The term Sales Enablement has been circulating in the marketing and sales world for some time. It's not always clear what it means. Learn more in this blog post about how the Sales Enablement concept helps companies make their sales more effective at all levels and increase their revenue.
While the term Sales Enablement was more widespread among insiders a few years ago, it has now arrived in the daily life of the marketing and sales world: analysts lecture about Sales Enablement, companies are looking for Sales Enablement experts, and numerous software manufacturers use the term to market their solutions.
What exactly is meant by Sales Enablement strongly depends on the specific context. However, it is clear that it is not about a specific technology, but about comprehensive strategic concepts for more successful sales. The focus is on both the tools and resources as well as the skills that sales staff need to fully exploit their potential – and to communicate and sell effectively in our digitalized world.
Sales Enablement: How it all began
Already in the 90s, consulting firms recognized that service and sales departments in companies repeatedly faced a typical challenge, for which there was no satisfactory solution at the time: administrative work and cumbersome, manual processes prevented them from focusing on their actual work – customer communication and sales.
Since the problem could not be limited to a specific industry, location, or company size, it was assumed that it is a fundamental challenge that needed to be mastered across industries. From this awareness, the idea of Sales Enablement emerged – propelled by new digitalization possibilities that have been continuously developing ever since.
What is Sales Enablement?
Sales Enablement is an ongoing strategic process that supplies sales teams with all the resources they need to implement sales activities with maximum success. However, Sales Enablement is not strictly limited to the sales department. Usually, sales can only fully realize their potential if there is effective cooperation with adjacent disciplines such as marketing, customer service, or advertising, which are often also involved in Sales Enablement strategies.
With the right infrastructure, employees, processes, and technologies, sales teams become more dynamic and proactive. This, in turn, leads to more sales efficiency and enables employees to contact and communicate effectively with (potential) customers across channels and in a personalized manner.
How companies benefit from Sales Enablement
Sales Enablement improves both the performance of individual sales employees and the entire business area. The result is a better customer experience and corresponding revenue growth, thus also more satisfied employees who work more efficiently and achieve better results. In practice, the basis for Sales Enablement strategies often involves the use of a CRM system. CRM platforms help automate parts of customer communication and many repetitive administrative processes in sales, leaving significantly more time for value-added tasks.
Key goals of Sales Enablement include:
More efficient sales processes through automation
Effective promotion and further education of sales staff
Quick provision of all resources needed by sales teams
Networking of marketing and sales teams for more effective customer outreach
More revenue through more stable and long-term customer relationships
Three basic principles for successful Sales Enablement
Those dealing with the topic of Sales Enablement often initially do not know how to sensibly implement the concept into existing company structures. A proven approach is based on three basic principles:
1. Clearly define goals for Sales Enablement
In allen Vertriebsabteilungen gibt es KPIs,
In all sales departments, there are KPIs that can be optimized. Whether it's the ramp-up time, the period new sales employees need to acclimate and reach full productivity, or the ubiquitous conversion rate - the number of leads that have turned into completed deals. When specific optimization goals for certain KPIs are defined, Sales Enablement Managers can specifically search for suitable measures.
2. Introduce suitable Sales Enablement software
A powerful CRM system forms the foundation of any Sales Enablement strategy. CRM platforms enhance productivity, expedite processes, and create transparency in the sales pipeline. Simultaneously, they improve communication between employees and different departments or teams. They enable the monitoring of metrics from the marketing and sales team and deliver important insights into customers and target groups. CRM systems can be individually configured and expanded depending on the objectives.
3. Involve sales teams
The focus of Sales Enablement strategies is on sales employees. They are the ones who ultimately practically implement the strategy. Accordingly, it's crucial to create the necessary awareness for Sales Enablement and the associated processes, tools, and methodologies within sales teams through transparency, communication, and training measures, as well as the early involvement of participants in the development and decision-making steps.
The most important Sales Enablement tools
Sales Enablement strategies are based on a series of tools that serve to automate repetitive processes and thus increase efficiency in sales. Additionally, these tools make it easier for marketing and sales departments to access content and use it quickly and targeted for various communication measures and a consistent customer journey.
These are the Sales Enablement tools most commonly used:
CRM Software (Customer Relationship Management): A CRM platform provides the data and information base sales teams need to communicate effectively and manage their work. CRM systems can be customized to the needs of companies and supplemented by countless external tools – for example, Bettertext.
Content Management Tools: Marketing content is an important part of the buyer journey and significantly affects whether prospects become customers and whether customers remain loyal to a brand.
Social Media Tools: Social selling is becoming more and more a central element of every content management strategy. 61 percent of organizations that engage in social selling report significant revenue growth.
Training: Regardless of how experienced a salesperson is, staying up-to-date in the fast-paced sales world is an ongoing learning process. Accordingly, the effective provision of training materials, information on product features, competitive knowledge, current marketing techniques, and sales methods is important.
Metrics and Reporting: For sales leaders, it's important to be able to express the performance and thus the success of their department in numbers. Reporting tools help keep an overview and at the same time show individual sales employees opportunities for their own optimization and new sales potentials.
More revenue and sales efficiency through Sales Enablement
Equipping sales teams with the right resources and tools as part of a Sales Enablement strategy enables them to sell more effectively and efficiently. The result: more sales and more satisfied and loyal customers. Get in touch with our experts at any time to find out about the opportunities for sales enablement in your company without obligation.
