SALES ENABLEMENT TOOLS

Sales Enablement Tools To Help Scale Your Business:

Companies today are on the constant look out for new and modern ways to solve the sales challenges which they are faced with. Increasingly they have become familiar with the term sales enablement.

But, knowing the phrase, doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a firm grasp and understanding of the concept, its impact and what it entails. Sales enablement is a long-term solution.

In this article we shed some light on what it is, what it has to offer and most importantly, the tools that will help scale your business.

All about sales enablement

Did you know that companies with sales enablement have a 15% better win rate than companies without?

Let’s begin with the question; what is sales enablement?

Sales Enablement defined

Simply put, sales enablement is the act or process involved of providing your sales team with the necessary tools and information they need to not only be more productive, but ultimately allow them to close more deals. Sales enablement helps to fine tune any organization’s sales process enabling it to align perfectly with the journey of both its current customers and any prospects.

It is a cross-functional discipline powered by technology and skill, designed to increase sales productivity. Sales enablement provides integrated content, training and coaching for your entire sales team along the customer buying process.

What is the role of your sales enablement team?

Keeping buyers engaged during every step of the sales process is an important part of any sales executive’s job, however, it can be very time consuming and at times if not done properly, be detrimental to the final outcome.

Sales enablement teams handle a wide range of different activities which contribute to the success of your business and also provides greater customer experience and satisfaction.

Sales enablement teams can handle a wide range of different activities and sales priorities, including:

• Sales onboarding
• Creation of sales training content
• Ownership and implementation of the sales strategy
• Sales communications
• Cross-functional communication
• Management of sales tools and other best practices
• Measuring and reporting on sales enablement program success

Depending on your goals, the size of your company, the needs of your sales force and the required team structure, any of the above areas could fall under your sales enablement development program and strategy.

Why You Need Sales Enablement

Sales enablement allows your whole team to be empowered with everything they need to be successful. It is equipping them with the same information, tools and resources that can help produce predictable, scalable results because of improved consistency and tried and tested methods.

Sales enablement is about productivity within your team and organization. Implementation and correct use has a broad, dramatic and powerful impact on business success. In todays’ economy and the way buyer behaviour has changed, sales enablement is no longer an option. It is crucial for survival and growth.

Getting Sales Enablement Right

Getting sales enablement right takes collaboration between sales, marketing and business processes. And this takes a great deal of work and expertise. In order to achieve the bottom line, it is crucial that your sales enablement strategy and program functions at peak efficiency. It may be a good idea to ensure that you team up and work with professionals in this area.

Getting sales enablement is about alignment. Once the perfect alignment has been reached, you will notice an increase in customers and prospects. You will notice them becoming more invested in your brand and you will notice higher win rates, more repeat business, better referrals and a significant improvement in sales cycles and deal closing. And if that grabs your attention, by making use of the right sales enablement tools, you can experience what selling and engaging with customers on autopilot is like.

Why is sales enablement important?

What is more important than results? This is the question that sales enablement answers. It helps companies achieve better results.

Sales enablement has many benefits, we highlight the 6 top benefits which we perceive as important for the growth and success of any sales department.

1. Sales readiness

Sales readiness is a core component of sales enablement and any sales development program. Here you need to ensure that your salespeople have the necessary skills and knowledge to maximize every interaction with clients and prospects.

2. Sales engagement and performance

The main focus of sales enablement, its tools and its existence is to help sales staff succeed. Equipping staff with the necessary skills and tools, improves customer engagement and leads to better results.

3. A sustainable process

Sales enablement is not a one-time fix. As we mentioned above, it is a long term solution. The best sales enablement programs, have the best tools, allow you to spot mistakes faster and provide you with the necessary data to create a sustainable process.

4. Shorter sales cycles

In a previous article, we highlighted how much time sales reps spend on email and other non-sales related activities.
By adopting sales enablement best practices and implementing the right sales enablement tools will enable better customer engagement , add more value and move conversations forward quicker, resulting in faster turnaround time and appointment setting.

5. Effective use of sales tools

An effective sales enablement program consists of the use of various tools. These include engagement tools, intelligence tools and communication tools. All these are important assets and represent major investments for companies.

Putting Sales Enablement into action with the right tools and the solutions

The best practices and processes for putting a sales enablement plan into action includes two aspects

1. Teaming up with the right people
2. Identifying and using the correct tools to help scale your business

Above we mentioned the importance of sales enablement; among which one of the points we touched on was categories of sales enablement tools. To remind you, these categories are are

• Engagement tools
• Intelligence tools
• Communication tools

All of these require expertise, infrastructure and the right team.

1. Teaming up with right people

Here the question remains; Inhouse or Outsourced? Dedicated or Semi-dedicated? Depending on your needs and abilities, the answer to this may encapsulate many different sets of answers and further investigation. But what you must remember is that in order to move with the times and keep up with the ever changing and constantly evolving sales world, cost effectively, having a professional outsourced company is the way to go. This to help scale your team and your business. In order to survive in today’s highly competitive climate, companies need to relook at the way they do things. Rapid market changes paired with new and increasingly complex product and service offerings means one thing for sales; Adapt and evolve if you want to succeed. Success starts with your sales team and your sales development strategy.

2. Identifying and using the correct tools to help scale your business

Teaming up with the right people gives you peace of mind that you will have access to the best sales enablement tools and also the best solutions and service offerings to scale your business. We identify 10 most important tools and solutions.

• Targeted lead research and generation
• Prospecting
• Data analytics
• Email and LinkedIn Management
• Customer engagement and customer experience
• Email and LinkedIn campaign management
• Communication and appointment setting
• Sales and market intelligence
• Pipeline management and nurturing
• Multi-channel customised campaigns

Identifying with the above and teaming up with the right people, will allow you to see your revenue, productivity and win rates go up and see your lengthened sales cycle period, customer churn rate and staff attrition rate go down.

Sales enablement is an ongoing process that is tied to a long term strategy. By making the right investment and equipping yourself with the necessary tools you too can experience successful growth.

To find out more about sales enablement tool categories and what is the best fit for the needs of your business and your goals and future growth, get in touch with us.