AMA: Mixpanel Former Head of Product and Content Marketing, Jeff Beckham on Sales Enablement

The more time in advance you can provide the sales team, the better. But you also don’t want to sit on new products / features that are ready to go, especially when you’re at a small and nimble company like yours. The key question is, when is the product far enough along that you know the final feature set, can demo it, and have certainty around the best positioning and sales narrative? That’s the earliest you could possibly host the training. I’ve found that doing training a week before a launch is a good balance. Then you can provide the slides, recording, and sometimes even an FAQ for them to dig into on their own. Sending a 30-second feedback survey after is a must, so you can learn where people still have questions and address them before the launch. If the launch is sizeable and you’re adding a new product line and/or entering a new market, even more lead time is better and you may need a series of trainings. Validating sales competency can happen in a number of ways. Regardless of how you do it, it’s important to get sales leadership on board first. Nobody likes to be “tested,” so you need buy-in that certification is necessary, or nobody will do it. The simplest method I’ve used is requiring attendance at a roadmap training before being able to present it to customers. On the more sophisticated end of the spectrum, I’ve worked with the sales leadership team at a few companies to run formal certifications on new pitches. That involved the sales rep’s manager, plus someone from product marketing or sales enablement on the call, filling out a rubric and delivering a pass / fail grade. As prep for that, we had a seasoned, successful account executive record his pitch for everyone to model theirs after. It helped the Sales team feel like a good pitch would drive their success, versus being something that product marketing was forcing on them. Something I’ve also tried is a learning management system (LMS). They provide a handy way to upload mini-courses consisting of slides, videos, and quizzes that reps can complete on their own time. Then you can get an aggregate view of who has completed the course and how they did on the quiz. As a rule of thumb, I suggest matching the scope of the launch to the lead time and complexity of the training and certification.

If your sales reps are already having daily conversations, you’re in luck! It means they aren’t short on time with their customers and giving you 20-30 minutes shouldn't be a big deal. You might have the best chance positioning the market research ask as something that can strengthen the relationship with the customer. If they’re already taking the time to meet with your company often, they likely are heavy users of your product and would value the opportunity to provide input into your strategy. Even if you’re trying to do research on messaging, rather than collect product feedback, you can expand the conversation to include product feedback as a way to get what you want. I've seen this work lots of times as long as it's framed the right way and you're straightforward about your intentions. I used to get nervous making these asks, but have found more often than not that customers appreciate being asked. It makes them feel like a strategic partner, and when the customer is happy, the sales rep is happy.

That’s a tough question, and unfortunately, I think it does depend on your organization. I’ve usually seen enablement added as a separate function when a company reaches the 150-250 employee range. The common change-driver is usually a big push in sales hiring, which often comes with globalization. This creates a need to decrease ramp time for each rep, build custom learning paths by level, segment, and/or region, and run trainings in more places. It can be hard for product marketing to scale to handle all of this without totally neglecting core work, like running product launches. From a business perspective, PMMs may not be the best people to own all of these initiatives if they haven’t sold before. Hiring out an enablement team with that specific background can add a valuable dimension that complements product marketing's expertise in the product and market. We added a dedicated enablement team at Mixpanel a couple years ago, then expanded it further in 2019. The way we’ve structured it is that product marketing still owns messaging and positioning and creates the majority of the materials used by sales. Sales enablement as a function is more responsible for helping train new reps and making sure that the materials we create are getting used effectively. They also focus on implementing the sales methodology, which almost every sizeable sales team has (Customer-Centric Selling, Challenger Method, etc.).

A good question to ask before starting a sales playbook is, “what’s in it for them?” Good sales reps welcome support from anyone who can truly help them, and product marketers are well-positioned to provide that type of assistance. But I’ve made the mistake many times of taking the “build it and they will come” mindset, because it was the path of least resistance. The playbooks I’ve seen actually make a difference were created with in-depth sales feedback from the get-go. Sometimes it seems obvious to us product marketers what sales should need, but it’s easy to forget about factors that we aren’t familiar with. For example, how does the playbook fit into the sales methodology? Is the information in the playbook easy to find and accessible within a typical sales workflow? Is the playbook specific enough to help people selling to different audiences (Startups vs. Enterprises, Finserv vs. Media, and so on)? If not, do we need multiple paths or versions?

A quick survey can work well. I usually use Google Forms, but higher-end tools like SurveyMonkey and Qualtrics provide a little more flexibility if you have them. Longer surveys get fewer responses, so if volume is most important, definitely keep it short. The best way to send it out is through an official sales communication. I did this recently and put it in the biweekly sales newsletter. If you don’t have one, asking one of your sales leaders to send it out will help boost the response rate. As long as they see the value of the survey, and you write a templated email for them, they’ll likely help out. Another scalable option is to join existing team meetings, which most of your sales leaders probably already have in place on a weekly cadence. Even 10 minutes of conversation can produce loads of valuable ideas. Usually, sales appreciates that you want their input and won’t be shy about telling you what they need. A key factor to keep in mind is that different sales roles may have very different needs, so make sure to get a representative sample. SDRs and Sr. Enterprise Account Execs will typically provide very different suggestions.

If it’s a specific rep you’re having trouble with, I’d recommend just having a quick conversation with them about where the confusion is stemming from. They might have some useful feedback on how to organize or disseminate content that is more in line with their day-to-day or use case. The added benefit of talking in person or getting on a video call is that they’re more likely to empathize with you. They may have good intentions (wanting to use the best materials to be effective in their role) and simply not realize that what they need is right under their nose. To speed up the “learning process” for them, try sending a link to the folder that a document is in rather than a direct link. It’s a subtle hint and also provides more context. When I have a good relationship with a sales rep I’ll sometimes jokingly say, “let me Google that for you,” but the situation has to be right for that to have the desired effect :)

The biggest mistake I’ve made is not involving Sales at the ideation stage. Too many times, I’ve thought I had a great idea for a new program or piece of content, only to find upon rolling it out that I was solving a problem nobody had. It’s always good to have a few “friendlies” on the sales team who you can bounce early-stage ideas off of. If they think you’re onto something, you can get sales leadership involved. There’s no better way to make an enablement program work than for the Head of Sales to make it a priority. At a more tactical level, I’ve learned a ton over the years about delivering sales training, due in large part to mistakes I’ve made. There are two common themes: 1. It’s not interactive enough. Sales professionals talk to people for a living, so sitting there and watching a slideshow for an hour (or longer) tends to be an exceedingly boring activity for them. They want to practice things as they’d do them in real life so that they aren’t winging it when they get the big meeting. That means live pitches, role plays, and objection handling –– or at a minimum, open Q&A. The sales leadership team will have useful ideas about ways to make your training valuable for their teams. 2. Too focused on features / functionality. I can see the survey feedback from a former Head of Sales like a blinking red sign in my head: “Help us learn how to sell it, not how it works.” Those two concepts are of course related, but sales needs the details woven into a bigger story that they can use with executives who won’t care about a new button or report you’ve added. They want to know how it leads to more revenue, time saved, lower expenses, better decisions, and all the usual types of business impact.

At every company I’ve been a part of, product marketing has always been the driver of any sales enablement done by the marketing team. I’m sure that’s not the case everywhere, but I believe it’s the norm. The main reason is PMMs are hired for a specific skill set that fits enablement – storytelling, positioning, and content production. On top of the raw skills, it’s part of the PMM team’s day job to be experts on the company’s product, market, and customers – all of which tie into the knowledge that the sales team needs. The only exceptions I’ve seen are when the enablement is related to non-product-focused topics. For example, I’ve seen a demand gen team enable SDRs on how to follow up with leads from events and webinars. I’ve also seen content teams train on thought leadership assets that can be used in the sales cycle. For example, my current company releases a product benchmarks report and our content lead built the sales content and ran the training. For product releases, I don’t have a “go-to-stack” but have a standard set of deliverables I’ve found useful in most situations (see below). Enablement software (LMS, Content Management System, etc.) can make it all easier, but isn’t necessary. One big change I've made over the years is that I now swear by Google Slides and Google Docs, after being a PowerPoint and Word fan boy for quite some time. It's so much easier to keep people up-to-date with the latest materials and messaging when you can make updates at the same link. The minute people download a PPT deck to their desktop, they'll be copying that same version for the next 9 months and missing all the updates you make. Here is a summary of product launch deliverables, related to the sales team, that I typically see: * Launch checklist: for internal alignment, usually in a Google Sheet or project management software like Asana. * Messaging & positioning doc: This is the foundation for all the launch materials. By documenting the product’s value prop, target audience, use cases, and differentiation, you can enable a team of people to execute independently in their roles. * Slides: Good sales reps and CSMs always always want to share the latest releases in their meetings, even if they’re small. Plug-and-play slides make it easier for them, and also keep everyone across the company on-message. * Training: it helps to get in a room and discuss things. The most common question I get asked is, “how do I sell it?” which isn’t as easy to convey in writing (although it’s possible). If you work with someone on the sales team to be a presenter at the training, you’ll have a credible pitch delivered by one of their peers. * Copy/paste email templates: to slot into Gmail or Outlook, or a mass-email tool like Outreach / Tout. Sales always appreciates when things are plug-and-play so they can focus on selling and not writing. * Longer-form assets: data sheets, solution sheets, blog posts. These aren’t a fit for every release, but are useful for the big ones.

If you have the opportunity to be involved, snatch it as quickly as possible! The core of product marketing is creating messaging that works, and the fastest way to test messaging is through channels that scale. SDR templates are one of those, along with digital ads and high-traffic web pages. Our rule of thumb at Mixpanel is that a unified message, either written or approved by product marketing, is the best. While you want to empower and trust your sales development reps, when there are hundreds of variations of emails, there is simply no way to know what messaging actually works. Our product marketing and SDR leadership teams have worked closely to develop every one of our outbound and inbound sequences. From our company’s overarching value props, key product messaging, and customer validation stories, our messaging is used in a consistent way – which also makes it measurable. Additionally, it’s important to trust your SDR leadership team (they live in email) to know the tactics that lead to a response (ex: best subject lines, email signatures, and CTAs). Using data, we know which emails are the most successful and can iterate on those that are underperforming. For specific campaigns, we allow for elements of an email to be personalized and rely on SDRs to create the appropriate message. We trust that they won’t embarrass the company with grammar errors, poor use of GIFs, incorrect links, and so on. They're incentivized on booking meetings, so it's in their best interest to write good emails. In addition to writing sequences, we have also created a messaging matrix that SDRs, Account Executives, and anyone else in the org can reference to know how Mixpanel should be positioned. It’s important that everyone is speaking the same language, whether they’re responsible for emails, sales pitches, or the website. At some companies, I’ve even seen outbounding report into marketing to force closer collaboration. The last three places I’ve worked did this at one point or another. The right move depends on the background of the sales and marketing leadership teams in place and the needs of the company at the time. One caveat I’ll add is that it’s best to limit involvement in SDR emails to scalable activities. If it’s just for one or two reps sending one-off emails, you’ll spend a lot of time on something that has minimal impact and creates very few learnings.

This is a fun question because I’ve seen this vary so broadly across the places I’ve worked. Step one is to make sure product marketing gets invited :) At Mixpanel, all of the go-to-market teams go to SKO, and it has really helped to create a sense of shared purpose across sales, marketing and customer success. But I’ve seen SKO be sales-only at larger companies and companies on tight budgets. You’ll likely get different answers from different people on the right level of involvement in the content by product marketing. As a rule of thumb, product marketing usually has more responsibility when the sales enablement team is small (or nonexistent). I personally prefer to be a stakeholder in an agenda owned by the Head of Sales, and only be responsible for a couple hours of content across the three or so days of SKO. Here are a couple examples of things I’ve seen PMM own at sales kickoffs: * Rolling out a new pitch deck * Deep dive on a top competitor * Bringing in a speaker from an analyst firm like Gartner or Forrester * Introducing a new product * Objection handling exercises * Product marketing plans for the upcoming year * CEO keynote Sales kickoffs are fun and product marketing usually has a key role to play. But driving the full agenda and all the logistics is a lot to take on.

The best sales reps I’ve seen rely on people and resources across the company to win deals, but these same reps are also very particular about the materials they use and the people they invite to meetings. This attention to detail in the customer experience is what drives their success. The million dollar question to ask yourself is: “How can I be a value-add? What can I provide that they can’t get from anyone else at the company?” If you aren’t sure, just ask them what they need that would make their job easier. It might be a custom sales deck for a big meeting, a new two-pager, or some highly-specific competitive intelligence. Once you deliver for them a couple of times, they’ll trust you and turn to you more. You’ll know you’re there when you get asked for advice on positioning in big deals, or even get invited to meetings to talk to customers directly. A good place to start is with newer or more junior reps. They’re most likely to welcome help from anywhere they can get it, and once you help someone win a deal, word gets out quickly. That cements the relationship, at which point you can ask for their help in testing your materials and providing feedback.

It’s exciting that your company is making the shift up-market! The first question to ask is whether you have the right people in place to sell into enterprises. Promoting the best people on the mid-market team is highly risky, although that decision is usually outside the purview of product marketing. Having a seasoned enterprise sales rep or two is essential to success because they can guide the broader organization in transforming in the way that it needs to. For enablement specifically, it’s likely that you’ll need an entirely new set of content. * Pitch / narrative: the same story that resonates with companies fresh out of Y-Combinator won’t land in the Fortune 500. The differences can be as simple as terminology (Innovation vs. Digital Transformation), but often it’s more than that. For example, enterprises will care more about things like the size of your customer base, ability to scale, and validation from Gartner, because they have a lot more to lose in taking a risk with an up-and-coming company. * Sales process: Deal cycles can be significantly longer, which means your approach will need to change. For example, at a past company SMB deals would close in 30-60 days while enterprise deals averaged 6 months from start to finish. This is fairly common and means the standard questions, like “who has the budget?” and “who needs to sign off?” are much more difficult to answer. The most fun changes are related to heavier involvement from Legal, Security, and Procurement, which make forecasting much more challenging. Mapping this all out is a great exercise. * Content: This one is fairly intuitive but applies across the board, to all your materials. For example, add logos of Fortune 500 customers to your enterprise two-pagers and decks. You’ll also likely need enterprise-specific content like RFP / RFI templates (Request for Proposal). You may also need to re-think your buyer personas if new types of people are involved in the purchase process. The right changes to make will be specific to your company, and it’s worth pulling together all the people with enterprise experience to provide input into the plan.