Glossary
Sales Enablement Platform
A sales enablement platform is a collection of sales technology and tools, all geared toward shortening the sales cycle and improving win rates.
Sales professionals have a harder time selling these days. Customers, especially in uncertain times, are more frugal, and their buying decisions – impacted by greater choice, for example – are increasingly complex and often affected by a brands’ ideology, self-image and customer-facing content.
All of this means sales teams must work harder to prove the value of their product.
How can sales professionals gain the trust of decision-makers in a business?
A sales enablement platform is an effective strategy to combat buying inertia. The thinking behind sales enablement is that the more equipped a salesperson is, the more likely s/he is to sell a product or service. Being equipped means that a sales professional needs to have the right resources, technology, and training in order to sell a product.
A sales professional who makes a sales pitch without the resources to back it up is like a medieval knight going into battle without a sword. The bottom line? Maintaining a strong sales strategy just isn’t possible without a large amount of preparation.
What is a sales enablement platform?
A sales enablement platform or service is anything that improves interactions with the buyer and shortens a sales cycle. The platform will be specific to each company, depending on the product or service being sold. It is never one size fits all.
A sales enablement platform provides an arsenal of tools to help sales professionals sell more effectively. It can include marketing collateral management, like demo videos and sales decks, as well as sales tools, like value justification and ROI tools. Typically, it leverages technology to provide a higher quality buying experience for the customer. Sales enablement services also include sales enablement training, which has a 335% ROI and is a key part of yielding high-performing salespeople.
What are the benefits of a b2b sales enablement platform?
- More efficient selling: Sales enablement has a measured impact on win rate, deal size, and the sales lifecycle. A well-equipped salesperson will make the deal faster, and the faster a deal is made, the sooner a salesperson can move on to the next engagement.
- Beneficial for the sales team: Sales enablement platforms can mean different things to different people. A sandbox sales demo can help a proficient salesperson to paint a more accurate picture of a tech product. Or a sales training program can equip an underperforming salesperson with more advanced skills. The tools may vary, but the goal is the same: to enhance a salesperson’s performance and improve the win rate.
- Join up marketing and sales: Sales enablement platforms unify the marketing and sales departments: a unification that is poorly represented in too many businesses. A piece of sales enablement software that collates all marketing collateral, data, and customer insights enables sales and marketing to work together, with shared tools and knowledge.
- Improve the buying experience: Impressive sales collateral gives an edge to sales pitches and improves the buying experience for the customer. Decision-makers are used to watching good sales videos or reading well-put-together decks. In the digital age, when businesses have easy access to so many tools, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. With a sophisticated sales enablement strategy, your business can leverage more advanced tools, like sandbox environments, to demo tech products or self-service trials, giving the customer a more interactive experience. An impressive repository of resources can tip your sales pitch in the way you want it to go.
- More cross-selling and up-selling: Sales enablement software provides cleaner, more streamlined workflows for sales teams to use. Since all sales data is collated in one place, opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling are more easily spotted. The platforms empower salespeople to target every customer with relevant information and fulfill sales opportunities that otherwise might get missed.
For more information about b2b sales enablement platforms or sales enablement training, request a free demo from CloudShare.
