Sales Enablement

Insights

Blog

What Classic Diners and Sales Onboarding Have in Common

Peter Zink January 3, 2017
  • Familiarity and a consistent experience put people at ease and provide clarity
  • New hire onboarding offers opportunities instill the values of professionalism, consistency and high performance in sales teams
  • To address building a consistent onboarding experience, we developed the SiriusDecisions Sales Onboarding Execution Framework
Blog

It’s Turnover Time for Sales

Nancy Maluso December 28, 2016
  • The ends of the calendar year and fiscal year are when high-performing sales reps consider whether they want to move to a new company
  • Managers have a direct ability to influence sales reps’ loyalty
  • Sales enablement should take steps to operationalize tactics for high-performing rep retention
Blog

Help Me Hire Better and Faster

Nancy Maluso December 28, 2016
  • In today’s candidate-driven market, the average time to fill any open position is 52 days – sales positions take even longer
  • The adage “time is money” is never more true than in sales recruiting; every day a territory remains open is another day with lost sales
  • A multitude of tools and applications can help with sales recruitment
Blog

Content Course Correction: Silicon Valley Roundtable

Phyllis Davidson December 2, 2016
  • A recent Silicon Valley roundtable on the topic of content revealed that many content professionals are dealing with similar challenges
  • Top-of-mind content improvement drivers discussed included cross-functional collaboration, corporate narratives and content ROI
  • Key recommendations included sparking collaboration through quick wins, crafting clear responsibility matrices and linking content measurement to impact
Blog

B2B Content Is a Pain in the Asset Management

Christine Polewarczyk November 9, 2016
  • Sixty-five percent of B2B content goes unused; one of the biggest reasons is lack of findability
  • Many B2B organizations are looking at new asset management solutions to address findability and content management issues
  • As so many tech vendors offer asset management capabilities, organizations must recognize differences and distinctions to find the right solution
Blog

Beating Distractions: Enabling Reps to Focus and Win

Peter Zink October 13, 2016
  • Technology and changes in the workplace provide plenty of distraction, and some of the work that sales reps do is best suited for a focused environment
  • Activity-based enablement offers an opportunity to examine what distracts reps
  • Surveying and observing reps daily activities and optimizing key workflows can make the difference between sales teams success and failure
Blog

The Role of Content in B2B Digital Transformation

Christine Polewarczyk October 3, 2016
  • Digital transformation fails to produce results when the right content engine and infrastructure are not in place to support it
  • Almost every B2B company needs to acknowledge the severity of its content ecosystem challenges and start working on fixing them
  • A strong unified vision and commitment among cross-functional leadership teams are required to transform the content ecosystem
Blog

So, Is Social Selling Just…Selling?

Peter Ostrow September 30, 2016
  • Even the most social media-phobic salesperson knows that participating can help then, even if they aren’t motivated enough to dive in
  • Social selling has moved far beyond “if” in terms of acceptance and understanding. It’s time for “when” and “how”
  • By understanding how to better listen, contribute, and collaborate via user-generated content, enterprises and individual contributors improve sales performance
Blog

Global Content Marketing: Putting Theory Into Practice

Erin Provey September 29, 2016
  • Large, global B2B organizations continue to struggle shifting global marketing efforts toward content marketing
  • Content marketing is supported in most organizations philosophically and theoretically, but out in the field, old habits are dying hard
  • The first step in solving the global content marketing conundrum is understanding the nature of the barriers to adoption
Blog

Put Me In… I’m Ready to Coach – Part Two

Nancy Maluso September 20, 2016
  • Even a small improvement in sales effectiveness impacts results, effective coaching is a low-tech, low cost way to do just that.
  • Coaching involves observation, communication, practice and reinforcement.
  • Sales productivity is driven by efficiency AND effectiveness. Coaching is critical to pushing the effectiveness needle.
Blog

Getting What You Want (and Need) From Third-Party Content

Phyllis Davidson September 19, 2016
  • Publication, industry analyst or other third-party content can add objectivity and depth to your content arsenal, but you need to make sure you’re getting what you pay for
  • Visualize your preferred end product, and make sure it’s something the third party will support
  • In addition, ensure you’re getting the best possible resource who knows the industry and market
Blog

Put Me In…I’m Ready to Coach – Part One

Nancy Maluso September 6, 2016
  • Even a small improvement in sales effectiveness can impacts results. Effective coaching is a low-tech, low cost way to do just that.
  • Coaching involves observation, inquiry, communication, practice and reinforcement.
  • Sales productivity is driven by efficiency AND effectiveness. Coaching is critical to pushing the effectiveness needle.
Blog

“No Excuse” Ways to Get Sales Enablement Done

Peter Zink August 15, 2016
  • Taking a “no excuse” approach means finding a way to succeed no matter what the circumstances
  • Limited resources are a reality for sales enablement teams, so find ways to make an impact within those limitations
  • There are “no excuse” opportunities can be found today in training, sales content and overall rep effectiveness
Blog

The Three Habits of Highly Effective Sales Onboarders

Peter Ostrow July 21, 2016
  • The rapid growth of the sales enablement space creates great opportunities to add enterprise value in a noisy marketplace
  • No enablement initiative should progress without defining core sales competencies, a logical hiring cadence and appropriate onboarding KPIs
  • Top enablement performers perfect the triumvirate of attracting, onboarding and optimizing “A” sales talent
Blog

What Thanksgiving Leftovers and Derivative Content Have in Common

Phyllis Davidson June 27, 2016
  • Derivative content creation is a great way to get the most from your anchor content assets
  • Base derivative content on your target audience channel and asset type preferences, in the context of the buyer journey
  • Focus on quality of results rather than content volume
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The Habits of High-Performing Sales Reps

Peter Zink June 16, 2016
  • High-performing sales reps already have positive habits built into their routines
  • Technology that leverages existing cues to modify a rep’s habits often enjoys better adoption rates
  • Process-map the daily habits of high-performing sales rep activities and identify where technology can help
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Collaborative Sales Learning: Not a Contradiction

Peter Ostrow June 8, 2016
  • Modern sellers are far more amenable to learning and sharing via peers
  • Collaboration platforms, video solutions and gamification can be effectively deployed to support long-term learning goals
  • Rich media solutions are well-suited to nano-learning and real-time, self-paced sales rep education
Blog

SiriusDecisions Summit 2016 Highlights: Sales Content – What Winners Do Differently

Kate Pierpont May 26, 2016
  • SiriusDecisions data shows that B2B sales reps are still important – and vital during every stage of the buyer’s journey
  • At Summit 2016, Heather Cole and Christine Polewarczyk stated the importance of providing content tailored to drive sales success
  • The influence of sales content in winning deals is something that B2B organizations can no longer afford to overlook
Blog

Selling Soft Drinks or Software: Common Marketing Lessons

Phyllis Davidson May 23, 2016
  • Consumer and B2B marketers share some common goals, challenges and opportunities
  • A review of corresponding consumer and B2B marketing examples is useful in understanding buyer behavior
  • Examples covered include marketing approaches for personalization, segmentation and timeliness
Blog

Why Every Organization Needs a B2B Content Audit

Christine Polewarczyk May 20, 2016
  • Most B2B organizations have no idea how much content they have, how high-quality it is, where it lives or how it supports business objectives
  • A content audit and inventory is the first step to successfully improving content strategy and operations
  • A content audit is a laborious yet critical quantitative and qualitative exercise that requires dedicated resources, executive championship and cross-functional support