Scientific articles contain valuable management implications, but are usually not very easy to digest. We summarize the core results so that you can use the latest research findings for your company.
What is the article «Understanding sales enablement in complex B2B companies» about?
Know-how and expertise are becoming increasingly crucial in B2B sales. This is why companies are stepping up empowerment of their sales staff, in a process known as sales enablement. This refers to providing targeted support to customer-facing employees (e.g., through training and resources) so that they are able to better understand customers and secure deals with greater success.
What are the key findings?
The authors examined how sales enablement is perceived and implemented in a case study involving a global SaaS company, based on 25 interviews with employees with direct customer contact. They arrived at the conclusion that systematic enablement plays a vital role in the company’s success. However, the way in which sales enablement is interpreted and implemented varies depending on the function and hierarchical level (e.g., sales focuses primarily on training, while marketing prioritizes the creation of content). According to the interviewees the greatest challenge lies in measuring how effective training initiatives are.
What does this mean for companies?
The following levers can be applied to implement successful sales enablement measures:
- Engage all stakeholders: Involve a variety of representatives from customer-facing departments and from across all hierarchical levels to help accurately align enablement initiatives.
- Create a customer-centric mindset: Promote successful implementation by strengthening cross-functional collaboration between marketing and sales.
- Monitor performance: Measure how successfully the initiatives are fulfilling their objectives and ensure that every sales employee is involved, thus improving the performance of the entire organization..
Original text:
Lauzi, F., et al. (2023). Understanding sales enablement in complex B2B companies: Uncovering similarities and differences in a cross-functional and multi-level case study. 108, 47–64. Industrial Marketing Management.