According to new research, only 26% of organizations believe that 90% or more of their reps met the quota in last year’s survey.
The uncertain economic climate of today only makes matters more complicated.
Many revenue leaders seek the best tools and strategies to enable sellers to succeed. Many have also turned to sales enablement.
Mindtickle recently surveyed 500+ sales executives, reps, and other sales-related professionals to see how they approach sales enablement in times of recession.
1. RevOps receive sales enablement reports less than half the time
Executive buy-in is crucial to any initiative’s success. Sales enablement is no exception.
Which company leader is ultimately responsible for sales enablement?
Sales enablement falls most often under the control of the Chief Revenue Officer (29%) and then the head of revenue operations (18%). This reporting structure is logical since sales enablement serves the revenue department.
Sales enablement does not always correlate with sales.
It often does not.
The Chief Financial Officer is responsible for a significant percentage of sales enablement teams, 17%. CFOs are focused on improving financial performance. A growing number of sales enablement departments reporting to them demonstrates the importance of being able to show direct revenue impact (more about that later).
It’s easy to assume that Human Resources would be responsible for sales enablement. Instead, only 2% of organizations claim that sales enablement is in the control of HR.
HR is a critical part of delivering general training. Sellers also require specialized training for their jobs, which enablement teams are uniquely equipped with.
2. You might need to realize how much sales enablement teams coach.
The definition of sales enablement varies from one organization to the next.
However, one thing is sure. The sales enablement team has a lot of work to do.
Sales enablement is responsible for five of the most common activities:
- Ongoing sales training (51%)
- Sales onboarding (47%)
- Sales kickoffs (38%)
- 36%) Creating a coaching culture
- Sales certifications (35%)
Many organizations need to be made aware of the responsibilities of their sales enablement teams.
What is your key to success? Clearly define your sales enablement team’s scope and get support from all stakeholders.
Remember, sales enablement is not for the sake of sales enablement.
Identifying the behaviors and skills a seller must have to succeed in your company is crucial. All sales enablement must be linked to these skills and behaviors.
This way, you can rest assured that your efforts are helping sellers to develop the most critical skills and competencies.
3. Many companies don’t have a clear sales strategy
Assume that sales enablement teams are responsible for enabling the chosen sales method in their company.
It’s true. 72% of respondents who responded to a survey about organizations with a standardized sales method say they are part of enabling it.
However, more than half of respondents (57%) say that their company has yet to establish a sales process or isn’t sure if it has.
What is the secret to success in sales? Sales success is dependent on the sales method you use. Select the proper sales method for your company and then reach out to the enablement team for support and accountability.
4. Many organizations still need to measure the success of sales enablement.
Many organizations delivered programs in the early days for sales enablement. They then hoped that the best would come to them.
Sometimes they would get some anecdotal feedback. They measured adoption and completion at best — considering that new reps were promoted when they had completed a list of tasks.
Over a third of companies measure success in sales enablement today by tracking the completion of training modules and materials.
Adoption metrics do matter. It is essential to keep reps on track if they are losing deals or failing to complete their assigned enablement.
However, the completion metrics on their own only tell you some. Consider a new rep who checks all the boxes but still needs to catch up on deals every time.
Sales enablement teams are being pressured to demonstrate that their efforts have a positive impact on business results. Over half of sales enablement teams (58%) now measure success using business metrics. This includes the percentage of reps that meet quota and the time it takes for new sellers to close their first sale.
However, 42% of those who don’t measure sales enablement’s impact on critical outcomes are left behind.
Budgets are more scrutinized in times of economic uncertainty than ever before. The sales enablement team must prove that their efforts are making a difference. They will need to prove their efforts are moving the needle and will not be able to get more resources or keep the ones they have.
5. Revenue orgs increase enablement spending
Global economic uncertainty is affecting everyone. Inflation is on the rise. The economy is experiencing a decline in Spending. Sales enablement teams naturally worry about their budgets in the coming fiscal year.
However, this worry could be unfounded.
Sales enablement leaders who can show that their programs impact business results are likelier to keep their budgets intact. Those who can demonstrate value will likely have bigger budgets next year.
Nearly three-quarters (74%) of companies plan to increase their sales training and enablement investments despite a possible recession. 87% of sales professionals believe this to be true.
A practical, data-driven sales program can help more sellers reach their goals. It’s proven.
Sales leaders have heard the message. Instead of hiring more sellers during economic uncertainty, many sales leaders will double down on improving the performance of the ones they already have through sales enablement.
What are the sales leaders’ plans for the next year regarding sales enablement?
Here are their top priorities in sales enablement for 2023.
49% improvement in the strategic importance and effectiveness of the enablement function in the sales organization
- Measuring the ROI or business impact of enablement: 45
- Improvement of sales coaching efforts by frontline managers: 40%
- 30% to increase the adoption and completion rate of existing programs
- Gamification, leaders, and other methods can increase seller engagement. : 30%
Sales enablement can help you make more sales.
It is hard to deny the power of good sales enablement. Many revenue organizations invest in sales support programs, tools, and teams to ensure that they are successful.
Our most recent research has shown that sales enablement programs need more critical components, such as a standardized sales process and consistent measurement and optimization.
Selling takes work. It’s not easy to be a seller, and with the recession just around the corner, it will only get more complex. This is the perfect time to optimize your sales enablement program to make sure it runs smoothly and gets more reps selling.
