AMA: Atlassian Head of Product Marketing, Jira Align, Daniel Kuperman on Sales Enablement

The best enablement decks I’ve seen address: Who is this for? Why is this important? What is the impact of this? Action items / next stepsWhatever the subject, following the framework above will help identify the specifics of why someone should pay attention. It is also important to always keep in mind the broader context of where the company operates and if you are selling multiple products and/or have a large global presence, to make sure that the team understand that particular situation.  Fi ...Read More

Ultimately is about revenue attainment. Are sales reps being able to make their numbers? If yes, you are likely doing your job well. Now, if we look more closely at how to impact revenue attainment from a product marketing perspective we end up with the following metrics: Win / Loss rate: this can indicate if the messaging/positioning needs work and if sales reps have the right tools at their disposal. Competitive win rate: indicates how effective are the battle cards and competitive training. C ...Read More

Some of the big differences you will see include: Longer sales cycle A bigger group of buyers and influencers More focus on security, certifications, and customer proof The main change is to incorporate additional personas in the sales cycle which will include new messaging and positioning. When you go from having to convince 1 or 2 people to buy your product to 5 or 7, more work is needed.In the Enterprise market you will also be asked more questions about security, certifications, global suppo ...Read More

This is where the partnership with the sales enablement team is valuable. If you don’t have a sales enablement counterpart, then I suggest the PMM team to think in terms of the Knowledge - Skills - Behavior framework. Here’s how this works: Knowledge: what do sales reps need to know in order to be successful? Skills: how should they apply their knowledge in sales conversations? Behaviors: what activities make for a successful sales rep?This is a good framework to discuss with sales leadership. T ...Read More

When your messaging needs to be reworked there are typically multiple signs pointing this way. Not only your reps may not be getting traction, but your competitive losses start climbing, fewer qualified leads enter the funnel, and when talking with customers you start hearing more “you were cheaper than the competition” instead of “we saw greater value in your product”. Analysts (Gartner, Forrester, etc.) can also help serve as early warning signs that your messaging needs work, as they will fla ...Read More

This is done in conjunction with your sales enablement team, if you have one. Ideally you will look at the key priorities for sales enablement which you gathered directly from the sales team either via surveys (if you have a big team) or informally during a feedback session (great for smaller orgs). Part of the prioritization process involves looking at: 1. What are the most requested enablement topics or needs 2. Which of those will have the highest impact in a seller's ability to meet their qu ...Read More

When selling to developers your enablement activities are likely to take on a different focus so that the team understands how to engage in a discussion and build a community while keeping their sales pitches locked in a drawer.  It will also require in-depth technical enablement and understanding of technical use cases as well as how to answer questions without trying to sell them something.  The biggest shift might be the mindset, where the sales team needs to focus on what is the best answer ...Read More

In my view, a demo should talk directly to the persona you are dealing with. This means you need to tailor the flow to address that persona’s key challenges, needs, and the situation they live in. I am not a big fan of super-scripted demos. Every salesperson or sales engineer will have their own way of presenting the story, so I like to focus more on the key value proposition I want to make sure it gets clearly articulated at different points. Some may see a product demo as the opportunity to te ...Read More