The way businesses market to customers is forever evolving. From flyers and posters to the dawn of digital, the face of marketing has changed remarkably over the last 50 years. With the Internet came sales enablement, followed by revenue enablement. The constant shift in paradigm is crucial when considering sustainable growth. But in order to benefit from these concepts, you must first understand them.
Sales Enablement is Limited
Sales enablement is geared toward supporting the sales team, providing the coaching, training, and materials needed to engage buyers efficiently and effectively. In the wake of COVID-19, sales enablement has evolved to meet the changes in B2B buyer behavior. According to McKinsey, the pandemic resulted in three primary themes: increased or maintained spending for most companies, 2-3x more digital interactions over traditional sales interactions, and a shift to nearly 90% of all sales conducted remotely. Not only do these themes reflect a change in buying behavior and expectations, they also significantly impact the sales enablement needed to achieve optimal performance in today’s market.
Sales enablement is not free of limitations, however. The challenge many organizations face is that traditional sales enablement is often limited to sales and customer service teams, inhibiting the increase of sales and engagement of clients.
Revenue Enablement is a Holistic Approach
Whereas sales enablement typically focuses on coaching, training, and materials for the sales team, revenue enablement takes a more holistic approach. Revenue enablement reaches outside of the traditional sales team, encouraging the entire organization to become part of the sales experience. The goal of revenue enablement is to help improve the client’s buying experience.
The functions of sales enablement are still effective and important to the buying experience, but there are limitations to putting the bulk of the revenue generation on your sales and customer service teams. Sustainable growth requires more.
Joining Forces: Sales Enablement and Revenue Enablement
Consider sales enablement and revenue enablement as vital components to your revenue operations machine, each with multiple moving parts. Sales enablement is a jumping off point, engaging with the client and drawing them toward a relationship with your business. Sales enablement typically begins with a lead and ends with a new customer.
Revenue enablement, on the other hand, is an ongoing experience, engaging with clients long after the initial sale. Revenue enablement offers your entire team the knowledge and tools needed to support every facet of your business, creating a harmonious relationship between your company and your clients. The more supported and engaged your client base, the greater the likelihood that those clients will remain with your organization long-term.
Ultimately, to ensure the success of your revenue enablement and sales enablement initiatives, your team must be fluent in your business’ products and services.
Embracing Unified Communication and Strategy
It’s critical that you ensure clear, consistent communication and strategic alignment across the entire buyer and customer journey. If your team is unclear or out of alignment with your business objectives, products, or services, they will likely demonstrate that misunderstanding outwardly, which could damage your brand’s reputation and hurt revenue along the way. When your whole team is part of the experience, however, executing effective marketing and communication comes with greater ease.
“In sports the scorecard for success is very clear – you win or lose as a team,” says Denise Karkos, CMO of Sirius XM and Pandora and a former Division I soccer player. “In business, each person has an individual definition of success. The opportunity in sales and marketing today is defining the win for the entire team. You can’t delegate or outsource that job. As a leader, you can set the tone from the top.”
This pivot encourages strategic growth and refinement. Moving your team from a purely sales enablement environment to a holistic revenue enablement mindset that incorporates sales enablement can be the game-changing move your organization needs to drive revenue this year.
