In celebration of our recent acquisition of sales enablement provider iPresent Ltd., our fearless leader Carson Conant is taking over the blog for a three-week series on the importance of sales enablement, the misconceptions you shouldn’t buy into, and the reasons we at Mediafly believe in making sales enablement accessible for all sales teams, regardless of size, maturity or geography.
Showpad recently began a blog post by writing, “Kicking off an enterprise sales enablement program takes significant time and effort…”[1]
I’m writing today to tell you it doesn’t.
While interest in sales enablement is growing rapidly (Google searches for “sales enablement” are up 51% year-on-year), the percentage of companies who have actually deployed a sales enablement platform hovers at less than 8% (CSO Insights). And this common misconception is the reason.
Despite the many proven benefits of deploying a sales enablement platform (increased revenue, accelerated deal cycles, and more repeat business to name a few), the majority of companies still find themselves unable to shake the idea that sales enablement technology is complex, expensive, and risky. But this perception is a long way from reality.
Forget what you’ve heard, Sales Enablement doesn’t have to be hard
Believe it or not, sales enablement doesn’t have to be a colossal undertaking. You don’t have to spend months or years getting your sales enablement technology initiative off the ground or spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to see the kind of return on investment all of those sales enablement reports floating around the internet promise. You can ease into sales enablement. You can test the water and begin to realize ROI before you make your business case for the prioritization of future sales enablement initiatives. And you can easily get started with sales enablement today (seriously).
Here’s how:
1) Take sales enablement at your own pace.
Every business is unique, and sales enablement needs will undoubtedly vary from company to company based on a wide variety of factors. But that doesn’t mean a 10-person sales team shouldn’t have the same accessibility to Enterprise-grade technology as a 50,000 person sales team.
At Mediafly, we believe in sales enablement for all. That’s why we acquired iPresent – to help companies in any phase of their sales enablement journey transform the way they sell for improved buyer engagement and increased revenue. It doesn’t matter if you’re a 10-person sales team at the onset of your sales transformation or looking to level up your existing sales enablement technology for a sales force of thousands, we can meet you where you are and help you achieve the outcomes you’re seeking. Smaller teams with limited resources can take advantage of affordable, easy-to-use Enterprise-grade sales tools with a monthly credit card subscription and large, digitally-minded Enterprises can work with Mediafly to develop custom applications that help them achieve very specific business goals.
Small, incremental changes can have a big impact. Don’t wait to begin your sales enablement journey. Find a provider who can affordably meet your needs today and scale your solution with advanced functionality should your business grow or needs evolve.
2) Select the right sales enablement platform.
Many of the SaaS sales enablement platforms on the market today are taking a quantity over quality approach to their technology. The more features they can say they have, the more boxes they’ll check on an RFP. So they build or acquire capabilities that may not necessarily align with your business goals and they charge a premium for them.
Ensure the sales enablement technology you select will help you achieve your unique business goals. There is no one-size-fits-all sales enablement journey. Don’t fall prey to an expensive, Enterprise solution you know you’ll never get over the finish line because it has all the bells and whistles (most of which you probably won’t use). The unnecessary bells and whistles are what make sales enablement feel so complex and intimidating.
Instead, identify your business challenges and find the solution that will work best to help you remediate those specific challenges. Ask the provider about their strategic roadmap to better understand how they plan to grow their platform and ensure you’ll have the flexibility you need to scale your solution in line with your business over time.
3) Track sales and marketing metrics that matter for quantifiable ROI.
Many sales enablement providers stress the importance of using a sales enablement platform to increase sales efficiency. Don’t mistake vanity metrics (e.g. content shares or downloads) for progress. A sales enablement platform will increase sales efficiency by default, yes. Having one unified sales application to manage, update and distribute sales content is definitely a time saver. But to maximize the ROI of your sales enablement technology, it should also help you increase sales effectiveness – meaning it should improve your sellers’ performance in live sales engagements.
Find a sales enablement platform that can help you quantify tangible ROI right from the start. Understanding if content is used by sellers is great, but understanding how content is consumed by buyers is invaluable. Does it resonate? Does it drive sales conversations forward? Can you tie specific sales content back to revenue? You can start with even the most basic sales enablement functionality and prove the solution is worth the investment if you track the right metrics. Doing so can help you build a business case for advanced functionality and is your best bet for getting your key stakeholders to buy-in to and support your sales enablement investment for years to come.
Still think sales enablement technology has to be challenging? Think again. Sales enablement is a journey – enjoy it! You don’t have to address every sales challenge out there right from the start. Find a provider and platform that can help you address your own priorities now and scale with your business should you need more advanced functionality in the future (you know, when you already have proof that sales enablement is a very, very good idea).
Ready to take the leap? Contact us to get started building your sales application in hours – not weeks, months or years.
[1] How to Overcome the Enterprise Sales Challenge: Measuring Success; Showpad
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