Why You Should Watch Out for Sales Enablement?
Companies are increasingly understanding the importance of implementing marketing and sales technologies to their functions in order to increase efficiencies and drive growth. Sales enablement is one function that has received increasing acceptance across firms to help sales teams do their jobs better. As a huge chunk of marketing and sales budgets can go into replacing B2B sales representatives, and several months are spent in training new recruits, companies are instead increasingly looking to invest in technology solutions for these teams. However, the extent of adoption differs from one company to another. Companies are generally classified into two sets when it comes to sales enablement. The first set of companies which have made significant and mature investments in the sales enablement function have already experimented with several kinds of solutions. These firms will now look to consolidate their existing basket of tools. In companies where sales enablement is in full swing, it is likely that mature investments have already been made in ramping up the sales and marketing IT infrastructure. Their existing technology bouquet would likely boast of a CRM solution, a marketing automation system, and tools well-suited to their business. These companies also would have senior executives focused on Business Intelligence, Big Data, and Analytics. On the other hand, organizations which have recently come to realize the importance of CRM are yet to entirely expose themselves to sales enablement and sales transformation. They are now focusing on broadening their understanding of the CRM ecosystem, including more tools and obtaining SaaS solutions to enhance their existing marketing and sales technologies. Companies with nascent investments in sales and marketing technologies are likely to spend more time on strategizing. Their primary objective is zeroing in on a solution that helps the sales team save time. The solutions they adopt generally include CPQ, content delivery, proposal automation, and mobile applications, among others. They are generally on the lookout for a scalable platform which can help them with strong analytics. Either situation calls for heavy contribution from an investment into Big Data. According to Aberdeen Group, more than half of the best-in-class firms find it useful to implement analytics to sales data such as past activity and current pipeline. While the general trend points towards an increase in marketing budgets over the next few years, with the sheer range of tools available, the C-suite is expected to be pickier while expanding their technology bouquet. CMOs and CIOs will strive to obtain a more holistic view of the various stages of the project lifecycle, from generating leads to closures. The coming years will only heighten the importance of a more closely-knit relationship between sales and marketing teams, as companies look to consolidate their investments, especially related to SaaS. Having said that, despite the selective investments surrounding SaaS, companies will be willing to make valuable additions to their technology systems. The coming times can be challenging for those who companies who do not fall into either category. The key is to open up to the idea that initial and additional investments in SaaS will be a given, but will prove to be valuable in the long term if they are aligned with the company’s plans and objectives. Explore the complete guide to Cross-selling and Up-selling to identify unexplored opportunities for your business as well as your clients’ business and grow better in 2021.
What is Sales Mastery? Is it the same as Sales Enablement?
Sales Mastery vs Sales Enablement What is Sales Mastery? Sales Mastery is more often than not construed as ‘building a good relationship’. Period. Nothing can be further from the truth. A good sales job is not just about building a good relationship with the prospect or customer, but about sales mastery. Today, sales is more about value selling than anything else. If you are able to convince the prospect that you have value on offer, he is more likely to bite, read buy. Buying, after all, is all about selling value. Sales mastery is about 3 things: Being a domain expert Creating perceived and real value for customers Tapping technology to its fullest to build in efficiencies and effectiveness Being a domain expert All of this takes a lot of hard work and burning the midnight oil if you may. Being a domain expert means you are using most of your spare time and non-working hours in catching up on the domain/industry that you are selling to. This is digging into your own time for research and learning. Only if you know more about the domain of your customer, will you be able to speak, persuade, sell with conviction. Conviction and leadership come with knowledge Talk about how you can add value to his business Talk about numbers, because business, whether you like it or not, is about numbers. Tell your prospects what difference you can make to their business numbers, how it will benefit their business, in how much time and what cost. Talk about the risks and how they are managed, talk about case studies – your best case studies of the past and how they benefitted you. Talk technology Technology needs to be leveraged in order to maximize its potential. In the modern world, data is assuming not just importance but criticality. This data can be used fully to work for sales. The data that is collected can be analyzed to glean a huge amount of valuable information which can go a long way in winning not just sales, but also your customers. Moreover, the customer will know and perhaps appreciate that you have done your homework before you met him. Sales Mastery is about an individual, but sales enablement is about how the organization works to make the individual salesperson work on his sales pitch. It is about using the CRM to work with the marketing team in lead nurturing. It is about a lot of things that we will see below in short. What is Sales Enablement? Sales enablement is a set of tools, techniques, processes, and technology that ‘enable the salesperson’ and the organization’s sales force to make the most of their sales skill sets and move from being good to being great. It is the stepping in of the organization and the stepping up of the areas which will help take the salesperson on the growth path in the value chain and the buyer derive more value at every sales point. Sales enablement is a support system that stands rock solid behind the sales person to deliver efficiencies and effectiveness with the right framework. This framework is chiefly about the sales methodology, process, and technology. This framework is centered around how, by using these three, your sales team can thrive. More in detail, in our forthcoming blogs.
In Complex B2B Selling, Sales Enablement Makes A Huge Difference.
What are the critical elements of sales enablement? They are the sales procedure or methodology, sales process or execution, and technology deployed for reinforcing the process and methodology. Sales Procedure: This is the overall framework, the combination of the way ahead, a larger roadmap, how to do it and, the decisive actions that need to be taken to ensure we go with the big picture. It covers competition analysis and strategy, risk assessment, relationship mapping with key influencers highlighted, and how you leverage them and position how you will deliver value that is seen as ‘value’ by your buyer. There are various procedures and methodologies available, such as Miller Heiman and TAS, but it is more important how you use the one you select for training the team, than which one you select. Sales Process and Execution: In Sales Enablement, this part is the one that needs a lot of detail. It begins with creating the right sales funnel and ends at the execution of the sale. It is about qualifying leads based on deep discovery, working on the right proposals, demo selling, closing (this is critical and often neglected), getting into a contract, starting work, reviewing, and so on. The process needs the right account planning templates, which are tried and tested and proven, yet are flexible to changes – a tool for qualifying inquiries/leads, questionnaires for discovery, proposal templates, review forms, planning templates, call planning, and scheduling calendars and schedules and account plan templates. Technology: It is the technology platform to be used for automating your planning and delivery, and other parts of the process. It is a combination of the standard inquiry and delivery platform as well as the Key Salesforce Account Planning, which needs more than a CRM. What is of the essence here is a single window, a single platform that enables your sales force including your Key Account Managers to have a bird’s eye view as well as a hawk’s eye on the normal and critical movements in the accounts. A platform that is more than a CRM is essential, one which helps you map the relationships along with the pipeline and forecasting that a CRM affords. Sales transformation and Sales enablement are about having a tech platform that places the customer at the center of all your sales and account management efforts, procedures, practices, and delivery. To mastermind all of this, an organization cannot forget good sales management and sales leadership. Explore our blog on cross-selling and up-selling in which we’ve elaborated how it can be used to grow business in 2021.
How to Effectively Drive Prospect Engagement
You may have a strategy to make a sale, but what about the period after the sale? Keeping clients engaged after a sale is made is equally important as it is the window to future opportunities. Engaging with prospective customers assumes another level of significance as they are half convinced and might need a slight push to bring them on to your side. Driving this engagement demands the creation of a winning strategy that requires careful planning and execution. Here are a few tips that can help you drive engagement and help nurture your leads: Form a bond It always helps to form a bond with prospective customers to get an insight into their thinking. Be transparent about the information prospects seek, as they will then find it easy to establish faith and confidence in your business. Try and thoroughly understand their needs and expectations. Then highlight the features of your product or service and tell them how it will be beneficial in solving their problem. Once you have made them comfortable and familiar with your business, making the sale will be relatively easy. Think long term Making a sale is not considered a short-term goal anymore. It extends beyond forming a long-term relationship where clients look to you for effective and quick after-sales services. By showing that you care even about a sale is made, clients will likely return to you for their next requirement or recommend you to their contacts. Nurturing leads should thus be a top priority in your strategy that should not be compromised at any cost. Get the questions right Asking the right questions will not only help you devise a successful strategy but also go to show your prospects that you have done your homework and are serious about your offerings. Garnering details about their budget, objectives, challenges, and goals will help you recommend a well-suited solution for them. That way, you stand a chance to not just meet but exceed expectations. However, avoid questions that make prospects uncomfortable, or make them question your credibility and capabilities. Avoid language that sounds manipulative or high-handed. Devise a successful strategy You need to keep your prospects engaged at all costs. This can be achieved by devising a sales effectiveness strategy that focuses on establishing credibility, showcasing thought leadership traits, and displaying where you score over competitors. However, it is important to avoid sounding pompous. Highlight how a client stands to gain from your products and services and back it up with some case studies or testimonials of satisfied clients. Also, always show your prospects that you are open to feedback at any stage. Ensure that communication lines are always open and that emails and queries through other channels are addressed at the earliest. In account-based selling such as this, making the sale is does not complete the job. Keeping engagement alive with clients and even with prospective clients, as they demonstrate the intent of positive action in the future becomes essential. Always remember to nurture the lead as this helps form a lasting bond that could translate to bigger rewards in the future.
A Look at Sales Enablement Trends of 2015
Organizations are rapidly becoming aware of the importance of adopting marketing and sales technologies in giving a fillip to their sales growth. Sales enablement is a function that companies are warming up to in order to aid sales teams in their jobs. Backing this is data from B2B research and advisory firm Sirius Decisions which signals a 63 percent jump in spending in sales enablement. So what are the trends governing this space? Social media to display content Social media has become an integral and indispensable channel of communication for businesses today. With buyers and prospects connected 24/7 to social media platforms through mobiles, tablets, and computers, the reach of social media is unimaginable. Whether it is research for a new purchase or reviews on their latest one, people take to social media channels. This avenue can be a powerful tool for sales reps and marketers too. According to Forbes, 78 percent of salespeople who made use of social media reportedly outsold their peers. Thus, marketing teams, when they develop content, should not just limit it to sharing via direct channels. They must utilize the plethora of tools available to make that content reach potential clients who are seeking information, finding answers to their problems, or looking for a switch from a product or service. Companies will thus gain visibility in the minds of audiences and sales reps will be viewed as authorities in the space. Strategically targeting data Only having data and not analyzing it is the waste of a valuable resource. Similarly, companies may have the best of content which can connect with the audience, but it needs to gain visibility to establish a connect with the audience. Content needs to be strategically targeted to the audience, so as to maintain credibility. This eases the transition of an individual from being only a prospect to being a buyer. Survey results of B2B buyers by Forrester showed that 70 percent of the content buyers indulged in prior to a decision was through self-discovery. Strategic targeting of suitable content by the sales teams is thus the need of the hour. Automation is key A 2014 study by CSO Insights on sales performance optimization highlighted that in a day in the life of a salesperson, only 37 percent of the time was spent on actually selling. The rest of the time went in administrative and account management duties. However, the increasing number of sales enablement tools available today can automate the sales process and free up sales for their core task of selling. These sales intelligence tools provide valuable and actionable insights and make the data they hold extremely accessible to sales reps. To get the most out of data, sales and marketing teams need to work in tandem. Companies need to make use of sales transformation and sales effectiveness metrics to understand which content is being consumed and shared or merely ignored. There can be knowledge sharing sessions held where sales teams identify and highlight loopholes in the content basket based on the feedback obtained from customers, and marketing teams can use the inputs to develop suitable content. Explore the complete guide to Cross-selling and Up-selling to identify unexplored opportunities for your business as well as your clients’ business and grow better in 2021