Essential sales enablement tools for modern revenue teams

Sales enablement for go-to-market teams

Sales enablement empowers revenue teams with the right tools, resources, and knowledge to sell more effectively. But it goes beyond that — a sales enablement strategy aligns your entire go-to-market (GTM) team around improving sales performance. It helps sellers anticipate customer needs and close deals, while giving leaders a clear focus on top priorities. In a crowded marketplace, this differentiates effectives organizations from low performers — and ultimately helps companies succeed. 

What are sales enablement tools?

Sales enablement tools are technology solutions specifically designed to streamline workflows, reduce workload for customer-facing professionals, and provide teams with valuable insights for improved performance and revenue growth. These tools include many capabilities and features – from sales content management and automation to training and coaching, buyer engagement, strategic planning, and analytics and intelligence. Let’s take a closer look at some of these tools and functionalities.

Organize sales enablement materials

One of the most critical capabilities of a sales enablement solution is sales content management,  a centralized hub for storing and organizing sales enablement materials. Beyond organizing content, sales enablement solutions also surface content for sellers, allowing them to find, personalize, and share relevant information quickly. Some tools even allow for dynamic personalization to aid in the delivery of tailored content based on the prospect’s stage in the buyer’s journey. 

This hits a key pain point for reps. The Seismic 2023 Value of Enablement Report showed that GTM leaders without enablement technology spent an average of 10 hours weekly searching for, comparing, or revising content. And 77% of respondents stated that the time they spend finding content could be better utilized to advance their team’s goals. 

The outcome of good content management is huge: 97% of leaders report that quick access to information ensures they’re better informed when engaging clients. 

Provide sales onboarding and training

Onboarding and training are the stepping stones to success in any sales role. 84% of leaders told Seismic that a little more training, coaching, or upskilling could help their teams close more deals. But delivering training at scale can be a challenge. That’s where sales enablement tools come in, providing:

• Easy onboarding: With structured online lessons and quick access to company assets, enablement tools can help reps ramp quickly, without much hand-holding from operational teams. 
• Personalized training: 45% of leaders say their company doesn’t offer coaching. Digital sales enablement tools can step in to bridge this gap with digitally hosted training sessions, interactive coaching practice, and coaching plans. This ensures that all sellers, whether newbies or veterans, can stay competitive and up-to-date.

Get insights on your sales enablement strategy

It’s crucial to measure performance and benchmark progress against past results. Sales enablement tools support teams in this process by providing insights to help optimize their sales enablement strategy. Robust analytics and reporting capabilities make it easy for teams to measure key areas, including: 

• Content usage: Gather actionable insights around content usage, such as the average time spent per sales asset and which documents are accessed most frequently. This information helps identify high-impact materials and those that may need improvement.
• Sales performance: Monitor performance indicators like the number of closed deals, conversion rates, or the length of the sales cycle. This allows you to pinpoint successful strategies and highlight areas that could benefit from changes. 51% of teams told Seismic that enablement tools save them time on finding metrics for planning and forecasting.
• Buyer engagement: View metrics such as the timeline of interaction with prospects, types of approaches that convert, and progression through the funnel, allowing reps to take actions that have the highest likelihood of success.  

Simplify the tech stack with an enablement tool

With new tools and tech emerging frequently, it can be easy for sales teams to end up juggling too many tools and applications. A sales enablement platform can alleviate this overhead, unifying functionality under one roof and streamlining workflows. This approach brings a number of benefits.

1. Consolidate tools: Centralize all your tools and applications in one platform to reduce clutter and improve focus. By simplifying the tech stack, sellers are more likely to adopt the technology and maximize outcomes.
2. Create streamlined workflows: Integrations with technologies that sellers rely on daily – like a CRM or productivity tools – make it possible to reap the benefits of sales enablement in the flow of work. As a result, workflows become more efficient, reducing complexities and boosting productivity.
3. Integrate and leverage data: Eliminate manual reporting by pooling together data from different sources, creating a more holistic view of your sales process.
4. Make data-driven decisions: Integrate and consolidate data to provide a clearer view of trends, bottlenecks, and opportunities. Flexible dashboards and reporting make it easy to dissect this data and take action.

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The value of sales enablement software

Implementing sales enablement software can significantly transform your sales operations, as is evident in the Seismic 2023 Value of Enablement Report. Leaders told us that better enablement tools: 

• Make work easier: 99% of respondents who use a sales enablement platform stated that it makes their job easier because they can manage tasks efficiently.
• Increase productivity: 88% of respondents noted that sales enablement software makes them more productive and keeps the sales machinery running smoothly.
• Drive results: 88% of users reported that enablement software drives better outcomes. 
• Save time: Sales enablement technology saves teams an average of 13 hours per week. 

Remember, sales enablement software isn’t just a tool. It promotes a strategic and efficient way of work that’s expected in today’s digital-first world, ultimately improving the effectiveness of sales teams and helping the business grow. 

Take enablement to the next level

The Seismic Enablement Cloud™ is the top sales enablement platform to empower teams with the right skills, content, and insights. As an all-in-one unified engagement platform, Seismic features six essential sales enablement tools across content management, learning & coaching, strategy & planning, content automation, buyer engagement, and enablement intelligence. It’s the premiere resource to help rapidly growing organizations accelerate sales and cultivate growth. Ready to learn more? Get a demo to explore all of the benefits and capabilities of the Seismic.