5 Sales Enablement Focus Areas of today

“There are no bad sales teams. There are only bad sales leaders.

Many leaders assumed salespeople knew what they were doing, so they focused on product training only. However, you do not need to train on the product so much. You need to focus on improving basic sales skills and keep coaching them,” said Spencer Krieger , Sales Director at Vendasta — when I asked a couple of excellent revenue leaders a serious question:?

What should be the sales enablement focus areas today?

1) Build key sales skills and coaching culture.?

Brandon Taylor , CRO at FoodChain ID, agreed with Spencer. CROs should create a great sales culture, like owning our results, embracing change, etc. The culture where everybody wants to become the best version of themselves.

“When I scaled sales organizations, it was all about people, processes, and systems.

With A-players, you can survive without it for a while, but as you scale, you need to put the process and systems in place. However, if I do not have A-player leaders, I cannot get my job done as a CRO.”

This year, enablement teams should balance impacting immediate sales metrics and focusing on short-term goals (like more qualified leads, which is what sales leaders ask for) and long-term goals. For example, a lack of sales process and inconsistent sales coaching, recommended Kate Reale, MBA , Sales Enablement Manager at Toptal.?

“There has to be a culture of regular coaching that is structured in a similar way across teams. However, if you have a sales leadership program in your sales organization today, you are like a unicorn. Leaders need to understand the why of coaching, not only the hows.

It would improve employee happiness, retention, and sales numbers. People still associate coaching with something negative, though.”

2) Focus on your unique sales playbook.

Matthew Hernandez , Global VP of Sales at Xeneta, expanded on the first point.

“We need to go back to the basics of selling and really understand the sales process and the strategy of the sale. What do we really know about the deal? Which of the prospect's KPIs do you impact? How do we prepare and coach champions to sell internally? How do we test champions that they understand our value propositions?

Even mid-market customers need a bit of enterprise selling to overcome the scrutiny in the market.?

Now, we really need to coach teams on multithreading.”

“There is a research by Salesforce where they asked key decision-makers based on what criteria they decide when buying tech. Is it the product or something else? The number 1 answer was that they'd buy a vendor because of the salesperson. That means that every deal you won or lost has something to do with you, not your price or your competition,” explained Kunal S. , EVP of Sales at Azuga (Bridgestone company).

Her top enablement approach also shared Janet Megdadi , SVP of Sales at Amplience:

I believe in taking your smartest eagles (top sellers) and letting them figure out your sales playbook in this tough market.

Let the deals write the playbook, not the enablement department. Follow the deals. Build the playbook around the specific use cases and stories of your past deals.

To do that, you need to create a safe environment for your salespeople, product people, and other departments to listen to each other. It's all about their alignment with the customer needs and how your product compares to competitors.

3) Coach your buyers to buy?

Jennifer Ryan , Global Sales Enablement Director at Black Line, highlighted a vital enablement shift that is happening:

The shift in sales today is from sales enablement to buyer enablement that is buyer-focused.

The traditional approach is about convincing buyers about our solution and proving the ROI so they finally get it. The shift today is — how do I not go into an opportunity as a seller but go in as a coach?

that leads the buyer to the AHA moment of what they value, without the seller dictating the value?

For example, the goal of discovery is that we understand the business of the customer. It's to help them to understand their business better by themselves. The goal is to coach them to uncover new insights about their situation by themselves.

You have to fully believe that if you put the needs of others up front, your needs will be fulfilled, too.

4) Adapt to the customer needs and focus on better positioning.

“Businesses try to consolidate their internal tools today, so you have to position yourself based on what they are looking for. That's why researching customers and digging into financial reports is pretty valuable,” noted Carl Helle , CRO at Deepwatch.

“If we cannot control external changes in the market, we have to look inward and go back to basics in sales. If you have fewer people who want to talk with you, you had better make sure your calls are really sharp because you have fewer opportunities. If you start negotiating at the end of the sales process nowadays, you are already lost. It's discovery,” advised Carrie Bosworth , VP of Sales at Checkr.

Therefore, Christopher Brunetti , VP of Sales at Bridgepointe Technologies, focuses his team on understanding the customer's business and tying their solutions to business outcomes.

“Sellers should ask themselves: What's the negative outcome for the customer if they do not buy from us?

If not, they engage in commodity-based discussions that are mainly about low prices.

We have only one shot in front of our customers, and we do not want to waste these opportunities. That's why we do some uncomfortable role-plays.”

5) Build a culture of belonging & resilience.

Zach Golan , Director of Sales Enablement at Amagi, believes that the most important enablement initiative should be to increase the sense of belonging across the sales force. “Companies are more prone to fragmentation in the hybrid world. They are less cohesive. Culture can really take a hit these days.

The question we should ask is: how do we incentivize sellers on top of their commissions?

Companies would be wise to add a side-OKR that would not only create a better sense of belonging, but also incentivize sellers to partner with enablement.”

Missy Parrish , the Sales Enablement Director at Greenlight Guru, focuses on this as well. “Our team has always had a winning culture; so the question is, how do we build a positive culture so people have more fun? If people have fun, they perform better. It's something we cannot measure, but we will see the results.”

“This year is the year of testing organizational resilience. What's the mindset of our teams? Are our people empowered to make mistakes? Are they enabled with the right skills? Leaders have to check in with each individual and figure that out.

I focus on our team's self-awareness so sellers have the right level of self-criticality and lean on their unique strengths,” added Will Post , VP of Client Organization at VidMob.

This type of culture is created by the right sales leaders, not only the ones at the very top.??

Chris Reese , VP of Ent. Sales at Medtronic, concluded: Middle management is more important than ever. They are the carriers of the culture and the communication. Without them being good, you lack results, and people leave.

We value reaching goals at all costs in salespeople, and then we promote them. It does not work anymore.

Results are the last thing to focus on if you do not have a team that has fun and is trusted. Do they have the right skills? Is there accountability?

Sales have changed drastically. It used to be our job to bring the right information to our customers. It's not the case anymore. You can meet some customers today who know more about your product than you.? We have to learn how to solve problems now.