By Sheperd Simmons On Sales Enablement
What are the 3 typical goals of sales enablement programs?
It was a heck of an ask. We’d worked on sales enablement programs for 22 years. Now we had to distill everything we’d learned about your challenges to just 2 or 3 things.
For context, we were doing a planning session with bizdev experts Predictive ROI. They have a fantastic framework they call the Transformational Triangle. The idea? Identify up to 3 of the most common challenges faced by our clients. (That means you — a marketing leader in charge of sales enablement.) Next, we had to flip those challenges into goals.
Luckily, it wasn’t as hard as we feared. Because, you know, we’ve listened to a lot of smart people for more than 2 decades.
Here’s what we came up with.
Marketers want their sales reps:
- Selling on value… instead of on price.
- Pursuing opportunities… instead of missing them.
- Working cohesively… instead of individually.
Do these ring true to you? (If not, let us know.)
And why do marketers want these things?
Because selling on value differentiates you from competitors.
Pursuing opportunities helps you truly impact your customer’s business.
And working cohesively means your sellers are doing the same things the same way — the way that’s proven to be effective.
Now, how do you make those things happen?
How to achieve those sales enablement goals
We’ve had lots of measurable success in sales enablement. Not to brag, but we know what works. Here’s what we’ve learned.
If you want reps to sell on value instead of on price, you have to show them 3 things:
1. Leadership insists.
2. Customer expectations are set.
3. Everybody benefits.
If you want reps to pursue opportunities instead of miss them, you have to teach them 3 things:
1. Who to talk to.
2. How to recognize opportunities.
3. How to convince the customer.
And if you want reps to work cohesively instead of individually, you have to give them 3 things:
1. A sense of ownership.
2. Role models.
3. Constant reminders.
3 lists of 3. You can learn a little more about these here. But if you want the real juice — and you should — then download our ebook. It’s free.
The promise of sales enablement… when it’s driven by message strategy
Let’s say you address all these things. What’s the result? What can we promise you?
Increased revenue? Entirely possible, depending on your plan.
Higher profits? Entirely possible, depending on your plan.
But there’s one thing we’re sure about. And that’s the effect you’ll see from our message strategy approach. Which is this: Your sales enablement program will be received enthusiastically by your sales force, and it will actually get implemented. In a word, adopted. We’ve proven we can make this happen, over and over.
And when you think about it, if your program doesn’t get adopted, it might as well not exist. Dead on arrival — killing all the hard work you put in toward helping the business grow.
That’s why we say, “Growth is not an option unless you have adoption.”
Let’s make it official: “The 9 needs of adoption”
We gave you 3 lists of 3. Let’s combine those into a single list so they’re easier to refer to. Call it “the 9 needs of adoption.”
Now, one more time for the folks in the back.
If you want your reps to adopt your sales enablement program…
Show them:
1. Leadership insists.
2. Customer expectations are set.
3. Everybody benefits.
Teach them:
4. Who to talk to.
5. How to recognize opportunities.
6. How to convince the customer.
Give them:
7. A sense of ownership.
8. Role models.
9. Constant reminders.
Address all 9 of these, and you’ll have the greatest odds of success.
Sales enablement adoption: How to make it happen
You’re working hard on your sales enablement program. You believe it will work. You just need your sellers to work with it.
We believe you can convince them. Especially if we can convince you to download our ebook. It’ll give you a deep dive into the 9 needs of adoption. You’ll understand fully why — and how — they have to be addressed. And then you’ll get some actionable ideas to make things happen.
And hey, the ebook is free. So why not?
We’ve put 22 years into it. But we promise it won’t take you that long to read.
