Buying Sales Enablement Software

What is Sales Enablement Software?

Sales enablement software allows your team to manage all your sales information, content, knowledge, material, and data in a centralized location where it can be easily curated, retrieved, and accessed. Sales enablement software provides sellers with the right information, at the right time, in the right language, to address all customer needs.

Sales Enablement is More Than Data Gathering

Most sales enablement software is little more than a rebranded content management system to store existing slide decks, word documents, and other sales materials. Avoid simple "dump and forget" approaches. Organizations need versatile systems that adjust to evolving needs.

• 1. Will the platform scale to enterprise sellers?
• 2. Are values aligned with company goals?
• 3. Is the solution usage-based?
• 4. Can it deliver value within 14 days or less?
• 5. Does it use modular components for content management?
• 6. Is implementation/customization fast?
• 7. How well does it perform?
• 8. Does it function without interfering with operations?
• 9. Is it easy to use and learn?
• 10. Does it support sales training?
• 11. Does it deliver right information, right time, right person?
• 12. How does it handle data security and permissions?
• 13. What is the reliability, SLA, and uptime?

Sales Enablement Pitfalls

Key problems identified:

• Complex, difficult-to-use interfaces
• Adopting wrong solutions wastes budget
• Inflexible platforms can't meet unique organizational needs
• Poor integration capabilities limit data tracking
• Negative impact on company culture when underutilized

Sales Enablement Tool Management

The best sales enablement tools have few buttons, and deliver MASSIVE Outcomes. The seller should be able to visit a single page and answer a few questions and get the best sales materials they need in a matter of minutes.

Critical metric: A seller should be able to login to the sales enablement tool, and be able to start using it at proficiency in a matter of 5 minutes.

Expect More From Your Sales Enablement Company

Modern buyers demand more sophisticated solutions. The software companies fixing this issue are aligning their growth with the success of their customers, by adopting a usage based pricing model. In 14 days you should be able to create a capability that would allow sellers to input a few fields of data, and generate a beautiful graphic designed proposal.

Must Have a Good User Interface

The highest selling enablement practices are worthless if your sales team does not put them to use. Modern interfaces should deliver Netflix-like experiences without requiring extensive training.

Training is Key

Effective platforms integrate personalized training - sellers answer questions and receive both customer-facing materials and internal training explaining how to present them.