Sales enablement is the practice of equipping salespeople with the tools, processes, and technology they need to sell more successfully and generate better revenue. Sales enablement ameliorates the experience salespeople give by maximizing every point of engagement with customers.
No doubt, that the year 2020 has changed the way sales reps interact with their clients and prospects. The most noticeable change is the disappearance of face-to-face meetings in favor of remote meeting platforms. This new reality has been quickly acknowledged and implemented by both sales reps and buyers. In fact, according to a recent McKinsey & Company study, 80% of B2B decision-makers prefer a sales approach with more “remote human encounters” or digital self-service rather than in-person. Safety, because of the Covid-19 pandemic is cited as a reason, as is the convenience of scheduling and speeding the purchasing process.
The good news is that those same purchasers believe the new sales approach is equally as effective as, face-to-face sales. When it comes to the amount of money spent, the fact that the buyer/seller interaction is taking place remotely has no bearing. Almost 70% of individuals making decisions would invest $50,000 (USD) or more in a completely self-service or remote engagement.
This reality provides a unique opportunity for sales enablement teams to demonstrate their value and strategic importance to the customer-facing teams and organizations they assist. Sales enablement may assist sales teams in being hyper-focused on increasing their virtual interaction capabilities and, in general, fulfilling modern buyer expectations. Sales enablement assist sales teams in being highly focused on increasing their virtual interaction capabilities and, in general, fulfilling modern buyer expectations.
To fit with this consumer choice, new abilities are necessary to direct virtual meetings, but the underlying expectations modern buyers have for the sales professionals they connect with haven’t altered significantly. In a more virtual setting, their expectations are higher than they were before the pandemic.
According to the current Buyer Preferences Study conducted by Miller Heiman Group (now part of Korn Ferry), B2B customers have the following four expectations for the salespeople:
- Detailed knowledge about the decision maker’s industry – Salespeople should always do their homework about their customers’ businesses and the people with whom they interact throughout each customer interaction.
- Achieve excellent communication abilities – Every customer interaction requires the sales rep to be crisp, engaging, and short.
- Concentrate on after-sale – Sales agents must explain what occurs after the sale to all stakeholders on the buying side, including what happens after the contract is signed, how the solution is implemented, and what to expect once the customer receives the solutions purchased, among other things.
Why Does Your Company Need Sales Enablement?
Sales organizations are functioning in an ever-changing global commercial environment. Sales teams are finding it increasingly difficult to reach their quotas, and organizations fail to meet revenue plan targets. Since sales enablement is so essential in reversing these trends, it is quickly becoming a core component of effective sales companies’ selling processes. According to a recent report by CSO Insights, the research arm of the Miller Heiman Group, over two-thirds of sales companies (60 percent) now have a dedicated person, program, or function for sales enablement, up from only two years ago.
Without a sales enablement practice or department, organizations will struggle to keep up with the rest of the industry from a competitive standpoint. However, this isn’t the only reason why sales enablement is so important. Today’s B2B clients are more aware and empowered than ever before, and they frequently wait until they’ve identified a solution before contacting sales.
When combined with other market shifts makes it challenging for sellers to establish a lasting impression on purchasers. Enablement services provide information and tools to sales teams so they can provide actual value to buyers.
2 essential elements of any organization’s priorities:
- Onboarding – Whether your sales onboarding program lasts a few weeks or several months, no one can question that the goal is for your new salespeople to reach revenue productivity as soon as feasible. Onboarding is clearly a journey, not a destination. So purpose that you begin with the target in mind by working cross-functionally and establishing clearly defined KPIs and milestones that correspond with your organization’s ideas of an ideal salesperson, sales engineer, or customer success rep.
Ensure your constituents are learning and retaining knowledge over long periods of time. A blended onboarding methodology is proposed, which includes on-demand e-learning courses, benchmarking, exams, video-based certifications, leader interactions, and in-person classes where possible. Continuous training should be layered on top of what they’ve already learned to reinforce and establish what they’ve learned so far.
- Creating a culture of coaching – One of the most challenging roles in sales is that of a first-line sales leader. A first-line leader’s two main goals are to help their team increase their numbers and develop their personnel. Both goals are inextricably linked. Unfortunately, these sales leaders are frequently underinvested in and undertrained in the abilities necessary to make the transition from highly successful sales rep to sales organization people leader.
4 Models that characterize the sales enablement:-
- Formalized collaboration – By using the resources and knowledge of multiple roles within the enterprise, successful enablement processes coordinate the creation and delivery of enablement services.
- Integrated Enablement Technology – Sales enablement is a vast concept than just a technology or software. However, the relevant enablement technologies might help your company obtain a competitive advantage.
- Effective enablement services – Enablement services give a business the tools and information it needs to achieve its objectives. Enablement offerings in a mature sales enablement practice include content, training, and coaching.
- Efficient enablement operation – Developing sales enablement into a strategic discipline within your firm requires an enablement governance model and production process.
Why Mindtikcle?
- Salespeople are trained and reinforced in order to develop the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.
- People should rehearse and role-play before placing their company’s operations in peril.
- Conversation intelligence captures and analyses real-world conversations.
- Detailed analytics that rate skills and highlight individual and team skill gaps, as well as tying readiness activities to company objectives.
