At Shift 2023, experts from our award-winning Professional Services team led breakout sessions designed to help our customers navigate complex enablement journeys. In our “Shift into the New Year” series, we’re continuing to share best practices to help you develop plans for 2024 and beyond. If you haven’t already, please check out the first and second posts in the series.
This past fall, I facilitated a conversation with a client titled “Starting to Measure Success,” focused on Seismic’s LiveInsights Analytics module. As we developed the content for this signature session of our Enablement Foundations track at Shift, I found myself immediately overwhelmed with questions: Who is this training for? What does it mean to measure success? How can I define a measurement starting point that could vary for every organization? And, most importantly, how do I balance defining best practices for enablement novices while providing existing clients with tangible takeaways they can implement immediately, all within a 1-hour time slot?
As I grappled with these questions, I met the client I was collaborating with on the panel. Together, we delved into the questions I had prepared. When it came to discussing key performance indicators (KPIs) and measuring enablement success, they shared a profound insight that became the foundation of our presentation.
They disclosed that the success of their enablement efforts and the impact of Seismic’s technology boiled down to one question: Is Seismic making us more money than it’s costing us?
That question was a game-changer. It prompted me to flip the question back to them: “Well…is Seismic making you more money than it’s costing you?” They responded, “It’s complicated,” which sparked both a challenge and the basis for our presentation. We realized we needed to dive into the analytics of their Seismic environment together to uncover the answer, using our findings to shape our best practices.
Making the case for enablement technology
We live in a world where tech stacks are scrutinized and evaluated for efficacy. Sales enablement teams often act as centers of excellence, tasked with developing and deploying best practices and processes benefiting various departments.
Enablement continues to be a rapidly growing priority for major organizations. To put it into perspective, in 2017 only 58% of companies had a dedicated sales enablement resource, team, or program. Now, more than 80% of organizations do. As demand grows – and the pressure to quantify value increases – enablement professionals must make the case for continued confidence and investment for a variety of executive decision-makers. That makes the measurement of success more important than ever.
Our journey started by analyzing the client’s analytics and the rollout of Seismic to their sales teams, leading to the identification of consistent patterns that formed the basis of our recommendations.
Measuring the success of your enablement program
Defining the success of any enablement program starts with understanding the problems you aim to solve. Uncovering these core issues helps identify a path to value. Here are some tips to get started:
- Learn what’s working and what isn’t. Replicate success where possible, refine promising efforts, and improve or discard what isn’t delivering value.
- Align the biggest efforts with the biggest returns. Demonstrating the value of your investment in tangible ways allows you to measure it against the resources invested.
- Implement new processes to drive productivity and maturity. Establishing an end-to-end process for rolling out and measuring new efforts is essential for success.
Use findings to usher in new processes
Driving toward productivity and maturity means establishing a comprehensive process to launch, measure, and optimize new efforts. I’m used to rolling up my sleeves and helping clients move from the art of the possible into reality, so I want to share things you can do right now.
Select success metrics: Defining good KPIs is challenging but essential. It starts with identifying the problems you want to solve and your desired outcomes. For example, if you aim to enhance seller efficiency, you can measure the average sales cycle. Compare the performance of sellers using enablement tools to those who do not. Then, use the gap in the average sales cycle to define your KPIs and develop an engagement program.
Ensure access to data: Understand what data is accessible and assess what’s lacking based on your objectives. Our analytics enable you to filter various dashboards and reports using both out-of-the-box metadata and custom content properties. If essential elements are absent, consider integrating with other platforms like your HRIS system or CRM to incorporate those data points into Seismic, enhancing the measurement capability.
Connect the dots: Knowledge is critical for mastering analytics in Seismic. To gauge success accurately, connect your enablement programs and key behaviors with our analytics. For instance, if one of your KPIs is focused on platform adoption, clarify what constitutes adoption: is it based on login frequency, content usage, or user activity? Precisely defining success criteria ensures clarity in measurement.
Move from data to insights: While data is valuable, insights are invaluable. Performance metrics are great, but the real value lies in analyzing and interpreting them to make impactful recommendations. This process can be challenging, as it requires translating data into actionable insights. Seismic alleviates this fear by offering automated insights as part of our comprehensive package. For instance, if you want to audit the internal performance of your content to understand what resonates with your sellers, our out-of-the-box dashboards provide instant recommendations based on industry standards.
As you continue to leverage Seismic, you’ll discover how to define key metrics that drive success. While capturing the necessary data might seem daunting, being open to exploration and learning equips you to answer the million-dollar question: Is Seismic making us more money than it’s costing us?
Measuring success made simple with Seismic
Reflecting on the conversation with our client at Shift, I’m pleased to report that our analysis and discovery determined their answer was a resounding yes. At Seismic, we believe every customer needs to ask the same question when starting to measure success. Enablement is mission-critical and impacts the entire organization. Future platform innovations promise to make measuring the comprehensive impact of every enablement effort even easier.
In the meantime, if you need further guidance on your journey to answer this question, Seismic solution consultants and strategic advisors are here to help you analyze your data and make program recommendations that will set you on the path to organizational transformation.
