Bringing in revenue to sustain business operations, acquiring new customers, and growing partnerships are impossible without a sales team.
Yet, several unaddressed roadblocks pose a challenge in sales. A major one is a lack of access to relevant content and insights that can improve efficiency in daily sales activities.
That’s when a B2B sales enablement framework acts as the secret sauce behind more successful deal closures and productive buyer interactions.
This guide walks you through everything you must know about building a robust B2B sales enablement framework.
What’s a sales enablement framework?
A sales enablement framework serves as the blueprint defining how you can empower your sales team with the right resources, processes, tools and technology, and knowledge for ultimate success.
So the three most important facets of a sales enablement framework are:
Source
We’ll be exploring how these three come together for successful sales enablement in the upcoming sections.
What are the benefits of a sales enablement framework?
Here are some of the standout benefits of building a sales enablement framework in a B2B setting:
1. Beating longer sales cycles
B2B sales cycles are infamous for being longer and more complex. A handy sales enablement framework can mean your salespeople have uninterrupted access to a wider range of resources and information to help them navigate the complexity and shorten the cycle.
2. Better product understanding
Sales teams dealing with complex products can use the enablement framework, which contains tailored processes, as their day-to-day guide to understand and explain the solution confidently during a sales interaction.
3. Smoother collaboration between teams
A smooth, unified customer experience results from well-aligned teams that collaborate with each other and know what to prioritize. And following a sales enablement framework makes this happen.
For example, marketing teams can play a vital role in sales enablement when they work closely with sales teams to gain a deeper understanding of their buyer journey experience and issues at various stages.
4. Optimized tech stack
A sales enablement framework is incomplete without mentioning the right tools and technology to keep salespeople ahead of their game. Building a framework lets you optimize your current tech stack for more streamlined workflows.
What are the core objectives of sales enablement?
Sales enablement is more than just “getting more deals.” It should provide the largest revenue uptick in the shortest time with the least budget.
Let’s look at some of the core objectives of sales enablement and how having a solid framework contributes to the bigger picture:
1. Faster ramp-up times
Ramp-up or onboarding is the total time it takes for sales reps to become fully productive. And sales enablement is all about leveling up your training methods, such as using interactive learning paths and online lessons to help reps hone their skills and ramp up quickly.
A survey by G2 found how sales enablement accelerates ROI by decreasing onboarding time by 40 to 50%. Another report by Sales Enablement Pro showed that 69% of organizations whose time to ramp up increased did not leverage enablement tools.
2. Increase in revenue attainment and sales quota
A 2021 report found that sales reps at organizations with a sales enablement program achieved the set quota 23% more often than reps who worked at companies without a program.
The same report suggests that companies with a sales enablement program saw an 8% and above rise in revenue attainment compared to the ones without.
3. Better alignment with marketing
An intertwined sales and marketing team is a topmost sales enablement objective as it reduces friction and boosts the chances of operating as a single department that attracts, informs, and retains customers.
G2’s recent statistics say that companies become 67% better at closing deals with proper sales and marketing alignment.
The 5 components of a sales enablement framework
A sales enablement framework is made of the following five core components:
1. Training and onboarding
A sales enablement framework can identify where the sales process gaps lie and use this to tie into sales training programs. Doing so can help customer-facing teams improve communication and know when to use sales enablement tools, such as conversation intelligence, for better efficiency.
A framework also guides sales leaders in leveraging various sales enablement tools and tracking top KPIs to optimize their onboarding time and ramp up reps faster.
2. Content management
A good content management strategy for B2B sales teams involves a wide range of content types, such as sales decks, whitepapers, case studies, FAQs, objection handling guides, and more.
Multiple studies show that reps using tailored content can see a 4-percentage-point improvement in win rates and a 3-percentage-point increase in upsells.
The B2B sales content part of the framework also aligns with the target audience’s specific needs to help sales reps improve their engagement strategy.
3. Tools and technology
A sales enablement framework dictates the right tools to automate manual sales tasks and free up sales reps’ time spent on routine activities.
Tools can involve content management, CRM, sales enablement, onboarding, sales intelligence, and more, that help deliver the right content to sales teams at the right time.
4. Metrics and performance analysis
Measuring the effectiveness and overall performance of your sales enablement program is the ultimate way to continuously optimize efforts based on factual data instead of assumptions.
For example, a framework assigns specific metrics, such as content usage, deal velocity, cycle lengths, and win rates, that every sales manager must track to analyze performance and make gradual improvements.
5. Communication and collaboration channels
Introducing your sales, marketing, and other cross-functional client-facing teams to the same communication and collaboration channels, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Groups, can boost alignment and facilitate regular check-ins.
Step-by-step guide to developing a sales enablement framework
Here’s a detailed walkthrough to setting up the above five core components and developing a cohesive sales enablement framework:
1. Training and onboarding
Cultivating a continuous learning culture via sales readiness and skill training programs is a strategic move for long-term success.
Here are the modules and best practices HR teams and sales leaders can implement to take responsibility for ongoing training and quicker onboarding as part of the framework:
Onboarding training: A salesperson’s initial onboarding period can be fundamental to long-term success. A good sales onboarding training program, which could last anywhere between 30 to 60 days, should give new salespeople the confidence and support to get them started as soon as possible.
Product training: This is another significant part of the onboarding process, where salespeople are explained the product’s positioning, features, benefits, and more.
Technology and skills: As tech stacks grow, sales teams must keep up with the changes and understand their data sources. So, in addition to training about your company’s CRM, current reps and new hires must have hands-on training on other tools and technology usage.
Market understanding: Gaining a thorough market understanding will help sales reps handle objections and foresee prospect pain points based on industry challenges. You could set up timely conferences and webinars to discuss industry trends and changes.
2. Content management
Curating B2B sales content as part of the sales enablement framework is all about letting your sales reps know:
- Who they are targeting
- What’s the digital customer journey like, and what to expect
- Where is the buyer in their journey
- What do they have to do to keep the buyer moving to deal closure
Below are some suggestions for creating and organizing sales content that supports the buyer’s journey and answers the above questions:
1. Develop a content strategy: Build a content strategy based on your target audience’s needs. Strong content assets like whitepapers, case studies, personalized sales decks, and more fuel a B2B sales enablement program.
2. Use enablement tools: A company’s data is often spread across multiple sources, making accessibility challenging. With sales assistant tools like Docket, your sales reps can have firsthand access to company-wide content so their prospects are not kept waiting for answers.
Docket seamlessly integrates with Slack, where sales reps are only required to enter a search query and wait for Docket to fetch tailored answers, such as product feature explanations, user testimonials, and specific competitor data.
3. Gather feedback and insights: Feedback from sales and support teams and content analytics insights can spot the biggest roadblocks hampering the buyer’s journey and the content type that’s most engaging for sales enablement.
3. Tools and technology
Thanks to the growing amounts of data and the need to sharpen prospect communications, sales tools and technologies are vital for improved sales productivity.
Productive sales happen when your sales reps focus on attending to value-adding activities that contribute to your company’s bottom line.
So here are a few recommendations for choosing the right tools and technologies to make the most of your sales reps’ time and effort:
- A CRM to simplify processes: CRMs simplify the sales process by helping sales reps manage multiple customer touch points. They also ease manual tasks like data entry, information look-up, and reporting.
- Smart communication tools: Smart communication tools like chatbots, email automation solutions, and live chat can help reduce manual work and ease communication. For example, a chatbot could initiate a conversation with a prospect and guide them toward a lead magnet before a sales rep gets in touch with them.
- AI and Machine Learning (ML): AI and ML are among the fastest-growing sales technologies due to their exceptional generative, forecasting, and analytical abilities. For example, AI conversation intelligence tools can help sales reps analyze their sales calls and offer insights to improve customer interactions.
4. Metrics and performance analysis
Metrics tracking is essential across sales enablement functions, such as coaching, onboarding, quota attainment, buyer engagement, content utilization, and sales performance.
A Sales Enablement Pro study of 300 sales practitioners showed what top metrics were tracked:
Here’s a short guide on implementing sales performance evaluations and metric tracking as part of your sales enablement framework:
- Get self-assessments from your sales team: This is a useful tip for getting salespeople to introspect about their work. You could set up a short questionnaire that covers their day-to-day tasks, specific sales goals for the quarter, and areas they feel like improving.
- Review sales performance metrics: Data is the best way to back your sales performance improvement decisions. So, each performance review process should cover specific metrics tracked over a period. Typical sales teams review and monitor metrics like call volume, sales cycle length, average win rate, number of leads generated, average deal size, and more.
- Define data sources for further metric tracking: Identify and inform sales reps where their data comes from, such as CRMs, sales engagement platforms, customer conversations, etc.
- Create a real-time KPI dashboard: Include sales enablement tools to give you a centralized view of your KPI and goal progress.
5. Communication and collaboration
Everything your sales enablement framework must include to ensure there’s smooth communication and collaboration between the sales, marketing, and support teams:
- A single source of truth for sales and marketing material: Sales enablement content is most effective when created and accessed collaboratively by teams. A CMS or a sales enablement platform could act as a single repository for content.
- Use of simple collaboration tools: Encourage using a very specific collaboration tool, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, and set up dedicated channels or groups for discussions. This can lead to better messaging alignment and improved prospect targeting.
- Use of project management tools: These tools can help track sales process progress and deadlines while allowing cross-functional teams to manage collaborative projects without any friction. For example, tools like Trello, Asana, and Monday.com allow task tracking and are easy to use.
Best practices for implementing a sales enablement framework
A few best practices to keep in mind to create a positive sales enablement culture and a cohesive framework:
1. Budget your B2B sales enablement process
Most companies may allocate around 15% of their marketing budget to sales enablement, although there’s no hard and fast rule. Prior budgeting can help you further evaluate and prioritize your business goals and needs.
2. Ongoing maintenance and improvement
Sales enablement is not a one-off process but a continuous cycle. Building a positive sales enablement culture needs participation from everyone, from SDRs to leadership.
This continuous improvement cycle can be achieved by:
- Making the learning and training process continuous with a scheduled learning routine
- Implementing feedback loops and setting up regular team check-ins
- Maintaining cross-functional team alignment with scheduled calls and brainstorming sessions
- Tracking metrics and setting performance reviews to audit progress
3. Adaptability and continuous learning within the sales enablement framework
Ensure your sales enablement framework promotes adaptability and a continuous learning culture.
Your teams should be able to easily adapt to technologies like AI. For example, set up personalized training programs to address each sales rep’s needs, whether they need AI help for outreach, virtual assistants for smoother client conversations, or AI tools to score leads.
4. Highlight the use of personalization across the sales cycle for maximum impact
Personalization is the key to building long-term relationships with potential buyers and, eventually, closing more deals.
And since messaging is a major pillar in sales enablement, ensure every customer-facing team member incorporates personalization at every customer touchpoint. For example, support teams can reference past interactions while solving a customer query, and sales teams can personalize their pitches by highlighting the prospect’s current roadblock.
Wrapping up
Building a sales enablement framework requires extensive behind-the-scenes effort, as well as the right training programs, tools, and resources.
Where can you start?
Add a sales enablement and assistant tool to your framework.
Docket AI learns from your top sales engineers, integrates across disparate data sources, and fastens sales cycles by providing instant answers to sales and technical queries.
