Sales Enablement

It’s old news that today’s B2B buyers engage salespeople later in the sales process. We recently surveyed veteran salespeople and found that 67 percent of them expected to be brought into the decision process when their buyers were already well on their way to considering a solution, or even later in the buyer’s journey. (Please […]

With so much growth occurring in the sales enablement space, we’d like to know what changes you see within your organization. The goal of our latest survey is to answer the following questions: What are the latest sales enablement tools and technologies? We are in the midst of a sales asset management solution boom. We […]

I recently had the pleasure of presenting to a sales leadership class at the University of Connecticut in Hartford. Many of these executive MBA students work in the financial services industry in the area. My presentation was on sales enablement, and I began by asking how many had heard the term “sales enablement.” Not a […]

There is an imbalance between content supply and content demand – organizations are spending tons of time and money generating content no one wants. Here are five tips for marketing leaders trying to rebalance their content generation efforts to ensure that key sales and marketing initiatives are fueled with the right kind of content.

Mike Ditka, the coach of the Chicago Bears described the key qualities that he looked for in a player and a person: attitude, character and enthusiasm (ACE). the same philosophy can be applied in any work environment and especially to customer-facing roles, such as sales, sales operations and sales enablement.

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important,” wrote Steven Covey in his business/self-help book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Many of you are familiar with the four-quadrant approach Covey espoused to help people understand where they spend their time. He recommended […]

Social selling is a hot topic in sales enablement, with many leaders trying to determine what tools their reps should leverage, how they should engage online with buyers, and what training and support is required. On a recent call, a client asked how SiriusDecisions defines social selling. “That’s easy,” I replied. “It’s the ability of […]

Although we all agree that reinventing the wheel is a waste of time, we do it all the time at work. We would never expect a customer to buy a product or service sight unseen, yet that is typically what we do to our sales reps every time we introduce another process, program or tool […]

I recently watched one of my all-time favorite comedies, the 1984 classic This Is Spinal Tap, a “rockumentary” following the fictitious band Spinal Tap as it tours the U.S. desperately looking to regain its lost popularity. Rob Reiner starred and directed a cast that included Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean, all famous for their […]

Last week, SiriusDecisions hosted more than 1,500 attendees at our annual Summit, held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. As a new member of the SiriusDecisions team, it was a wonderful experience to watch my colleagues in action as they presented our latest research and insights to the entire crowd. The presentations covered […]

Fully 60 to 70 percent of content churned out by B2B marketing departments today sits unused. This stark statistic underscores the urgent need for a content revolution in B2B organizations. The SiriusDecisions Content Model, a new framework introduced today by SiriusDecisions’ Summit 2013 event in San Diego, aims to help companies launch such a revolution. […]

Most reps adhere to the adage “Plan your work and work your plan.” But does your staff fully appreciate what that involves? From time to time, field marketing, sales operations and sales enablement should go on rep ride-alongs to observe and discover new ways to enable sales success. Here are some pointers to help you […]

Marketing and sales leaders know their field reps create their own mailers, presentations and sales tools; they’re just not sure what they’re doing, or why. This lack of knowledge means that some really great content goes unutilized, while some really bad content is being presented to buyers.

Just one generation ago, business communication was far simpler. There was postal mail, inter-office mail and voice mail. The first office I worked in didn’t even have voicemail. Little pink “While you were out” slips filled my cubby, which also doubled as a repository for internal memos and outside mail.

Two years ago, Thierry Breton, the CEO of Atos, a European IT services and consulting provider, announced that in three years, Atos would no longer use internal email. Some viewed this statement with skepticism, while others called it visionary. Atos’ plan is to shift its internal communications from email to a social business solution. The […]

There is a great lesson here for first-line sales managers. Too often, when managers join their reps for coached calls, they take a more active role than they should. Sensing the rep may botch the call, they jump in to save the day, closing the deal.

During a recent visit to a travel agency, I was surprised by how little the agent knew about the destination I was considering. Let’s just say there are many TV ads for this kid-friendly vacation spot, but when I asked specific questions, the basic response was, “It is a really popular destination.” This was of […]

This Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens will compete in the Super Bowl to determine the National Football League championship. While the respective coaches may come from the same family (Jim Harbaugh is the head coach of the 49ers while his brother John leads the Ravens), they deploy very different offensive systems. The […]

Think about your sales force. When reps ask where to find content, have you pointed them to the sales portal and given an answer that resembles the following: “It’s somewhere in there. Near the product brochures link, I think.”