What defines sales enablement?
To some, it’s mostly a methodology wherein salespeople get the content and training they need to better engage customers.
Our friends at Gartner say that it’s “activities, systems, processes, and information that support and promote knowledge-based sales interactions with clients and prospects.”
We agree with Gartner… mostly. In our experience, the thing that truly defines sales enablement–that makes it effective versus ineffective–is technology. You can have all the activities and methodologies you want, but if there’s no technological “through line,” you have mostly, well, words.
There are myriad technologies that describe themselves as being for sales enablement: content development apps, list building sites, e-signature software… the list is virtually endless. But one sales enablement tool consistently rises to the top and, in most cases, is the platform on to which other sales enablement applications are added: CRM.
Why is CRM the #1 sales enablement tool?
Simply put, it’s the hub (nod to HubSpot on nailing it). It’s the foundation. It’s where every sales prospect lives (or should live), every sales campaign, every sales call, and–finally–every sale.
While CRM doesn’t necessarily automate sales tasks (nurture campaigns and the like being exceptions), it does help expedite many sales workflows and centralize sales data. And it’s that second point that’s a critical component to every sales enablement process: centralized, unified, and widely available sales data is how reps and managers alike verify the efficacy of sales enablement approaches and tools.
But its #1 sales enablement tool status comes from the fact your CRM is where every other sales enablement tool or system connects. While you can run, say, Docusign or a sales quoting solution or content development app outside your CRM, it’s when you run them as part of your CRM that they become part of your entire sales ecosystem and, together, further sales enablement.
We have often thought of CRM as simply the sales enablement tool box. It matters on its own, yes, but it’s what you put into it that matters more. Which brings us to sales enablement’s second most important tool, quoting software, a.k.a., configure, price, quote (CPQ).
Why is quoting software the #2 sales enablement tool?
Have you ever written a sales quote from scratch? Ever populated a spreadsheet or Word doc with products and pricing, then saved as a PDF, then sent via Outlook or Gmail? Time consuming. Sloppy.
Or have you ever used what’s in most CRM systems to create and send a quote? Have you seen what that quote actually looks like on the customer’s end? Have you been able to carefully track its progress from sent to signed? Bland proposal. Vague information.
Chances are you’ve done both. And chances are you’ve had some success, too, gotten some deals done. But if you’ve ever used quoting software, chances are you’ve had a TON of success and gotten more deals done.
In fact, one company reports closing rate increases of 36% by using CPQ. THIRTY SIX PERCENT MORE. That’s not for nothing.
But why/how/what does quoting software do that the old methods of spreadsheet and CRM alone don’t? Here are four fast and easy reasons:
Professional sales proposal templates: You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and using quoting software to create your quotes means starting with a killer template that builds your brand and captures eyeballs.
Product and pricing configurator: The engine inside quoting software, where pricing is centrally administered, where bundles/cross-sells/upsells/upgrades are pre-built for reps, where adding the right product configurations and the most competitive prices is as easy as drag and drop.
Granular sales quote tracking: CRM systems typically only let you see what was sent and what was signed (or lost). But CPQ lets you dig deeper, see where quotes may be getting bottlenecked, and make changes during the process.
CRM integration: Finally, CPQ rises to its position as a necessary sales enablement tool by a seamless, single sign-on integration with CRM, making it feel like a feature rather than a separate application, which helps increase adoption across the enterprise.
#1 CRM. #2 CPQ. What’s the number 3 sales enablement resource? Some might look for another app, but for us, it’s always the people. And when you give the people right tools, closing more deals is as easy as 1-2-3.
