Sales enablement can seem complicated and frustrating. We’ll help you better understand and implement sales enablement.
Sales enablement can seem complicated and frustrating. Simple questions like “why sales enablement is important?” and “is sales enablement part of marketing?” can lead to confusing answers. We’ll help you better understand and implement sales enablement with clear benefits and examples to simple solutions.
Sales enablement is about providing everything your sales team needs to succeed. To make it even simpler, sales enablement is about making sales easy. How? By giving your salespeople resources and support.
Why is sales enablement important? Keep reading to learn about how it grows sales.
The greatest benefit of sales enablement is better sales. Most sales strategies are carried by a handful of incredible salespeople. By investing in sales enablement, you’re giving all of your sales team the tools they need to thrive. Sales members who are getting the materials, resources, and training they need will sell.
You’re not alone if you’re wondering, “is sales enablement part of marketing?”
Sales enablement is a collaborative process, though marketing has most of the responsibility. The marketing team can provide resources and information through content like blogs, videos, and product guides. All of these will help salespeople in their experiences with customers.
Sales enablement can have a huge impact on sales. Here are 5 reasons you should start developing your sales enablement strategy this year.
The foundation of sales enablement is information, from training to a clear understanding of product capabilities. A strong sales enablement strategy will drive continuous learning and help them hone skills that will support their career. Sales representatives can delve deeper into effective onboarding, sales techniques and why they work, and how their styles mesh with company identity.
Example: a small French restaurant is struggling to make sales, despite having high-quality products, skilled chefs, and a steady flow of customers. After roleplaying as a customer, you realize the wait staff doesn’t have a strong understanding of the dishes. They can offer basics, like what meat is used, but can’t make the dish shine.
Solution: You have the wait staff and the cooking staff review dishes together. The chef walks the wait staff through the cooking processes of the dishes, their flavor palettes, and offers them samples. Wait staff can now answer questions about dishes and make recommendations.
It’s important to realize that people are trying to support sales reps. Throughout any organization, members of marketing, legal, learning, and development, product development, and more are all trying to help sales. The trouble is that there isn’t a streamlined process. No one is necessarily coordinating the materials and offerings.
Example: the small French restaurant has grown and is trying to go mainstream. The marketing team floods the wait staff with information about a new line of trendy drinks. Legal is pushing for allergy awareness. The sales operations team is suggesting a new strategy.
Solution: A liaison between the wait staff and other departments receives everything from other departments. This liaison then organizes it, streamlines and clarifies information, and develops a clear training process for the wait staff’s ongoing education. The wait staff are less overwhelmed and have a key contact for ongoing resources and support.
It can be easy to boost sales in the short term, but creating a sustainable practice takes effort. Sales enablement can help sales reps learn how to work smarter, not harder. Effectively training and supporting sales can reduce burnout and turnover.
Example: the French restaurant has trouble maintaining wait staff. Individual waiters seem to take to the position well, but then their sales begin to drop, and they quit.
Solution: wait staff members are encouraged to practice peer-to-peer training, with a liaison directing the program and coordinating pairings. Regardless of how well they’re selling, they shadow each other to learn. Individual staff members pick up tips and tricks from each other, develop a sense of solidarity and community, and stabilize increased sales.
Whether you realize it or not, managers are a huge part of sales enablement. A manager’s skills, ability, and training need to be considered. Your successful sales enablement strategy will support your manager’s development.
Example: the French restaurant’s sales enablement strategy has focused entirely on the wait staff. The manager isn’t very involved in implementing it and doesn’t check in to make sure the team is meeting their goals.
Solution: your existing manager takes coaching and sales enablement training. Now immersed in the continuous learning of sales enablement, your manager encourages growth and sets an example by seeking additional training.
It’s easy to see sales enablement as something that’s just for sales reps, but it shouldn’t end there. Bringing managers, client-facing employees, channel partners, and other staff into sales enablement can provide a smoother, more stable customer experience.
Example: the French restaurant has partnered with a Spanish cafe. The Spanish cafe now sells some French desserts, but sales aren’t as high as expected.
Solution: the restaurant develops a sales enablement strategy for the Spanish cafe. The owner and staff can better see how the new products fit into their menu. They develop a new sales strategy that focuses on pairing drinks with desserts.
Automated Revenue is here to provide sales enablement support and strategies. But we’re not into cookie-cutter solutions. That’s why we start off by learning about your company and discovering how and why sales enablement is important to you. Once we understand your company’s unique structure and needs, we’ll make a custom solution.
Whether you’re looking to grow your sales team or scale your sales department, we’re ready to help you. Click here if you’re ready to take sales to the next level.
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