Understanding the importance of sales enablement: A deep dive

With the advent of the pandemic, businesses worldwide have undergone significant upheaval, prompting an in-depth examination of the Return on Investment (ROI) from marketing and sales departments. The lingering impacts of COVID-19 have resulted in tighter budgets for many companies.

The Onlinification Hub previously tackled how the pandemic has drastically reshaped both B2B and B2C purchasing procedures. Given this transformed business landscape, how can your organisation navigate these choppy waters while assuring the optimum allocation of resources to foster success in your commercial sectors?

One effective solution is to deploy sales enablement tools, which can enhance ROI and provide tangible evidence of this improvement.

Navigating an increasingly complex B2B market is becoming more challenging, placing sales representatives and leaders under considerable strain. Most sales organisations want their representatives to be proactive, well-informed, skilled, and attuned to customers’ needs—a truism valid in both good and challenging times. To this end, many firms are investing in sales enablement tools.

Defining sales enablement

Sales enablement refers to a holistic approach that bolsters sales results and productivity by providing salespeople and frontline sales managers with a comprehensive suite of relevant content, training, support, and coaching services throughout the customer’s purchasing journey, all facilitated by technology.

The definition and organisational structure of your company’s sales enablement depend on whom you ask. Different companies have unique perspectives on what it entails, how to approach it, and the appropriate staffing for the function.

Why sales enablement is imperative

Sales enablement is critical because it equips sales teams with the necessary tools to conduct a more streamlined and productive sales process, leading to enhanced results. This involves providing the sales department with the required training, coaching, and content.

However, this description only provides a superficial understanding. The complexities of B2B selling demand a more nuanced explanation. Considering this complexity, let’s examine the reasons behind the increasing importance of sales enablement, supported by successful implementations.

Sales enablement helps sales representatives focus on fundamental selling skills that are often overlooked today, such as careful planning before calls, setting clear agendas, executing calls effectively, utilising consultative skills, and being able to adapt on the spot.

By prioritising effective sales onboarding, coaching, and continuous learning, sales enablement helps your sales representatives refine these vital skills, fostering more productive conversations at every stage of the sales process.

Sales enablement departments recognise that, despite the evolution of buying behaviours over the last quarter-century, the core sales and customer relationship management principles that determine a sales initiative’s success remain consistent.

Sales enablement: The key to clarity

Sales enablement plays a critical role as the chief orchestrator of sales. Various departments in your company, including finance, marketing, sales operations, product management, and legal, empower sales representatives. However, their support could be more consistent, sometimes leading to confusion.

Presumably, every department in your company aims to support the sales team, providing relevant resources from their specific perspective. These resources encompass data, marketing content, product management content, legal templates, operational lists and templates, and training services.

Sales enablement serves as a nexus for these disparate resources, moulding and distributing them to sales representatives in a digestible and engaging manner.

Supporting sales representatives through sales enablement

Sales representatives often require more knowledge to achieve sustained success; high-performing companies typically offer more continuous learning and advanced skills training than their less successful counterparts.

If your company aims to foster long-term success within your sales team, it's essential to cultivate a culture of continuous learning. A devoted sales enablement department can help facilitate an effective, ongoing education strategy for your sales force.

Enabling sales leaders to support sales representatives

The daily practices of sales leaders have a significant impact on sales effectiveness. A strong sales enablement strategy aims to enhance the skills of sales managers, enabling them to better support the overall sales plan, primarily by providing effective coaching to sales representatives.

Sales enablement: Beyond the sales team

While sales enablement primarily targets the sales force, it’s essential to remember that your in-house sales representatives aren’t the only ones who need support. Anyone interacting with potential and existing customers requires content and training that aligns with your overall sales strategy.

This broader scope of individuals requiring frontline enablement encompasses sales engineers, customer service and support teams, as well as aftermarket teams. Moreover, businesses that rely on channel partners must ensure sufficient support for these indirect sellers.

If you want to learn more about sales enablement, we have a guide that can help—it covers the what, why, where, and how of this effective tactic.