Skip to content

SEISMIC LEADS IN THE ARAGON RESEARCH GLOBE™ FOR SALES ENABLEMENT PLATFORMS.GET REPORT

  • Sign in toSeismic loginSeismic
  • Sign in toLessonly & Seismic login
  • Sign in toLiveSocial login

CHOOSE YOUR LANGUAGE

  • English
    • Enablement Cloud

      Meet the unified solution that’s igniting revenue growth for customer-facing teams.

      Learn More
    • PRODUCTS

      • Sales Content Management
      • Learning & Coaching
      • Buyer Engagement
      • Content Automation
      • Strategy & Planning
      • Enablement Intelligence
    • PLATFORM & SERVICES

      • Platform Overview
      • Professional Services
      • Partners
      • Integrations
    • Why Seismic?

      Good question! Find out why leading analysts and 2,200+ customers love our software.

      Learn More
    • USE CASES

      • Sales Enablement Teams
      • Sales Teams
      • Marketing Teams
      • Customer Service Teams
    • INDUSTRIES

      • All Industries
      • Financial Services
      • Healthcare & Life Sciences
      • Technology
    • BUSINESSES

      • Enterprise Businesses
      • Growing Businesses
    • Read Their Stories

      Read how global customers from all different industries thrive with Seismic.

      Read Their Stories
    • CUSTOMER STORIES

      • Genesys
      • Deluxe
    • FOR OUR CUSTOMERS

      • Magnitude Customer Hub
      • Seismic University
      • Seismic Community
    • About Us

      Discover who we are, what we value, and how we work at Seismic.

      Learn More
    • ABOUT SEISMIC

      • Careers
      • Leadership
      • Diversity & Inclusion
      • Aftershock Store
      • Contact Us
    • NEWS

      • Newsroom
      • Analyst & 3rd Party Reports
      • Shift
    • What is Sales Enablement?

      New to sales enablement? No problem. Learn what it is and why it matters here.

      Learn More
    • WHAT'S NEW

      • Blog
      • Events & Webinars
      • Product Innovation Center
    • COLLECTION HUBS

      • Resources Center
      • Enablement Explainers
      • AI-Guided Selling
      • Financial Services
      • Sales Acceleration
      • FAQs and Glossary
  • Get a Demo
ENABLEMENT

3 Expert Tips to Launch a World-Class Sales Enablement Program

By Seismic March 3, 2017 3 min read

With 79% of sellers missing quota each year, many sales and marketing teams are clamoring for ways to boost seller effectiveness and improve customer engagement.

That’s why Sales Enablement is such a hot topic of late – because companies are learning how critical it is to equip sellers with the resources to hit every customer engagement out of the park.

For those of you who are thinking about launching (or optimizing!) a Sales Enablement program, here are 3 tips from industry experts to help you get started.

1. Build with your customers in mind

Though your internal sales process is important, your customer journey should be the focal point of Sales Enablement planning.

“As buying decisions are still made by customers, the entire customer’s journey has to be the main design point for sales force enablement… Our data shows that the better the customer’s journey alignment, the better the sales performance: win rates, for example, can be improved by 15%.” – Tamara Schenk, CSO Insights

As you’re designing your Sales Enablement program, remember to ask yourself: What experience do you want customers to have as they’re going through the buying process? How can you facilitate this journey and enable champions to sell internally on your behalf? Keeping these questions in mind will ensure that you’re designing a program that’s TRULY customer-centric. And will lead to optimal results.

2. Tear down the silos between sales and marketing

Customer alignment is pivotal to ensure Sales Enablement program success, but this alignment can only happen when your market-facing teams are on the same page. This means you have to bridge the gap between Sales and Marketing to ensure a great customer experience – a task that can seem daunting, but is well worth the effort.

“Start by allowing the lines between marketing and sales to blur to better serve your customers. Identify a couple of buyer-centric initiatives like social selling or account-based marketing and align marketing and sales compensation in more meaningful ways. Be open to new profiles and constructs.  Place the buyer at the center of your universe and seed more cohesion between teams.” – Mary Shea, Forrester

Fortunately, improving communication between departments doesn’t have to happen all at once; you can find small ways to begin uniting forces and expand as you begin seeing success.

3. Leverage technology for some of the heavy lifting

Technology exists for a reason – use it! I expect by now you’ve invested in “systems of record” like CRM. This is a great start! But have you thought about the “systems of engagement” that enable awesome interactions between your sellers and customers? This could be the next place to invest… ESPECIALLY when you’re rolling out a Sales Enablement program.

“While systems [like CRM and SFA] are critical for managing internal operational processes, they are typically transactional systems. Now, companies must complement systems of record with systems of engagement to provide an interactive, personalized sales engagement.” – Sheryl Kingstone, 451 Research

A Sales Enablement platform is a “system of engagement” that is critical to help your enablement program take flight. That’s because it helps turn your strategy into reality by pulling together the resources your sellers need to engage – in one place and at the right time in a deal.

Share

Share on LinkedIn Tweet Me Share on Facebook Share via email

    About the authors

    Seismic

    Seismic

    Read More by Seismic

    SUBSCRIPTION

    Subscribe to our newsletter

    Thank you for subscribing

    SEISMIC IN ACTION

    Get a taste of the Seismic Enablement Cloud™

    Get a demo

    EBOOK

    The Seismic Enablement Cloud™: Know More, Engage More, Grow More

    Read the eBook

    EXPLAINER

    The complete guide to enablement

    Read more

    EVENTS & WEBINARS

    Let's meet up!

    Join us!

    CUSTOMER STORY

    Real customers. Real growth!

    Read more
    Scroll Down

    If you made it this far, we must be striking a chord.

    Get a Demo
    Seismic
    • Product
    • Seismic Enablement Cloud™
    • Sales Content Management
    • Learning & Coaching
    • Buyer Engagement
    • Content Automation
    • Strategy & Planning
    • Enablement Intelligence
    • Solutions
    • Sales Enablement Teams
    • Sales Teams
    • Marketing Teams
    • Customer Service Teams
    • Resources
    • Blog
    • Resources Center
    • Trending Topics
    • What is Sales Enablement?
    • What is AI-guided Selling?
    • What is Social Selling?
    • Social Selling Hub
    • Integrations
    • All Integrations
    • Microsoft
    • Google
    • Salesforce
    • Company
    • Contact Us
    • Careers
    • Trust Center
    ISO 27001 Certified by Schellman
    • © 2023 Seismic
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Follow us on Linkedin
    • Follow us on Instagram
    • Follow us on Twitter
    • Follow us on YouTube
    • Follow us on Facebook