Most sales and marketing leaders view sales enablement as simply putting all the sales tools and collateral into a sales portal or intranet site, but it takes much more than collateral to drive improved sales performance.
Sales Enablement is about ensuring your salespeople can have valuable conversations with prospects and customers, that help them advance through their buying process and want to do business with your company.
More specifically, Sales Enablement is everything your company does to arm your salespeople with the right knowledge and information, at the right time, in the right place, specific to the buyer’s situation.
This knowledge and information includes:
- Shared experiences - lessons learned in the field, advice on how to avoid landmines or stand out in particular situations
- Sales support tools – competitive analysis, objection handling, customer stories and references, discovery questions, call scripts, sample letters
- Subject matter experts – product gurus, industry specialists, and other experts who can make a difference at key points
- Coaching and proven strategies - the content, messages, and strategies that are proven to work in the current selling situation
- Customer-facing materials – not just static collateral, but dynamic deliverables that are personalized for each prospect
You know your Sales Enablement initiatives are working when your salespeople can:
- Understand and discuss the customer’s marketplace and business issues.
- Help the buyer envision solving their problems using your products and services.
- Get stalled deals moving again.
- Sell newly launched or acquired products, and cross-sell products outside their comfort zone.
- Shape the buyer’s evaluation criteria so that the competitors are at a disadvantage.
- Help your “buyer champion” sell for you within his or her organization.
- Overcome objections raised by the buyer.
- Respond to the tough questions immediately and with credibility.
- Do all this within 3 months of being hired rather than 7 months.
Can you see why achieving these outcomes requires you to do more than just post your sales and marketing collateral to a sales portal?