Companies with sales enablement have 15 percent better win rates than those that lack it, according to a recent report from CSO Insights. But executing a successful sales enablement strategy takes strategy and collaboration, said leaders from Boston tech.
According to the experts we spoke with, enablement starts with the leaders closest to the sales organization. Heads of sales and enablement teams need a vision for what their efficiency-improving processes will look like, and what the goals of those strategies will be. Working with experts cross-departmentally ensures content is robust and benefits salespeople across the entire sales cycle. But it’s also necessary for enablement leaders to get insight from senior leadership outside sales so that sales goals are in tune with overall business objectives.
“A sales enablement strategy will never be successful without buy-in from the executive team,” SmartBear Manager of Sales Enablement Crystal Farley said.
What’s just as important as developing an impactful strategy and aligning interdepartmental teams is investing in the learning and skills development of salespeople.
“Our sales enablement team puts a lot of value on developing the sales skills and industry knowledge of our account executives,” said FareHarbor Sales Manager Jacob Rafferty.
Salespeople are stakeholders too, and Rafferty said FareHarbor’s sales enablement practices are shaped by their input. They know what customers want and how to best serve them, so sales reps coordinate with leaders across sales, product and marketing teams to get the resources they need to be successful.
Who are the key stakeholders you need to create alignment with when developing a successful sales enablement strategy?
Our sales enablement strategy has been focused on connecting with our clients and understanding their needs. Our AEs are on the front lines learning what features our clients need and how they think. So we try to make our AEs our biggest stakeholders. By doing so, we encourage them to consistently relay client technology needs to our product team and to keep our marketing team up to date on how companies in the fragmented tours and activities industry talk about themselves. This communication allows our product team to continuously build the features that matter the most, while marketing can continue to educate our potential clients about our offerings and bring in inbound demo requests. Lastly, it keeps our sales team selling.
We try to make our AEs our biggest stakeholders.”
What sales enablement tools are most important in helping your salespeople succeed?
Our sales enablement team puts a lot of value on developing the sales skills and industry knowledge of our AEs, connecting them with the right software and services.
The tours, activities and attractions industry is very cyclical. The nature of that industry encourages our sales leadership and sales enablement teams to think ahead and be effective in providing continuous education and development during slower selling periods. We also hold ourselves accountable to our AEs by consistently seeking feedback on their initial training, continued education and content relevance. Then we reiterate when needed.
Since sales enablement strategies are influenced by so many areas of a business, stakeholders include every leader at a company. Farley said SmartBear employs the expertise of team leads across the business, which can close knowledge gaps for salespeople and create new opportunities for enablement.
Who are the key stakeholders you need to create alignment with when developing a successful sales enablement strategy?
When trying to develop and implement a consistent enablement program, brand, employee and sales messaging needs to be consistent. So every team director and senior leader is a stakeholder.
A sales enablement strategy will never be successful without buy-in from the executive team. If the senior team supports the initiative, then it is our responsibility to align our actions with the needs of the business. We need to develop cross-functional relationships with our product marketing and product management teams to develop content that sales can use to be successful throughout the buyer journey.
Uncover useful content that exists within the organization.”
What sales enablement tools are most important in helping your salespeople succeed?
After identifying stakeholders and the business needs, developing a process to standardize enablement is the first step in building a strategy without stalling the business. It’s important to realize who the human “resources” are and uncover useful content that exists within the organization. Additionally, evaluating tools that will provide value and cultivate the most team engagement will help an organization understand where gaps exist and uncover new enablement opportunities.
