Sales Enablement is driving up Sales Effectiveness

When it comes to closing deals and improving sales conversion rates, it takes a village. Sales doesn’t have time to be thinking about long term improvements, analyzing performance and assessing various productivity enhancing technologies. They are, and should be, focused on closing business this quarter. This is why organizations need a Sales Enablement team.

In fact, we’re living in the era of the sales enablement practitioner. It’s the new hot title in B2B organizations, and its value is being proven as more organizations dedicate people, budget, and technology to its success.

A recent Highspot & Heinz Marketing survey of sales enablement practitioners found some compelling results:

• 79% of organizations with more than 10 sales reps are doing some structured sales enablement
• A majority (53%) have teams dedicated to sales enablement
• 67% of organizations with 100 sales reps or more have a dedicated sales enablement team, but only 44% of those in the mid-market have dedicated teams

Clearly executive leadership recognizes the impact of these efforts—66% of respondents to our survey reported their budgets are increasing. Thirty-six percent said this increase is at least 11% year-over-year from 2015 to 2016. Budgets for sales technology are increasing as well. Fifty-five percent of organizations increased their budgets for sales technology from 2015, with 37% reporting an increase of 11% or more.

CEOs are investing because it works. A full 95% of respondents told us that sales enablement efforts lead to increased conversion rates for sales. Twenty-three percent reported that their conversion rates increased by 20% or more—this equates to a 20% increase in revenue from existing pipeline!

Where are sales enablement teams spending their time?

Survey respondents told us what matters most when it comes to getting results from sales enablement. If you want to have an immediate impact on sales conversions, these areas are a great place to start.

• Seventy-five percent said it’s critical to reduce the amount of time your sales team spends on non-selling activities.

• Seventy percent agreed that reps must have easy and fast access to high-value content.
• Sharing best practices is also imperative, as cited by 65% of survey respondents.
• Sixty-five percent said training must be improved and incorporated into their daily lives.
• The right technology is critical, according to 61% of respondents.

Want to learn how you can implement a sales enablement initiative to drive greater sales and marketing alignment? Read our Definitive Guide to Sales Enablement.