Sales Enablement is on the rise – but what is it, exactly?
The definition of sales enablement is a bit of a moving target. Ask ten different marketing people what it means to them and you might get ten different answers.
Each company has its own perspective, and rightfully so. How you enable a sales team with technology will vary based on what you sell, how you sell it, and who does the selling. For any given sales organization, then, examples of sales enablement efforts could include:
In this overview, we will take a look at how the term is defined. Perhaps we can come to a better understanding of what is meant by “sales enablement.”
Sales enablement is the strategic, ongoing process of enabling sales teams with the content, guidance, and training they need to effectively engage buyers. Sales enablement analytics provide marketing and sales teams with data-driven insights to optimize business and drive revenue.
Placing a focus on sales enablement makes sales teams more effective by:
Let’s break this definition down further and step through three defining principles of sales enablement.
Principle 1: Commit to a Sales Enablement Process
Establishing a process for sales enablement provides the necessary framework to begin coherently organizing, finding, sharing, customizing, and analyzing content. This process requires input from multiple teams, clear expectations, and a plan to execute on sales enablement goals. But remember — it shouldn’t be a one-and-done, set-in-stone strategy. As an ongoing process, your sales enablement plan should allow enough flexibility to evolve or pivot when you need.
Agility will help you keep up with prospects and customers as they navigate the buyer’s journey. High quality sales content paired with an effective sales enablement strategy will improve sales operations and help you qualify leads.
Principle 2: Know and Involve Your Sales Team
If you think of the sales process as a funnel with four basic stages, the upper half is owned by marketing. This upper portion of the funnel is focused on generating interest in the company’s products and services. That part of the sales cycle has been transformed by the advent of marketing automation software, which allows companies to reach out to a broad audience and nurture leads until they are ready to be engaged by the sales team.
The lower half is primarily owned by sales, and is focused on closing deals and generating revenue. It is being transformed by sales enablement software, which equips the sellers with the tools, skills, and assets they need to engage effectively with buyers and drive the maximum amount of revenue for the company.
From these five definitions, some common themes appear that help us better understand sales enablement.
As you can imagine, there are many different ways to accomplish the last three bullets. This might be why sales enablement can take such different forms under the same name. Training tools, analytics enhancements, CRMs, chat modules – as long as it meets the above criteria, it can still be considered sales enablement.
This is why it’s so frequently said that everyone should be investing in sales enablement – it’s more about the ends than the means. Who doesn’t want more sales revenue?
If you would like to learn more about our experience and perspective on mobile marketing and sales tools, please check out some of the resources below, or reach out on our contact page. We would be more than happy to share best practices that would help your sales teams to be more effective.