3 Reasons to Make Sales Enablement Part of Your Post-Pandemic Growth Strategy

Your post-pandemic growth strategy needs sales enablement strategies so your sales team has the tools to thrive. Here’s what you need to know, plus three areas that should be included.

Key takeaways:

• A sales enablement strategy is more important than ever. 
• Having one allows salespeople to better get to know prospects, spend their time on the most profitable pursuits, and have easy access to essential and consistent information.
• Companies would be wise to focus on certain sales enablement tactics.
• Some of the most impactful include enhanced training, a modern CRM, and data insights.

The world has had to make some big adjustments over the last two years. Businesses especially were forced to become very agile if they wanted to make it through the lean times. They’re in more stable places now, which means now could be the time for them to focus more on growth instead of survival. 

One way they can do this is by implementing a sales enablement strategy. This article covers what sales enablement is, why it’s important, and the essential elements that need to be included in your plans.

What is sales enablement?

Research company Gartner, Inc. defines sales enablement as “The activities, systems, processes and information that support and promote knowledge-based sales interactions with client and prospects.” In a nutshell, this just means giving salespeople the tools and information they need so they can better do their jobs. A better salesperson means more revenue is brought in, after all, and that leads to a more profitable company. In fact, research found that 65 percent of sales leaders who exceeded revenue targets in 2020 said they had a person or team dedicated to working on sales enablement strategies. 

No matter what industry your business is in, chances are very good that it is an ultra-competitive space. This means that every deal, every possible sale, is extremely important. And as such, you have to make sure your team is as prepared as possible to land it. With sales enablement, they’ll be able to:

Create and foster relationships

Customers have railed against companies that think of them as just a number, and that’s something that has been true for decades. It’s a fact that has only increased in the last couple of years. In order to win new business – and keep it – salespeople have to know who they’re talking to, and not just a name and perhaps a birthday. They need to understand where someone is on their buying journey and how they can reach them at various touchpoints. They must demonstrate that they can solve their problems, and do it with compassion and empathy.  

Focus on the important stuff

This stat bears repeating, despite being covered in other articles: Sales reps only spend about one-third of their time actually selling. Things like scheduling calls and entering data take up a lot of their valuable time. If your salespeople are too consumed with other tasks and aren’t focused on turning prospects into customers, guess what? Salespeople from your competitors – the ones using sales enablement – will be able to get to them first. In addition, when salespeople can concentrate on what they like to do – i.e., selling – they’ll be more content in their work and less likely to look for an exit.

Get streamlined and consistent information

Everybody wants to get the attention of the sales department, and that includes your marketing, product management, and operations teams. They all have important content that the sales team needs to know. But, salespeople can get overwhelmed when they get bombarded by this information, which essentially makes it useless. Sales enablement collects all the data, boils it down to the basics, and makes it easier to understand and access. Plus, it ensures this information is valuable and consistent.

3 sales enablement strategies

There are certain areas that are vital in order for sales enablement to be effective for your company. These areas include:  

Ongoing training

A study found that 80 percent of the information salespeople learned in their training was forgotten in about 90 days. This means that if your training program was a one-and-done type of deal, you can bet that your team probably can’t remember most of what was covered. This is why training has to be continuous. Your team needs to be able to keep up on consumer buying behavior and the latest industry trends, as well as learn new skills and tactics.

A better CRM

If your current customer relationship management (CRM) system consists of spreadsheets and email lists, it’s time for a change. Modern CRMs are very sophisticated, and storing contact information is just the bare minimum. They can keep track of so much data – such as how someone interacted with a company’s website or social media pages – and that means they offer your sales team an invaluable resource for getting to know potential customers better. This also means they can create a more personalized sales approach.

Data insights

One of the biggest benefits of utilizing sales enablement is that it makes it a lot easier to keep a close eye on your salespeople’s progress. Seeing exactly how your team is performing in real-time allows you to get deep insights into what’s working and what isn’t. Then you can make adjustments, if necessary, to the tools they use, their training, or other essential aspects of your program.

Companies can no longer afford to stick to the status quo or just rely on pre-pandemic tactics. To learn what a comprehensive sales enablement strategy would mean for your organization, contact MetaGrowth Ventures today.