Is your salesforce struggling to reach their quota? Is there an inconsistent message being delivered to your buyers? Studies have shown that companies which have implemented a sales enablement strategy have closed 15% more deals than before.
Let’s take a deeper look into sales enablement.
A simple definition of sales enablement is the resources which your salespeople need to get a lead to buy your product or service. These resources range from training and tools to content.
Training refers to the effective on-boarding of new salespeople to the continuous training of salespeople when it comes to changes in product or the market you serve. This training can be face-to-face training, peer training, or online training. Many salespeople say that they have benefited from peer training from outstanding salespeople within an establishment. By offering continuous training which helps your seasoned sellers to grow in their position, you are also helping to work on their loyalty and retention in your business.
Tools look at the different technologies available to help your salespeople to achieve great success. These tools involve sales content management, customer relations management, communication, sales engagement, and sales intelligence. By using these tools effectively, you can have the upper hand on your competitors.
Content is another critical aspect of sales enablement which can help to boost your sales. We know that trust is built by being consistent. If the message which your business is sending out to your sellers is inconsistent then they will grow to trust you less. Therefore it is critical to make sure that each piece of content which is shared with your audience is sending the same message and is consistent with your brand identity. You should create content which complements your buyer’s journey. This content should be informative and valuable for your client. In addition, you may consider creating internal content which your salespeople can use to learn more about the specific market you serve, and the benefits and specifications for the products you sell. Other pieces of internal content to create are templates for emails as well as replies that people can use to answer common objections to the service or products you offer.
The departments who are responsible for sales enablement should be sales and marketing. These two departments must work closely to ensure that the training, tools and content which is needed by sales to be successful is created. They should have a co-operative relationship and listen to each other’s ideas on how to deal with the problem which has been identified in the sales process.
The information shared above may seem overwhelming but it is important to remember to break it down into bite-size parts which you can achieve over a certain time.
The first step is to identify where the problem in your sales process is. If it is during the discovery section then you should create training to help your salespeople become better at identify qualified leads. If it is that your messaging is inconsistent then you need to write down your mission statement for everyone in your business to see and make sure that all the content you send out of your business aligns with the statement you have created for your business. Once you have implemented a solution then you need to use metrics to see how effective it has been. If you see a growth in sales then you know you have found a good solution, but if not then it is time to go back to the drawing board and see if you can find a different solution for your problem.
By consistently improving on your sales process through training, tools and content, you will be able to build the empire you always dreamed about.
Proudly brought to you by the NSBC