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The modern day buyer is more independent than ever before. Before talking to any salesperson, buyers usually like to go out and look for product reviews, customer brand testimonials and recommendations.
For this reason alone, it’s important that your business has a sales enablement strategy in place.
But what is a sales enablement strategy? And why do you need it for your business to succeed? These are all questions that are common amongst marketing and sales directors. So, this post will aim to explain in what situations a business may need a sales enablement strategy.
Recap: What is a Sales Enablement Strategy?
Before we start, let's quickly discuss what a sales enablement strategy is - just in case you're not sure. If you are, skip ahead to the next section.
Sales enablement is about making the most out of every suitable contact. It’s mainly about supplying the right content, nurturing and tools to entice the buyer at the right time in the sales process.
By bridging the gap between marketing and sales departments, you're ensuring that all employees are on the same path leading towards the same goal. This is why sales enablement makes the whole sales experience and process easier for everybody involved.
So, How Can You Tell if Your Business Needs a Sales Enablement Strategy in Place?
1. Not Reaching Quotas and Revenue Goals Not Met
Are your sales team not delivering the figures that you expect or predicted? Well, sales enablement is a proven way to improve your sales figures and increase your revenue.
The sales enablement process increases the chances of your sales team closing more sales and converting leads. Sales enablement helps create a more personalised service. So, prospects and buyers look at your company more favourably.
One reason you might not be reaching your sales quotas is because your sales and marketing teams aren’t working together as well as they should do. It’s often the case that the marketing and sales departments both point the finger at each other when it comes to answering why the business hasn’t performed as well in the month or quarter.
Your marketing department might claim that sales haven’t been using their qualified leads as well as they should do to convert them. And your sales department might pin the blame on the marketing department, saying that they’re not providing them with enough quality leads for them to work from.
This is an example of where sales enablement can align these two departments and get them working together towards an end goal. That way, the issues will be thrown out the window and your sales quota will be improved.
2. Productivity Issues
Nobody wants productivity issues within their teams. Low productivity can have negative effects on morale in the office, which is a double whammy. Low productivity means that your teams aren’t working to full efficiency which could be affecting your company's bottom line.
The bad energy between departments like sales and marketing can start to bring the workforce down. So much so that in some cases, workers have even ended up with a “what’s the point” mindset and simply coast through their job. A successful business can’t operate in this way.
A sales enablement strategy will give clear scope and definition of where you want your company to be and the targets you want to hit. Sometimes, all it takes is the introduction of a few incentives and target-based work to up the productivity in the business.
This should make sure that everybody is singing from the same hymn sheet and heading in the right direction to get the job done.
3. Staff Not Using New Tools
New tools are implemented to try and spark a positive change. However, we humans are often wary of change as we tend to be creatures of habit.
Different members of the same teams might perform the same tasks in various manners. One may use the recommended new tools and the other might stick with the old way.
This isn’t on. All your team members should be working in the same way and towards the same direction.
A sales enablement strategy can help. It sets out a clear plan of how you want things to be done. By outlining guidelines of the most efficient way of getting things done, you can boost team productivity and organisation.
Plus, a set process in place helps massively when onboarding new clients.
Interested in Closing More Deals With Sales Enablement?
With sales enablement being a pretty new approach, not everybody is aware of the potential benefits that come with aligning both departments. However, at Digital 22 we’re experts in the field and know what it takes to help your business grow from strength to strength with the implementation of this effective strategy.
To make it much easier to understand, we’ve created a comprehensive eBook about all things sales enablement to help your sales team close more leads.
