Sales Enablement- Forecasting Trends

As economies the world over continue to grow, many enterprises are focusing on adopting an aggressive sales approach. This has become imperative because changing market conditions have impacted and altered the buyer environment. Buyers today are far more informed and easily disengage with sellers who provide no value and relevant information. With time, enterprises are becoming aware of the importance of adopting processes that will fill the gaps in their sales operations. As a strategic approach, enterprises today employ sales enablement as a key driver.

The global market presents a unique platform for sales enablement, characterised by diversity and talent. Diversity in the market fosters inclusivity within the organisation – where each person will be able to grow along with others. In addition, diversity in the market signifies that sales enablement methodologies can be constant, but implementation strategies have to change in accordance with the new markets, given their dynamic nature. Besides diversity, the global market encompasses world class talent. This allows sales enablement companies to set up R&D for their services – i.e. to strategise and try out various service models before implementing a chosen model. Sales enablement is also shaped by five significant global trends. These are described in detail below.

Mobility: Mobility is thefastest path toorganizational change, costefficienciesand increased productivity. Many enterprises areleveraging mobilesolutions todeliver services worldwide.Mobile solutions help to automatethesales forceand add on tothesales enablementprocess. Since thesales forceis constantly on themove--beiton theground for meetingsor in officeanswering customerqueries -- mobileapplications and solutions empowersales teamstoperformtheir job better.With mobile solutions, thesales forceis equipped withtools and real-timeinformation tounderstand thecustomer better,respond toqueries faster,provide impressive demos, offerextensiveproductinformation, etc.The ability toaccess information anytime, anywherenot only streamlines sales and enhances thesales enablementprocess, it also optimizes client/customer engagement, integratesback-endapplications so that sales teamshave a complete picturetoresolve queries or offer personalized experiences, improvestraining and reporting ofsales force,and offerssecure access and controltosensitive information.

Cloud:Cloud solutions areanother add-on tosales enablementas enterprises can makecontent, training, etc.accessible across any partoftheworld, in real-time.Cloud improvesmobility since enterprises can upload various applications on the cloud and provide themas services globally. When enterprises espouse a cultureofagile, data-driven decision-making, itgives thema competitiveedge. This is especially important forsales teamsas customerstoday arefar moreempoweredand knowledgeable. Hence,itis imperativethat sales teamsrecognize thetools and techniques that will aid in improvingproductivity, enhancing sales and delivering value. Cloud solutions arehighly beneficial foran enterprise and its sales forceas they facilitatereal-time communication, real-timecollaboration, assisted contextand information, remoteand secureaccess toassets, and increased costsavings witha “pay-as-you-use” model.

Analytics: The right information is whatenables sales success. Analytics provides sales teamswithhigh-value content,as ithelps convertthehuge quantum of data into actionable insights. Data-driven insights help improvesales and increase ROI. Enterprises can use analytics and contentintelligence totailor contenttomeetthebuyer’s needs. By using metrics todiscover theright content,leads can beconverted into actual sales at a muchfaster rate. Content analytics also enhances visibility on theeffectiveness ofthecontentused, customers’expectations, how thesales teamis using thecontent,etc.With analytics, enterprises can also discover thebest sales opportunities, improvesales forecastingaccuracy, identify and manage risk effectively,gauge the performanceofsales representatives, etc.All these insights willgive enterprises a competitiveedge.

Technology-drivenWhite SpaceDatabase Generation: Most sales representatives fail to achieve their targets. This alarming reality reflectsthehuge gap betweentheaddressed customerbase and the actual addressable segment. Ifenterprises areable toviewall thenewand exploredcontactabledatabase ofSMEs globally, it willhelp increase their reach significantly. Furthermore,access tovarious tools and methodologies willimprovesales closureofthese leads. The futureofsales enablementwillwitness enterprises leveraging technology togeneratewhite space database and address untapped whitespaces forincreasing sales conversion and delivering greater sales impact.

Localization of Voice Activated Instructions: As newermarketsand citiesaretapped fordeeper sales reach, access toa smartsales forcewitha good commandofwritten officiallanguages (English, etc.) becomesthat muchmorechallenging. An emerging area offocus should betheuse ofvoice-activated instructions. Voice-controlledinterfacesare constantly evolving and peopletalking totheir smartphones tosimplify theemailing/texting process, or even tofind directions, is a common sight. Ifthis technology is applied at everylevel of thesales force– mostcritically at thegrass rootlevel -itcan make reporting simpler and ensureall details areeffectivelyand impeccablycapturedin real time. This would streamlinethesales process implementationacross diverse geographies, with multiplelocal language resources. Therefore, localization ofvoice-activatedinstructions has the powertotakestrategy effectivenesstogreater heights.

Unlike many established concepts, sales enablement is still evolving and therefore, highly misinterpreted. For some enterprises, sales enablement is a role/function within the enterprise. For others, it is a task performed by people. However, in order to enable effective sales, it is imperative to look at sales enablement as a holistic, end-to-end process – covering every aspect of sales, right from ideating action plans to successful implementation. Executing sales enablement increases revenue, adds competitive advantage, lowers churn rates and improves customer satisfaction. As a result of these benefits, sales enablement has evolved from just an elective function to an upfront function, playing a critical role in aiding an enterprise’s sales success. No longer a choice, sales enablement has become a business necessity.