Mainly used in B2B, the term “Sales Enablement” refers to any action taken to facilitate and increase the sales effectiveness of the sales force.
The aim of the sales team is to provide adequate and convincing content to customers in order to create a bond with them. Sales Enablement is a kind of secret weapon that provides this team with the key information that will help them make a real impact on customers.
Empowered by technology , Sales Enablement is about using the content and resources available to your sales and marketing teams in the most effective way possible. As a result, it helps you make more sales faster, and with reduced time for purchase in the customer journey.
How do you implement Sales Enablement?
As with any strategy, you must first assess the needs of your organisation. Ask yourself: what do we want to achieve with Sales Enablement?
Then define who will be involved in the process. Although some companies neglect this aspect, in reality, many departments are linked to the sales team and need to work together. Different types of stakeholders can contribute, including the sales manager, the general management, the COO and, of course, the marketing department.
In tangible terms, you need to make sure that the sales people have the knowledge and skills to optimise every interaction with the customer. The classic ways to do this are:
- training,
- organisational optimisation,
- production of sales support content,
- hardware and software equipment for the sales force.
For example, you can give them access to sales intelligence solutions or even use a dedicated sales app. Also, give salespeople access to, or send them alerts about, the browsing data of the prospects and customers for whom they are responsible.
Basically, give salespeople more data, information and tools to help them present customers with content that is relevant to their needs.
The role of marketers is to support salespeople. It is, therefore, crucial to establish cross-functional communication between the two departments. To do this, they must use common tools and processes to simplify exchanges and avoid redundancies or oversights.
What are the benefits of this practice?
The most obvious benefit of a Sales Enablement strategy is the increase in team productivity and, therefore in turnover. You use the full potential of your sales force and tools.
As well as this significant benefit, there are also many others. Indeed, sharing content that meets the specific needs of a buyer considerably increases the relevance and competitiveness of your offer since it contributes to improving the customer experience and creating stronger links with them.
The practice of Sales Enablement also breaks down the barriers between the silos of Sales and Marketing. In addition, when you hire new salespeople, they will be able to be effective much faster as they will immediately have the right content at their disposal and the best keys in hand to succeed. This motivates your staff and increases their retention rate.
Finally, you create a strong and common corporate culture. Clear processes are defined to leave less room for potential mistakes. This culture will also ensure consistency with different customers and reinforce the overall company strategy as all teams coordinate their efforts to reach the same target together.
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