B2B sales enablement is a hot topic. The problem is that there are a lot of differing ideas about what that means. In fact, if you ask sales, I can pretty much guaranty you that their definition will be different than if you ask marketing.
However, I think this bit of research about how buyers answered this question — shared by Scott Santucci on the Forrester blog for Technology Sales Enablement — pretty well sums up what needs to be enabled:
“When you meet with a vendor sales person, in general how often are they prepared for the meeting in the following ways" (% are for respondents who answered “usually’)
- Knowledgeable about their company and products — 88%
- Knowledgeable about my industry — 55%
- Can relate to my role and responsibility in the organization — 34%
- Knowledgeable about my specific business — 29%
Bit of an eye-opener to see the buyer's perspective, isn't it?
While it's great that your sales reps know your company and products, buyers just don't care as much about you as they care about themselves. This is basic human nature.
But what's concerning is that the majority of salespeople aren't making the shift to meet their buyer's needs. I just read Pipeline Management Adaptability: Improving Win Rates in a Down Economy by CSO Insights (check out their new blog).
Given the percentages above, it shouldn't be surprising that win rates are at an all-time low of 47.7%. [No decisions came in at 22.3% with losses at a tinge above 30%]
Are you starting to connect the dots?
Salespeople don't need to know more about your products' feeds and speeds, they need to learn and assimilate information about their prospects. And they need to learn it well enough to have conversations with those prospects so they can earn the right to play a role in helping them craft the solutions to their most pressing business issues.
In another post on the Forrester blog for Technology Sales Enablement, Scott writes:
"Basically, the overwhelming majority of executive level buyers tell us that how a vendor engages with them differentiates them a lot more than what their products and services are or do."
It should be becoming clear that what sales enablement should, um, enable is better and more valuable conversations between salespeople and buyers. Not just the end-game decision maker, but all the people involved on the buying committee.
And — for those of you wondering where I'm going — marketing should be helping to facilitate this outcome.
Salespeople need to shift their thinking to apply all that great stuff they know about your company and products to how that insight can help their buyers. They need to know about the business their prospects are in, the key trends affecting their industries and how their roles and responsibilities play against project outcomes.
If your marketing team is creating content that does just that [and they should be], then they need to create versions, talking points and seed ideas that can help salespeople have conversations that count.
