We, humans, have a shorter attention span than goldfish.
Wondering how is human’s attention span is connected to a sales enablement software strategy? Well, don’t be too surprised.
Here’s the problem- The person you’re selling to is busy and won’t have the time or “attention span” to hear an irrelevant and long sales pitch.
Just not the sales pitch, they barely have the patience to skim through a presentation that doesn’t speak about their pain points.
It's no use having the best sales enablement tools if the sales team doesn't know how or doesn't want to use them in the right way?
Hence, before your organization plans to purchase software for sales enablement, let’s make a few things clear.
The 5 tips that we are about to list down are solely based on the blunders made by other companies in their sales strategy.
Or, let’s put it another way.
The points enlisted below are useful tips to ensure the sales enablement software is being exploited in the best way in alignment with the designed revenue strategy.
We seek a status quo in which incremental sales are impacted by the sales enablement strategy and software, not otherwise.
So, here’s what you can do differently...
5 Critical Tips For Building Your Sales Enablement Strategy
- Customer-Centric Content Creation And Management
The primary goal of any sales strategy is to generate revenue.
But how is revenue generated?
Revenue is an outcome of customer experience- when performed as per client expectation or beyond.
To cater to customers during and after the sales cycle, you need to build and structure content that motivates them to purchase your product or service.
Your team must maintain the following buyer data for building quality-rich content:
- Buyer’s persona
- Buyer’s customer journey
Once you have a clear understanding of these, creating engaging and appealing content is smooth as butter.
Another area that often slips through cracks is the industry know-how and pain areas.
Your buyer is a well-researched and educated buyer. They’re not only aware of their industry but simultaneously reading about you. Yeah, they’ve been stalking you.
It is imperative that you understand their business, and decode their biggest pain points. Because there’s an unspoken assumption that you know them and their vertical.
Hence, ensure your content readiness as part of the sales enablement strategy and double-check that the content is client-driven not product-driven.
Oh, did we mention that sales content associated with training new hires should also be customer-centric? As far as content is concerned, there’s no better alternative to keeping your customers engaged. The approach has to follow the buyer, not the organization you’re working with.
- Sales and Marketing Teams Accountability
Your business can benefit immensely from sales enablement software.
But the next big question that should ring a bell is how do you keep the two teams in check to deliver the best sales enablement software experience?
Simple. Fix a shared goal for sales and marketing.
Without a shared goal, both teams may be chasing conflicting or completely different goals.
And what could be better than revenue? Both teams can use all their resources to reach their revenue targets.
To give your team a revenue goal, you’ll need to have a vision for the organization and translate it into a revenue goal for sales and marketing. But remember to have an audacious goal for the teams. However, a goal that is close to being achieved.
Apart from Revenue, another way to make sales and marketing goals complementary to each other is by setting service level agreements between them.
In this case, your marketing folks are accountable to generate qualified leads( Lead value or the number of leads) for sales and sales should contact( within a set SLA time) the leads to further qualify.
As part of the sales enablement process, the team leading the enablement program must set a content requisition plan and a content distribution plan.
The plan should neither be too stringent nor too lenient. Sales and marketing teams must fix responsibilities for each team and timelines should be discussed to suit the requirements.
If you need more help in understanding sales enablement software and how to purchase it, here’s some detailed information for you- 10 Things a Sales Leader Should Learn Before Investing in Sales Enablement Software.
- Call Coaching And Performance Evaluation Process
The core objective of Sales enablement is to enable your sales team to perform better.
Your strategy will capture a wide range of training and content ideas for the sales team. However, what we don’t want you to overlook is the conversation listening method of training.
Conversation intelligence tools can assist you in coaching your new and under-performing salesmen. As per the training schedule, they can plug into the benchmarked sales call recordings and learn a trick or two from experienced salespeople.
But the training process doesn’t end here.
You can assess the progress and training effectiveness by evaluating the performance scores received on the mock calls or an actual sales situation.
We’d recommend spending some time creating a sales playbook- with sales best practices and excellent call recordings on products, pricing, or objection handling- on the conversation intelligence tool. Playbooks crowdsource experiences and learnings, capable of sharing with the rest of the team.
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Apart from the sales call training, you can leverage conversation intelligence software in the soft skills training of your Reps. If you pursue the training plan correctly, salespeople can be easily trained on:
- Active Listening
- Tech Savvy
- Storytelling
- Networking and Relationship Building
- Time Management
- Problem Solving
- Adaptability
- Growth Mindset
- Focus on Sales Enablement Metrics
A sales enablement plan without metrics is a sales guy without a LinkedIn account. There, we said it.
Any successful organization runs on a solid plan and measurable goals.
Similarly, the sales team can appreciate the effort of the sales enablement team by adding KPIs into the picture.
The success of implementing a sales enablement software technology can be evaluated in two ways-
- Direct outcome- These results may include increased conversations, longer sales cycles, lower staff attrition rates, increased sales productivity, and greater time spent selling.
- Indirect Outcomes- Improving the skill set of the sales team will result in higher win rates, faster speed to revenue, higher lead conversion rates, more closed deals, increased customer loyalty, and higher revenue.
As a good practice, it’s advisable to periodically assess the metrics and improvise the sales enablement strategy at different touchpoints. Agree?
- Don’t Forget To Calculate ROI
The purchasing software is not at all a cakewalk. It occupies a huge chunk of time, effort, and dollars.
Oh, did we mention all the negotiation, chasing, pushbacks, and approvals from senior management? Yes, that too adds up in the purchasing process.
Before any of the efforts kick-start, put a little work towards building a business case for that purchase. Your finance team will definitely need a little more nudge and the business case will help.
We calculate return on investment (ROI) by dividing the return (benefit) from an investment by the investment. Percentages or ratios represent the results.
Also, your role determines how you perceive enablement.
For B2B marketers, brand awareness and B2B lead generation performance is the primary return. However, for a sales leader, enablement is determined in terms of win rates, revenue numbers, new acquisition, average deal sizes, etc.
Well, that’s all for today.
So, Are You Ready To Purchase The Sales Enablement Software?
No.
Because we want your sales and marketing folks to adhere to one more key activity. Which is seldom followed even by large organizations.
Bonus Tip: Document Your Sales Enablement Plan
Producing a plan, and then investing in sales enablement technology is great. But in between lies documentation, which we are very concerned about.
Documenting every plan, strategy, stakeholder, goal, metrics, content, and criteria for choosing sales enablement software is as necessary as creating all of it from scratch.
You can’t stop people from leaving the company and you would replace a few heads now and then. In such cases, your recorded data as well as version control will come in handy.
To make your job easier, leverage the power of conversation intelligence software to record all discussions and meetings regarding sales enablement software strategy.
Now, friends, we think you’re ready to join the club of sales-enabled organizations.
And, again, if we missed anything or you need more information, no need to contact us directly(we’re available, but we respect your time). Why not try reading the 10 Things a Sales Leader Should Learn Before Investing in Sales Enablement Software.
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This blog is just the start.
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