Enablement
Sales enablement planning: How to scale and prioritize the process
By Seismic On 9 February 2024
Loading component...
Enablement
By Seismic On 9 February 2024
Whether you're building a process from scratch or refining one that's already in place, world-class sales enablement requires intentional planning and strategy. Here's how to make it possible.
As the sales enablement industry has grown, it's become a strategic priority for many organizations. However, as enablement teams are tasked with becoming more agile and strategic, it's difficult to tackle the sales enablement planning process as efficiently as possible. After all, enablement teams are already busy enough creating playbooks, sifting through content requests, and supporting large business initiatives. In this article, we'll take a closer look at what this process includes and how enablement leaders can plan their sales enablement strategy at scale.
Sales enablement planning identifies what go-to-market (GTM) teams need to do their jobs effectively. Essentially, it identifies the who, what, when, and why for every initiative. A sales enablement plan also creates a roadmap for the sale enablement deliverables needed to support a specific campaign so that organizations can achieve key business goals. These include:
The sales process is more challenging and complex than ever before. Buyers are more informed since they can access product information, reviews, and pricing information all online. Because they're more educated, they expect sellers to present information that is tailored to them and that will ultimately help them make a decision.
However, if sellers don't deliver personalized information that clearly demonstrates the value of their company's products and services, the buyer will lose interest. Therefore, sellers need a quick and effective way to learn key information, apply new knowledge, and engage with customers — which is why sales enablement is key. Sales enablement makes sure this happens by detailing processes, identifying tasks, and creating useful content that sellers need for every stage of the sales cycle.
A study from The Aberdeen Group found that companies with successful sales enablement experience 30% higher sales team quota attainment and nearly 25% higher individual seller quota attainment. However, it's not enough to produce content, sales sheets, and training and hope for the best. Rather, you need an iterative and ongoing sales enablement strategy to ensure that your sales team is always equipped with the best resources, tools, and content. It may be time to update your sales enablement strategy if…
The sales enablement planning process sets the tone and trajectory for your entire sales enablement strategy. Teams that don't take the time to plan out efforts will struggle to effectively enable sellers and likely miss their sales enablement and performance goals. A strategic enablement framework also plays a crucial role in aligning sales teams with the company's overall goals. Let's take a closer look at a few of the benefits of an enablement plan.
You wouldn't set out on a trip without some type of plan in place. The same goes for implementing a new initiative at work. Let's take a closer look at the essential steps you'll want to take to build your organization's own sales enablement plan.
First, you need to determine what your overall sales enablement goals are. This will help you identify what sales enablement deliverables are needed. We've found that the best goals should directly tie the organization's business objectives so it's easier to determine the ROI of your initiative. It's also important to set reasonable expectations, but add stretch goals to keep everyone motivated to drive business growth.
Sellers benefit from your enablement plan, so it's important to solve their most pressing pain points and challenges. Be sure to get their feedback on what they need to be more productive and successful. This will help you identify which initiatives are likely to have the biggest impact on your team. This knowledge will also help you build a sales enablement playbook, effectively provide the tools your team needs, and provide any missing training.
After you understand the organization's larger goals and identify seller needs, you need to determine the key metrics and outcomes you'll use to measure the success of your sales enablement efforts. Common sales enablement KPIs include sales revenue, win rates, sales cycle length, customer satisfaction scores, and seller effectiveness.
While enablement teams should be the main driver of the planning process, it's still important to involve the other departments and team members. Partner with key stakeholders and influencers who you'll need to collaborate and work with throughout the project. Remember, a sales enablement team shouldn't own the entire initiative, instead they should lean on the expertise and skills of those across sales and marketing teams. This will help maximize the impact and overall success of your enablement initiatives.
Once you've identified your goals and what your team needs, it's time to assign roles and responsibilities. There will be a number of different tasks that need to take place, and effective sales enablement planning requires delegation so everyone understands what they're responsible for.
Define a timeline for achieving your goals and outcomes. Consider the time it takes to implement changes, deliver training, and see the impact of the enablement efforts. Setting realistic timelines also helps manage expectations and ensures that progress is being made.
As you execute your sales enablement plan, continuously measure and evaluate the results against your KPIs. Be sure to regularly review progress with the sales team to make data-driven adjustments to your strategy. It's also important to communicate the outcomes and objectives with other stakeholders who were involved in the project. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and working toward the same goals.
The old way of sales planning includes project management tools, complex workflows, and context switching. This creates a slow and ineffective planning process that negatively impacts speed to market and business agility. However, a purpose-built, all-in-one sales enablement platform helps create a more streamlined sales enablement process that includes planning, sales enablement content management, training, coaching, reporting, and more. Seismic's 2023 Value of Enablement Report found that leaders who use sales enablement software credit it for freeing up their time to focus on high-value activities. Additionally, 85% of leaders say it saves them time on enablement planning and forecasting activities.
Remember, strategic sales enablement requires sophisticated prioritization, resource planning, and execution workflows. So, once the planning process is finished, enablement teams should move on to the other three stages of their enablement strategy. This process includes:
With so many shifting priorities and last-minute changes, enablement teams don't have the bandwidth to proactively and strategically manage enablement planning. But with the Seismic Enablement Planner™ all that changes. Now enablement teams can easily plan, execute, and iterate on all of their efforts in one place. This creates a more streamlined, strategic, and repeatable process that teams can use to connect the dots between their sales enablement strategy and sellers' wins. Ready to learn more and put your team in the driver's seat of your enablement planning process? Book a demo today.
