Understanding Sales Enablement: one of the pillars of sales performance
In an increasingly competitive business environment, a company’s success depends on its agility and process optimization. Sales enablement has emerged as an essential strategic field since it gives sales teams the tools, content, and training they need to become more effective.
To illustrate the concept of sales enablement, think of a pilot who needs copilots, maps, and weather information for a successful flight. The Sales Enablement Manager is like a copilot for sales teams, providing them with the resources they need at the right time. Sales Enablement Managers do not directly make sales. Their role is to ensure that the sales teams have all the resources they need to interact effectively with their prospects and make sales faster.
Let's take a deep dive into the field with two experts: Boris Auché, Head of Sales Enablement at Eviden, and Anne Bluteau, CEO of Sweetshow, a sales enablement platform.
Background and emergence of sales enablement
“Sales enablement is the ability to provide sales representatives with the tools, content, and training to help them sell more effectively,” says Boris Auché, an expert in the field and a lecturer in the emlyon business school MSc in Global Sales Excellence program.
Sales enablement occupies a strategic niche between marketing and sales, ensuring that sales representatives have the right information and resources to engage and convert prospects more effectively. Sales enablement integrates data analysis and digital tools to boost productivity and sales performance and enhance the customer experience.
The field emerged in the 2000s and expanded between 2015 and 2020 with the digital transformation of sales. Changing purchasing practices, particularly the increase in the number of decision-makers per transaction—from five in 2019 to eleven today—and the expanding volume of information have made sales enablement key to optimizing sales processes. Purchasers are increasingly independent, completing up to 70% of their purchasing journey before contacting a salesperson. They are looking for personalized experiences and relevant content, a shift that is pushing companies to adjust their sales teams.
“Sales enablement is much more common in the US and the UK, where productivity and sales velocity are seen as obvious. Sales teams in those countries are focused on selling,” says Anne Bluteau, founder of a French sales enablement platform.
In France and elsewhere in Europe, this transition is already well under way in highly competitive and fast-growing sectors like tech, fintech, biotech, healthcare, and industry.
The main features of sales enablement
The importance of sales training
“Today's sales processes are increasingly complex. It is crucial to train sales teams not just on products but also on customer approaches, lead qualification, response strategies, and above all using data and artificial intelligence,” explains Auché
Effective on-boarding and continuing training programs are essential to achieve that. Personalized coaching helps sales representatives tailor their approach to individual needs, while developing the sales-specific skills often referred to as sales excellence is vital. By investing in those areas, companies can ensure that their sales teams aren't just competent but are also effective and primed to meet the expectations of today's purchasers.
Value creation: aligning sales and marketing teams
There is often a visible lack of coordination between the marketing teams who create content and the sales teams who use it. With 75% of marketing content going unused, it is crucial to concentrate on resources that are relevant to customers and usable for sales teams. Sales enablement plays a key role here by creating a link between marketing and sales and encouraging active communication and analysis of purchasing behaviors, which in turn optimizes the impact of marketing efforts.
Boris Auché illustrates the concept by comparing the role to a number 10 on the soccer field, who works to create opportunities by bringing the ball up from the midfielder to the striker. Much like this central player's pivotal role in helping their teammates work together, sales enablement connects marketing and sales efforts to turn their actions into tangible results. Anne Bluteau highlights the fact that creating fluid processes between sales and marketing is essential to make the overall organization more efficient.
Towards effective sales: using technology and artificial intelligence
Sales enablement uses advanced technologies to optimize content and sales team training. The rapid rise of CRMs, marketing automation software, and artificial intelligence has transformed access to information and interactions with prospects. Sales enablement tools have also been developed to maximize their effectiveness, including the platform Sweetshow, which centralizes sales content and measures its impact on the sales process.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is also improving access to relevant content and optimizing pipeline management by automating the prospecting process and interaction analysis. While AI can free up time and personalize exchanges, it is crucial to remember that it cannot replace human expertise because complex sales relationships require a truly personal approach. For example, finessing negotiations, understanding a customer’s specific needs, and managing the emotions involved in a sale are all difficult to automate.
As Anne Bluteau emphasizes, “artificial intelligence will play a key role in sales enablement by helping sales teams detect purchasing signals, including weak signals.” By strategically incorporating those tools, companies can optimize their sales process while keeping people at the center of their interactions.
AI will not replace human professionals in sales and marketing, but those who don't use it will be replaced!
The impact and benefits of sales enablement
An effective sales enablement program offers a wide range of benefits, particularly a better alignment between marketing and sales, which can have a significant impact, as much as doubling revenue according to the LinkedIn State of Sales Report. Companies can significantly shorten the sales cycle by improving the user experience and providing easier access to relevant content.
Sales enablement also frees sales representatives to focus on sales. Sales teams currently spend an average of 30% of their time selling and the rest on administrative tasks. According to Boris Auché, “a well-structured sales enablement team can free up as much as 25% more time so the sales team can focus purely on sales. ”
This strategy also encourages faster integration of new sales team members, potentially halving their on-boarding time. It also helps harmonize sales messaging and improves coordination of sales efforts.
emlyon is introducing a pioneering Global Sales Excellence program
“I think something that we are very much missing in France is access to high-level sales programs that go beyond a pure sales focus to look at the entire business ecosystem. The MSc in Global Sales Excellence is really central to today's emerging sales roles,” says Anne Bluteau.
The MSc in Global Sales Excellence program is the only one of its kind in France and serves a growing need for skills in sales enablement and sales operations, fields that remain underrepresented. The program provides comprehensive training, combining international sales management, data analysis, and sales process optimization to prepare students to excel in Sales Manager, Sales Enablement, Sales Operations Manager or Sales Engagement roles.
By teaching the operational and managerial skills that are essential in sales, the MSc in Global Sales Excellence enables future sales executives to understand market dynamics and master the keys to improving sales performance in a global and digital environment.
Optimizing sales processes through sales enablement is essential for any company that wants to become more competitive and meet the expectations of todays’ purchasers. With appropriate tools, ongoing training, and excellent cooperation between their sales and marketing teams, companies can transform their sales operations for better strategic alignment and enhanced performance. That means it is essential for companies to see sales enablement not just as a bonus but as a central part of their sales strategy. With the launch of the MSc in Global Sales Excellence, emlyon business school is affirming its position as a pioneer in training for sales professionals in response to an urgent need for advanced skills in a digital and fast-changing sales environment.
