Sales Enablement Best Practices

Sales enablement is often a nebulous concept, defined differently by different organisations. In simple words, the process of sales enablement not only includes methods that empower the sales team, but also practices that impact each step of the sales cycle. As an all-inclusive and end-to-end approach, it defines best practices for strategizing, implementing, recruiting, enabling and analysing these aspects to drive optimal returns for enterprises and enable success in sales.

All the facets that make up the sales enablement process must be aligned cohesively to maximise the selling potential of the enterprise. A robust sales enablement process sets the stage for sustainable revenue growth. With this in mind, enterprises have embarked on a multi-faceted, multi-team endeavour to adopt a set of sales enablement best practices that can have a lasting impact within the enterprise. These are described below.

Collaboration between Sales and Marketing: A critical factor in the effectiveness of sales enablement is the alignment between the marketing and sales operations. Without the support of the marketing department, sales enablement will find it challenging to meet its objectives. Since it’s in the day-to-day operations where successful sales enablement takes place, some of the key operations that demand the alignment of sales and marketing include:

Accountability: Joint accountability for reporting, incentives and structures is an absolute necessity

Lead Qualification and Management: Marketing is responsible for the initial qualification of leads and lead generation with a handoff to sales who manage the leads, nurture them and close the deal.

Sales Readiness: While the sales team is the one which is equipped with the skills to make a sale, it is the marketing team which is responsible for training the sales team and providing the necessary support tools and knowledge to ensure that they are ready for selling

Feedback: Marketing handles key customer, product, competitor, and industry and market intelligence while the sales team is responsible for customer experience feedback

Relationship Nurturing: Customers are the lifeline of any business and a strong and dependable relationship with the customer is what will sustain business operations. A key component of sales enablement is continuous relationship building. B2B customers are already aware of product details and specifications. What they look for is a sales representative who goes beyond just listing the product information. B2B customers want someone they can trust and someone who understands their needs. Sales representatives who can describe how a solution will meet the needs of a customer, such as specifying what value each feature will bring to the customer, are likely to stand out and be far more convincing. However, the process does not end with just closing a sales deal. If the enterprise is to have a loyal customer base, then sales representatives must ensure that continuous support is provided and the relationship is nurtured even after a purchase is made.

Consistency is the Key: For effective sales enablement, clear and consistent communication is the key to better decision-making and seamless processes and operations. Various technological tools can be used to achieve this, in addition to delivering real-time information, anytime-anywhere access to information and communication, and easier collaboration especially for remote and geographically dispersed teams.

Data-driven Content: Most buyers feel that the content they see is not useful and most enterprises have no data on the performance of their content. One of the best ways for enterprises to positively impact their bottom line is to work smarter. This requires the use of metrics to gather insightful information from data and to create content that is meaningful, relevant and impactful. Analytics will also highlight the pieces of content that are most effective thus helping enterprises to work and improve on the ones that are not as efficient. Effective content can help in making informed decisions, and aid the sales teams in their efforts. Content that is strategically targeted at the audience also adds credibility. 

Leveraging Social Media: As technology evolves, social media has become one of the most crucial channels of communication for enterprises. In a digital age where buyers and sellers are connected 24/7, social media has wide reach – via mobiles, laptops or tablets. People turn to social media to gather information on different things. In fact, 90 percent of buyers want more content, and social media can be that additional avenue for prospects to find information [7]. Social media is also a powerful tool for sales representatives. A study by Forbes showed that 78 percent of sales representatives who use social media outsold their peers [3]. Hence, sales teams should not limit sharing content to direct channels alone. They can leverage social media to reach prospective buyers who are seeking information about a product or service and/or trying to find answers to their problems.

Data Driven Processes: In today’s demanding business landscape, it is imperative that sales teams sell in a cost-effective manner, so as to generate more revenue. This necessitates that sales teams leverage insights from demographic data, research findings, currents trends, etc. at every step of the sales process - right from initial strategy formulation to customer relationship management. Data-driven resources will enable sales teams to perform better and provide more reliable and up-to-date information. But data by itself provides no value. Enterprises must analyse the data to gain valuable information and visibility into their operations. This will help them connect better with their audience. To make the best use of data, teams have to work in tandem and share the knowledge they possess with each other.

Digital Media as a Tool: Digital media is a great and powerful tool for communicating messages to people. Using digital media to deliver sales collaterals can have a far greater impact on clients. It is an interesting and engaging means to connect to the overall process. Digital media also facilitates a seamless approach for content sharing amongst sales teams especially if the resources are scattered across locations. From videos to presentations to simple marketing messages, these resources can be sent to in-house and in-field sales representatives at the click of a button.

Intelligent Lead Generation: Effective sales begin right from the process of generating leads, and to be successful, sales teams have to work smartly. Every aspect of the sales process must work towards quality and quantity of leads, equally. Forming strategies for leads should involve subject matter experts who constantly think of new strategies and evolve their strategies based on changing market conditions. Lead generation has to be aligned to the enterprise’s goals so that sales teams work towards meeting these goals. Once a strategy is formulated, both the sales and marketing teams must work smartly and in tandem for best results.  

Selling Solutions: B2B buyers are more interested in the value that a product provides for the enterprise rather than all its specifications. If sales representatives have to make a strong impact on buyers, they must look at selling their products as solutions, as outcomes for the enterprise and as business value achieved. They must ensure that these solutions match the client’s specific needs and that all collaterals are aligned with this strategy.

With prime operational intelligence, sales enablement plays a key role in scaling the sales team of an organisation - offering them best practices, knowledge, tools, and resources required to be successful. It not only enables the sales force to perform better, but also considers developing and enhancing the formulation of strategies, recruitment processes, delivery of content, training reps, automating processes, adopting analytics, improving time efficiency and shortening the sales cycle.