Sales Enablement in 2021: Where Customers and Technology Collide

By now the term “sales enablement” is no longer something new to the industry. In fact, it has long been viewed as a series of organization-wide processes and protocols that equip your sellers with the best tools and technologies needed to achieve efficiency and drive business growth.

Recently, though, the concept of sales enablement has evolved. With the ever-changing tech landscape and consumer habits continuing to shift digitally, sales enablement now requires a more flexible approach. Instead, sales enablement should now be considered a constantly present mindset among your leadership team – one that requires routine evaluation and recalibration.

Now that we’re solidly in the new year, consider these five ways to set your organization up for sales enablement success in 2021 and beyond:

• Focus on buyers. Relationships begin and sustain any business – so it’s important to understand how to develop deeper, more meaningful connections with your prospective customers, stakeholders, and partners. Tech advents in the sales enablement space allow companies to better customize decks and collateral. Instead of filling a void, however, this paradigm allows companies to develop deeper, more meaningful relationships with buyers.
• Don’t stop learning. View sales enablement through the lens of reporting and analytics. Your most savvy customers will continue to thrive in this digital-first environment, and the information that can be gleaned from their success will be valuable to your own systems and processes. Check in on your customers during this time, taking note of who stands head and shoulders above the crowd. Study their strategies and tactics to discover best practices, tips, and essential business hacks. Learn from what you see. Implement it within your own organization where it applies. Give your undivided attention to those doing it best.
• Take enablement company-wide. By thinking of “enablement” as a sales-only strategy, you risk undermining all the hard work being done across your business. Sales enablement has begun to evolve into “revenue enablement,” with organizations requiring all hands on deck to drive revenue. Optimize your buyer experience by enabling employees in all departments at every stage of the B2B customer journey. Building a consistency of messaging and seamless interactions across systems will instill confidence in your clients – which will do a lot of the heavy lifting for your sales team.
• Align budget with expectations. To get the most out of 2021 and future years, you’ll want to make sure your budgeting is consistent with your plans for 2021. Expect to continue to rely heavily on technology. Ensure that, when you invest in new tools and software, they are implemented across your organization. Don’t think of ROI in this case as instant gratification, but as an exponential payoff that will cascade through all levels of your company and nourish your business.
• Use metrics to drive decisions. With your increased reliance on technology, data-driven decision making should become your modus operandi moving forward. Extract the data your technologies gather to make well-informed, strategic business decisions around your sales enablement processes. In the years ahead, an organization will only be as strong as the tools it uses to capture information that leads to actionable insights. Data is the new king.

A former SVP of Corporate Communications for the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, Angelina Lawton has combined her passion for sports, branding, and technology to become founder and CEO of Sportsdigita, which partners with more than 400+ clients across professional sports and enterprises with its interactive presentation platform, Digideck.