Sales enablement is a curious beast. Just like learning & development, it has continuously evolved to support account executives in being more efficient and effective. Real-time enablement is on the horizon and it supports sellers make better, faster, and smarter decisions.
Sales enablement is a mysterious beast. It's always been entirely clear what it actually meant. Is it about teaching, guiding, or being prescriptive with sales reps? All three? 🤔
After hearing from account executives, I realize it came down to one simple thing: helping reps bring their A-game to every prospect.
Sales enablement status quo
Today, most traditional sales enablement tools resemble content management systems. They are used for training and onboarding new sales reps focused on the creation of learning courses and tracking progression. They host a great wealth of information: a company's sales process, product features, ideal customer profile, and more. Don't get me wrong - they play an important role in the sales tech stack, helping reps to ramp up faster. 🤯 The reality is that AEs rarely use sales enablement materials after training is done. As an AE told me: "Out of sight, Out of mind". They most often take a more pragmatic approach: reuse past pitch deck, ask a colleague, or wing it. Enablement is an ongoing effort, not a one-off. Rather than focusing on structured enablement programs, we should be thinking about unstructured, real-time enablement. The complexity of an account executive's job is rooted in the ability to navigate unique deal dynamics. There is no recipe for success applicable to all deals. High-performing reps are able to leverage relevant information to work more efficiently and effectively.
*Real-time enablement enters the chat*
What could real-time enablement look like in practice? I've highlighted a few examples of ways you can implement it:
Pipeline prioritization: Help reps break through the noise of their pipeline and identify the deals with the highest engagement.
Recommended actions: Generate context, and personalized recommendations on best next steps for a specific deal, based on historical benchmarks and management-defined best practices.
Alerts: Embed reminders & notifications to help reps stay on top of their ongoing deals and follow up promptly with prospects.
Meeting preparation: Consolidate critical documents (previous meeting notes, playbook, account plan) and contextual news (i.e., LinkedIn, Wall Street Journal) to have the best customer conversations.
In-meeting enablement: Support reps with templates, objection handling cards, and competitor profiles, embedded in real-time while you're taking notes.
To implement this approach, the biggest hurdle is a disconnected tech stack; information is fragmented and not available when most needed. By bringing together key information and surfacing it when & where helpful to the reps, we empower reps to make faster, smarter decisions. There has been enough effort put into improving our pipeline forecasting. We need to focus on empowering our sales reps on the ground - they are the heart & soul of your organization. Remove the noise. Close more deals 💪
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