Building a great Sales Enablement program takes a lot of work. It is not just about investing in a Sales Enablement Software. If that were the case, every direct sales team in the world would be easily empowered. A successful Sales Enablement Program demands much more than Sales Enablement Software. It calls for a lot of ground work that needs to be covered before you buy a Sales Enablement Software Program. This ground work/exercise also helps you in picking the Sales Enablement Software that’s right for your sales team. So, what does it essentially consist of? Let’s take a look.
Knowing your Direct sales team is the first step to developing a Sales Enablement Program
To develop a successful Sales Enablement strategy, you need to understand your sales team. What are their key strengths and weaknesses? What motivates them. Answer these questions to understand what is it that your direct sales team really needs help with.
Measuring your sales team performance–Because, you can’t fix what you can’t measure
The next step is to measure your sales team’s: Remember that revenue is not the ONLY metrics to measure sales performance and engagement. You can measure sales engagement index based on the sales activities such as
- Sales portal logins
- Asset consumption
- Training and certification programs attended
- Sales campaigns run
- Number of leads closed/opportunities registered
Start right: Create a strong sales training and onboarding process
You need a solid foundation to build a strong well enabled direct sales team. Make sure your sales training and onboarding programs are easy-to-understand, access, and are truly value-adding to your salespeople. Here are 2 elements that can help you take your sales onboarding program to the next level
- Training playbooks
- Automated certification programs
Take the tools & resources to your salespeople… integrate them with the sales environment
You need to make it easy for your salespeople to sell your products/services by bringing the tools TO them, rather than expecting them to come to you asking for help to sell. Examples include – Plug-ins for email marketing with asset recommendation, Calendar integration with asset push, Lead sync, CRM integration, automated opportunity creation via emails, etc.
Give your salespeople a scalable, repeatable, successful sales framework
It’s not just about telling your salespeople what to say, it is also about telling them how and when to say it. Use machine learning and AI to walk your salespeople through every step of the sales process. Examples include
- Playbooks
- Asset recommendation tools
- Voice integration tools
- Opportunity scoring, so they can focus on the right lead at the right time
Make it easy for your salespeople to sell your products and services
The level of ease associated with selling and marketing your product has a direct impact on how successful your salespeople are with your brand. You can make it easier for your salespeople to sell your offerings by providing them with
- Ready-to-use, personalized marketing campaigns
- Sales and marketing content syndication
- Real-time lead alerts and prospect view, so your salespeople know exactly what their clients are up to and when they are ready to buy
- Sales playbooks
- Automated asset recommendation
Want more? Check out our webinar, “The Changing Face of Sales Enablement” to learn what Sales Enablement looks like today and how sales teams need to adapt to be successful.
