Sales enablement is the process of providing the sales organization with the information, content and tools that help salespeople sell more effectively. Sales enablement focuses on providing everything your reps need to be successful at every step of the sales journey.
When you combine sales training, ongoing learning, and continuous development, the results are amazing. According to the Sales Enablement Analytics Report for 2021, teams with a sales enablement strategy…
- Achieve a win rate of 49% on average, 12% higher than those without an enablement strategy.
- Hit their quotas 35% more often than those without a sales enablement strategy.
- Experience 15% less turnover than those that approach sales enablement as a one-off project.
- Are twice as likely to collaborate within organizations vs. those that use an informal or one-time initiative.
However, while 61% of organizations employ some type of sales enablement program, only 34.4% feel it meets their expectations. So, why are most organizations struggling when it comes to sales enablement?
Often, sales enablement is misunderstood as a whole— treated as a one-time project that, once complete, results in a new and improved sales function. Rather, sales enablement must be an ongoing initiative that involves continuous training, feedback, and growth.
Sales enablement can have a significant impact on an organization’s bottom line. In fact, 52% percent of sales organizations who have a specific sales enablement function claim overall sales training effectiveness 29% higher than those who don’t. A sales enablement strategy makes it easy to gauge sales readiness with continuous, accessible training, and trackable performance and outcome measures.
The percentage of salespeople achieving their quota in organizations that invested in sales enablement increased by 10.6%, with an overall improvement of 22.7%. Businesses with a dedicated sales enablement function achieve a 49% win rate on forecasted deals — almost 7% higher than their competitors without sales enablement (42.5%). This shows the competitive edge that sales enablement can add to your business.
Sales enablement doesn’t just benefit the sales team, it benefits the whole company. As a result of sales enablement, 76% of businesses have seen an increase in sales between 6% and 20%. Sales enablement also correlates with a 31% improvement in positive adjustments to sales messaging and a 15% improvement in performance among low-performing sales reps. If you want your sales team members to grow their skills, and their scales, a dedicated sales enablement plan has been proven to have results.
While sales enablement is not a “magic pill” that will eliminate all of your pain points and bottlenecks, it will provide you with a competitive edge compared to other businesses in your sector. Furthermore, a strong sales enablement process will help your reps perform better, and ultimately help your team close more sales.
So, how do you establish a sales enablement plan?
As mentioned above, sales enablement is only truly effective when it is part of an ongoing process. Since each of your sales reps have varying levels of experience and skills gaps, your sales enablement process cannot be a one-size-fits-all. Providing scenario-based learning can help your sales team members train, learn, and practice skills in everyday, interactive, situations. Branching scenarios help your employees see the bigger picture of their actions and help them to hone in on their strengths while building on their weaknesses. By adding scenario-based learning to your sales enablement plan, your sales team will be given the resources, knowledge, and tools to be more confident and effective.
There is an undeniable, statistical value of sales enablement. Ready to get started? Contact us today to learn more about how we can help secure your sales enablement strategy with scenario-based learning.
