November 8, 2021

Building a sales enablement strategy for 2022 and beyond

Having a solid sales enablement strategy is one way you can improve sales productivity and stay on top of organizational objectives. Let’s find out how you can create the best sales enablement strategy for 2022!

Savan Kharod

Reading time: 5 minutes

Recent developments in the field of e-commerce and business transactions have completely changed the way goods and services are bought and sold in the market.

With the rise of e-commerce platforms, customers are now smarter, more diligent, and have access to a lot more information that helps them make informed decisions.

In such a market, it is important for a business to constantly evolve its sales strategies and develop meaningful, value-based relationships with customers to drive sales and goodwill.

This involves the use of the latest sales and marketing techniques to attract potential customers, and this requires a lot of training, preparation, and analysis. Hence the need for a sales enablement strategy.

What is sales enablement?

Sales enablement refers to equipping a sales team with all the tools, skills, and information that is needed to successfully engage with buyers and make more sales.

In other words, you’re making sure that your sales reps stay productive and sell effectively.

Therefore, a sales enablement strategy will include efforts on your part to provide your sales team with the requisite information to do what they do best.

Firstly, your sales team must have access to the content that you are offering to potential customers. Secondly, all salespeople must be trained by industry best practices and the latest techniques, and be equipped with the tools to maximize fruitful interactions with customers.

How to create the best sales enablement strategy for your business

Now that you’re familiar with what sales enablement is, let’s take a look at how you can create the best sales enablement strategy. 👇

Focus on efficient collection of deals, accounts, and contact information

According to one study, sales reps spend less than 36% of their time actually selling your products or services.

The time lost in terms of keeping track of contact information, past correspondence, campaign details, and so on can be made up for by simply developing a solution to store all relevant information in one place that is easily accessible by your sales team.

That’s why many businesses opt for full-fledged sales platforms or CRM software that are accessible by their sales team on the go.

These software are capable of maintaining records and customer details and allow reps to access the stored information anytime and anywhere. This is a perfect example of how technology can be used to maximize efficiency in terms of time and money saved.

Develop a 100-day plan

Whether you’re working on a brand new sales enablement strategy or reworking an existing strategy, it is highly recommended that you start off with a detailed plan.

A 100-day plan ideally would involve gaining a better understanding of your current sales enablement process, your expectations, and finally incorporating new and updated techniques in line with these expectations.

This systematic approach ensures that all your bases are covered before you commit to a particular sales approach. It also ensures that a strong foundation of your sales enablement strategy and stays in line with the values and goals of your organization.

Communication and feedback is key

When there is improved communication between the sales and marketing teams, there is an alignment of goals. This can lead to businesses improving their deal-closing capabilities by up to 67%.

Constant collaboration between the marketing and sales team is essential in order to come up with an all-encompassing and efficient sales enablement strategy.

This cross-functional collaboration not only allows the marketing team to understand how upcoming marketing campaigns can be customized, but also helps sales personnel alter and improve their techniques in line with what the marketing team is trying to achieve with its campaigns.

Additionally, a sales enablement strategy must be subject to constant scrutiny and review in order to make the necessary changes that will further accelerate success in sales. This would not be possible if communication between the marketing and sales divisions is weak.

Build the right tech stack

In today’s digital world, technology is indispensable and this applies to your sales enablement strategy as well.

Therefore, you must focus on building the right tech stack that contains all the technological tools like email marketing software and CRM tools that your sales team will need to improve conversion rates and drive sales.

Sales automation tools cannot be overlooked and should ideally be a part of your tech stack since they facilitate levels of efficiency that were previously unimaginable. With the right automation tools, your sales team will also have access to real-time statistics and reporting which will help them alter their approaches to achieve better results.

Note that for a fully seamless and efficient experience, your tech stack must be optimized across all levels of the organization. For example, the load balancer that your DevOps team just added to your tech stack should be enabled to handle internal traffic as well.

And every tool you use along the customer journey has its function. For instance, the best landing page builders allow you to A/B test your messaging and pre-fill forms to increase downloads or signups which, in turn, can be nurtured into your most valuable prospects without distraction.

Stay in touch with the best sales enablement practices

Although there is no single way to develop a successful sales enablement process, keeping in tune with the industry’s leading sales enablement practices and employing the skills of sales enablement experts will help you come up with a foolproof plan to fulfill your sales goals.

While inculcating creativity and novelty in a sales enablement strategy is capable of producing brilliant results for your business, it is highly recommended that your strategy also takes into consideration the best techniques and approaches that experts swear by.

Some examples include sales automation, customer service models, and the development of convincing and high-quality sales content.

Employ the best sales team you can

No sales enablement strategy is complete without the production of high-quality content in the form of brochures, booklets, blog posts, and more.

These content are important tools that allow reps to better pitch your products or services to potential customers by letting the content do the talking. While there are plenty of options to choose from, always keep in mind the ‘What’s In It For Me (WIIFM)’ term for your potential customers and decide what types of content are best designed to boost your conversion rates.

For example, a product with several competitors might sell better with the help of comparison charts and customer testimonials whereas a unique and novel product would benefit more from the use of informative graphics that showcase its features.

The use of high-quality content makes an excellent first impression and also develops a sense of trust in the organization as compared to a sales pitch that lacks the use of any content whatsoever.

Produce high-quality, accessible content

Besides the above-discussed pointers, here are a few tips for selling your VoIP services to maximize your profits:

Understanding your market and paying close attention to your competitors
Constantly striving to improve the quality of your VoIP
Automating repetitive tasks for your sales teams like data entry and allocation so they can better focus on lead generation
Staying connected with your audience
Providing high-quality customer care services
Including social proof of your software

Focus on training and development

Sales enablement is not a one-time project, but an ongoing process that involves the constant up-gradation and improvement of sales techniques.

This means that you will have to constantly integrate new techniques into your sales enablement strategy by conducting regular training sessions for your sales team.

The drawbacks of irregular training have been repeatedly explained by experts worldwide. According to one research study, it was seen that without the constant reinforcement of learning, 70% of what was taught was forgotten within 24 hours of the training session.

The good news is that there are several ways in which you can streamline your training and make it more effective.

For example, having regular and frequent training sessions and a shared library that allows easy access to training resources are indispensable parts of any sales enablement strategy.

Conclusion

Having a solid sales enablement strategy is one of the many ways in which you can improve sales productivity and stay on top of your organizational objectives.

By keeping in mind the aforementioned pointers, you will be able to develop a strategy for sales enablement that is inclusive, flexible, and focused on delivering the best possible results for both you as well as your customers.