During recent months an increasing interest in sales enablement has arisen. Today, many astute organizations seem to be adopting sales enablement and reaping the benefits of integrating it into their overall sales planning and strategy.

Let’s discuss some of the basics.

What Is Sales Enablement?

Sales enablement is a way to ensure that your sales team can be successful before a prospective client call, during the client meetings, and after they have completed meaningful conversations with potential clients.

A sales enablement professional understands the situations that salespeople encounter every day and strives to support them with every step. A sales enablement professional knows what is expected of a salesperson and looks for opportunities to streamline, simplify, and support their needs.

What Do Salespeople Need? How Does a Sales Enablement Manager Provide Support?

Salespeople are busy. As they transition between meetings, manage current clients, and work to gain new customers, they need various solutions at their fingertips. They also need mobile, accessible applications that allow them to nurture their current clients and implement their sales process. It is a balancing act that requires tools and resources if it is to be juggled well.

Salespeople need access to talk-tracks, presentations, brochures, and channels (to name just a few) that will help them move deals forward. Most importantly, one place they can easily find and use these materials while they are on the go is vital to their success. It’s crucial that sales enablement supply the resources for success and make them simple to find and quickly leverage any time of day.

Why Does Sales Enablement Matter? How Can It Benefit My Organization?

As we alluded to earlier, more companies in the enterprise space are adopting sales enablement because it improves the performance of their sales team.

The cost of training new salespeople, familiarizing them with the company’s sales process, and inducting them into the culture is high. You invest energy in coaching them on the values of your organization and the products you sell in the market. You devote time to teaching them the industry and audience you pursue. Once the salespeople are fully engaged in the day-to-day activities, it is vital to continue ongoing support.

Additionally, enterprise sales leaders now realize that they need to give back to their employees by investing in their personal and professional development. This increases the sales team’s engagement and reduces turnover.

This is another area where sales enablement comes into play. Sales enablement helps provide online learning tools that are customized to a salesperson’s career path. The quality of these tools can make a difference in the salesperson’s career and their decision to stay.

How Should I Start to Take Charge of My Sales Enablement?

To start, it is important to consider the sales professionals that you support. You must put yourself in their shoes and ask questions such as:

• How much time are they spending on administration in between calls?

• How easily can they find materials to support them during calls?

• How can I help them make the most of their time with a client?

• If I was a sales professional, what do I see for my future and my career? How do I get there?

Asking yourself questions like these can help you get the ball rolling on what your team needs. Sales enablement can support your sales professionals in achieving many goals. It is both an investment in them and in your company strategy.

For more information on the steps to take charge of your sales enablement strategy, download our free e-book!