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What is Sales Enablement?
Lucas HamonAug 12, 2020 12:14:00 AM4 min read

What is Sales Enablement?

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Don't let your salespeople feel like they're on an island of one.

At the highest level, the definition of sales sales enablement simply means that we're improving sales' ability to close more deals by taking advantage of advanced technologies that focus on data, automation, and objective reasoning.

The short answer to the question, "what is sales enablement," is that it's the sales version of "growth hacking." It involves:

  • Sales and marketing alignment
  • B2B sales process
  • Inbound & cold calling scripts
  • B2B sales leads
  • Sales management software & tools

Sales Enablement Technology Requirements:

Enabling optimal sales outcomes doesn't happen by chance. It's a calculated effort that relies on hard data, and deployment of the scientific methodology. So, the first major box that needs to be checked is ensuring that you have a tool that gets used and that the data coming from it is of value. Your sales enablement software should be liberating to sales, intuitive, and provide a stream of high-quality data. Your sales enablement process should be embedded in it as well.

IS A FORMAL SALES ENABLEMENT PROGRAM RIGHT FOR YOU? Find out with this DIY Growth Plan Builder

Specifically, the sales enablement technology I'm referring to is your CRM, your single most important sales tool.

That data stored there is needed to inform a lot of important decisions, not just whether you should come down on your sales people for missing their call quotas. So, a sales enablement program should include the implementation of a modern CRM or the modernization of your existing one.

One of the ways your modernized sales enablement tools will improve the quality of your data is by automating cumbersome tasks that either eat up your salespeoples' time or that never get done the way you want because they'd rather sell than appease your demand for control.

Download the free Sales Enablement Strategy Guide

Sales Enablement Strategy Guide

Sales Enablement Processes & KPIs

Here are three areas we can influence with a sales enablement solution:

  1. Emails
  2. Sales collateral (flyers, slide decks, etc)
  3. Proposals

EMAILS (for your sales team):

We can measure outcomes well beyond opens and clicks... although, how many salespeople can say they know the open and click rates of the emails they send out after every call?

The reality is that they are likely sending out the exact same emails every day, but typing them up individually.

With Sales Enablement, we create email templates that are accessible through the CRM or your email (if it's Gmail or Outlook 365), so there's no need to rewrite the same darn thing a hundred times in a week.

Best of all, by using a template, we can gather critical information. Check out the screenshot below (sales enablement software used is Hubspot Sales Pro):

sales enablement 2

With that kind of data, we can build on what works, and remove what doesn't. In fact, there are various sales enablement content objects you may want to consider...

SALES COLLATERAL:

Do you ever wonder if your slide decks are as effective as they could be? ... or if people read your flyers?

This is another area that sales enablement can help you hack. The data from this is extraordinary. You can see which page people read the longest... who looks at it, when, and how long... just check out the screenshot below (Hubspot Sales Pro):

sales enablement 1

This is a slide deck that was opened multiple times, and referred to two people in the organization. The chart on the right shows the amount of seconds the person spent on each slide per visit.

You can upload personal sales decks that require passwords. You can upload sales collateral meant for the general public. 

When it comes time to closing the deal, your sales person will have insights like they've never had before.

PROPOSALS:

This is your single most important sales document. How strong is it? How easy is it to create without errors? Do you know anything about why or when people reject or accept them?

With sales-enabled technology you can!

We like Pandadoc, because it seems to be more customizable than other programs out there, and it has native integration with Hubspot Sales. 

With this, you get insights about opens, views, and when it's signed. This information is elevated in the CRM, and can be found for more in-depth analytics directly in the program.

sales enablement 3

sales enablement 4

CONCLUSION:

A well-executed sales enablement plan means you're giving business leaders control over the growth of their organization, and sales teams control over their own fates. Make it easier for your salespeople to sell by equipping them with optimized content. Make it easier for you to manage by having the big picture and the little pictures at your fingertips.

Check out our Sales Enablement team and b2b sales services HERE:

Sales enablement services

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Lucas Hamon

Over 10 years of B2B sales experience in staffing, software, consulting, & tax advisory. Today, as CEO, Lucas obsesses over inbound, helping businesses grow! Husband. Father. Beachgoer. Wearer of plunging v-necks.

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