We live in the age of self-service buying, where prospects collect enough information before contacting a vendor. Hence, relying on traditional sales enablement methods is not enough. Carson Conant, founder & CEO of Mediafly, discusses how revenue enablement boosts B2B sales teams’ performance.Â
Gone are the days when B2B revenue teams operated in silos, moving potential buyers prescriptively along a clear, linear journey. It is now the age of digital and self-service buying, where B2B buyers collect enough information to make 83% of their purchase decisionOpens a new window before they reach out to a vendor.
That leaves revenue teams — sales, marketing and post-sales — struggling to maintain the control and influence they once exerted over the buying decision.Â
Traditional sales enablement using persona-based training, use case content or post-call coaching can support the sales team in recapturing that influence. But relying only on traditional methods that do not include digital buying signals will not suffice. Within complex sales cycles, this approach puts sellers at risk of missing the mark with buyers and potentially losing the deal.Â
Building a better buying journey and winning more deals means breaking marketing, sales and post-sales teams out of their silos and creating a culture where they are working toward the same goal: revenue. To do so, revenue teams need an insights-driven model that provides a full view of their pipeline plus the tools, content, and prescriptive insights to close more deals, drive upsell opportunities and prevent customer churn. That is the power revenue enablement offers.
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Where Traditional Sales Enablement Falters
Economic instability, complex purchase requirements and the digital/self-serve nature of the buyer journey have made it more difficult for revenue teams to close deals. And while helpful, traditional sales enablement is no longer enough to steer them over the finish line. Here’s why:Â
- It keeps data siloed. The whole revenue team must share information, tools and content to move buyers down the pipeline. But if information exists in disparate places, it is difficult for everyone to access what they need.
- It does not offer advanced insights to personalize the buying journey. For example, marketers rely on sending compelling content at the right stage to entice buyers. But without an understanding of the buyer and where they are in their journey, marketers can struggle with execution: if the team has great content but delivers it at the wrong time, they will not move deals forward.
- It also does not help revenue teams identify and prioritize deals most likely to close. Without insight into why a buying step is not converting as planned, teams will struggle to make adjustments that lead to better win rates.
Traditional sales enablement does not deliver the data and insights teams need to understand the entire buyer journey and communicate effectively with buyers. Revenue teams facing a more complicated selling environment need a better model to help their buyers navigate the new buying journey.
Revenue Enablement Streamlines the Customer Journey
Revenue enablement aligns all commercial teams with the insights, content, and technology to better predict, coach, engage, and execute across the customer journey.
Buyers are sending signals at every touchpoint. They are telling you how interested they are, what motivates them and how urgently they need to decide. Teams that leverage the insights can accelerate purchase decisions and improve win rates.
Revenue enablement breaks through silos to collect all activity and engagement signals across the customer lifecycle, including:
- Email activity: Did they respond to your email within hours or wait weeks?
- Content shares and engagement: Did they share the proposal with others or spend most of their time on a specific page?Â
- Meetings and call recordings: Did your seller speak more than the buyer? Did the buyer ask about specific competitors?Â
- Buyer intent: Is the buyer searching for your competitors? Even worse, is a current customer evaluating alternative solutions?Â
- Value assessments: Can your solution solve critical or time-sensitive business challenges for the buyer? Can an existing customer get additional value from your solution if they extend the capabilities to a new team?Â
These data points inform AI-powered technology that generates insights about each deal — what opportunities should the team focus on? How engaged is the buyer? What next best step should teams take? An insights-driven model offers revenue teams the visibility, agility and predictability needed to respond to these questions and more.
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Where Teams Benefit From Revenue Enablement
Revenue enablement helps revenue teams by offering a data-backed roadmap to make team members better at their jobs. For example, marketers know what content prospects engage with and how different pieces impact the sales cycle. They can deliver the right content at the right time to better connect with buyers. Sales reps can prioritize sales efforts on deals most likely to close and adopt proven best practices to move deals forward. Sales leaders can identify where reps need additional coaching and forecast more accurately.
Activity-level data empowers teams to create personalized, value-based experiences that accelerate pipeline velocity and build buyers’ confidence in your offering. Revenue enablement removes the silos of the past so that everyone charged with producing revenue has the resources to move deals forward.Â
The buying journey has gone digital, and revenue teams must shift to revenue enablement if they want to take back control, keep teams running at peak performance, and boost their win rates.Â
Have you incorporated revenue enablement in your organization? How has it impacted your sales teams’ performance? Let us know on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .
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