Sales enablement has been gaining popularity among global businesses day-by-day. Studies show that the value of the global sales enablement platform market will expand to USD 2.6 billion per annum by 2024 from USD 1.1 per annum in 2019.
What is Sales Enablement?
Sales Enablement is a combination of tools and strategies that help salespeople to sell more effectively. As such, businesses can grow their revenue. The essence of a sales enablement platform is providing salespeople with buyer-centric content for enabling them to understand the tastes and preferences of buyers. With a solid understanding of buyers, they can construct more impactful sales pitches to sell effectively.
Stages of Sales Enablement
If you are planning to invest in a sales enablement app, it will help if you know at what stage your company is right now.
So, before implementing sales enablement in your business, identify the stage of your business from the following:
Undefined
- New sales reps hit their quotas within nine months
- CRM or marketing automation not in use
- Sales and buying processes not yet defined
- Sales metrics are not yet known or tracked
- Win rate is less than 10%
Progressive
- CRM is implemented
- Sales reps hit quotas within six months
- Sales metrics for top sales reps are defined
- Win rate hovers in between 10-20%
Mature
- CRM, marketing automation and sales enablement are in usage
- Sales reps hit quotas within four months
- All sales metrics are defined and tracked
- Win rate is at least 20%
Fully Developed
- All systems are mobile-friendly
- Sales reps hit quotas within three months
- Content is sale optimized
- Win rate is not lower than 25%
Top 8 Sales Enablement Trends To Look Out
With frequent changes in the buyers’ behavior, sales enablement trends have been continuously evolving. So, businesses must keep themselves updated with the latest trends to keep pace with the expectations of consumers.
The following are eight emerging sales enablement trends to keep an eye on that help your sales team to meet their expectations.
AI and Machine Learning
Machine learning, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics are expected to make their presence felt in 2023 and help sales teams to deliver results.
Chatbots, based on artificial intelligence, can answer questions and evaluate responses. As such, chatbots can free up salespeople from engaging with prospects until they are qualified.
Predictive analytics can forecast the behavior of consumers. So, sales reps can get to understand the leads before interacting with him/her. And that helps salespeople to construct impactful sales pitches.
Still Not Using CRM? You’re Already Behind
Are you still adhering to the outdated mode of data collection and is yet to updated your sales tool? If so, you are lagging, and you need to upgrade.
Invest in a CRM to give your sales reps the advantage of the buyer-centric data before they connect with prospects.
Prospects visit your website to research your products and services before they interact with a sales rep. And modern technology captures what the prospects do, giving sales reps an idea of their tastes and preferences.
Sales Content Creation Strategy
Sales content is the central pillar of all B2B sales. So, make sure that you have in place a sales content strategy as it will assure that your content is consistent and effective. It will help in building better relationships with prospects and customers.
In the traditional approach, sales teams rely on the marketing team for the sales content. But, such passive methods do not work in today’s dynamic business environment. You need to hire sales content specialists to work closely with your marketing team in sales content creation.
Focus on Sales Enablement
Sales enablement can take your business to the next level. So, do not fall behind in investing in a sales enablement app to enable your business to stand out. A sales enablement platform will empower your sales reps to understand the tastes and preferences of buyers by providing them with buyer-centric content. With such content, salespeople can personalize their interactions with prospects so that they can sell more effectively.
Reinvestments in Sales Training and Coaching
As the market trends and buyers’ preferences are changing consistently, you should invest in training and coaching your salespeople to keep them up-to-date. Without proper training and coaching, your salespeople will not be able to deliver results. Additionally, salespeople tend to forget 80 to 90% of what they learn after one month, and that is also another reason why you need to train and coach them frequently.
Go for Small but Efficient Teams
Gone are the days of maintaining large sales teams. As chatbots can handle your leads until they are qualified, you can keep a small but efficient sales team. It now makes no sense for you to retain the poor performing sales reps.
Advanced Analytics for Optimizing Sales
Two-thirds of the buyers today prefer buying when the communication is personalized. So, predictive analytics can help to leverage the trend. Predictive analytics help salespeople to know in advance the tastes and preferences of buyers. As such, they can construct more impactful sales pitches to convert the prospects into customers.
Cloud Adoption
You should consider data privacy and security as your top priorities as these major concerns for B2B companies today. Sales teams need to focus more on working with third-party data providers that can guarantee compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other relevant regulations.
Conclusion
All industry trends undergo changes, sales enablement is no exception. You need to keep a tight vigil over the latest trends so that you can align your sales enablement program to the prevailing trend and take your business to the next level.
