SALES ENABLEMENT

BEST PRACTICES GUIDE

 SALES ENABLEMENT Best Practices Guide

Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3

What Is Sales Enablement? 5

What’s Driving The Need For Sales Enablement? 6

Sales Enablement & the MMO 7

Benefits of Sales Enablement 8

Sales Enablement Landscape 10

Sales Enablement Deployment 14

Organizational Impact 22

Sales Enablement in Action 28

Analyst Bottom Line 40

Action Plan 41

About Demand Metric 52

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SALES ENABLEMENT BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 3

Executive Summary
Sales Enablement has become one of the most critical arenas for success The first step in Sales Enablement is to make sure the marketing and
for Modern Marketing and Sales organizations. sales functions are properly organized for success. Success for Sales
Enablement is built around one basic tenet – Alignment. Here we look
This functionality has moved from the IT department, with its focus
at World-Class Sales and Marketing Alignment in five key areas:
on the centralization and distribution of sales centric data, across the
entire company to impact the success of all key departments from the Marketing & Sales Operations Alignment
executive suite to the Big Data analysts. Roles and Responsibilities
Process Alignment
Sales Enablement has fundamentally redefined the way Marketing and
Sales teams do their jobs. Content Alignment
Technology, Systems & Platform Alignment
In this Best Practices Report on Sales Enablement, we will cover Sales
Enablement from strategies, processes and trends through the primary In our Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, 37% of participants said
vendor solutions in six distinct categories to enable you to create an that Sales had responsibility for Sales Enablement, 28% said Marketing
effective Sales Enablement function for your organization. was responsible and 7% named Operations as the driver for Sales
Enablement.
Here are some of the highlights:
Our research shows that larger companies, who view Sales Enable-
Our research, benchmark studies, methodologies and tools have
ment strategically rather than operationally, are getting more bene-
consistently shown that Sales Enablement has a very significant and
fits from their use of Sales Enablement.
positive impact on the organizations that are employing it, when they
do so by following best practices and processes. Our Demand Metric Sales Enablement Framework shows the impact of
Sales Enablement on six key areas of the organization (roles, responsi-
Both internal company and external market/competitive forces are
bilities, processes, technology, content & metrics).
driving the need for Sales Enablement within Mid-sized Enterprises.
We have identified ten factors as the most notable trends creating the
willingness to engage in Sales Enablement.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SALES ENABLEMENT BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 4

Our Solutions section covers the Sales Enablement systems and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – These solutions
applications from six solution categories to help your team choose provide the foundation for sales performance and have expanded,
the right vendors and applications for your needs: through vendor acquisition and feature enhancements, to integrate
much of the core functionality for full-scale Sales Enablement within
Enablement Knowledge Management (KM) – These solutions
Sales Operations.
create and distribute the knowledgebase Sales needs to confi-
dently present company products/services. Marketing Automation (MA) – These solutions provide the founda-
tion for marketing performance, which also have expanded through
Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) – These solutions enable Sales to
acquisition and feature enhancements, to include much of the
custom configure product solutions from large inventories, price
core functionality for full-scale Sales Enablement within Marketing
configurations for profit and streamline the proposal process.
Operations.
Sales Intelligence – These solutions enable Marketing and Sales
to monitor, measure and predict customer engagement and sales Demand Metric’s key recommendation from this report is that Sales
performance. Enablement can make a significant and positive impact on the orga-
Communications Solutions – These solutions have evolved from nizations that are employing it, when they do so by following best
audio conferencing tools into solutions that offer comprehensive practices and processes.
audio, web and webinar platforms to support activities from sales
We offer this report to support your organization in making your Sales
meetings to full scale 3D virtual tradeshows.
Enablement function the best that it can be.

You can begin your Sales Enablement initiative by reviewing the

best practices and practical tools/templates in Demand Metric’s VIEW RESOURCE
Sales Enablement Playbook.
WHAT IS SALES ENABLEMENT? SALES ENABLEMENT BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 5

What Is Sales Enablement?

Demand Metric defines Sales Enablement as:

The processes, practices, technologies and

tools that improve the performance and produc-
tivity of the Sales organization. Sales Enable-
ment enhances the ability of the Sales team to
increase company revenue through Sales.

Sales Enablement is a new and emerging function within most organiza-

tions today.

As such, like all emerging arenas, the definition of Sales Enablement often Bottom-line
shifts depending on the perspective of the company, user and implemen-
Sales Enablement drives revenue by directly
tation. Still, a foundational definition of Sales Enablement is clear.
impacting a sales team’s ability to close more deals.

Determine your organization’s readiness for a Sales Enablement

VIEW RESOURCE
initiative with our Sales Enablement Readiness Assessment.
WHAT’S DRIVING THE NEED FOR SALES ENABLEMENT? SALES ENABLEMENT BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 6

What’s Driving The Need For Sales Enablement?

Both internal and external forces are driving the need for Sales Enable-
ment. We have identified ten factors as the most notable trends creating
broad interest in a Sales Enablement initiative:

1 Driving Revenue and Company/Sales Performance – This can 6 Buying & Customer Decision Process Changes – Customers
be seen in companies that have experienced flat or declining now do 50-60% of their buying research before speaking with a
sales and companies that set aggressive new sales targets. sales rep. SE applications can help companies target content to
the buyer’s direct needs, increasing close rates.
2 Doing More with Less – Marketing is taking on more responsi-
bility for lead qualification & revenue responsibility. Sales Enable- 7 Increasing Competitive Pressure – Sales Enablement enables
ment can help Marketing meet that challenge. sales reps to position their products against the competition with
higher quality, customized content, demos, quotes, etc.
3 Declining Sales or Growth Curve Plateau – SE can increase
sales productivity by reducing prospecting time and decreasing 8 Escalating Market Speed/Changes – Sales Enablement reduces
the sales cycle. the conflict between Marketing and Sales, which reduces the lag
time between marketing efforts and a sales close.
4 Expanding an Organization Rapidly – SE makes Sales more agile
as lead generation/nurturing falling to Marketing. 9 Introducing New Products/Services – This introduction may
create a new customer or market opportunity. SE speeds sales
5 Growing a Sales Team – Sales Enablement can cut the on-boarding training on new products/services/markets and getting new prod-
process for new sales reps. ucts/services in the field faster.

10 Supporting Push from Corporate/Executive Teams – Execu-

tive support for alignment/integration drives the SE initiative and
provides critical resources in staffing and budgets.
SALES ENABLEMENT & THE MMO SALES ENABLEMENT BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 7

Sales Enablement & the MMO

Sales Enablement became a major focus for vendors, analysts and This often happens when companies are in a growth spurt with hiring
the technology industry around 2008. It was driven by global Enter- and revenue. Speed sacrifices process and coordination; and systems
prises that were struggling with ways to improve sales productivity and can breakdown.
performance while cutting costs to address the challenges of the Great
It’s important to address this challenge as quickly as possible and a Sales
Recession.
Enablement initiative can help. Several other factors that trigger the
While these same challenges were, and are, being faced by Mid-sized need for Sales Enablement within the Mid-sized Enterprise, as noted
Enterprises, the tools and technologies that fit the budget and organi- previously in the Key Drivers section of this report.
zational size of Mid-sized Enterprises were not always readily available.
These factors are especially important for organizations that have not
Today, they are.
yet begun the process of evaluating Sales Enablement.
Mid-sized Enterprises can now take full advantage of Sales Enable-
ment processes and solutions and reap the benefits.

Our research has shown that Sales Enablement becomes a critical

factor in companies that have at least three or more dedicated sales
people and where product/service sales cycles are typically three
months or more.

Sales Enablement is equally, if not more critical, for Mid-sized Enterprises

in which Marketing and Sales are disconnected, silo’ed and/or working
at cross purposes.
BENEFITS OF SALES ENABLEMENT SALES ENABLEMENT BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 8

Benefits of Sales Enablement

As mentioned previously, our research, benchmark studies, methodologies
and tools have consistently shown that Sales Enablement has a very
significant and positive impact on the organizations that are employing it,
when they do so by following best practices and processes.

In our Sales Enablement benchmark study, 33% of the respondents said

Sales Enablement had a significant positive effect on their organization.
The primary benefits of Sales Enablement include:

1 Improvement of Sales Team Performance and Productivity so 2 Alignment of Marketing, Sales and Operations so all teams are
that they are better equipped to: working together to reach the same revenue targets. SE:

Understand Buyer Needs – including industry trends, common Offers increased demand and lead generation opportunities
business problems and competitors to build a reliable lead pipeline.
Sell New Products – quickly learn about new products. Supports lead nurturing (Marketing) to reduce sales cycles by
Deal with Objections – learn common objections and answers producing high quality, closeable leads for Sales.
that will change customer thinking on a topic. Reduces or eliminates “non-sales” work by Sales teams,
Pitch with Confidence – having the knowledge and tools they including administrative work, research and service calls.
need inspires sales rep confidence. Breaks down the traditional barriers between teams.
Produce Faster – new reps start producing in less time.
BENEFITS OF SALES ENABLEMENT SALES ENABLEMENT BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 9

3 Creation of Processes/Practices that Streamline the Flow of

Information in order to produce more revenue. SE:

Identifies cross-selling opportunities.

Performs analysis to understand the sales process.
Develops strategies that help the sales process.
Creates materials & assets to improve sales team’s
effectiveness.

4 Equipping your Customer’s Internal Buyer Champions to:

Help buyers see the solution to their problems using your

company’s products/services.
Frame the evaluation criteria so that the competitors are at a
disadvantage.
Justify the purchase and sell within his/her organization.
Use content that buyers can easily utilize to internally sell
your solution for you.

5 Gaining Market Share for New Products/Services More Quickly.

SALES ENABLEMENT LANDSCAPE SALES ENABLEMENT BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 10

Sales Enablement Landscape

History
While many marketers have become familiar with SE in the last five years, 1998 saw the first use of the term Sales Enablement in the commer-
technology supporting SE functions has a long history in large organizations. cial market and the first formal market promotion to build awareness of
Sales Enablement in the commercial market.
The timeline (Courtesy of Craig Nelson, Sales Enablement Group)
begins as early as 1992: In 1998, the scope of SE expanded to include supporting & selling
roles with the focus on scaling organizations, supporting growth
1992 saw the first use of the term Sales Enablement to emphasize a
and organic product development
more holistic approach to sales training and new product launch. From
this beginning, more formal processes focused on improving sales: A second generation product for Sales Enablement was built for the
private software company using first generation web technology.
The first generation product for Sales Enablement was built on
Lotus Notes to support a private software firm. In Nov. of 1998, the www.salesenablement.com domain was regis-
tered with plans to promote Sales Enablement to the commercial
Key Tool/Technology Leaps: central storage of marketing material
market. These plans involved:
online and unstructured collaboration using the Notes discussion
database feature. Key Tool/Technology Leaps: accessibility via web browser, central
content management and ease of use and connectivity.
Key Challenge: difficulty managing product & content changes.
Key Challenges: difficulty managing content, lack of integration
The focus of this early system was on effectively on-boarding new
and no analytics
sales hires and sharing best practices.
The demonstration of SE for scaling direct & indirect sales teams,
The Notes discussion database was used to collaborate on deals,
which lead to successful U.S. IPO in 1999.
content and win/loss reporting.
This solution was delivered as part of an Intranet.
SALES ENABLEMENT LANDSCAPE SALES ENABLEMENT BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 11

2003 saw the first commercial use of a robust Sales Enablement solu- Today, Sales Enablement solutions are used by countless users in
tion. In 2003, the industry saw the: almost every industry and vertical market.

First SaaS version of Sales Enablement available to the commer-

cial market. 1992: The term Sales Enable-
ment appears as a holistic ap-
The scope of SE expand to include channel sales and customer proach & the first generation
Sales Enablement product 1998: The term Sales Enable-
enablement through portals, using the same SE platform with
(Lotus Notes) is launched ment appears in the commer-
content sharing across all users. cial market with formal mar-
keting promotion, the second
Third Generation software products – iCentera software company generation Sales Enablement
started offering SE Platform for the commercial market built on a product was built for a private
technology company &
multi-tenant SaaS platform. 1999: Successful U.S. IPO www.salesenablement.com
after demonstration of the became a registered domain
Technology, including a “next gen” web application accessible via possible business scalability
web browser with three main technology components – content with Sales Enablement
management, portal creation & management and analytics. 2003: The first SaaS ver-
sion of a Sales Enablement
Delivery was focused on quick time to value with business users platform is released to the
able to manage platform and content. commercial market & third
2008: The term Sales Enable- generation Sales Enable-
Between 2003 and 2008, vendors offered generic marketing and ment becomes widespread ment software products are
& vendors, analysts and the launched
sales productivity products/services that began to rebrand and retool
technology industry becomes
their offerings, specifically around Sales Enablement. focused on Sales Enablement
2018: Sales Enablement is
In 2008, Sales Enablement became a major focus of vendors, analysts prevalent in almost every
and the technology industry and the term Sales Enablement became industry & vertical market
widespread.
SALES ENABLEMENT LANDSCAPE SALES ENABLEMENT BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 12

Key Categories
Too often, Sales Enablement is considered one vast landscape with FIGURE 1: TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE FOR SALES ENABLEMENT
many vendors competing for the same dollars, budgets and customers.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Marketing
Our analysis of the landscape indicates that it is comprised of six CRM Sales Intelligence
Automation
distinct categories.

Two of these categories, Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

and Marketing Automation (MA), create the foundation of the technology
Technology Landscape for Sales Enablement
infrastructure for Sales Enablement as well as represent large market
segments of their own.

The other four categories are Enablement Knowledge Management Enablement

Communications
(KM), Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ), Sales Intelligence and Communica- CPQ Knowledge
Solutions
tions Solutions. Management

Our Technology Landscape for Sales Enablement (Figure 1) illustrates

how these categories are related and integrated.
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