Sales management for rapid scale
SALES ENABLEMENT
Fueling your sales team
Sales enablement places the sales professional, in front of their prospects at every step of the buyers journey. It is the strategic process of leading a sales team with information, research, tools, training and content they need to be even more effective at finding leads, engaging prospects, building their reputations and closing deals.
​
The goal of sales enablement is to make sales easier and more effective, not to redesign your sales strategy. For the customer, it means better and more engaged experiences that lead to happier customers, larger and/or more frequent orders, increased loyalty and much improved relationships.
Many strategies have become the standard of excellence for sales enablement. Here are just a few best practices Vertex employs to develop your Sales Enablement program:
1. Job Shadow
A challenge in sales enablement is specialisation, most are working in a role for which they are trained and experienced. For sales enablement to be successful, everyone needs to job shadow. Sales needs to hang out in marketing. Marketing needs to hang out in sales. IT needs to experience the customer journey. The more time everyone spends understanding each others roles, the more they will be able to support.
2. Lead with Content
Content is so important in the sales cycle today, and ensuring that customers have content to engage with at every point of their journey is key. Content needs to be relevant, updated, and integrated into the sales cycle. Sales professionals need it before the sale, during the sale, and after the sale.
3. Analyse and Adjust
Never be satisfied with your sales enablement program. Spending time at least quarterly, reviewing what you need that is working, what is weighing you down, and what you need that you don’t have. Sales enablement is a not a stagnant strategy, it is growing, it is expanding, and you need to be adjusting your strategy to be successful.
4. Brainstorm
Create some time as a team (reps from each area of sales enablement) just brainstorming, getting outside of the box, coming up with new ideas, and new solutions to overcome challenges.
5. Sales Interviews
No one knows the customer better than sales reps, so every member of the sales enablement team needs to interview, talk, and gather feedback from them.
6. Customer Feedback
The purpose of sales enablement is to make the customer experience better, so you need to ensure that is happening. Take time to engage customers in surveys, focus groups, and one-to-one interviews. Get their input and ideas and integrate those into your strategies.
For the wins, progression and forward movement you make, take the time to reward, recognise, and celebrate.