Findings show surging adoption of genAI, usage of value selling strategies, and consolidation of activity data
Mediafly, the revenue enablement company, today unveiled findings from the 2023 State of Revenue Enablement study, that surfaced behavioral and technological insights, trends, and best practices from large, global revenue teams.
The study conducted by Mary Shea, former Principal Analyst at Forrester and long-time tech visionary, found significant differences separating high-performing revenue organizations from their lower-performing peers. These include the pace at which they are experimenting with generative AI, adoption of value-selling methodologies, automation of CRM data collection, and optimization of content. Additionally, high performers have made more aggressive shifts away from traditional sales enablement to full revenue team empowerment.
“Our research underscores the profound impact of changes currently reshaping the business landscape. With Millennials and Gen Z comprising over 60% of the workforce, the permanence of remote work, and the emergence of generative AI, organizations face a pivotal choice: adapt and thrive, or risk obsolescence,” said Shea, co-CEO at Mediafly. “Traditional sales enablement, initially designed for direct sales, falls short in today’s dynamic environment. The evolution to revenue enablement represents a comprehensive transformation, empowering all revenue roles and harnessing data from all pertinent systems. This holistic approach spans content engagement, data-driven insights, sales analysis, value-based selling, and skill enhancement. The time to embrace this transformation is now.”
The State of Revenue Enablement survey was fielded from revenue leaders at B2B and B2B2C enterprise organizations with over 1,000 employees and more than $500 million in revenue. It assesses the complex go-to-market challenges large enterprises face in reliably supporting tens of thousands of sellers, large volumes of transactions and data, consistency across various systems, and more.
Key Findings include:
- Skyrocketing Content Influence: As buyers spend less time with vendors, content is doing the selling when sellers aren’t in the room. High-performing organizations are 37% more likely to track the impact of sales content using data and insights compared to low-performers.
- CRM Accuracy Matters: High-performing organizations understand the critical importance of CRM data accuracy. They are 20% more likely to depend on CRM data that is automatically collected and uploaded, easing the burden on sellers.
- Unlocking Data Intelligence: Surprisingly, only 44% of organizations leverage data-driven processes for understanding pipeline health and forecasts. This indicates untapped potential for improving data intelligence practices.
- Embracing Value-Selling: High-performing organizations prioritize value-selling methodologies, with 19% more likely to have integrated these approaches into their strategies. Additionally, they are 38% more inclined to use business value assessments in their sales cycles.
- Seeking a Single Source of Truth: A substantial 70% of respondents expressed a strong preference for vendors offering a single source of truth for revenue data, noting the growing importance of data consistency and reliability.
- Pioneering GenAI: The adoption of GenAI is on the rise, with 59% of revenue teams either currently using or experimenting with this technology. High-performing organizations lead the way, being 44% more likely to embrace GenAI solutions.
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Navigating Content Management Hurdles: Key Challenges Revealed
The report also highlights persistent challenges large organizations face with content management. Their concerns include: 1) the excessive time spent by sellers on content creation and personalization; 2) outdated sales content; and 3) the difficulty in governing content to ensure alignment with brand and regulatory requirements.
Additionally, organizations struggle with gaining the necessary insights to determine the most effective content and its optimal timing, and there is a common issue of sellers sending content that deviates from the established brand guidelines.
These findings underscore the importance of effectively managing content organization, access, and distribution strategies across divisions, teams, regions, and business units — as well as the personalization, governance, communication, training, and optimization that goes with it.