How do some sales reps always manage to have an edge compared to their peers when it comes to achieving their sales quotas? It’s no secret that the best performing sales reps are aligned with the company’s messaging, are well versed with product knowledge and are better equipped to handle any objections that may come their way.
While sales reps can be trained to be ready for sales conversations, it may not always go a long way in achieving organizational targets. Deal cycles are longer and more complex, prospects and buyers are more unique and informed. Competition is fierce. With remote selling being added to the mix, sales reps require enhanced knowledge and skills more than ever before to better engage with prospects, delight customers, and keep closing deals.
Hence, companies are increasingly looking for new ways to capture their buyer’s attention, gain an edge, and beat the competition. They are exploring sales enablement and sales training as the solutions to strengthen their sales strategies.
CSO Insights found that 61% of organizations have sales enablement functions, which is more than triple what it was just 6 years prior. Another 50% of firms plan to increase their investments in sales training activities, better skill-building, and product knowledge training, and value messaging during the next few years
Simply understanding the vital distinction between the two can help organizations make better-informed business decisions for a robust sales strategy. Let’s explore them before taking a deeper look at why effectively enabling your sales force matters, and how it helps them to sell better.
Sales Enablement v/s Sales Training: The Basics
Sales Enablement
Sales enablement focuses on equipping the sales force of organizations with the tools and platforms they need to have meaningful interactions with their prospects while remaining updated on product knowledge and remembering the key messages. Sales enablement also extends this ease to customers which translates into a seamless delightful experience.
In particular, sales enablement provides ongoing access to tools and information to not just sales reps, but also insights and data to business leaders and trainers.
Sales enablement facilitates ongoing access across all phases of the buyer journey:
A. Tools and Platforms: Sales enablement involves readying your sales force for facing customers by equipping them with all the information and knowledge they require about the product or service. The field force of companies needs to have access to a platform that encompasses all the sales materials, marketing collaterals, etc required for conversations with prospects. Reps should also know where to turn for training materials that support their outreach efforts and how to gain knowledge of the company’s products and services.
B. Microlearning Content: Delivering sales training & enablement content in a bite-sized format aid in better knowledge retention. Incorporating elements of gamification and video content in your sales training content can enhance the learning experience and make it more engaging. Further, consuming microlearning content via mobile has had proven results in freeing up more man-hours for your field force vis a vis classroom training.
C. Data Analytics: Sales enablement also means sharing data points and high-level reports about the learning performance of individual sellers so management can make strategic decisions about how to better support and empower their staff. Sales training leaders can further decide how to improve learning content, by having a look at the skill gap analysis reports.
Data insights from sales enablement platforms can also be ‘exported’ to the field where sales managers & sales trainers can observe live interactions between the seller and customer. By digitizing the process of observation along with the consumption of content, we can reinforce a learning & gaming loop that continuously generates newer insights about the seller while constantly upskilling and assessing him on sales competencies required to make him successful on the field.
Master-O client data reveals that sales enablement strategies executed using our platform have led to improvements like:
- 50% decrease in ramp time for newly hired sales reps
- 70% reduction in time spent on sales preparation and administrative functions
- 40% boost in upselling and cross-selling
Rewards & Recognition Mechanism: Managers can leverage sales enablement platforms to build rewards and recognition mechanisms using badges, scorecards & leader boards and further digitizing their incentive programs. Enabling sellers and customer service personnel to earn and redeem rewards periodically can enhance seller commitment and build a constant feeling of progress that can further stir sellers to develop their capability & overachieve their quotas.
Sales Training
Sales Training essentially helps sales reps improve their selling skills to close more deals & become more capable. There are generally two types of sales training programs, product-oriented or process-oriented.
While sales training is a critical part of preparing reps to succeed, it should ideally be a stepping stone towards the ultimate goal, which should be to make your reps’ lives easier via sales enablement.
Sales enablement may require a more strategic, high involvement approach to improving your sales team’s performance. Sales training is a key component of sales enablement. However, sales enablement also offers other significant benefits, such as tools and technology to boost efficiency; the marketing and sales alignment required for a better customer experience; and data from which business can draw various insights.
Master-O is an all-in-one sales enablement & sales readiness platform, which has aided several sales training programs and also played a key role in driving sales enablement strategies across industries. The platform has proven to empower the field force with the right tools and information they require for having compelling sales conversations that lead to higher conversions and customer lifetime values. Further it has proven to be a very helpful platforms for trainers and business leaders alike in taking well informed decisions for their sales teams.
To learn more about Master-O along with microlearning and enablement in the flow of work, please visit masteroapp.com or schedule a demo to discover how Master-O can redefine sales enablement for your organization.