Business and sales are two complementary elements that cannot be treated separately. If they go well with each other, success is almost guaranteed. Probably that’s why more and more companies decide to involve in sales and create their own products. The good news is that selling and marketing have never been easier, primarily because of online sales and campaign development.
Unfortunately, it’s not enough just to be present on the web, and have a strong sales team and enjoy high profits. You need to develop a well-prepared, strong sales strategy.
One of the strongest strategies is the so-called sales enablement.
Although the strategy is easy to use and can bring excellent profits to the whole company, it’s somehow still unpopular. So, what exactly is sales enablement and how to adapt it to your own company? Below we present a complete beginner’s guide to this strategy.
What is Sales Enablement?
If you want to imagine what a sales enablement strategy is, you should consider it more as a strategy for the whole-company in the form of an in-depth plan, than as a single experiment or practice. It concerns all the company’s fields and teams. The name refers to all the processes concerning market research, getting to know the clients, testing and, finally working on the sales improvement. It also involves training employees and improving their general sales and management abilities.
The sales enablement, if it’s properly planned and used, can boost the company profit and create a strong brand image on the market.
If you want to get some more basic guidelines on sales enablement, take a look at the What is Sales Enablement guide.
Define your Goals
Goals are the first element of any plan, strategy, or process, as any steps that are going to be taken utterly depend on the objectives that are set. Think about the possible profit you want to make – it can be an amount of money, targeted traffic on your website, or raise popularity. Remember that the goals can be combined to achieve maximum profit.
Start to think about the client
If you are a beginner in the field of marketing in sales enablement, you need to switch your perspective a little bit and focus not on the company’s actions, but the potential client. Why? The figure of the buyer is the most important element to know in order to create and promote products. The company needs to know who the potential buyer is, what are their preferences and habits.
There are many research tools available on the market, for example, surveys among the customers. When you change your view and become more client-oriented, you can see the needs of the market more clearly. You can even create a so-called ‘persona’ which is a personification of your potential average client.
Focus on the Training
Team training and development is another crucial factor in facilitating sales enablement. Why? As this strategy involves careful planning and continuous effort, it’s essential to keep the competences and motivation high. Do some research on the topic of sales training and techniques and start investing in your salesforce development.
Some external courses may seem costly, but the profits made from the whole strategy are going to be much higher! You can also consider some forms of team supervision. Employees tend to be more effective if they know someone’s assessing them.
Plan your Content
Content is equally important as sales skills and tricks. If you provide excellent, trustworthy materials and website layout, the customers will trust you and treat the brand seriously.
There are two significant steps to take concerning the content in the sales enablement strategy – audit and improvement. In order to identify possible mistakes or content gaps on your website, ask the clients for the feedback! It’s the best way to improve. Alternatively, you can hire a specialist to conduct a professional and objective audit. The next step is to improve content quality and enhance user experience.
Assess and Evaluate
Assessment and evaluation are the base of the sales enablement because they can help to measure the profit, improve the campaigns, or the sales team results. It’s good to implement evaluation into the company’s everyday schedule and plan assessment meetings, for example, once a week to discuss the situation together. As sales enablement is a general in-company plan, the teams and managers need to exchange views and continuously cooperate.
Sales enablement may seem to be a multi-level, complicated strategy. But in fact, it can be really beneficial and become easy if it’s established and then appropriately executed. It’s good to remember about setting goals, cooperation, motivation, content planning or improvement, and, finally, regular assessment.
