with
Sales Enablement
Sales Enablement has
fast become a catch-phrase
within the Learning and
Development fraternity
Like with most other trends, the risk we run is to get so carried away by all the chatter around it, that we completely miss the most fundamental ask"- "Enablement""-that is, providing sales teams with intuitive training and supporting resources that can help them increase sales results and productivity.
In other words, organizations are holding LnD directly accountable for improving sales performance.
Sounds intimidating? It needn't be. As long as we're willing to unlearn how we've been looking at learning all along - and be willing to go beyond conventional modes of delivering training.
This subject lent itself naturally to our GoBeyond initiative, because this was an area that required deeper analysis and a realignment of approach to meet the needs of our customers. We realized that there were three aspects that would need to come together in order to form the foundation of a robust approach that can truly enable sales teams to perform better.
Insightful Sales Training Resources
Learning Strategy
As companies begin to consider or implement sales enablement technologies, one question they encounter is – What should the learning content strategy look like?
Whether you’re introducing a newย product training program, improving yourย onboarding process, or working to move aย key metric, the trick is to optimizeย content creation and deploymentย for maximum results.
This requires a clear line of sight fromย expected business outcomesย toย current competencies. The learning strategy needs toย address this gap, and include mechanisms that willย make sales people accountableย for applying skills that were acquired during the learning initiative.
Formats for Learning Delivery
Support for today’s sales practitioners needs to come in the form of material thatย fine-tunes selling skills to buying preferences, in formats that are easy to consumeย on-the-go.
This involves taking aย blended approachย that relies on different modes of learning delivery to align to different learning needs.
We need to view sales enablement initiatives as a well-rounded performance support solution that addresses all stages of theย 5 Moments of Need framework. It therefore requires a healthy blend ofย formal trainingย andย on-time performance support.
Learning Framework
We believe that a big part of the solution also lies in adopting a framework that allows forย constant material updates. In other words, keeping our ears to the ground toย collate feedbackย from the field, andย adapt learning materialย to it constantly. Only this can ensure that the learning material isย relevantย andย consistently aligned to the desired business outcomes.
