WHY YOUR ORGANISATION NEEDS SALES ENABLEMENT

Transcription

1 WHY YOUR ORGANISATION NEEDS SALES ENABLEMENT

2 1 2 3 According to the Harvard Business Review, 70% of growth initiatives fail. Only one in five CRM systems actually increase revenue (CSO Insights, 2011). The misalignment in sales and marketing is causing the typical company to underperform by 10% in annual revenue (IDC, 2011). What is sales enablement? Forrester defines sales enablement as A strategic, ongoing process that equips all client-facing employees with the Ability to consistently and systematically have a valuable conversation with the Customer at each stage of the customer s life cycle to optimize the return of Investment of the selling process. The misalignment in sales and marketing Improving sales and marketing alignment is top priority, even for leading organisations & companies looking to stay competitive in today s dynamic & intensely competitive business environment. The economic downturn is forcing businesses to do more with less, which is why they need to adopt different go-to-market models that always change during periods of disruption. The traditional approach consisting of a quick training program, a few brochures on the new product(s) and a couple of presentation slides has proven unsuccessful and is a contributing factor to the gap between strategic initiatives (cross-selling) & revenue (closing sales).

3 Sales Tools Equipping sales personnel with the right information, tools and content to help them sell more effectively and successfully engage the buyer throughout the buying process is the foundation of sales enablement. Business Intelligence Sales enablement programs offer meaningful metrics such as average sales cycle length, the number of representatives achieving quota and average deal size. These programs make every sales engagement effectively, ensure that best messages get used, include marketing to identify what messages work and ensure that people learn from the best sales people in the team. This is achieved by providing all salespeople with the best practices, knowledge, tools and resources required to be successful. For example, when these strategies are integrated with a CRM system, organisations receive a 360-degree view of customer information to determine the best course of action in every step of the selling process. This view empowers sellers across the entire lead-to-cash process, powering collaborative sales asset management for acquiring and developing customers and accelerating deals through the pipeline. Double your annual growth According to the SAVO Maturity Model, While Fortune 500 companies have averaged a 7.8 percent annual growth rate over the past ten years companies that report having a strong sales enablement program are witnessing 15.3 percent growth. This clearly shows that companies that can proactively identify barriers within their sales execution are going to witness greater growth than those lacking such insight.

4 Improve the productivity of marketing and sales representatives by saving both time and effort Increase customer experience and make it easier for customers and prospects to buy SALES ENABLEMENT PROGRAMS HELP ORGANISATIONS Leverage knowledge experts & sales leaders to help the sales workforce become better informed Accelerating Deals through the pipeline These programs make every sales engagement effectively, ensure that best messages get used, include marketing to identify what messages work and ensure that people learn from the best sales people in the team. This is achieved by providing all salespeople with the best practices, knowledge, tools and resources required to be successful. For example, when these strategies are integrated with a CRM system, organisations receive a 360-degree view of customer information to determine the best course of action in every step of the selling process. This view empowers sellers across the entire lead-to-cash process, powering collaborative sales asset management for acquiring and developing customers and accelerating deals through the pipeline.

5 Powerful selling tool As a powerful tool to increase sales, sales enablement programs help sales teams deliver the right message at the right time to prospects. When sales people are on message, they convert leads and close opportunities faster. These programs can include the improvement of sales and soft skills, thereby creating a learning organisation, which in turn keeps the sales force better informed, increase performance and improves productivity. Another aspect involves creating an easy and enjoyable buying experience for customers and prospects by introducing content marketing. The information can be presented in the form of customer-facing content, sales best practices or tools. In short, these programs make the information easier to absorb and reuse across the organisation. Customers are the focus The focus of sales enablement programs is more on the buyer and less about sales per se. They offer collaboration tools to make sales training, continuous and help organisations provide sales people with the resources they need to engage target buyers and thus sell more effectively. The key is assessing whether the sales team uses what is provided to them, which is why the best program also track and enforce whether resources are being used across the organisation. This is important as it optimizes future sales enablement efforts based on what is used and what is not used.

6 Making sales results predictable One of the most compelling benefits of sales enablement programs is allowing a large number of sales people to achieve quota in a predictable, repeatable and scalable fashion. While there will always be sales representatives who have a natural ability to exceed quota, these programs democratize the organisation by empowering a broader spectrum to achieve the same. They play a key role in scaling organisations beyond a handful of over-achievers. In fact, a critical best practice is to designate over-achievers as leaders/teachers of the program. Upselling Sales enablement programs help companies maximize their revenue potential by using it with cross selling becoming a heightened priority, sales enablement programs have what it takes to help sales teams sell a new line of products as well as extends the introduction of existing products to an existing sales team.

7 Compliance With regulatory guidelines becoming more stringent and the ever increasing penalties for non-compliance many organisations use sales enablement like an insurance policy. Sales enablement enables organisations to control the sales process and ensure the sales force only offer compliant information and products when appropriate. Conclusion A sales enablement approach that is global, strategic and purpose-driven towards specific business goals, and continually measured to optimize the ROI is the need of the hour. For organisations to achieve their revenue initiatives they must close the gap between strategic goals and customer buying decisions that drive revenue. The sales team is standing directly between these strategic initiatives and the organisation s customers, which is why the adoption of sales enablement programs will impact both an organisation s productivity and brand value, which, in turn, will positively impact their customers experience.