As we reflect on the year’s B2B commercial trends, sales enablement stands out in terms of its sheer growth. Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, many companies invoked the sales enablement value-add as they rushed to fortify their bottom line.
In fact, according to a MarketsandMarkets report, the sales enablement industry has grown to $2.6bn in the last five years. Increasing demand for sales excellence in small to medium as well as large enterprises has contributed to such growth. Sales enablement has also been instrumental in driving more productive workflows for sales teams, helping them to capitalize on the value of automation. And let’s not forget that it’s been one of the only sectors that has easily adopted – and maintained – hybrid and remote working cultures.
Efficiency Boost
Sales enablement tech amps up efficiency in the sales process by streamlining content management, sales training and analytics. This tech essentially serves as a super-efficient personal assistant, coach and number cruncher for sales teams.
It is also a game-changer for content management in fast paced sales environments. Sales reps no longer need to sift through a digital haystack of marketing and sales content to find that one golden nugget of information that addresses a specific buyer question. With AI built into Showpad’s sales enablement proposition, teams can swiftly access the right materials they need, be it presentations, product information, or customer success stories. This means they can get clued in faster and, most importantly, focus on what they do best: selling. This time boost also means they can focus on nurturing buyer relationships and show up as a trusted advisor in the customer journey.
Training and coaching also become more efficient with the right sales enablement partner. Showpad’s Coach offering, for example, provides easy-to-access resources and training modules that help reps get up to speed, fast. This is especially helpful for new, more complex product and service offerings that require in-depth training in order to sell effectively. In addition, the detailed analytics from sales enablement provide valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t for sales pitches. This allows sales teams to continuously refine their strategies and concentrate on what resonates most with their buyers.
Sales enablement tech also creates a powerful intersection between content and coaching. Sales managers can harness the power of sales enablement to onboard new sales reps and coach them at scale, ensuring they are ready for the field. Sales managers are also able to build and deliver scalable, repeatable onboarding programs with unified content and coaching to fill skills gaps, enabling their teams to ramp quickly. Essentially, sales enablement tools unleash the potential of every seller, making sure they bring their A-game to every buyer interaction.
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Data-driven Insights
With data-driven insights powered by AI, sales teams are able to look at the customer journey in a whole new light. AI provides sales reps with a key understanding of what buyers want and how they want it delivered. Sales enablement tools can track every interaction between sellers and potential buyers, providing granular data on the types of content buyers are interacting with and whether it is opportune time for the seller to reengage after the initial sales meeting.
With this intel in hand, sales teams can wave goodbye to the days of making half-baked guesses or taking shots in the dark, and instead show up to every sales opportunity armed with the precise information and background needed. By analyzing the data, sellers can craft smarter strategies that resonate with their target audience. AI-powered sales enablement tools take this data analysis to the next level, using machine learning algorithms to spot patterns and trends that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. Leveraging sales enablement capabilities and powering them with data insights and AI is tantamount to having access to a data scientist who is continuously optimizing the sales process. In a world where knowledge is power, sales enablement tech gives sellers the keys to the driver’s seat, turning sales strategies into a well-oiled, data-driven machine.
The Hybrid-Remote Workforce
In this era of hybrid and remote-first work, sales enablement technology has become the unsung hero of sales teams everywhere. As traditional office environments disappeared – especially in tech – sales reps had to adapt to a virtual world that shows little sign of waning. Thankfully, sales enablement tools equip reps with everything they need to thrive in this digital landscape.
Sales enablement tech empowers reps to sell effectively in a virtual environment where the age-old sales tactics no longer cut through. It provides them with the tools to communicate, collaborate, and close deals with clients and prospects – no matter where they are in the world. From virtual presentations and online demos, to digital content sharing, these tools streamline the entire sales process in the digital realm. And the best part? They do it all at lightning speed, helping sales teams close deals faster than ever before. Sales enablement tech is the secret that many organizations have been leveraging for years to keep deals rolling in, transcending time zones, locations and distances to great effect.
Ultimately, the rules of engagement between buyers and sellers have changed. How we sell today needs to evolve to meet our buyer-centric terms. Sales enablement platforms continue to be critical in the seller armory – guiding them throughout the buyer journey and catalyzing more deal closures. The sales enablement market will only continue to grow with new players leveraging emerging technologies that will disrupt the market and force industry laggards to innovate. We’re certainly at an inflection point of growth and innovation in sales enablement, and we are excited to spearhead the sector further in the coming months and years.
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