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New Rules of Sales Enablement: And Why They Matter

Posted by Matt Bertuzzi on Thu, May 14, 2009 @ 06:45 AM
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We need to rethink sales enablement as something other than a one-way deposit of sales tools in a portal.

This point was really driven home for me in the ebook: The New Rules of Sales Enablement (from Jeff Ernst, Kadient's VP of Marketing).

It's not often I finish a 34-page ebook in one sitting, but I did last night and you should too.

Jeff takes an old rules v. new rules approach in laying out his case: We need to shift our mindsets in a major way if our goal is to truly enable sales success.

Here are 2 takeaways I would like to highlight:

It's not about posting more collateral to a sales portal
Sales Reps will tweak, bend & sometimes break "corporate" sales tools in the search for something that works. They are much more likely to go back through their laptop for a "proven" tool than to download the "latest, greatest & approved" copy.

Given the choice, which would you honestly chose?

A) Using what has/is working for another Rep
B) Using what's new from "corporate"

To truly enable sales, the organization needs to discover "the messages and strategies that are resonating with buyers".

"Sales enablement is about ensuring salespeople are able to have valuable conversations that help buyers advance through their buying process."


It's not about burdening reps with complex reporting requirements
Believe me, I get it - you need complete & accurate data for forecasting, deal tracking, etc. But we have to face facts - Sales Reps hate to fill in fields, period.

It's not hard to see why. Much of CRM is built for Sales Leaders to track not for Sales Reps to learn, adjust & benefit. In short, we are asking them to put data in, but not delivering value back out to them.

Jeff's solution: "Don't take from Sales, give to them." If we want our Reps to use the tools (without having to beat them with a stick) "give them content and insights that helps them to be more successful in the field".

I highly recommend you take a moment and download the ebook now. Print it out, bring it along for on-plane reading, mark it up, but most importantly really think about how what these new rules mean for your team & your organization.

I know I certainly am.

Please share, what do you think about Jeff's New Rules?

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COMMENTS

Jeff - nice ebook! There is a ton of great advice packed into those pages (are you sure you wrote it in just one night?). I like the visuals as well - makes it easy to move fast through the document and still get the point. 
 
Having worked in both Sales (as a Sales Engineer) and in Marketing (as a Product Marketer) I definitely felt the pain of what you describe above. One solution I found very useful was to have product marketers that collaborated directly with sales (particularly sales engineers, if you have them) to develop their materials. As you mention in the ebook, getting direct input from the field is critical to be sure you create materials that are useful for selling. Marketing's ability to create materials that are timely and accurate (but also professional) depends on that communication with the field. Working in iterations helps, and involving sales in the editing process is critical. But because they are often so busy, I like to send them just a portion of the material as I am working on it - perhaps just a paragraph, image or short outline and ask "Could you use this in one of your current deals?". 
Of course, all this requires good credibility with the sales group, which can be a tough thing for many in marketing. 
Dave 
www.techdemoguy.com

posted @ Thursday, May 14, 2009 4:29 PM by Dave Sohigian

Matt, thanks for the post with your support for the New Rules. 
 
 
 
Dave, sounds like you've been on both sides of the sales enablement battle as well. I like your point about iterations. I find that the best buy-in from sales comes when some of the messages that they've discovered to be successful in the field are incorporated into the support tools we put in their hands. So to build on your point, give them some material to use in a current deal, work with them to see what impact it had and how they adapted it, and pull those that worked into the tools you roll out to all reps.

posted @ Monday, June 01, 2009 5:59 PM by Jeff Ernst

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