Redefining Sales Enablement: Ron Baden on AI, Collaboration, and the Future with GTM Buddy

Overview

In this episode of The GAP podcast, Coach K talks to Ron Baden, Chief Revenue Officer at GTM Buddy, about the evolution of sales enablement. Ron shares his journey from accounting to sales leadership, explores why traditional enablement often falls short, and explains how AI is transforming the landscape.

Key Takeaways

Enablement Must Be Collaborative

Ron observes that enablement has struggled because teams treat it as a separate function:

"Over the last few years, we formalized [enablement], and the problem was we stopped doing it. Like, 'Hey, we have an enablement team. Let them do it.' And it doesn't work."

He shares a powerful story about an enablement leader named Siobhan who succeeded by embedding herself in the sales team rather than operating separately. She told sales leaders: "You're going to write the plays. My job is to deliver it and score it." When asked why, she explained:

"You're not going to be in every deal. How do you get your thoughts, your vision, your ideas to every rep in every deal?"

The Right Metrics Matter: The "Fourth Quarter" Approach

Ron compares effective enablement to strength and conditioning coaches in college football:

"How is it that of the 150 schools in Division I football, they all run 4.5 40s and they all lift 300 pounds, but one team goes 0-15 and one team goes 15-0?"

The difference, he explains, was how one team measured success: "There's one in the country... his charter was: in the fourth quarter of games, I want to measure you by us outscoring our opponent only in the fourth quarter." That team was Alabama, and they outscored opponents 160-40 in fourth quarters during championship seasons.

Ron suggests enablement should adopt similar outcome-focused metrics:

"Maybe what we do in enablement—we start measuring when someone rejects us or gives us a really strong objection, how well do we handle that objection?"

AI Should Eliminate Busywork, Not Distract

Ron sees AI's primary benefit as removing mundane tasks:

"How much time does a rep spend updating CRM just so a sales leader can read the notes after the call? Why does the sales leader even need to read the notes? Why can't it just be summarized from a call?"

He uses an NFL analogy to show how technology can transform efficiency: "There used to be this thing called a huddle... It would take a minute to a minute and a half for them to get that one play in. They put speakers in the helmets... We got rid of that entire process." The result? Teams ran thousands more plays per season without other changes.

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The Pilot/Co-Pilot Balance

Ron cautions against intrusive AI tools that interrupt rather than assist: "I see a lot of these co-pilot apps popping up, and my opinion is they're actually very bothersome to a seller."

He explains:

The right thing to do is allow them to ask and get the answer, just as a pilot would. But imagine if the pilot's focusing during a storm and the co-pilot's like, 'Hey, you want to know how much fuel you have?' They're like, 'No, I'm trying to fly!

‍The "Invisible Enablement" Goal

Ron embraces Coach K's "Hunger Games" analogy where enablement works behind the scenes like game makers: "They don't even know they're being enabled anymore... 'Oh, I've got content. I didn't have to go search. Awesome.' Now they're just using it. They're learning it."

The ultimate goal is seamless enablement:

"I don't want to be taught. I want to just use. Now we're in every deal. And when you get that, now you've reached a point where you're teaching and they're learning without them actually thinking it's happening."

Unified Platforms Over Point Solutions

Ron predicts consolidation in sales tech:

"What people want is this next level content delivery. They want this next level AI. But the big thing is, I don't want 90 vendors."

He sees standalone tools as less viable:

"Take roleplay, for example—roleplay relies on your content. Who's going to want to have a content management system where they write their playbooks and then rewrite that in a roleplay system?"

Leading by Example

Ron demonstrates his philosophy by taking on challenges directly:

"What I told the team was, 'Route the first 10 calls to me. Let me do them. If I can do them, I'll teach everyone else how to do it.'"

This hands-on approach earned team respect: "If I screwed up, my team was like, 'Whoa, the boss screwed up. We want to hear how he reacts to it.'" Ron emphasizes: "I always encourage sales leaders—if you can't do it, there's no way your team's going to be able to do it."

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The Future of GTM Buddy

Looking ahead to 2025, Ron is excited about several developments:

• More Realistic Role Play: "I think we're going to actually start to see a lot more realistic [scenarios]" with AI-powered practice platforms that simulate real-world conditions.
• Intelligent Content Creation: "Things like being able to write an RFP off of the content, being able to create knowledge in a great conversation."
• Complete Call Preparation: "A lot of the next-level abilities to be able to run the call, to prepare for the call really, truly, and be ready."‍
• Actionable Feedback: "Execute the call in a really good way and get instant feedback... Don't just dock my paycheck, but actually teach me how to go do it."