Every business considers it fashionable to say that they have invested in Sales Enablement Software. Modern sales tools, sales coaching, seminars, ready-to-use sales collateral—you name it, they have it in their sales enablement program. Yet many companies that invest in sales enablement tools feel a bit cheated when, after paying good money to put a sales automation system in place, they watch their salespeople struggle with sales targets.
Here’s why that happens
Those companies are making 3 BIG mistakes that cause their sales enablement software investment to go down the drain. This blog post tells you what they are, so you can save your sales enablement initiative.
Mistake #1: Equating sales enablement with automated sales collateral creation
Typically, companies today are equating sales enablement with sales automation, particularly automation of sales collateral creation. They believe the only thing a salesperson needs is quality sales materials that provide them with all the information about the product/service they are selling. A good sales presentation, a few up-to-date brochures and a couple of sales emails should do the trick then. This entails providing salespeople with access to a cloud-based platform where all sales materials are stored. However, what happens after that is what renders this effort fruitless. In a few month’s time the platform is full of sales materials–outdated and new. Salespeople are at a loss when they try to access the latest version and don’t have the time to sift through the entire portal looking for the ‘right’ version. So, they end up creating their own version as they see fit, based on the prospect they are interacting with at that moment. End result: every salesperson has their own ‘right’ copy of the sales collateral, disrupting corporate consistency and branding standards.
Lesson learned
Sales enablement, in the real sense of the term, encompasses much more than sales assets creation and storage. It involves building, measuring, automating and optimizing sales assets AND sales processes with the goal of making sales teams more effective and thereby able to “sell more.” It involves equipping salespeople with all the knowledge they need so they can say the right things to their prospects at the right time. This includes providing your sales team with the content/assets, process, skills, technology and measurement tools that they need in order to have relevant conversations with prospects.
Mistake #2: Adopting a top-down approach to sales enablement
Most companies look at sales enablement from the top-down. This involves developing sales and marketing materials from their own perspective. For example, the general sentiment is that when a new product is introduced, a new feature is added or a new service is being offered, businesses create material that talk about the new additions. The updated sales materials talk about what’s new and great about the addition. The problem with this approach is that it looks at everything from the company’s perspective. The messaging does not resonate with the audience persona and the buying stage that they are in. End result: buyers just don’t hear you! Adopting a top-down approach to sales enablement ignores the buyer and their purchase experience.
Lesson learned
For sales enablement to be effective, companies need to look at it from the outside. That involves studying customers, prospects and their interaction with frontline salespeople and managers. It also involves analyzing the industry trends, competitors and getting a clear picture of what is in demand in the market. An outside-in approach to sales enablement helps salespeople follow their prospect throughout their sales cycle journey. It allows them to engage their prospects in a meaningful conversation through relevant sales materials, personalized to suit the audience persona and sales cycle position.
Mistake #3: Looking at sales enablement as a one-time task
Another mistake that companies generally make is viewing sales enablement as a one-time only task. An example would be when management decides it is time to enable their salespeople and invest in a sales portal that primarily takes care of sales asset creation and storage and calls it a day. In reality, sales enablement is a process, not an isolated act. Such inconsistent acts of sales enablement fail to make any serious impact.
Lesson learned
Remember that your sales enablement initiative should be
- Repeatable – It should be structured so that it can be replicated across the board, by the entire sales department. Examples include creation of a lead scoring model, lead nurturing programs or lead segmentation criteria. When creating these elements, as a part of your sales enablement process, be sure that they can be used across the board by any salesperson, for any prospect or product segment.
- Universal – Companies should look at sales enablement as everybody’s business and not just that of the sales department. This calls for collaboration and easy flow of information between various functions such as marketing, sales, customer service, etc.
In the end, it’s all about value for your end customers
For sales enablement to really work, its success must be gauged in terms of the value it adds to the customer–the degree to which it enhances the buying experience of the prospect. Merely bombarding prospects with automated sales communications is not sales enablement. A truly enabled sales team will be able to reach out to the right prospects on time, with the right message to create a unique buyer experience and build lasting relationships.
