B2B buyers are now more informed and self-reliant enough to conduct thorough research and seek recommendations before even engaging with sales reps.
If you want to conquer the enterprise sales cycle, a proper B2B sales enablement strategy is crucial.
In this guide, you’ll understand how to:
- Optimize the sales process and boost win rates.
- Align your process to the buyer’s journey stages.
- Empower sales reps with data-driven tools and continuous sales training.
- Improve the alignment between marketing and sales teams through effective content management.
What is B2B sales enablement?
B2B sales enablement is the strategic, ongoing practice of equipping sales teams with the insights, content, and tools necessary to optimize interactions with B2B buyers.
Here’s how sales enablement is different than other strategies involved in the B2B sales cycle:
- It goes beyond sales training: Sales training focuses on improving sales techniques. B2B sales enablement focuses on providing actionable content that personalizes sales interactions.
- It’s not just marketing enablement: Marketing enablement focuses on arming marketing teams with tools and strategies to optimize their workflows. Sales enablement bridges the gap between marketing and sales by ensuring sales teams can effectively use content and messaging to address buyer pain points in real time.
- It’s not content marketing: Content marketing involves attracting and engaging audiences with relevant and valuable content, aiming to stimulate interest in products or services. Sales enablement includes this content directly in the sales process, so sales teams can use it to address prospects’ needs and progress through the sales funnel.
- It’s more than sales operations: Sales operations focus on the logistical aspects of the sales process. Sales enablement focuses on improving the quality of interactions with potential customers, using data-driven insights to inform strategies, and aligning sales objectives with the overall organizational goals.
- It’s not buyer enablement: Buyer enablement is about providing potential customers with the resources they need to make an informed purchase decision. In contrast, B2B sales enablement focuses on equipping sales teams with insights, content, and strategies that guide and influence the buyer’s journey.
That said, here’s why B2B sales enablement is important to the sales process:
- 45 percent of buyer time is spent researching independently. Therefore, sales teams need to be more knowledgeable and prepared to engage effectively.
- 77 percent of B2B buyers still feel that making a purchase is time-consuming — and even painful. So, sales reps need to have a deeper understanding of the prospects’ needs and the solutions their company offers.
- 76 percent of B2B buyers now expect more personalized attention from solution providers based on their specific needs. Sales enablement provides the differentiation a company needs, ensuring its value propositions are clear, compelling, and resonate with the buyer’s unique challenges.
- Sales enablement strategies directly contribute to driving sales and boosting revenue. In fact, over 75 percent of companies using sales enablement tools indicated that sales increased over the past 12 months, with nearly 40 percent reporting growth of more than 25 percent.
Now that we know why having a robust strategy is essential, let’s dive into the benefits of having a strong B2B sales enablement strategy.
Benefits of B2B sales enablement
Effective sales enablement goes beyond creating competitive battle cards.
It’s about boosting revenue, keeping customers happy, and ensuring your salespeople are performing at their peak.
Let’s unpack the benefits of a strong B2B sales enablement strategy:
Enhances sales team performance
According to G2, 84 percent of sales reps achieve their quotas when their employer incorporates a best-in-class sales enablement strategy.
This means your sales teams need a strong sales enablement process in place to help streamline sales conversations and processes — which also improves their sales performance.
A Learning Management System (LMS) like Docebo, for instance, utilizes AI-powered content recommendations, providing sales teams with adaptive learning paths and virtual coaching that are hyper-personalized to their needs.
This helps to hasten the onboarding process for new hires while continuously upskilling sales representatives.
Helps increase business revenue
Organizations with sales enablement achieve a 49 percent win rate on forecasted deals, compared to 42.5 percent for those without.
A robust sales enablement strategy ensures that your sales teams are armed with precise, timely, and actionable content tailored to each stage of the buyer’s journey.
This means your sales reps can access and utilize the most relevant, impactful content tailored to the prospect’s needs, leading to higher conversion rates.
Because when sales reps have the tools and knowledge they need, deal closures increase.
Boosts customer satisfaction
According to Salesforce, 80 percent of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services.
Let’s say a buyer encounters a sales rep while engrossed in deep research. Instead of echoing the usual information, the sales rep shares unique, valuable insights that simplify the buyer’s decision-making process.
This approach advances the sale, positively shapes the buyer’s view of the brand, and lays the foundation for a satisfied, potentially loyal customer.
Having an LMS, like Docebo, helps sales teams to sell better with the hyper-personalized training, coaching, and content they need to close deals.
This focus on targeted content and data-driven insights elevates sales interactions to be more buyer-centric, providing a better customer experience.
Now let’s talk about the best practices to consider when implementing a B2B sales enablement strategy.
B2B sales enablement best practices
Achieving best-in-class sales enablement requires deliberate strategy and well-defined best practices.
Create useful content and resources
For sales teams to thrive, they need access to high-quality, informative, and actionable content.
The right content educates the sales team and empowers them to communicate value propositions convincingly to potential clients.
Examples to consider:
- Tailored sales collateral like one-pagers that spotlight product features or comparison sheets that underscore your USPs against competitors.
- In-depth guides — like ‘How-To’ guides or FAQs — to serve as quick reference points for sales reps during customer interactions.
- Insightful case studies that demonstrate tangible customer benefits derived from your product or service — to help build trust.
Additional recommendations:
- Consider a robust LMS for your content management. Docebo, in particular, forms a centralized hub for resources, ensuring materials are current, consistent with your brand messaging, and accessible for sales reps anywhere, anytime.
- Integrate tools like HubSpot and LinkedIn with your LMS to drive traffic to your content and improve its visibility.
- Regularly collect feedback from sales reps to align your resources closely with real-world sales needs while improving content quality and relevance.
This way, your content becomes an ally in fortifying your sales team with the insights and data necessary to convert potential leads into loyal customers.
Leverage the right sales enablement tools and technology
Leveraging optimal sales technology — including the right sales enablement tools — assists teams in efficiently navigating the buyer’s journey, aligning strategies, and sealing more deals.
LMS platforms:
Sales reps spend an average of 440 hours each year searching for the right content to share with prospects and customers. This directly impacts a company’s bottom line.
An LMS like Docebo can curb this by serving as a centralized hub for training and content. This ensures your sales team has centralized access to all necessary resources.
Key Takeaway: Choose an LMS that also tracks and analyzes learner data. This will provide invaluable insights into your team’s development and areas for improvement.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems:
CRMs, like Salesforce, manage customer interactions, track leads, and forecast trends.
This supports the sales pipeline and helps to keep initiatives and objectives clearly defined and accessible to all stakeholders.
Key takeaway: When evaluating a CRM, think about its scalability and how well it can integrate with your LMS or other tools in your tech stack.
Sales enablement software:
Sales enablement software empowers sales teams by providing content, guidance, and training while integrating with LMS platforms for a seamless experience.
Key Takeaway: Consider a robust LMS option that taps into AI to provide insightful content recommendations.
Ensure that B2B marketing efforts are aligned with sales team goals
The backbone of successful B2B sales enablement is the alignment between sales and marketing teams. Such alignment isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity for a sales organization.
But how do we ensure this alignment is actionable?
Bridge through lead generation:
Establish a seamless channel for transferring Marketing Qualified Leads to Sales Qualified Leads (MQLs to SQLs).
Employing a shared CRM platform allows both teams to have real-time access to lead data — aligning marketing campaigns and sales pitches to a common set of objectives.
Collaborative content creation:
Involve sales team members in content creation processes. Sales teams, with their finger on the pulse of customer pain points, can offer invaluable insights into crafting content that resonates and convinces. LMSs like Docebo can facilitate seamless collaboration by offering a centralized space for content creation, sharing, and feedback
Note: Use social media platforms to ensure that the marketing departments are creating campaigns that resonate with the B2B buyer.
Unified communication strategies:
Regular catch-ups, shared dashboards, and integrated communication tools can bridge the information gap between sales and marketing. An LMS can provide visibility into content performance and customer interactions.
When these three forces unite, they create a seamless and potent strategy, ensuring that the right message reaches the right audience at the right time.
Emphasize continuous training and coaching for sales reps
Gartner research finds that B2B sales reps forget 70 percent of the information they learn within a week of training, and 87 percent of them will forget it within a month.
This underscores why a continuous b2b sales training program isn’t just beneficial — it’s vital.
So, how can organizations pivot to ensure that knowledge doesn’t just flow but sticks? Here are some actionable steps:
- Engage sales leaders or sales managers in focused one-on-one coaching sessions, honing in on areas ripe for improvement.
- Develop mini-lessons based on insights from top performers and schedule these at regular intervals.
- Use your sales enablement program to develop a curriculum not only for initial onboarding but also for ongoing sales training and coaching.
- Implement role-play scenarios that reflect real-world sales challenges and opportunities, ensuring skills are practical and applicable.
- Consider leveraging a sales enablement platform to centralize and manage resources, ensuring they remain current and coherent with your brand messaging.
With ongoing training and practical application, your sales reps evolve into true advocates of your product or service.
Keep track of sales enablement metrics
Sales enablement KPIs offer more than just numbers on a dashboard; they provide actionable insights that can dramatically influence outcomes.
However, it’s crucial to know which metrics to prioritize and how to interpret them effectively. Let’s cover some key metrics:
- Conversion rates: Conversion rates stand for the percentage of prospects who took a desired action that turned them into customers. Tracking this metric helps determine the effectiveness of sales processes and identifies areas needing improvement.
- Sales cycle length: This metric unveils the average time taken from the initial engagement with a prospect to closing the deal. A prolonged sales cycle might suggest inefficiencies in the sales process, while a shortened one might indicate a streamlined approach.
- Revenue generated: Tracking the average revenue per sale can shed light on whether the sales strategy is targeting the most lucrative prospects effectively.
To extract meaningful insights from these metrics, you’ll need to:
- Gather data consistently: Use tools and platforms that provide real-time data on sales activities, ensuring you’re always working with up-to-date information.
- Analyze with purpose: Instead of merely noting numbers, delve deeper. For instance, if the sales cycle lengthens, question the why and how, investigating each phase of the sales process to identify potential issues.
- Act decisively: Once a challenge or opportunity has been pinpointed, take actionable steps to address it. This might involve extra training, refining sales materials, or altering engagement strategies.
Note: Automation can be a vital part of tracking and analyzing these metrics. It helps you to quickly identify trends and spot issues, ensuring your sales enablement team is always ahead of the curve.
B2B Sales Enablement: The Bottom Line
Sales enablement isn’t just about coaching tools and metrics; at its core, it’s about people.
By equipping your sales team with the right knowledge, strategies, and resources, you’re setting them up for unparalleled success.
Remember, an empowered sales team can navigate challenges, adapt to market changes, and communicate the value of your product seamlessly.
Learn more about Docebo to see if a sales content management system is right for your organization.