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Perhaps this scenario is familiar: a group of sales-marketing colleagues settle in for an interdepartmental meeting. The marketing department is giddy with excitement and a fresh morning coffee buzz. The sales reps are watching the clock and cringing each time they hear their office phone ring through to voice mail.

Would you bet your paycheck on the accuracy of the local weather forecast for tomorrow? Surely you would not. But, when you put all of your company’s eggs in the basket of a bad sales forecast, you’re doing just that.

As 2014 winds down, we find that the world of sales enablement remains largely in uncharted and evolving territory. It’s not a game of one-size-fits-all. This presents as an exciting adventure to some sales leaders, and as a baffling no-go to others.

Are you part of the second baffled party, but are ready to debut 2015 with an effective sales enablement strategy on your side? Ask yourself the following questions. They’ll help you get your bearings in the flexible and fluid world of sales enablement strategy.

In chess, experts refer to the opening, the middle game and the endgame. The best chess players are skilled at all three, and have spent years of practice to get there. The world of sales isn’t too different. You need an opening, a middle game and an endgame. In truth, you don’t even need years of practice to get there—but you do need sales enablement solutions.

The most effective salespeople behave differently than those who underperform. Their heightened sales numbers don’t come from luck, nor do they come from tightly structured sales calls. Top sales performers are fluid conversationalists. They are students of interpersonal relationships, and it pays.

1. They explain, not sell.

Sales representatives are hired to do one thing: sell.  But what tasks fall under the umbrella of selling?

The pipeline is a widely accepted metaphor for the sales process, as it conjures a simple visualization of a salesperson’s work. Pipelines transport goods from one location to another through underground pipe infrastructures. Similarly, effective salespeople transport prospects from the position of “potential customer” to the position of “paying customer” by leading them through a carefully constructed sales process.

Discovery can be one of the most powerful tools you offer to your potential customers. The act of discovering fosters excitement, curiosity and interest. Build that energizing experience around your product and you have a recipe for an engaging sales cycle that ends in closing a deal. 

Sales enablement is about aligning the stars by hand so that sales representatives can deliver the right message to the right person, consistently. You’re certain that your sales people are delivering some message to some people, but how can you determine if it’s “right”? When a sales team has the proper sales enablement solutions at their disposal, they will exhibit the following indicators:

Speed.

Rep onboarding is a breeze. Sales rookies become engaged in quota-carrying activities and comfortably transition to sales rock stars, like clockwork. There is no “one size fits all” time limit for onboarding, but consider this: every day that a sales rep is not performing is a lost opportunity for revenue.

Effective salespeople aren’t spending time constantly entering data, browsing social media feeds of prospects or playing phone tag. They use those hours to actively sell. How much time do sales reps spend actually selling? If they are writing their own sales playbooks or Google stalking prospects, then the answer is: not enough.

Successful sales teams harness sales enablement strategies that shorten the sales cycle. That means adhering to playbooks that include: closed loop marketing with CLM platforms and highly communicative sales and marketing teams.

Accuracy.

Effective salespeople are knowledgeable about the product and up-to-date brand messaging. Successful sales teams don’t stop learning after training. No, they are continuously educating themselves about their company and product.

They’re also knowledgeable about the customer. Effective salespeople aren’t scouring Twitter because they have access to technologies that deliver valuable insight into customer accounts.

Delivery.

The best sales teams are able to deliver the right sales materials at the right time to the right person on any device. They meet their customer on the customer’s preferred platforms. That means utilizing digital sales aids to create a mobile sales force. Advanced mobile sales forces are able to recreate that synchronicity of message, timing and audience over and over again. That is the pinnacle of sales enablement success.

Is your sales team falling short in one, two or all three of these areas? The first step is recognizing that you have a problem. Do you need help finding the solution?

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