We had an opportunity to sit down with Krati Seth, head of sales enablement at Whatfix. In the first part of this blog series, Krati shares her advice on how to ramp up as a sales enabler in a new organization. Let’s hear from Krati!
Joining a new organization is always challenging. As you learn more about the company, you’re also looking to build out the enablement function, create partnerships with key stakeholders, and gain credibility with the sales team.
In your role as a Sales Enabler, you are expected to develop training materials, playbooks, and courses for onboarding new sales reps. In most cases, however, there is no enablement program to ramp up a new sales enabler. You must figure it out on your own without any clear blueprint or dedicated resources.
How to enable yourself as a sales enabler
In most cases, however, there is no enablement program to ramp up a new sales enabler. You must figure it out on your own without any clear blueprint or dedicated resources.
During the first 90 days, you should create an enablement charter, build a deep understanding of your company’s solutions, achieve quick wins, and align with your revenue teams. Here are four things you should do if you’re a new enablement hire:
#1 – Build an enablement charter
Does your organization already have an enablement charter? If not, create a enablement charter that outlines your mission, the key stakeholders you will work with, and the metrics on which your team will be measured.
Using the enablement charter, you can stay focused on your business goals, outline the funding and support required for sales enablement, and track key performance indicators to demonstrate impact.
#2 – Know your product/service offering
Understanding the value of the solutions your company provides is crucial. You should find out how reps are positioning your products and services. You should then investigate how your sellers learn about your products.
As a new enabler, you can ramp up by listening to sales meetings in your conversational intelligence (CI) tool. Call recordings can help you:
- Learn how customers think about the problem
- Find out what specific objections salespeople face
- Track which competitors make it to the shortlist
- Identify how customers perceive the value of your solution
Listen to call recordings and critically evaluate the way your sellers demonstrate your product without the ‘curse of knowledge.’ You can then provide feedback that will help your sales reps improve their pitches.
It is important to know your products, but that is only half the battle. The key to closing deals is understanding your customer’s perspective. You should be aware of:
- What are the use cases customers are looking to solve?
- How does the product meet the needs of our buyers?
- How will our customers use the product every day?
It’s not just about the features and functionality in your product. You should identify the information your reps need to sell the product effectively. As an enabler, it is your responsibility to understand the product’s capabilities and communicate these insights clearly to reps.
#3 – Achieve quick wins
When I joined my current organization, I received a spreadsheet with links to over 80 pieces of content. Despite being regularly updated, the sheet was essentially a laundry list of sales collateral that was difficult to sort through.
For instance, the sheet provided links to 20 case studies. While the case studies were well written, it was not easy for reps to use in sales calls.
Here are some challenges that reps faced:
- How can I understand the talk track without having to read the entire case study?
- If I want to share a US-based manufacturing case study for a product, how can I do so without going through each case study?
Additionally, our sales messaging lacked consistency. Every time I reviewed a call recording, the deck shared by the rep was different either in content or in format.
Why did each rep use a different version of the deck created by our product marketing team?
My first priority was to ensure reps used consistent messaging and had easy access to sales collateral. In order to simplify the process of finding content for our sales reps, we invested in a sales content management system. Our revenue teams no longer have to ask colleagues or search in different places to find sales collateral.
#4 – Partner with your revenue teams
You will need to understand and align with your sales teams across different locations. Here’s what you’ll need to discover:
- How do different teams (account executives, sales development, solution consulting, and customer success) operate?
- How do we position our solutions across different segments such as small and medium business, mid-enterprise, and enterprise?
- What are the distinctions between these customer segments in different geographies?
For instance, we’ve seen huge traction for customer experience tools in India. However, employee experience products are more popular in the US market. By centralizing and sharing these market insights, enablers can help sales reps position the right solutions for their customers.
Conclusion
As an enabler, it is your job to ramp up every new sales hire. You must equip your reps with the knowledge and acumen they need to gain confidence, build customer relationships, and close deals.
Building the right organizational context is crucial to training your own reps. You should invest your first 90 days as an enabler creating a charter, diving deep into your solutions, figuring out some easy wins, and establishing relationships. Building the right foundation will help you succeed and grow.
