The marketing and sales model is forever evolving. Marketing and Sales weren’t always on the same team. Marketing executed campaigns while Sales acted on prospects thought to be ready for the face-to-face interaction. There was never a real collaborative effort between the two departments. The model begged the question “How do we reconcile the marketing process, which is product focused, with the sales process, which is customer focused?”
Today, the selling model means something entirely different. It’s called “Sales Enablement” – the process of bridging the gap between marketing strategy and sales execution and transforming the selling model into a cross-functional discipline; or as we define it:
A systematic approach for preparing reps for the customer interaction, engaging effectively with the customer to create an engaging experience, and advancing sales opportunities to Won Business.
Sales Enablement is an ongoing process involving a host of activities designed to prepare and support the sales force. It is the process of sales reps working together with the marketing team to capture the customer at the right time with the right message using the right channel. It is the role of marketing to provide Sales with the right support materials they need to drive success and reach revenue targets.
Sales enablement is an all-encompassing effort which involves sales, marketing, training and customer intelligence. All of these efforts, when combined together, impact the customer while leading them towards the purchase decision.
Challenge
According to the Content Marketing Institute, over 90% of organizations are struggling to produce targeted, customer-centric content in their marketing campaigns. What’s more is that it is often the case that a majority of content produced by the marketing team doesn’t even get used.
The Solution
Whether the face-to-face interaction or the follow-up stages, Sales has to work in collaboration with marketing. By gathering customer data and compelling insights into the behaviors and preferences of the customer, Sales is able to come back to marketing and present its findings like what messages influenced the customer’s buying-decision most. It is the process of unifying and aligning messages from marketing to Sales that can create a successful sales funnel, and this effort is exactly that - Sales enablement.
Sales Support
Marketing has to work to provide the right tools and content to drive lead conversions. This doesn’t just happen from inquiries to marketing-qualified leads (MQLs); it has to go further into the funnel from the sales-qualified lead (SQL) stage into Won Business. The best way to achieve this is when marketing works to reach the right person, with the right message at the right time, using the right channel.
Best-in-Class performers are trail blazers when it comes to adaptive sales enablement. They are ahead of the pack because they have bridged the gap between Sales and Marketing and have gathered the right tools to enable sales to impact ROI head on.
Are you implementing the right strategies and tactics to enable your sales force?
