Sales Enablement Certification

Sales Enablement

Process, content, and technology that empower sales teams to sell more efficiently and at higher velocity

Revenue Team

Marketing and salles are perfectly synchronized to drive sales conversions and maximize revenue potential.

The goal of a sales enablement strategy should be based on ______ rather than traditional marketing metrics

sales results

3 elements of a sales enablement strategy

clear goal, target buyer, content strategy

Inbound

providing helpful content and resources that attract people to you rather than chasing them down

The modern buyer does ____ of their research online before ever talking to a salesperson

70%

The problem of inconsistency

If a sales rep says anything that contradicts what a buyer learned online, it creates risk, and risk causes a pause that kills deals

Reinvention

Companies must take a hard look at the market and reinvent their approach roughly every 6 months to keep up

Vision

State of affairs you want to bring into being. A picture of the future that motivates teams. long-term and audacious

Goal

A metric outcome you can check off a list. What will keep you on a path that could fulfill your visions. Short term wins needed to celebrate and maintain momentum. Must be achievable

unified goals

Marketing and sales goals must be aligned around a single revenue goal so both teams are equally invested. Revenue is main metric

Cost of the Vision

How much a vision will cost, then you can break into goals

Marketing and Sales Funnel

Top: Marketing’s Responsibility (prospect/visitor, lead). Middle: shared marketing and sales responsibility (MQL, SQL). Bottom: Sales Responsibility (opportunity, customer)

Marketing generates _____, sales validates ___________

interest; intent

Success requires a shared definition of _________

qualified

Marketing’s role in the lead qualification matrix

confirm fitness and use ICP firmographic filter

Sales roles in the lead qualification matrix

Confirm Readiness to buy and use BANT framework

BANT stands for

Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline

Good fit + sales ready =

move to active pursuit

Good fit + unready =

send to nurture (marketing stays in touch)

Poor fit =

disqualified, stop immediately

Why nurture

because “not now” isn’t “never.” If a lead isn’t sales ready, recycle the lead to marketing until the right timing. Don’t let competitors steal them while they wait for their budgt/timing to align

CRM (Customer Relationship management)

Centralized database, automated gatekeeping, high intent trigger identificationK

Key benefit of CRM

Sales ignores the “noise” and focuses 100% on verified, high-probability opportunities

SLA (service-level agreement)

An agreement ensuring a service provider’s guaranteed output. A formal, two-way agreement where marketing guarantees a lead volume or value and sales commits to a timely follow up. Eliminates friction and makes goals complementary rather than competitive

Judicial Branch

Small group of unbiased leaders who review leads rejected by sales to determine if the problem was lead quality or poor sales follow up. Acts as a system to handle exceptions and plug the “leaky funnel” of rejected leads

Lead Value Strategy

Assigning dollar values to leads, putting marketing on a revenue quota

5 minute rules

Calling a lead within 5 minutes vs 24 hours increases closing chances by 1,000 times

Watch item pacing

marketing must deliver leads at a sensible cadence to match the sales team’s capacity to call them,

Conversion Rate

Average sales value= total value of sales/number of transactions

Sales velocity

Sales velocity= # of opportunities x deal value x win rate/length of sales cycle

smarketing

The process of aligning sales and marketing through frequent communication. Main purpose to discuss problems and collaborate on solutions. Should happen at least once a month (every 2 weeks is standard), and focus strictly on solving problems, not status updates

Work Groups

based on organizational or managerial hierarchy. They share information and are relatively interdependent

Team

interdependent, planning work and solving problems together. They NEED one another to get work done. Smarketing must be a TEAM effort.

Planning effective meetings:

• productivity plummets if a meeting exceeds 10 people

• limit attendees to those who can directly address problems

• rotate attendees

• disinvite top execs (stifles honesty)

  • Psychological Safety (the belief that one can take risks and admit mistakes without being shamed)

Smarkeitng best practices

• focus on solving problems

• find a cadence that works well for the company

• be choosy about who to invite

  • ensure smarketing is a good place for experimentation

Content as a Friction Reducer

• high quality content answers questions before they are asked, removing “risk” from the buyer’s mind

• The more education you can provide your prospects before they meet with sales reps, the more qualified they’ll be when they get there

Feedback Loop

• Sales enablement content is most effective when it is fueled by the questions sales reps hear every day

  • Content should enable sales team to add value throughout the sales process

How can content help sales teams

• Builds authority and trust before the first call

• Provides “proof” that they solution works

  • Handles common objections automatically, saving the rep time

Internal Content

• for the salesperson

• objection handling

  • playbooks

Purpose of a playbook

provide a standardized “how-to” guide for reps to follow a proven sales process consistently

External Content

• For the Buyer

• blog posts

• case studies

• Whitepapers

• FAQs

The “messaging” fix

If internet leads are bad, it is a messaging problem. Clear, specific content filters out bad fit leads and attracts good fit leads

The Silo Problem

Marketing often creates content based on keywords while sales needs content based on conversations

Content creation

Should be a company wide initiative with a designated content manager

Sales role in content

Should not just be “consumers” of content, the must be contributors. They are the ones with the “ear to the ground.”

Why should Sales be involved in content creation

They understand the buyer’s specific pains and objections better than anyone else in the company

Content Mapping

Assigning each piece of content to a specific stage of the Flywheel (attract, engage, delight)

How do you ensure content stays relevant

Maintaining a “content audit” and a constant communication loop (smarketing meetings) to identify what is working and what is missing

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Broadly describes your target market

Buyer personas

Defines the specific sorts of people in that market. A semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on data

Beyind Demographics

persona should be based on real data and interviews with actual customers, not just assumptions

The “why” behind the buy

personas help teams understand the goals, challenges, and objections of the person they are talking to

how to create a buyer persona

• do not develop based on assumptions or demographics

• interview current customers to find common patterns

• talk to the sales team about the questions they hear most

• Identify their

  • goals

  • challenges

  • watering holes (where they get their information)

  • Shopping preferences

Jobs to be Done Theory

• people don’t buy products, they hire products to do a job

• Functional, emotional, and social progress a person is trying to make in a particular circumstance

Job Dimensions

• functional requirements

• financial requirements

• personal identity

• social appearance

Hero Statement

A concise summary of who your customer is, what they want, and what is standing in their way. Purpose is to ensure revenue team is aligned on who they are serving and the “transformation” they are promising

Enablement after the Sale

• 5-25x more expensive to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one

• Customers should feel like you are invested in their success

3 ways to enable customers

• provide help for people to fire their own solution

• Encourage people to buy from you again

• focus on the job they hired your product to do

How can you use content after the sale

• onboarding kits

• advanced guides

• Success metrics

SaaS metric (churn)

Churn (losing customers) is the enemy of the Flywheel. Continuing enablement after the same is the cure for churn

Reasons you need technology

• measure results of efforts

• provide visibility

• automate part of the process

“single source of truth”

• to prevent data silos and ensure every team member has the same view of the customer journey.

• Your CRM must be the place where all data (marketing, sales, and service) lives. If it isn’t in the CRM, it didn’t happen

The tech Stack

CRM (the foundation), Content Management (where sales finds the right assets), communication tools (email tracking and meeting schedulers)

Design the _________ first, then buy the tech

Technology