Copyright 2009 IDC. Reproduction is forbidden unless authorized. All rights reserved.
Don’t Understand Sales Enablement? You’re Not Alone!
Don’t Understand Sales Enablement? You’re Not Alone!
Lee LevittDirector, Sales Advisory Practicewww.SalesAdvisoryPractice.com
© 2009 IDC 2
AgendaAgenda
• What is Sales Enablement?
• Key Research Findings
• Sales Enablement Maturity Model
• IDC Executive Guidance & Next Steps
© 2009 IDC 3
SalesSalesProductivityProductivity
SalesSalesManagementManagement
Sales Sales EnablementEnablement
CustomerCustomerIntelligenceIntelligence
SalesSalesMethodologyMethodology
Talent Talent ManagementManagement
Source: IDC 2009
Staff Planning Recruit Hiring On-boarding Training & Development Retention, Repurposing
& Replacement
FLSM & Coaching Strategy & Planning Performance Management Quality Improvement &
Change Management/ Governance
Account Planning Channel Strategy & Optimization Coverage Model
Content Creation Customer Intelligence Product Content Vertical Marketing Content Solution Content
Content Management Content Governance Content Delivery Role Based
The IDC Sales Productivity Framework
Purchase & Relationship History
Share of Wallet Role-based Intelligence Company-based Intelligence Industry/Vertical Intelligence
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Buyer – Seller AlignmentBuyer – Seller Alignment
Buyer • Business opportunity/problem• Multiple, conflicting priorities• Ability to make informed decision• Organizational challenges• Time limitations• Budget constraints• Financial pressures• Information Needs
Product/Service Offering
Seller
• Revenue targets• Share of wallet growth• Ability to Communicate Value• Organizational Challenges• Profitability/Productivity• Budget constraints• Financial pressures• Information Resources
Org
aniz
atio
nal N
eeds
Market O
pportunities
Shareholder Value
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What is Sales Enablement?What is Sales Enablement?
Sales Enablement is Often Thought to Include:
• Resource Planning
• Recruiting
• Hiring
• Onboarding
• Training
• Coaching
• Mentoring
• Marketing Collateral
• Sales Engineers
• SFA
• Executive Support
• Employee Retention
• Lead Generation
• Territory Planning
© 2009 IDC 7
What is Sales Enablement?What is Sales Enablement?
This article may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's qualitystandards.
Sales enablement at its core is maximizing the sales organization’s ability to communicate value and differentiation in clear, consistent and compelling ways.
Or without quite as many buzzwords, it is...1. ... a collection of disciplines and best practices that give your sales people the power
to more effectively communicate why your solutions are better than your competitors 2. ... the ability to keep all of your sales people on the same page when different people
in your organization talk to different buyers at each of your clients 3. ... ensuring that your marketing material that proves your clients can not live without
your services and products makes it from your marketing department to your clients
Another way to look at this is that it facilitates the communication and interaction between your marketing and sales departments so they are each able to do what they do best without stepping on each other's toes.
More recently, the concept has been expanded to the idea that any individual in the company may have information that might be valuable to a sales team. While not all material may be appropriate to show to the client, white papers on products and case studies on other clients or competitors may assist in selling at the next sales call.
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What is Sales Enablement?What is Sales Enablement?
IDC defines Sales Enablement as:
“The delivery of the right information to the right person at the right time and in the right place to assist in moving a specific sales opportunity forward”
Source: IDC 2009
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What is Sales Enablement?What is Sales Enablement?
Where does sales information come from?
• Sales People
• Other Sales People
• Other Field People
• Marketing
• Finance
• Product Management
• Peers in Other Companies
• Operations
• Tech Support
• Content services
• Customers
• Prospects
• The News
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What is Sales Enablement?What is Sales Enablement?
Where should sales information go?
• Global Account Manager
• Inside Sales
• Field Sales Engineer
• Implementation Specialist
• Product Specialist
• Services Overlay
…anyone that touches the account
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The Buyer’s Perspective
Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January 2009Number of respondents = 296
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Buyer – Seller AlignmentBuyer – Seller Alignment
Q: Thinking of your initial meeting, what percent of reps were:
Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January, 2009
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Buyer – Seller AlignmentBuyer – Seller Alignment
Q: What percent did not win your business primarily due to:
Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January, 2009
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Buyer – Seller AlignmentBuyer – Seller Alignment
Q: Are vendors in general doing a good job at “solution selling”?
Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January, 2009
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Buyer – Seller AlignmentBuyer – Seller Alignment
Q: Which one of the following areas do sales reps need to know better about you and your company in order to improve the value of your relationship with the vendor they represent?
Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January, 2009
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Buyer – Seller AlignmentBuyer – Seller Alignment
Q: Which of the following is the #1 thing a rep can do to improve the value of your relationship with the sales team and the vendor they represent?
Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January, 2009
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Sales Enablement:What does “Good” Look Like?
Source: IDC Sales Enablement Study, November 2008Number of participants = 48
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Sales Enablement RealitiesSales Enablement Realities
Q: How would you rate the overall sales productivity of your sales organization?
Source: IDC 2009
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Sales Enablement RealitiesSales Enablement Realities
What keeps your sales productivity from ranking higher? Systems and processes Tools Organizational structure, complexity and strategy Lack of leads or unqualified leads Knowledge of the sales teams regarding company’s
products/services
Source: IDC 2009
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Sales Enablement RealitiesSales Enablement Realities
What do we mean by a“High-performance Sales Organization?”
January 27th, 2009
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Sales Enablement RealitiesSales Enablement Realities
Q: Do you employ a common sales process or methodology, common SFA environment?
Source: IDC 2009
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Sales Enablement RealitiesSales Enablement Realities
What’s your biggest concern regarding sales productivity? Sales Processes Sales Skills & Knowledge Sales Support Strategy & Focus Tools and Systems Measurements Governance
Source: IDC 2009
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Sales Enablement RealitiesSales Enablement Realities
Q: On average, how much time does your typical rep spend on each of the following (in hours per week)?
High Low Average Mode Median IDCBenchmark
Customer Interaction
24 4 12 10 12 10
Prospect Interaction
20 1 8 5 6 10
Territory/Lead Development
10 2 5 2 5 5
Sales Call Preparation
20 1 8 5 6.5 15
Administrative Time
26 1 10 10 10 5
Source: IDC 2009
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Sales Enablement RealitiesSales Enablement Realities
Q: On average, how much time does your typical rep spend on each of the following sales prep activities (in hours per week)?
High Low Average Mode Median IDCBenchmark
Looking for Marketing Collateral
25 .5 5 1 2 .5
Creating Presentations, Documents for Customers/Prospects
30 1 8 5 5 5
Searching for Customer Info Inside Organization
30 0 5 5 4 1
Searching for Customer Info Outside Organization
25 0 4 2 3 1
Source: IDC 2009
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Sales Enablement Organizational StrategiesSales Enablement Organizational Strategies
Source: IDC 2009
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Sales Enablement Realities: Information ManagementSales Enablement Realities: Information Management
Q: For all of the marketing collateral and sales tools provided to the sales organization, what percent is…?
High Low Average Mode Median IDCbenchmark
Product-Centric 90% 0% 56% 50% 60% 20%
Industry-Specific
80% 2% 21% 10% 20% 30%
Customer-Specific
50% 0% 16% 5% 15% 35%
Stage of Sales Cycle
25% 0% 10% 20% 10% 15%
Source: IDC 2009
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Sales Enablement RealitiesSales Enablement Realities
Q: How is information distributed to your sales organization?
High Low Average Mode Median IDCBenchmark
Email 80% 5% 49% 50% 50% 5%
Podcast 33% 0% 8% 10% 5% 15%
CRM/SFA 80% 0% 14% 0% 8.5% 20%
*Sales Portal w/Product/Service Hierarchy
70% 0% 25% 20% 20% 5%
Sales Portal w/Industry/Solution Hierarchy
50% 0% 16% 5% 10% 50%
Other 25% 0% 7% 0% 5% 0%
Source: IDC, 2009*Almost half of all respondents had more than one portal,with almost 10% reporting 10 or more portals
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Sales Enablement RealitiesSales Enablement Realities
Q: Does your sales portal (or portals) provide the ability to:
Source: IDC 2009
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Sales Enablement RealitiesSales Enablement Realities
Q: What are the primary goals of your current strategic initiatives?
Source: IDC 2009
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Sales Enablement – Why do you care?Sales Enablement – Why do you care?
10 minutes = $57,000
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Key Issues in Sales Enablement GovernanceKey Issues in Sales Enablement Governance
Content Creation& Management
• Internal Development• External Resourcing• Structured Data Analysis• Customer Intelligence• Industry Knowledge• Product Information
Process Management &
Governance
• Requirements Analysis• “Metering” • Prioritization• Delivery Vehicle Selection & Management• Stage of Sales Cycle• Role of User• Usage Management• Behavior Modification• Metrics & Reporting
Usage
• Content Development• Best Practice Sharing• Consumption & Delivery to Customer• Feedback to Other Content Owners
Marketing Sales Operations Sales
Source: IDC 2009
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Executive GuidanceExecutive Guidance
Critical Success Factors & Best Practices in Sales Enablement Let go of your current paradigm Focus on customer buying processes and issues (i.e., the BUY cycle) Sales enablement is not enterprise content management Existing content assets cannot dictate your strategy Employ a Six Sigma type approach to identifying problems Involve sales, sales operations, marketing, IT & more Set specific goals, milestones & metrics Start small – you can achieve immediate results with simple changes Integrate SE activities with training, coaching & first line sales
management activities Sales Enablement must align with and support your sales methodology Benchmark, evaluate & improve
Sales enablement is a process and governance issue
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Next StepsNext Steps
For an impact on 2009 revenues: Evaluate your current Sales Enablement environment Benchmark your organization against best-in-class companies Identify the specific Sales Enablement processes that will help
improve your overall sales productivity Start small…but start now!
IDC Resources: Sales Enablement survey & best practices report available now Sales Enablement assessment and blueprint available on
request Sales Enablement expert community available to clients
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