The business impact of sales training and enablement

Let’s talk about sales. Specifically sales enablement. If you’re reading this, you’re likely familiar with the term, so you know that it’s one that’s hard to define. If you’re still asking yourself, “What is sales enablement?” we’ve got the answer for you. We define sales enablement as the strategic use of people, processes, and technology to improve sales productivity and increase revenue. Sales enablement combines sales training, feedback, coaching, and the right tools to empower sales teams to grow and succeed.

If you look at sales enablement and training from a 30,000ft view, it’s clear that there are a ton of positive benefits. From more confident and efficient sales reps to better prospect and customer interactions, there’s a lot that we can talk about when it comes to the benefits of sales training.

But, here’s the thing: Just like we boiled down the definition of sales enablement to one sentence, we’re going to concentrate the ROI of sales enablement and training to one sentence. If you look at the importance of sales training and enablement, you’ll see that it ultimately drives more positive business outcomes. Let’s take a closer look at how sales enablement is a positive investment for your business.

Why is sales training important for reps?

A well-trained sales rep is one of the most important investments your team can—and should—make. The better-trained someone is, the better they’ll perform. Period. In fact, we’ve found that the top sales training programs improve rep engagement, retention, and productivity. Don’t believe us? Then, consider these sales productivity statistics.

• The average ramp time to productivity for salespeople is between six and nine months. That means a lot of missed revenue opportunities for your team. However, CSO Insights found that effective sales training and enablement can help new reps meet quota up to seven weeks faster than the industry average.
• The average tenure of a sales rep is approximately two years. But, if it takes nearly nine months to bring a new rep up-to-speed, that’s a huge expense. A study by the Sales Readiness Group found that companies with great sales enablement have the lowest annual sales rep turnover at just 11.9% compared to 19.5% for organizations with less-than-satisfactory sales training.

Your sales reps are the backbone of a great sales program. So, if you’re asking yourself, “What ROI can I expect for a sales training program?” take a close look at your salesforce. They need the best sales training and enablement to be successful. In return, you’ll see lower turnover and retention costs for years to come.

How does sales training drive efficiency and growth?

Learning new workflows and staying on top of best practices is overwhelming, which hinders sales reps from actually getting to their work. And, there’s a lot of skill and knowledge that goes into communicating with prospects and moving deals through the sales pipeline. The good news is that ongoing sales training and coaching actually increases growth exponentially when it comes to a sales rep’s confidence, efficiency, and output. 

Why is that? First, sales training equips reps with the skills they need to listen, identify, and communicate customer needs. Then, because they’ve been empowered to know your products and services inside-out, they can appropriately align the right product or service to best fit their prospects’ wants and needs. Simply put, this means that deals can efficiently progress through the sales process and close quicker.

How does sales enablement increase revenue?

It’s likely that your sales team is the main revenue-generating department for your company, and competition between organizations is fierce. So, aside from giving your sales team the competitive edge necessary, sales enablement works wonders when it comes to the bottom line of your business. In fact, the Aberdeen Group found that companies with successful sales enablement and training programs have 32% higher sales teams quota attainment, 24% better individual rep quota attainment, and 23% higher lead conversion rates.

Tying sales enablement and training to business objectives

When it comes to developing and delivering sales enablement and training to your sales team, it’s important to remember the sales objective you want to achieve. The objectives of your training program are the ultimate outcomes or goals you want to reach, which means that your sales objective of training should be a reflection of your sales process. Your objectives should clearly define how sales reps can successfully do their jobs. We recommend considering your overall organization goals, how your sales team can impact those goals, and what might stop your team from reaching those goals. The answers will likely uncover key areas for improvement where sales enablement and training can be useful.

The impact of sales training is endless

Sales enablement and training is much more than a tool or process to coach and educate your sales reps. It’s a solution that helps your sales team grow. From building confidence to keeping sales reps on the same page, sales training ensures that your reps spend less time worrying about the next steps of the sales process and more time focusing on what they do best: selling. 

If you’re ready to reap the benefits of sales training and enablement, check out the Seismic Enablement Cloud™. Our leading AI-powered enablement platform equips customer-facing teams with the content, training, and insights they need to drive business growth. Get a demo to see it action, today!