The Ingredients of a High-Performance Sales Culture
SALES ENABLEMENT
As we have shared previously, we are doing a series of posts of what we have observed superior sales organizations do to shape a High-Performance Sales Culture. Each post will feature one ingredient, followed by a few questions to challenge your thinking.
The ninth ingredient of a High-Performance Sales Culture is Sales Enablement.
Tools, including electronic dashboards, activity scorecards, pipeline forecasting, territory growth playbooks, lead generation, and strategy worksheets provide methods to implement change. Tool development is not a one-time effort but a continuous process of enhancing and modifying them, and applying them to the business.
Technology - As our world becomes more digital in nature, there is active interest in digital solutions and specifically in digital learning, often due to the costs of travel. Many sales organizations have implemented CRM. For some, it is an essential element of a salesperson’s day; for others it is a detailed contact list.
On-Line-Learning – Many in the industry have been experimenting with e-Learning and blended learning methods. On-line learning solutions offer powerful approaches to acquiring product knowledge, particularly for new products and for self-paced on-boarding. Behavior skills learning is more challenging, as skill mastery requires much more human interaction. Nevertheless, a recent Training Industry Voice of the Learner study affirms that 55% of today’s learners still prefer Instructor-Led Learning, followed by 32% wanting learning to be “On-the-Job” and the balance preferring e-Learning.
Sales Enablement
Sales Operations has risen in the last decade as an essential element for successful sales teams. For many organizations, sales operations are all the activities that happen behind the scenes to ensure customer expectations are met or exceeded. Today, progressive sales organizations are rebranding themselves using the term “Sales Enablement” since it is more descriptive and includes providing the sales force with all the tools and technology they need to succeed. Sales Enablement is also involved in creating and overseeing the rituals and habits that help drive transformation, since those rituals and habits form the behaviors that contribute to culture change.
Questions to Consider:
- How do you use technology and other tools to enable how well the salesperson performs?
- Is the CRM used for forecasting? If not, what technology do you use to measure the pipeline?
- To what extent are you using technology to reinforce workforce learning?
- What type of ‘online playbook’ have you created for the sales force to access?
Next Up: Mindsets