An effective sales enablement program requires constant attention, assessment and adjustment from leadership. There is no machine to automate the tools, resources and training for all-time. Rather sales enablement programs must continuously evolve to serve your salespeople as they, in turn, serve the changing needs and preferences of the buyer.
By asking deeper and sometimes tough questions, your sales enablement leadership can hone-in on areas that are working, that need adjustment or that need complete overhaul. Here, we provide 13 questions to get your sales enablement strategy and review sessions started.
Take the Full 30-Question Assessment
OVERALL SELLING PERFORMANCE
- What results has your sales team experienced this year, and how much higher or lower are these than your initial targets?
- To what degree are all your sales teams and salespeople following the same sales process?
- How quickly are new salespeople able to ramp to a successful level of performance?
ALIGNING THE SALES PROCESS TO THE BUYER JOURNEY
- How is your buyer journey changing, and how is your sales process adjusting to serve that?
- How do other operating disciplines support the sales process along the buyer journey?
- Are your salespeople equipped with relevant tools and resources for every conversation and stage of the buyer journey? Why / why not?
- How can your leadership hold your salespeople accountable to a consistent process?
SALES SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES
- How well do your salespeople understand the buyer’s pains your solution is solving? Equally important, do your salespeople understand and know your solution well enough to answer your buyers’ questions in a manner that aligns the buyer’s pains and your differentiated value proposition?
- How effective are your salespeople at employing your differentiated value messaging when talking with prospects and buyers?
- What specific value selling skills and behaviors are most important to your organization and to serve your target buyer (i.e., what will your leadership focus on to reinforce)?
- How is your leadership team regularly reinforcing vital value selling skills and behaviors?
SALES-READY ASSETS
- In what ways are your sales and marketing teams aligned on your ideal target buyer, your value messaging and your buyer journey? In what ways are they mis-aligned?
- Do salespeople use the tools marketing provides — or are your salespeople still wasting their time creating / re-creating these on their own? Why / why not?
ASSESS AND PROGRESS YOUR SALES ENABLEMENT PROGRAM
A final question: How often does your leadership team assess the effectiveness of your sales enablement program?
Do not waste your organization’s time and resources — nor your prospects’ and buyers’. An optimized sales enablement program, according to Aberdeen Research, can boost your salespeople’s performance from about half to more than 84% meeting their quotas.
For more guidance to assess and improve your sales enablement program, download the full 30+ question assessment checklist. For an outside expert perspective to help grade the current state of your program and to guide your next steps for betterment, please contact us
Take the Full 30-Question Assessment