Building a sales enablement program is like building a house. Just as a well-designed layout and skilled craftmanship are essential for building a home, establishing an effective enablement program requires intentional planning and thoughtful execution.
In previous articles, we’ve covered everything from measuring enablement success to blended learning programs. In this blog post, we’ll explore the key stages of the process, drawing parallels between constructing a home and establishing a thriving enablement program. So, grab your hard hat, and let’s look at some best practices to follow and common pitfalls to avoid when it comes to laying the groundwork for your enablement program.
Stage 1 – Blueprinting: Utilize experts at Seismic
Prior to Launch
During the blueprinting phase, collaborating with your customer success & services team is crucial. Their insights into existing processes and pain points can help inform the design of your enablement program. Conduct joint workshops to gather input, ensuring that the program aligns with your organization’s objectives and outcomes. This collaborative approach will lay a solid foundation and foster a sense of ownership from all stakeholders.
Stage 2 – Foundation: Define your goals and objectives.
Prior to Launch
Just like a sturdy house requires a solid foundation, a successful enablement program starts with a clear understanding of your goals and objectives. Identify what your organization needs – whether it’s onboarding new employees, improving sales efficiency, increasing product knowledge, or enhancing customer engagement. This foundation will guide every step of your enablement journey.
- To do: Familiarize yourself with the program structure, curriculum, resources, and partners.
- Set clear goals for the year. Then, break them down into smaller, actionable milestones with benchmarks to measure progress.
- Define what success is for your program at each milestone.
- Pitfalls to avoid: Be sure to include important stakeholders and involve direct leadership of your end users in this stage.
Stage 3 – Framework: Design your program structure.
Prior to Launch
Now that you have a solid foundation, it’s time to design the framework of your enablement “house.” Develop a structured program that provides governance across your program, platform, and content, defines your onboarding processes, outlines continuous training, and includes resources for ongoing learning. To increase awareness of what content is being used, when, and why, consider the roles and responsibilities of your team members – they are the pillars that support the entire structure. Pay close attention to the resources they are using daily, like pitch decks or demos.
- To do: Identify and gather necessary learning resources.
- Consult internal partners on content requirements.
- Establish an internal process for content intake/build requests.
- Start building a governance committee.
- Pitfall to avoid: Not setting expectations with initial content owners to partner for auditing content in the future (which will help to establish the content lifecycle process)
Stage 4 – Construction: Content creation and delivery
Prior to Launch
Just as walls and rooms take shape during construction, your enablement program needs quality content. Create engaging and informative materials tailored to various stages of the learning journey. Leverage various delivery methods such as live training sessions, on-demand resources, and interactive workshops to ensure your enablement content reaches every corner of your organization. Utilizing the coaching tools associated with Seismic Learning also helps enablement teams know if the content they develop is working.
- To do: Leverage different learning elements when building lessons to target goals. For example: Include pitch practice exercises for a new product release to evaluate a seller’s skillset and knowledge. Then, provide personalized coaching and feedback based on their performance. You can also ask sellers to receive certifications for new products to ensure expertise.
- Pitfall to avoid: Be sure to leverage a tagging structure. This is visible for end learners so they can search for useful and relevant content. These also help admins search and audit content. Lessons shouldn’t be longer than 10-15 minutes or contain long videos. (Check out our best practice for micro learning).
- Try to pilot content prior to full launch.
Stage 5 – Adding art to the walls: Technology integrations
Prior to Launch
Adding art to the walls involves carefully selecting and placing the right pieces for the right spaces. Similarly, you need to thoughtfully integrate the right technologies into your enablement program. Choose platforms that facilitate learning, collaboration, and analytics to ensure your team has the necessary tools to thrive. Seismic’s Professional Services can provide valuable input on integration, customization, and user training. By building this partnership, you are not only constructing an enablement program.; You’re creating an entire enablement ecosystem that promotes efficiency across the entire organization.
Maintenance: Continuous improvement
Post-Launch
Just as building a house comes with its share of unexpected challenges, maintaining your enablement program requires navigating the occasional snafu. Embrace the inevitable hiccups as opportunities to learn and refine your approach. Gather feedback, analyze performance metrics, and adjust your strategy as needed. Remember, the ability to adapt and overcome unexpected obstacles is a hallmark of a resilient enablement initiative. Keep your toolkit of solutions handy, and your enablement “house” will not only weather the storms but emerge stronger and more resilient.
Enjoying the home you built
Congratulations! You successfully built your enablement “house.” It is not just a structure; it’s a dynamic environment that fosters growth, learning, and success. With a solid foundation, thoughtful design, and continuous care, your program will stand strong and support your organization’s objectives for years to come.
Post-Launch: Adoption + Scaling your Program
- Quarterly:
- Collect feedback + evaluation of content
- Highlight positive feedback from end users – this will help with change management
- Revisit Milestone and benchmark measurement
- Revisit governance of program, platform, and content
- 0-3 months
- Monitor log in data, lesson completion data, satisfaction of content consumed.
- Add new elements to lessons builds.
- 3-6 months
- Build certifications.
- Enable managers to leverage insights for accountability.
- 6-9 months
- Pilot for a new use case
- Enable managers of coaching tools
- 9-12 months
- Build a skills matrix
- Focus on developing specific skills or competencies outlined in your program.
- Engage in hands-on projects, case studies, and/or practical exercises to apply your learning.
What’s Next: Planning for Year 2!
- Reflect on your first year’s achievements and challenges to refine your program goals and objectives for the next year.
- Identify areas of interest for further exploration and skill development in your readiness program.
