50 TD | December 2018

SALES ENABLEMENT

December 2018 | TD 51IMAGE | MICROSTOCKHUB/GETTY IMAGES

P O D C A S T

WAYS SALES ENABLEMENT WILL DRIVE REVENUE IN 2019

The enablement team is a key part of business success.

5

52 TD | December 2018

1 Support sustainment effortsTo outsell an equally armed competitor, sales organi-zations need more-effective selling behaviors. Moreover,

this effort to sharpen skills must be ongoing. Consider that

“mature companies spend 34 percent more on training and

development than their less mature counterparts,” according

to research from Bersin by Deloitte. These well-established

companies understand that improvement is an ongoing

practice. As a result, they earn a profit growth three times

that of their competitors.

Earning results like those requires sustainment. However,

the problem is that sustainment is elusive. This challenge

is best illustrated by the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, whose

downward sloping line represents how people forget infor-

mation over time. Fortunately, researchers have discovered

that diminished recall is preventable. The key is to make the

information meaningful and more salient. Learners retain

more information when they see the connection between

the material and the sale—the greater the relevance, the

greater the recall. Here is where sales enablement enters

the picture.

Enablement professionals help tie training lessons to

real-world selling scenarios. They make concepts salient

by working with L&D to align skills with corporate goals

and customer needs. Enablement teams also work with

sales leaders to develop a list of critical skills that resonate

with today’s market.

Having the appropriate resources is only half of the equa-

tion. Sales professionals also must have a support team

capable of isolating the material that matters by distributing

assets that underscore how lessons from training connect

with selling. These assets can include assessment tools,

conversation guides, and client-facing collateral. When

one group owns this responsibility, there is consistency

across the organization.

2 Bring efficiency to the onboarding processTime to productivity is a major influence on revenue, and sales enablement professionals are well placed to affect

this lever.

Sales enablement teams should have an in-depth understand-

ing of buyer needs and sales best practices. They understand

market-facing resources and how they align to the selling pro-

cess. Therefore, enablement teams can play a more involved role

in onboarding new hires.

There was a time

when the sales pro-

fessional’s arsenal

was a telephone

and a list of con-

tacts. Since then, technology

has changed the game. Selling

organizations now have access

to nearly limitless data and out-

reach capabilities. However, these

tools often function like more

pistons and valves on an already

complex and noisy machine.

According to the Accenture report Selling

in the Age of Distraction, 59 percent of sales

professionals say they have more tools than

they can use. The researchers also found

that sales professionals “are simply awash

in more product data, competitor data, and

customer data than they now can effectively

absorb or use.” This challenge has given rise

to one of the fastest-growing titles in sales

today: sales enablement.

Sales enablement professionals make

information actionable. Enablement is

about organizing decentralized infor-

mation and leveraging resources to their

fullest extent. These resources include

digital tools, marketing materials, and,

of course, people. Doing so leaves sales

professionals unencumbered and free to

pursue the next opportunity. Enablement

teams deploy marketing collateral and

selling tools to the appropriate sales pro-

fessional; the strongest teams are those

able to yield the greatest value from avail-

able resources.

Given that, these are the five new ways

that sales enablement will drive revenue in

the coming year.

BY ANDREA GRODNITZKY

December 2018 | TD 53

Sales enablement professionals have experience with

learning management system software, back-office systems,

messaging, and overall strategy. By leveraging their experi-

ence with sales and learning leaders, enablement professionals

can build a tiered onboarding routine. The result is a layered

approach in which foundational skills come first, followed by

more specialized skills.

New hires benefit because the sales enablement team com-

municates with both sales and marketing. This exposure

helps new salespeople understand more about the organiza-

tion in less time.

The pairing of new salespeople with sales enablement pro-

fessionals is appropriate because the enablement team often

tracks the use and effectiveness of materials among salespeo-

ple. This insight gives the team a fast read on which practices

and messaging move the sale. These measurements extend to

win rate, quota attainment, contract value, and profitability.

Enablement teams know what drives these numbers and un-

derstand the best practices for compelling customers to buy.

3 Develop talent from withinProductivity is about more than getting new sales pro-fessionals up to speed faster. It also relates to experienced

sales professionals.

Developing internal talent avoids the time and expense of

sourcing external talent. Aberdeen data show that the aver-

age cost of replacing a sales professional is more than $29,000.

Moreover, the average training time is 7.3 months.

Enablement teams are critical to avoiding these costs, be-

cause they help internal sales professionals develop their

skills. Doing so can develop an inside sales professional into

a field rep or a field rep into a global account manager. Sales

enablement teams can chart this path because they know the

customer and product and where value lies. Therefore, they

know how to support sales professionals with the messaging

and skills that connect with buyers.

A salesperson’s tenure with a company is connected to his

sense of satisfaction. When someone feels that his actions create

meaningful influence within the business, he is more likely to

stay and thrive. Enablement teams become part of this process

by helping sales professionals acquire new skills that make sell-

ing behaviors more effective. As a result, sales professionals are

more influential to the business.

Bringing sales enablement and talent management together

means companies are better able to yield the full value of re-

sources within the company. They also are positioned to help

inform the marketing team of emerging customer needs. Mar-

keting can use these insights to develop new material that

resonates with the marketplace. This routine underscores the

value that sales enablement teams provide; communication

between sales and marketing is a feedback loop. By developing

talent from within, enablement teams create a bank of talent

that makes the content meaningful.

COMPANIES WITH A STRONG ENABLEMENT FOCUS GENERATE A 32 PERCENT HIGHER TEAM SALES QUOTA ATTAINMENT.

4 Yield revenue from digital toolsSales professionals have an arsenal of tools

at their disposal. In fact, they have so many

tools that the challenge is often determin-

ing which ones to use and how best to use

them. More digital tools often leave sales

professionals with diminishing returns.

McKinsey researchers found that the “ma-

jority of sales executives said that their

companies are increasing their investments

in digital sales tools and capabilities for the

near term.” Despite this, the same study re-

veals that less than 40 percent believe they

are even moderately effective. Sales enable-

ment teams can solve this problem.

They communicate with the market-

ing and sales teams. This ongoing dialogue

enables the sales enablement team to un-

derstand the macro- and microfocus. The

marketing team watches broad industry

changes. In contrast, sales professionals

watch individual customers. By understand-

ing these two sides, sales enablement teams

can develop a shared list of capabilities.

With this information, sales enablement

professionals make informed decisions

about which tools are relevant. They’re also

54 TD | December 2018

prepared to list measurements that both

sides will accept. Enablement teams can

use this information to decide which digital

tools to use. The result is capabilities that

are more in tune with the organization’s

everyday needs.

5 Draft and measure critical selling metricsSelling metrics are one of the sales enable-

ment team’s vital responsibilities. Such

metrics as quota attainment, win rate,

and average deal size inform major busi-

ness decisions. As the pace of competition

increases, enablement teams need to be

able to generate this information fast.

Doing so enables sales professionals to

outpace the competition.

A formalized measurement process also

simplifies today’s dynamic sales cycle. The

SiriusDecisions State of Sales Enablement

2017 found that 65 percent of respondents

face an increasingly complex sales process.

However, salespeople equipped with a sales

enablement process are two times more

likely to see reduced complexity in their

sales process. This simplification comes

from the fact that a single enablement

team has ownership of the data.

When enablement teams own the measurement process,

they gain a broad perspective of the business—they’re able

to understand cause and effect. The net result is a more

insightful view of which selling behaviors and marketing

materials compel customers to buy. Enablement teams

focus on more than measurement—they focus on meaning.

By interpreting the analytics, the enablement team can

release the right tools or message at the right point in the

sales cycle.

As this cycle becomes more complex, this capability is

increasingly important. For example, as a sales professional

works to build consensus among stakeholders, the sales enable-

ment team can be effective in sharing various marketing assets.

An effective enablement professional will ensure that each of

these pieces addresses each stakeholder’s unique perspective.

TakeawaysMarketing and sales teams are not enough. Winning the sale

today means companies need professionals who can drive

more from those two groups. The sales enablement team ful-

fills this role by optimizing both teams’ capabilities.

For this reason, sales enablement has become a critical

function in sales organizations. Aberdeen research shows that

companies with a strong enablement focus generate a 32

percent higher team sales quota attainment. These organi-

zations also generate a 23 percent higher conversion rate.

Simply put: Enablement keeps the wheels greased.

Though many companies have a sales enablement function

in place, success comes from knowing how to focus that tal-

ent. Selling organizations can do so by asking themselves

five questions:

• How can my enablement team ensure that sales profes-

sionals retain the skills they have learned?

• What materials can the enablement team supply to new

hires so that they can be up to speed faster?

• Where do existing sales professionals need assistance in

enhancing their productivity and building their careers

internally?

• When in the sales cycle are digital tools helpful, and how

can we maximize our return on investment?

• Which sales metrics reveal our progress toward company

goals?

Answering those questions gives organizations a way to

build the efficiencies that are integral to winning the sale.

Efficiency is essential to succeeding today because technol-

ogy is putting organizations, large and small, on a more even

playing field. Thus, success doesn’t come from having more

technology—it comes from the ability to use technology in

more meaningful ways. Sales enablement is the function

making that approach possible.

Andrea Grodnitzky is chief marketing officer for Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company; [email protected].

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