Harvard Business Review Analytic Services: Revenue teams are missing the mark. AI-powered enablement can help

The revenue enablement gap is real

Modern sales environments are more complex than ever. Increased competition, economic uncertainty, evolving buyer expectations, and internal misalignment are putting pressure on revenue teams. CROs are being asked to do more with less. They need to hit numbers, retain top talent, and deliver business growth without the playbooks they once relied on.

What's clear is that decision makers know what's at stake. Nearly all (96%) of survey respondents say creating meaningful customer interactions is highly important to revenue enablement success; 95% say the same about having skilled revenue talent. Yet just 57% believe their organization is highly successful at the former — and only 40% at the latter.

This disconnect is what Harvard Business Review Analytic Services has coined "the revenue enablement execution gap," or the difference between intent and impact. And if it's not addressed, the risks compound: missed opportunities, longer sales cycles, team burnout, and declining revenue.

Sales training and coaching must evolve or risk falling short

Revenue enablement isn't new. But the one-size-fits-all onboarding, static content, and generic training of the past simply isn't cutting it anymore.

Modern organizations need a dynamic, integrated approach to sales training and coaching. That means building enablement programs that are:

• Tailored to the individual seller
• Tied to business outcomes
• Adaptive to changing buyer behaviors
• Measurable and actionable in real time

Unfortunately, that's not happening at scale. In the research, just 31% said their organization is highly successful at executing their go-to-market strategy — and only 25% rated their organization highly in training or upskilling revenue-focused employees.

To close this gap, enablement must move beyond content repositories and learning management systems. It must become a strategic function that drives alignment, productivity, and readiness across the entire revenue organization.

How AI-powered enablement is changing the game

If traditional enablement has fallen short, AI-powered enablement is leading the charge forward. Today's most forward-looking organizations are leveraging AI as a force multiplier across every stage of the enablement lifecycle. This includes:

• Personalized learning paths tailored to each rep's role and performance
• Automated content creation and distribution that accelerates speed to market
• Real-time analytics to track what's working, what's not, and where to pivot
• Conversational intelligence to summarize sales calls and surface coaching moments

One area where the execution gap persists? Marketing and sales content. But after Ashley's team installed an AI-powered enablement platform to centralize all content for revenue teams, their reps now have more time to engage with customers and drive deals forward.

According to Seismic's recent findings, 92% of respondents believe advancements in AI will be the primary driver of increased investment in revenue enablement software. It's easy to see why. AI empowers revenue teams to deliver faster onboarding, more consistent messaging, and deeper buyer engagement, all while driving measurable impact.

From insight to action: Building a modern enablement strategy

To turn these insights into results, leaders must rethink how they define, design, and deliver enablement. This starts with aligning your strategy to the outcomes that matter most: revenue growth, rep productivity, and customer lifetime value. Key steps include:

• Define clear KPIs: What behaviors do you want to see in the field? What results will define success?
• Centralize tools and insights: Eliminate silos and simplify workflows with unified revenue enablement software.
• Scale coaching: Use AI-driven feedback and performance data to deliver targeted coaching at scale.
• Optimize in real time: Measure impact continuously and adjust initiatives while they're live — not after it's too late.

It's not just about training reps to sell. It's about equipping marketing, sales, enablement, and customer success to operate as one cohesive, outcome-driven team.

As Shafiq Amarsi, Vice President of Delivery Commercial Operations at Uber says, "Our most precious commodity is our sales capacity. We have to strategically guide that very scarce resource to have the highest impact conversations — with the right merchants, the right decision makers, and armed with the right insights—to make every interaction as impactful as possible."

Enablement is a revenue strategy, not a support function

Today's market doesn't reward intent. It rewards execution. And enablement is the bridge between the two.

By closing the execution gap with strategic, AI-powered enablement, organizations can unlock more consistent performance, more empowered teams, and more resilient growth, even in the face of uncertainty.

Now is the time to ask: Are your teams truly ready to maximize every customer interaction?

Download the full Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report sponsored by Seismic to explore more insights — and discover how leading organizations are using enablement to drive transformation and outperform the competition