It’s no secret that many marketing teams are struggling to hit quotas these days. Quota attainment has fallen every year for almost a decade, and businesses are taking action through sales enablement tools to improve marketing messaging, find key decision-makers for buyers, and make the buying process as smooth as possible. 

Various reasons might be behind the tough sales seasons. Evolving markets, aggressive growth goals, and new buying habits, to name a few. What will your sales organization do to close the gaps? 

Sales enablement seeks to equip salespeople with the knowledge and skills necessary to work productively and close deals. Below, Poised explains sales enablement in more detail and provides practical tips for setting your sales reps up for success. 

What Is Sales Enablement? 

Sales enablement is precisely what it sounds like: the process of equipping your sales team with everything necessary to close deals. An effective sales enablement strategy will help your team gain more clients and sales for the business.

This process involves sales training and tactics that enhance your sales cycle and win rates. Your sales leaders must provide ongoing learning, support, and resources (e.g., sales tools, automation, relevant content, etc.) that help your sales reps improve the customer journey. 

Sales enablement is a specific component of your company’s broader sales management strategy. When implemented correctly, enablement fulfills a valuable role in a multi-prong sales approach of sales communication, coaching, and technology.

You can easily integrate customer relationship management (CRM) software and other digital technologies into your team members' daily workflows. Then, you can regularly update the entire organization on current enablement resources, initiatives, and materials.

Training Stronger Salespeople

Providing tools and resources to your salesforce is essential, but they must know how to use the tools and resources you provide to them. The success of your sales enablement strategy will depend on the training and development you put in place.

Most companies incorporate traditional onboarding programs, content management programs, collaboration tools, and other technologies to achieve continuous sales training.

The ultimate goal of the sales enablement process is to give your team members what they need to optimize sales operations and bring customers through the buyer's journey. A good sales enablement plan will equip your sales leaders to teach reps and managers best practices on an ongoing basis.

Measuring Sales Effectiveness

As with other business processes, it’s essential to manage to measure your sales enablement success, as well as your sales operations as a whole. While you should consider many different aspects, some of the most critical sales enablement metrics to track include the number of reps hitting their quotas, average sales cycle length, and average deal size.

Measuring sales effectiveness may involve using case studies, buyer personas, and important metrics to improve your team’s sales strategy. 

Making Actionable Sales Goals

You must establish challenging yet realistic goals for your sales enablement strategy, just as you do for your overall sales process. Your enablement goals must align with your broader organizational goals. Customer service, onboarding, and marketing alignment are key, and those are just a few of many business areas to keep cohesive with your enablement strategy.

The overarching reason to use sales enablement best practices as a holistic element of greater company goals is to ensure company-wide alignment. Plus, team members receiving, creating, and delivering the training and resources will feel a broader sense of purpose with help from your sales enablement program. 

The ultimate achievement is to empower sales reps, help them garner new skills, and spark career growth while fostering successful sales.

Why Is Sales Enablement Important? 

You know how busy salespeople are. They have quotas to meet, new products and protocols to learn, and many different customer needs to work with. 

Then there are the conversations; sales reps constantly talk with sales managers, product and marketing managers, support teams, and customers. Implementing sales enablement solutions can help your sales team members prioritize the most critical aspects of their role and leadership.

Contrastly, a lack of a sales enablement platform can produce negative results for your company. Not only can it waste resources and create distractions, but it can also lead to poor sales performance and harm your bottom line. That’s why it’s vital to incorporate the appropriate training, consistently deliver relevant content, and constantly work toward a solid strategic vision.

Sure, teaching your sales teams how to explain your products and value proposition to customers (and each other) is critical. However, sales enablement is also about building credibility with customers and cultivating long-term relationships. It can boost your bottom line and ensure constant improvements in your sales operations. 

Sales enablement can sometimes be as simple as sharing the right content with your team via social media platforms like Linkedin. It’s all about motivating your team to improve their performance and confidence, so it doesn’t always require cutting-edge sales enablement technology.

How Do You Improve Your Sales Skills?

Conducting better sales calls and meetings is a big part of developing a sales enablement strategy.

Here are a few simple ways to boost your sales skills:

Become a Stronger Communicator

Seek to strengthen your communication skills each day. Learn how to deliver a sales pitch and speak with others instead of at them — whether verbally or with the copy in your sales content. And watch your win rates and sales productivity soar.

Practice Persuasive Non-Verbal Communication 

Along with improving your speaking skills, spend time working on non-verbal communication. Keeping eye contact and talking with your hands can serve as excellent persuasive tools for potential customers and team members. If you need real-time help to monitor your non-verbal communication so that you can focus solely on the pitch, you might benefit from AI like Poised to watch you as you shine.

Get Real-Time Feedback on Your Video Calls

If your business is like many others, you rely on video calls for a large chunk of your team meetings, discovery calls, and other sales activities. Consider using the Poised AI-powered communication coach to take your calls to the next level. The other people on the call will have no idea you’re getting real-time feedback and tips!

Become a Better Salesperson With Poised

Establishing a sales enablement plan is essential for equipping your sales reps to close deals. Be sure to provide them with sales enablement software, communication tools, and other technologies to help them succeed.

Poised gives you real-time feedback and long-term analyses to take your sales communication to new heights. 

Sources: 

The 11 Biggest Benefits of Using a CRM System | Business News Daily

What Is Value Proposition? | TechTarget

The Ultimate Guide to Nailing a Sales Pitch That Closes the Deal Every Time | Business Insider

What To Know About The Buyer's Journey And Customer Life Cycle (And How To Use Them Both) | Forbes