1. Sales enablement is all about making sure sellers have access to the right content
Many organizations believe that sales enablement is just making sure that sellers have access to the right content. After all, an important part of every seller's job is to provide prospects with helpful content that keeps them moving through the sales process. However, enablement is more than just content.
The real sales enablement meaning is the overall strategic approach companies take to ensure that sellers have what they need to properly engage prospects and customers throughout the buying process. Effective sales enablement ensures that sellers have the right resources, process, technology, and content to do their jobs effectively.
2. Organizations need a lot of materials in order to use a sales enablement platform
Once leaders understand that sales enablement content is just one part of a larger strategy, the next myth is that they need a lot of it to warrant purchasing an enablement platform. Companies often assume that if they only have a small amount of sales enablement materials stored in a few different places, that should be easy enough for sellers to locate, right? Here's why this is wrong.
The Aberdeen Group estimates that sales reps spend an average of 440 hours searching for content. In reality, nearly every organization can benefit from an enablement platform, as it provides a central and collaborative space where sellers can quickly find anything they need, from pitch decks and pricing info to sales enablement training lessons and playbooks. And while you may only have a small content library today, as your organization and the content it creates grows, so will the need for a sales enablement platform.
3. Sales enablement is only needed for big initiatives
It's easy to feel that sales enablement is a massive undertaking. And as a result of this misconception, many companies only prioritize big initiatives like new product launches or pricing updates that take place a few times a year.
These large initiatives absolutely require sales enablement, but organizations shouldn't stop there. Instead, the best programs enable reps to develop knowledge on best practices, sales skills, and current processes. This is a great way to ensure that reps have ongoing access to knowledge they may need to revisit throughout their interactions with prospects.
4. Companies need a dedicated sales enablement role or team
Many leaders that we talk to also express concerns that they don't have a sales enablement director or department to lead the charge. They're worried that they won't have the bandwidth to develop their team's strategy, create content, or keep track of progress over time.
If your organization doesn't have a sales enablement team — have no fear. We've seen some of the best programs implemented in organizations where enablement is a shared responsibility between sales, marketing, and product teams. The key to success is finding champions, subject matter experts, and enablement advocates within your organization and facilitating ongoing communication between them. As long as everyone has a clear understanding of priorities and a willingness to roll up their sleeves, you have the foundation needed to move things forward.
5. Sellers don't want to adopt another new piece of technology
We know sellers are busy, and the idea of rolling out yet another tool may seem cumbersome. Many organizations assume that sellers are hesitant to learn how to use an entirely new tool and prefer to work across the disparate systems they're already familiar with.
We've found that sellers actually want — and embrace — tools that make their jobs easier. They don't want the bells and whistles, but they do want a tool that's simple to understand and use. In order to achieve high rates of adoption we suggest:
- Creating an initial plan that ensures you can iterate and adjust over time instead of trying to do everything at once
- Clearly communicating the "why" to sellers – this includes goals, benefits, and the plan for moving forward
- Giving sellers the ability to access enablement when it's best for them instead of forcing them to review content at a specific time
- Working with internal evangelists and experts to share success stories
