iworkinchonies

Account Executive / Chronic degenerate

Sales Enablement?

Sales enablement is relatively new to the world of SaaS. Only about 13% of companies have a dedicated enablement function in their org. Does your company have people dedicated to sales enablement and if so, what does it look like for your company?

If not, what kinds of things would you expect from a sales enablement function?

21 comment

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SaaSsyB

Opinionated

SDR Manager

Our sales enablement team does a ton! They work with all the orgs that fall under the revenue function - SDR/AE/CSM they book speakers, set up all content in our systems so we have the most up to date information, they also hold weekly training sessions based on different things - out-bounding, cold calling, stalled sales, black hole prospecting, running a territory, SDR/AE relationship - and they have people from the org who are best at it lead the series that week. I attend every week - I figure there is always something or someone I could learn from. They usually have 200 people attend.

iworkinchonies

Politicker

Account Executive / Chronic degenerate

Sounds like the dream enablement structure! Good stuff.

SaaSsyB

Opinionated

SDR Manager

Also, should have stated this has all be done in the past year - Our previous enablement director- did not do much! To be totally honest I had no idea what that team did until we had a new director. Shows how much can get done when you have a good leadership. Best of luck to you!

artofsales

Good Citizen

Sr. Director of Enterprise Sales

this sounds great. I'm curious, how big is your teams (SDR, AE, CSM)

ScottTheAmazing

Sales Enablement Manager

I work in enablement and naturally I think it's super important. But it's not to just make content for reps. In my opinion, the biggest value sales enablement brings is being in the sales world without being tied to sales metrics. I can chat with the reps about what they really like/dislike and they are more prone to be honest because I'm not their manager. I'm the voice of the people who has the ear of the executives and doesn't need to explain why we are going to miss this month. And what I do day to day is look for ways to reduce friction. So improving a process, working across department to get something finishlined, evaluating software and rolling it out, onboarding new reps, training existing reps, managing incentives, and the occasional battle card. Enablement can be hugely beneficial.

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Yes, but they just "enable" us on things we learned many moons ago. I know my product inside and out, so would rather have them focus on things like EQ, negotiating (like a session with Chris Voss), etc.

Recording a pitch to be graded by someone who hasn't sold in a decade is not that productive IMO.

iworkinchonies

Politicker

Account Executive / Chronic degenerate

I agree 100%. What would a productive enablement function look like in your opinion?

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Honestly, guest speakers. Most of the enablement team at my company are former reps who could not make it in sales, so rather than have them tell the field how to run deals, I would love to hear from guest speakers. Chris Voss on negotiating. Belfort on the straight line system and qualifying. Jean Greaves or Daniel Goleman on EQ.

iworkinchonies

Politicker

Account Executive / Chronic degenerate

That is a great idea. Thank you!

slaydie

Big Shot

Account Executive

The dream to have those people give talks at my company!

MSPSales

Politicker

Partner Development Manager

When they are utilized the right way it’s great.

e.g sales enablement improves on admin processes based on sales feedback

when it doesn’t work it sucks

(e.g create marketingisque decks for us to use that are useless, create pitch competitions that takes away from selling etc)

A lot of SaaS companies are just throwing together sales enablement because it seems like it’s trending without giving much thought into it

fluffy_yarik

Good Citizen

Account Manager

We have a couple of people dedicated to sales enablement. In our case these people are jack-of-all-trades kinda guys, who record webinars, prepare presentations and case-studies for AE/BDRs, onboard newbies, write sales scripts, organize trainings.

I’d say what they might be really useful for are:

1) Trainings if done right are actually cool. We have weekly sessions for BDRs where enablement ppl push BDRs to review each others calls. Whatever you might think - it worked and peeps like it. We keep it chill.

Without dedicated moderators from enablement team - this process won’t stay on track.

2) Materials. Templates, decks, presentations, case-studies, scripts

When they want to help with it - they can. I like to do my own emails and share em with a team. But that’s not always possible. Some fresh 3rd party perspective is very useful.

Now when I’m writing this, I realize that reason it works for us is - Sales Enablement people are ex-AEs, who know the drill. They align various warmongering deps (SDRs, AEs, Marketing etc) and make sure we have a common vision. For example - case study done by marketing manager - sucks. When it’s supervised by SE - it might be actually good.

Hope this all makes sense.

slaydie

Big Shot

Account Executive

We do. They are great to help with decks etc. If we want a particular slide we just go to them with the vision and they will create it for us - which saves a sales person tons of time! High level they also make sure everyone is trained on all the tools and run sessions on cold calling, personalization etc. I find these less helpful then the content creation that they do.

iworkinchonies

Politicker

Account Executive / Chronic degenerate

Thank you for the insight! Super helpful.

Trinity

WR Officer

BusDev

We don't but work with an external consultant. We go beyond SE with this consultant, we also work on culture/mindset/teamwork

iworkinchonies

Politicker

Account Executive / Chronic degenerate

That sounds awesome! What exactly are they doing to help with those aspects? How are they providing support?

Trinity

WR Officer

BusDev

The consultant hosts a monthly team-building exercise with all of us, including the CEO; acts as our performance coach based on our role/responsibilities, motivations and career goals; a sounding board if something is not working.

madtea

Good Citizen

Regional Director

We do. They are the middle man of marketing and sales. They work with us on campaign ideas, create lists for us, etc

iworkinchonies

Politicker

Account Executive / Chronic degenerate

What additional value do you think they could provide?

madtea

Good Citizen

Regional Director

I think the sales teams could actually utilize them more! Request more from them

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

They are often ignored. Not helpful.

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iworkinchonies

Sales Enablement?

21 comment

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