales enablement plan, and they should have wide cross-functional experience. It’s also beneficial to have someone on the team who can authorize expenditure on items such as sales enablement software, and a suitable CRM.

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Sales Enablement Plan

Customers are increasingly using the Internet when making purchasing decisions. They can access a wealth of information, so the traditional sales model driven solely by marketing departments may no longer be the most effective one.

Modern buyers are more informed, so they’re more proactive in the sales and buying process too. To secure sales engagement, your organization needs to understand not only the sales cycle, but the buyer’s journey that customers are taking before they buy.

By aligning your sales enablement plan to that path, you’re removing the guesswork from your sales and marketing operations.

Best Sales Enablement Practices

In a recent Sales Enablement Study, CSO Insights found that only 19% of companies aligned their sales processes to the customer path.

However, their win rates were almost 18% higher than in businesses that didn’t take that approach. This is a staggering proportion that highlights the benefits of sales enablement leading sales organizations to customer success.

When you understand the real sales cycle, you can adapt your sales operations to simplify the sales process.

In this model, the sales and marketing departments are your internal customers, so your sales enablement tools must evolve to improve their sales performance.

Your sales enablement management team is there to ensure that the agreed plan is carried out. With the help of metrics, they should also adopt the plan when necessary so that it remains aligned with the customer’s path.

For example, if statistics show an increase in sales resulting from product reviews, marketing can encourage existing or previous customers to post reviews of their own.

By involving at least one member of the executive team in th. sales enablement plan, you will have better communication with the rest of the executives. It’s the senior management team or board that will endorse a sales enablement charter to make it a key element of the firm’s culture.

Sales Enablement vs. Sales Operations

Sales enablement and sales operations are interdependent functions.

The main focus of sales operations is supporting the sales force by ensuring that the sales process works efficiently. This usually involves more administrative tasks. Operations aren’t usually involved in the buyer-seller or customer relationship management.

In partnership with sales operations, the sales enablement team will support sales teams, sales reps and sales managers through coaching and training to improve the interactions between the salesperson and the customer.

If technology such as CRM, sales enablement software or marketing automation software is used, sales operations will take care of its implementation and possibly provide training on it.

Sales operations departments usually produce KPIs, but they’ll often be guided by the sales enablement team on what’s most useful to them.

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Sales Enablement KPIs

a hand touching a hologram of a graph going up for sales kpisWe’ve already established that initially, at least, customers have more control over their buying journey than the sales reps. Therefore, you need to monitor how effective your sales enablement strategy is.

There are certain metrics that apply to sales regardless of whether there’s a sales enablement plan in place. However, they become even more useful when measuring your sales enablement performance.

Here are some of the KPIs commonly used to measure the level of sales engagement.

Average Time Required to Close a Sale

As we adapt our sales processes to the customer path, this figure should reduce. A sales enablement strategy that’s customized to the client experience helps sales personnel understand their customers. It means they can move the sale forward more quickly and with better results. Getting their business case in front of decision makers more quickly and helping them to close deals more effectively.

Time Spent Actually Selling

With an efficient sales enablement strategy, sales reps get better quality information, so they can spend less time researching and more time selling.

Content Usage

Sales content usage statistics provide valuable insights into the behavior of your website visitors. They allow you to determine which sales content on your site has captured the most attention and how users have engaged with it.

It gives you a clear indication of what content marketing is most effective, guiding your teams in their creation of future relevant content creation.

Lead Conversion Rate

If your sales enablement strategy is working well, the proportion of leads that result in sales should increase.

If that rate isn’t increasing, sales managers should find out why and adapt the sales strategy accordingly or provide coaching.

Sales Enablement Tools

For their Sales Enablement Optimization Study, CSO Insights asked 500 sales professionals about the sales enablement services they received from their sales teams.

The top four tools cited were:

  1. Sales training services (70.1%)
  2. Sales tools (62.8%)
  3. Sales process improvements (59.1%)
  4. Content services (51.1%)

Sales Enablement and Marketing

sales people gathered in a business meetingIt’s a given that a sales enablement strategy doesn’t allow for siloed thinking, with marketing teams and departments working in isolation. That’s why marketing initiatives should be created in collaboration with the sales team.

Marketing materials aren’t always customer-facing. Often, sales enablement content created for the sales team can provide them with invaluable information.

For example, blog posts, webinars, and how-to videos can be helpful for your sales force and potential customers. If the customer is interested in your product or service but isn’t ready to buy yet, the salesperson could refer them to that content. It can keep them interested in the company, and the salesperson could agree to follow up with them later.

With so much marketing data available, it’s easy for reporting and analysis to become irrelevant to the end-user—the sales representative. This is another excellent reason to have engagement between the marketing and sales departments. The sales rep or colleague can guide the marketing department on what information they would find helpful in preparing for customer contact. A sales enablement strategy has to involve all stakeholders for it to work.

A CRM that works for your sales enablement strategy is essential to effective sales enablement, efficient sales content management and exchange of information between departments.

Who Owns Sales Enablement?

It’s different for every company. Several factors, including the size of the firm, the company’s values, and the management structure, influence who owns the sales enablement process.

A large company may create a cross-departmental enablement team. A small firm with few staff is more likely to appoint one person as the sales enablement manager.

In the first case, it’s still perfectly valid for responsibility to shift between departments according to what aspect of the business is being focused on at the time. In a large company, the danger of sales enablement sitting permanently in one department is that it could morph an ongoing process into a mechanism to only benefit that particular department. That, in turn, can lead to team members in other departments feeling disenfranchised.

In small companies, the staff is likely to work across multiple functions, so they’re probably aware of issues that need to be addressed. Also, communication is usually much simpler in a small team.

Genefa Murphy, PhD, SVP and CMO at Micro Focus, one of the world’s largest digital transformation solutions providers, believes that Marketing should own Sales Enablement.

Genefa believes that the buyer’s journey is influenced by both marketing and sales. Marketing delivers messaging to the marketplace, which establishes brand identity and reputation, while sales delivers the message first-hand to potential customers. She says it’s crucial that consistent messaging is happening in both of those scenarios and that Marketing is best equipped to ensure that happens.

Optimizing Sales Content for Effective Enablement

In my experience I have learnt that in the realm of sales enablement, content plays a pivotal role, and it’s not solely the domain of marketers. Sales teams contribute significantly to content creation, recognizing the importance of personalized content in guiding leads through the buyer’s journey. To strike a balance between creating impactful content and minimizing time away from selling, optimizing sales content becomes paramount.

1. Organizing Sales Content

Conduct a Comprehensive Content Audit

A foundational step in any sales enablement strategy involves conducting a thorough content audit. Many companies already possess high-quality sales content dispersed across various channels. Centralizing this content in one accessible location empowers sales representatives to swiftly share valuable resources with leads.

Types of Content to Audit and Organize

  • Customer Case Studies: Showcase real-world success stories.
  • Whitepapers and eBooks: Provide in-depth insights and knowledge.
  • Product Demo Decks: Highlight product functionalities visually.
  • Pricing and Discount Information: Crucial for transparent communication.
  • Competitive Intelligence Briefs: Equip reps with insights into the market.

Utilize Content Libraries

Host content libraries using tools like Google Docs, internal wikis, or CRMs. Regularly update the library to keep content relevant to the evolving needs of the audience. Times change, and content that once resonated may need refreshing for continued effectiveness.

2. Creating Impactful Case Studies

Prioritize Case Studies in Your Library

Among the array of sales content, case studies stand out as invaluable assets. Nothing speaks louder for a business than the success stories of previous customers. Aim to produce at least one case study within six months of launching a new product, highlighting its impact on addressing challenges for the target audience.

Leverage Videos in Case Studies

Recognizing the preference for video content, consider incorporating videos into your case studies. While video production demands time, outsourcing to marketing agencies can streamline the process, allowing companies to maintain a strong connection with featured customers.

3. Developing Effective Email Templates

Acknowledge Email’s Effectiveness in Sales
The State of Inbound Sales report underscores the enduring efficacy of email in connecting with prospects. To enhance sales productivity, provide your reps with standardized email templates directly accessible from their inbox.

Customize Templates for Personalization

Avoid the one-size-fits-all approach. Include customizable elements in templates to enable reps to personalize messages quickly. Recognize that each buyer and lead is unique, and tailoring communication enhances the relevance and impact of email outreach.

In the dynamic landscape of sales enablement, I have found that optimizing content ensures a strategic approach that maximizes impact without compromising the valuable time of sales professionals.

Sales Enablement Resources

There are many sales enablement tools and platforms available—we’re going to take a look at some sales enablement platforms that are worth investigating further.

The Sales Enablement Society

woman looking at holograms The Sales Enablement Society (SES) is an excellent resource for your sales force to connect with other sales enablement professionals. It has forty-six chapters across the USA, comprising over 8,000 members. SES is a great organization to join for sharing experiences and attending a wide variety of online events.

In large or small companies, it’s vital to have a shared platform to keep everyone updated.

Choose Your Sales Enablement Platforms Wisely

Although the sales and marketing teams are usually the main focus, it makes sense that all stakeholders have access to sales enablement software. It’s particularly important if the focus shifts between departments.

Even if the main focus isn’t on their department, it’s essential that everyone else still feels engaged with the process.

We’ll summarize a few of the most-used sales enablement technology and marketing automation and CRMs.

Whether you choose one of these or an alternative sales enablement platform, make sure you investigate it thoroughly before investing in it.

HubSpot

HubSpot offers five different CRM solutions, three of which are free and two available on a free 14-day trial. The three free ones cover marketing, sales, and service. Premium features are available on all five.

Salesforce

As one of the largest suppliers of CRMs, Salesforce is well-placed in the market to provide solutions for businesses of all shapes and sizes. They have a specialized sales engagement platform that, like all their products, can be customized.

Outreach

Outreach is a dedicated sales enablement platform that facilitates seamless sharing of customer intelligence and customer analytics between prospects and customers – and includes social media tracking.

Seismic

The Seismic sales enablement solution focuses on the flow of information to sales personnel that’s relevant to each buyer. One of the stand-out features of this sales enablement program is the marketing automation and AI-driven social selling tools.

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Are you Ready to Implement a Sales Enablement Strategy in your Company?

Sales enablement teams must give sellers the tools and techniques they need to engage the modern buyer throughout the customer journey, like the best text expander tool in the world! FlyMSG.

From providing sellers the right training content, resources, and cadence techniques to combining training with continuous learning and development, there is a lot to sales enablement that can have a positive impact on your sales interactions and sales revenue.

Check out our Total and Comprehensive Guide to Unlocking Success in Sales here.

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