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Sales enablement is a priority for many businesses right now, to the point where it’s almost a buzzword. There are tools, strategies, and even entire job roles in businesses' dedicated exclusively to sales enablement.
But is there really such a thing as sales enablement? The answer is both yes and no— sales enablement exists as a goal, and there are plenty of tools and resources designed to help with that.
That aside, however, you could easily make the argument that sales enablement doesn’t really exist as a unique entity. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
Sales enablement is a relatively new focus for many brands; fifteen years ago, it wasn’t something that was on many business’s radars as a formal job position.
That’s because good sales enablement is just good business.
We’re defining sales enablement as the process you’re already using to close deals: Different departments supporting sales, along with sales training, tools, and resources that can help them sell more. These are things that many business were already doing, and even those that aren’t fully engaged in a formal “sales enablement process” are still doing now.
Sales enablement, ultimately, is really just good selling practices. So while a strong company will enable sales as a part of their process, it doesn’t have to be an addition or an afterthought… and it really shouldn’t be.
Take a minute and think: Can you really imagine a business without sales enablement?
There would be:
These are just the result of poor collaboration, a failure to align sales and other departments, and overall bad business practices. If every time is chasing their own ball in different directions, no one is going to win the game.
So while sales enablement really just comes down to solid business practices… it’s still something that should be a priority, whether you have a formal sales enablement role or not.
Sales enablement managers are in high demand… but they may not be right or every business.
They can be expensive additions to your payroll, and some small businesses won’t have the funds available. And even once you hire them, onboarding and training can take time.
While they can bring enormous value to businesses who can afford them (often bringing in experience, strategies, and a ton of expertise regarding digital sales enablement specifically), sometimes it’s not a feasible financial option. And if that’s the case, it’s best to look at strategies you can put in place to enable sales, and technology that can help.
Enabling the sales team will be crucial to generating more win rates (and more revenue) and scaling the company. And while no one “serves” sales, it’s important that the marketing team and product team both consider what sales needs to land high-value customers. It’s also essential that executives ensure that enough budget is in place to give sales what they need.
For everyone to enable sales, you need to start by creating strong inter-department communication with both internal and customer-facing roles. Everyone needs to be clear about the following:
This will require ongoing meetings, content feedback, and check-ins to ensure that everyone is on the same page. It’s critical to have communication processes in place for things like business updates, product changes, and content requests.
To keep everyone on the same page, we strongly recommend doing the following:
Image: Free Personal Template
Content Camel was created because the founder saw a huge, gaping need in sales enablement that centered around content management.
Many organizations struggled to find content organization and storage systems that worked for them, and even if they were able to store content, their systems lacked the needed collaboration, essentially acting as B2B Pinterest boards- you can stick ideas up to access them, but that was about it.
Content Camel, however, is a sales-first content management system.
You can organize all of your content (regardless of what platform it’s created for) into a single dashboard. As you upload it, you can apply filters and categories to each piece of content (like sorting content into blog posts vs. white papers or top-of-the-funnel vs. bottom-of-the-funnel). Between filters that allow for streamlined browsing and a strong search function, your team can find any content that’s already in your system to use for sales, or to repurpose as needed.
And if it hasn’t been created, that’s okay— we have a built-in content creation wishlist feature so the sales teams can request whatever it is they need and even flag it as urgent if applicable.
You can share and locate both files and folders easily, with tracking links included. Everything is right there, and it’s the epitome of keeping everyone on the same page (literally and metaphorically). And with 24/7 online support and troubleshooting chat services, we’ll be ready to help you around the clock.
Want to see how Content Camel can streamline your sales enablement process? Get started for free here.
Some people argue that there’s no such thing as sales enablement, and they have a point. Basic sales enablement practices are just good business practices.
That being said, having a formalized approach (whether you hire someone for a sales enablement role or not) is important: Everyone needs to be on the same page about who is enabling sales and what the end goals are. Having the right procedures and tools in place can go a long way.
Ready to revamp your sales enablement process? Sign up for Content Camel here.
Get the most out of your content and deliver trackable results
Content Camel is a sales enablement tool used for sales content management. High-growth sales teams use our system to quickly find and share the right content for each specific sales situation and measure content use and effectiveness.