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What Is Sales Enablement and How Can You Do It Right?

what is sales enablement and how can you do it right

Key Takeaways

Sales enablement equips reps with the tools, content, and training they need to engage buyers more effectively and close deals faster.

But while it’s often confused with sales ops or marketing, true enablement aligns messaging, streamlines workflows, and empowers teams to deliver value at every stage.

The takeaway? B2B organizations that invest in sales enablement see better productivity, stronger buyer experiences, and higher revenue growth.

To increase your conversions and sales, you’ll need to help your sales team succeed.

If you’re wondering how to give your sales reps the support they need to improve their performance, you’ve come to the right place. 

On this page, we’ll explore the ins and outs of sales enablement and how to implement a strategy that drives sales for your business. So, keep reading to have all your burning questions answered! 

What is sales enablement? 

Sales enablement is the process of providing your company’s sales team with the resources they need to close more deals. In other words, it’s how business and sales leaders enable their teams to drive sales. You can enable your sales team to reach their goals by providing training, tools, ongoing learning, and more.

Sales enablement is a strategic and ongoing process that equips sales teams with the knowledge, skills, content, and tools they need to engage customers effectively and close more deals. It’s more than just providing content or a one-off initiative— it requires a holistic approach encompassing content, training, technology, and analytics. As sales processes become more complex and buyers become more informed, sales enablement will continue to evolve as a crucial function.

Core elements of sales enablement

Sales enablement is a multifaceted approach, encompassing several key elements that work together to create a high-performing sales organization:

  • Content management: More than just storing files, effective content management aims to boost seller productivity by streamlining the process of finding and delivering the right content to the right buyer at the right time. A strong content strategy also ensures that marketing empowers sales with on-brand, up-to-date materials proven to convert. According to 81% of sales executives, streamlining content search and utilization represents the greatest opportunity to unlock significant gains in sales productivity.
  • Onboarding and sales training: Equipping new hires with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed from day one, and providing ongoing training to keep experienced reps sharp. This includes product knowledge, messaging, sales skills, and effective use of CRM and other essential tools.
  • Sales coaching: Extends the impact of training by providing front-line sales managers with the tools and techniques they need to provide continuous, personalized support to their teams. Great sales coaching helps sellers apply their knowledge effectively in real-world scenarios.
  • Buyer engagement: Focuses on creating meaningful interactions between sales teams and potential customers. Effective sales enablement equips sales reps with the tools, resources, and insights needed to understand buyer needs and preferences, fostering personalized communication and building trust.

Why is sales enablement important?

sales enablement helps your sales team work more Productively, prioritize the tasks that matter most, and reach their sales quotas and goals

Sales enablement is crucial for a variety of reasons, all contributing to a more effective and successful sales organization. Here’s a breakdown of the key benefits:

Increased sales productivity

Sales enablement helps your sales team work more productively, prioritize the tasks that matter most, and reach their sales quotas and goals. By providing sales reps with the right content, training, and tools, you can help them automate tasks and close more deals in less time, leading to increased revenue and profitability for your business.

Sales enablement is the process of giving your sales team all the tools and resources they need to close more deals for your business.

Enhanced customer experience

Sales enablement can also enhance the customer experience. By providing sales reps with the information they need to answer customer questions and address their concerns, you can build trust and rapport. This can lead to stronger customer relationships and increased customer loyalty.

Improved sales and marketing alignment

Sales enablement can help align sales and marketing teams. By working together to create content and training materials, sales and marketing can ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals. This can lead to more effective marketing campaigns and increased sales.

Improved team morale

When you give team members the tools they need to succeed, they’re more likely to reach their goals, resulting in a more positive mindset.

More effective lead conversion

Sales enablement provides your sales reps with all the tools they need to effectively connect with more leads and encourage prospects to convert, resulting in more sales and revenue for your company.

How to create a successful sales enablement strategy in 5 easy steps

A sales enablement strategy is your company’s approach to providing your sales team with the resources they need to close more deals. 

Here’s how to create a successful sales enablement strategy that drives conversions in five easy steps: 

1. Establish your goals

Before you can begin crafting your strategy, you must establish your goals, so you can create a game plan to achieve them. 

Establish a realistic sales goal for your team to reach that aligns with your broader business goals. 

For example, you can set goals to reach a specific sales target for your entire team or set a target for each sales rep. You could also establish goals to improve your sales processes, like establishing a goal for the amount of time your sales reps should spend manually entering lead and client data. 

Think about any current problems your sales team encounters. You can also ask your sales reps for feedback on processes they think could be improved.

For example, does your sales team struggle to quickly find your leads’ contact details or understand the past conversations your prospect had with another sales rep?

Once you’ve set your goals, you can start planning how to enable your team to reach them. 

2. Craft your gameplan

Now that you’ve established your goals, it’s time to craft your plan and outline the steps you can take to achieve them. Consider the resources, content, and tools your sales team will need to accomplish your goals. 

For example, suppose your sales team struggles to find lead and prospect contact information. In that case, you can invest in a CRM platform like Nutshell to automatically collect audience contact details that your entire team can access at any time on any device. 

Or, if your sales reps struggle to communicate the benefits of your products or services to your prospective clients, you can create a guide that details the benefits and deliverables of your products or services. 

As a result, your reps can easily access your guide when pitching to your prospects.

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3. Create content and resources

create content and resources

The next step in creating your sales enablement strategy is to create the content and resources your sales team needs to close more deals. 

Take stock of your current content and company materials to identify any gaps or holes you can fill in. 

There are various types of content you can create to enable your sales team to achieve their goals, like: 

  • Case studies
  • Client or customer testimonials
  • Product demos
  • Product or service descriptions
  • Pricing information
  • Video guides

Think about the content you could create for every sales process your team encounters, from initial training to pitching to prospects. 

For example, you can create a video guide that shows your team how to use your software or a slide presentation with descriptions of your products or services. These resources will be critical for helping your sales team increase conversions. 

You can also consider using a content management system (CMS) to keep all your content in one organized, central location for your entire team to access. 

4. Invest in ongoing learning and development

The key to helping your sales team stay focused, productive, and positive is to provide them with ongoing learning and development opportunities. 

Investing in developing your sales team helps them improve their skills and processes to become better at their job role. 

Ongoing learning is also essential because your sales strategies and audience behavior will change over time. The same processes that once helped you close more deals in the past might not deliver the same results in the future. 

You must be adaptable and ensure your sales team has the knowledge and resources they need to continuously drive sales for your business. 

5. Use sales enablement tools

Using sales enablement tools is one of the best ways to help your team succeed. They give you all the resources you need to deliver the right messages to your leads at the right time to increase your sales. 

A few examples of tools you can use include: 

These tools help you seamlessly automate sales processes, track the progress of your goals, and ultimately give your sales team the resources that will enable them to close more deals. 

Sales enablement features for closing more deals

If you’re ready to power up your sales, Nutshell’s hassle-free CRM is here to help you get the job done. 

With Nutshell, your sales team can: 

Check out a snapshot of Nutshell’s key features below: 

Sales automation

Customize and automate your sales process by automatically assigning leads to your reps, moving each lead through your sales funnel, and sending personalized emails and drip campaigns. 

You can also give your team guidance and reminders at each stage of the sales funnel to ensure none of your leads fall through the cracks. 

Pipeline management

Our pipeline management features enable you and your reps to view where your leads are in your pipeline. You can drag and drop leads to the next sales stage and easily mark leads as won, lost, or cancelled. 

Additionally, you can view which actions you need to take next to close a deal and quickly identify hot leads. 

Reporting

With our reporting features, you can: 

  • View and track sales performance
  • Forecast your future sales
  • Monitor the sources and volume of your leads
  • Analyze lost deals
  • See how current customers and clients advance through your sales funnel
  • And more

Nutshell’s reporting and analytics features help you track crucial information to monitor the success of your sales team and inform your strategies moving forward. 

Team collaboration

Nutshell makes it easy to keep your sales team on the same page with our team collaboration features

Store all of your team’s interactions with leads and clients in Nutshell so crucial conversations don’t get lost in emails, and tag other reps in your dashboard to get more help closing deals. You can also collaborate with your team wherever you go with our mobile alerts. 

Contact management

Nutshell’s contact management features help you import all your contacts, calendar events, and emails from any source, so your team can start communicating with your audience from day one of using our software. 

We help you minimize time spent on manual data entry by syncing your phone contacts, automatically collecting lead information from your website, and scanning business cards to input information in just a few seconds. 

Measuring the success of your sales enablement strategy

Implementing a sales enablement strategy is only the first step. To ensure it’s truly effective, you need to track key metrics and measure your results. Here are some important KPIs to monitor:

  • Sales cycle length: How long does it take to close a deal?
  • Win rate: What percentage of your leads are converting into customers?
  • Deal size: What is the average value of a closed deal?
  • Content usage: Which content assets are being used most often by your sales team?
  • Training completion rates: Are your sales reps completing their training modules?

By tracking these metrics, you can identify areas where your sales enablement strategy is working well and areas where it needs improvement.

Improve your sales enablement strategy with Nutshell

Are you ready to drive more sales so you can grow your business? Nutshell is here to help. 

Our flexible CRM platform gives your sales reps all the tools and resources they need to encourage your leads to convert into loyal customers or clients. 

From collecting your prospects’ contact information to tracking your leads’ stage in your sales funnel to streamlining your sales processes, our CRM helps you do it all. 

Plus, you can keep your entire sales team on the same page by allowing any team member to access these essential details at any time from any device.

Ready to grow your business with Nutshell? Get started with your free trial!

Photo by Josh Calabrese on Unsplash

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