In a utopian world, you’d imagine a sales team equipped with all the tools needed to close deals faster and boost the win rate.
So, how do you turn the ordinary salespeople into revenue-generating rockstars?
The answer is — a sales enablement program.
Businesses having a sales enablement strategy unlock a 49% higher win rate on forecasted deals.
A sales enablement program is more than just a corporate initiative filled with jargon and empty promises. It’s a practical, actionable plan that supercharges the sales team to drive revenue, leaving competitors far behind.
At its core, sales enablement is a weapon that equips sales teams with the necessary skills and expertise through training, content, and technology.
Read on to unfold actionable tips for building a sales enablement program.
Align Sales and Marketing
It’s often said that “marketing is from Mars and sales is from Venus.” This sentiment reflects the occasional friction between both these departments, often stemming from competing views on who contributes more to the bottom line.
However, a successful sales enablement program thrives on interdepartmental harmony, which begins with clearly defined roles.
The marketing team contributes to generating leads, while the sales know what to do after the lead generation — taking them over (from marketing) to nurture and drive conversion. But for this relay race to be successful, both teams need to be in sync.
On the front line is your sales team who interacts with prospects. They gain insights into customer pain points, objections, and preferences. Effectively leveraging this knowledge requires marketing teams to stay informed of this data, ensuring that their efforts are aligned with the realities of the sales floor. It helps create creating content that resonates with potential buyers.
But knowing your audience is just one piece of the puzzle. Sales teams will also need a firm grasp on the sales pipeline that visually demonstrates prospects’ progress, from initial contact to closed deals. This pipeline serves as a dynamic tool to provide valuable insights into the health of your sales process, identifying areas for improvement based on potential bottlenecks and missed opportunities. This is where pipeline forecasting comes in, allowing teams to estimate future sales based on current pipeline data.
This projection data feeds both the sales and marketing teams. That’s when the sales team prioritizes leads, identifies areas for improvement, and sets realistic targets. Meanwhile, marketing teams leverage pipeline analysis to anticipate future demand, tailor their strategies, and develop targeted campaigns that move prospects through the funnel more efficiently.
Such alignment demands the following:
- Regular communication through periodic meetings, joint planning sessions, and open communication channels to foster collaboration and address challenges.
- Co-creating the content like pitch decks, presentations, and product demos, ensuring alignment with marketing messaging.
- Closed-loop feedback to establish a system for sales to share customer pain points and provide feedback on marketing materials and for marketing to analyze sales data to refine strategies.
Check out how Callbox’s team enhances the sales pipeline of a cybersecurity firm with lead generation campaign.
Inspire the Sales Team to Be Tech-Savvy
A sales enablement program will be incomplete if your tech stack is devoid of cutting-edge tools. You don’t want your sales team to manually sift through spreadsheets and rely on outdated methods.
Instead, bring in sales enablement technology to help your team unleash their full potential. This allows them to focus on building relationships, closing deals, and driving revenue. It also contributes to streamlining their workflows, automating tedious tasks, and boosting productivity and performance.
Here are some essential tools for a tech-oriented sales enablement program:
- Proposal Software: Get rid of the hours spent in formatting and proofreading proposals. Encourage your sales team to use proposal software like PandaDoc, Proposify, and Qwilr to create effective, customized proposals in minutes.
- CPQ Tools: Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) tools like Zuora CPQ, Salesforce CPQ, and DealHub can help streamline the complex process of generating accurate quotes for complex products or services. Zuora CPQ ensures faster quote, proposal, and contract creation, thereby boosting sales efficiency.
Deploying a CPQ tool ultimately contributes to a better customer experience by eliminating errors, speeding up the sales cycle, and offering customized pricing for conversion. - CRM Systems: Work with a powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that stores customer data, tracks interactions, manages leads, and analyzes sales performance. Some popular options include Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zoho CRM.
- Sales Enablement Platforms: Invest in all-in-one sales enablement solutions like Seismic, Highspot, and Showpad. These solutions act as a central hub for your sales content, training materials, and communication tools, making it easy for team members to navigate the resources they need at their convenience.
Related: 4 Tools for Lead Generation
Invest in Sales Training
Sales enablement training is an ongoing process that adapts to your sales team’s unique needs and experience levels.
But then, it’s not about calling industry leaders or conducting workshops. It’s about giving your sales team the necessary skills, confidence, and knowledge to achieve their goals. For this, implement a training program that covers everything from product knowledge to sales techniques and even the latest market insights.
Tailor the program based on their level of knowledge, expertise, and experience. For instance, new hires may need a crash course, covering the product information and the sales process, while seasoned pros might benefit from advanced negotiation tactics or industry-specific insights.
Sales enablement training should be about cultivating a growth mindset, encouraging continuous learning, and fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation.
Consider the following tips when implementing sales enablement training:
- Mix your information delivery methods by including live workshops, e-learning modules, webinars, and on-the-job coaching. This will make the training sessions more engaging with a high level of knowledge retention.
- Create personalized learning paths that address individual strengths and weaknesses while addressing their concerns.
- Implement continuous feedback and reinforcement where feedback is welcome. This will help the sales team share their thoughts, and you to track their progress and identify areas for improvement.
Check out the benefits of outsourcing B2B sales.
Over to You
Building an effective sales enablement program requires a strategic approach and a commitment to empowering your sales team. Leverage it to create a high-performance sales engine that consistently delivers results where sales and marketing teams are aligned. Once that is in place, invest in training and ensure that you leverage a few marketing tools to increase sales leads production.
For starters, consider adopting one of these sales enablement tactics as part of your business strategy. This will set you on the path to building a robust sales team that converts.
