AMA: Zoom Head of Product Marketing, App Marketplace, Sharon Markowitz on Sales Enablement

This is a great question as it's so important to think globally but act locally to effectively develop and deliver relevant sales enablement collateral. Whether you are launching a new product, or entering a new market with an established product, it's important to get customer input for messaging and what sales enablement material will be most impactful. New product launch When working for a professional social media platform (hint: see where I posted my article below), we were launching a new product for heads of talent and recruiters. As part of getting input, I engaged regional marketers across geographies (Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America) and a global customer advisory board. Regional marketers connected with their sales counterparts as my role was based in the headquarters office in the United States. This was very helpful as the competitive landscape, regional presence, and cultural norms varied and helped to influence GTM materials. New market entry In another example, when working at a major public financial software company, I led global product marketing and relocated to Australia to gain first-hand experience in building the business in a growing “startup” region. Here is a recent article I wrote - Local Strategies for Regional Growth - that shares a strategic approach when entering a new market and partnering with sales to drive growth.

I love this question as customer advocacy is critical and should be part of a standard sales enablement program for priority launches and initiatives. There are many considerations for developing a case study or other sales enablement materials, namely the overall objective, target audience, and scope of content. Getting input and buy-in from sales will be critical, as they are a key partner and user of this content. 1. Objective: Define the goal for the content such as acquisition, upsell, or usage. 2. Target audience: Determine the geography (global or regional), segments (consumer, SMB, enterprise), industries, and persona(s) that would benefit most from the content and work with sales to identify a list of “friendly” customers to approach. 3. Scope of content: Identify the requirements for the case study and/or testimonial from key points to relevant metrics important to the customer. Here is an example: Working at a B2B SaaS company focused on making teams more productive, the pandemic had hit, and remote work was the go-to theme. However, we were still learning what this meant across industries, representing a significant problem for our customers and prospects. With a large product portfolio centered around collaboration, it was important to showcase how customers were using our products and third-party integrations remotely. In partnership with sales, we identified a target list of 'friendly' customers in the United States region, focusing on the enterprise segment within the higher education vertical. These customers were heavy users of our products with integrations covering multiple use cases. Sales provided valuable insights on which customers had compelling stories and were likely to participate. Additionally, as the company was shifting from a Product-Led Growth (PLG) model to an enterprise focus, it was important to ensure we captured this segment. For the higher education vertical, we focused on the trainer-learner relationship and the staffing relationship. This helped us create content that was relevant and resonated with the specific needs of that industry.

It takes time to build relationships and here are some tips I’ve found to be helpful in my career when partnering with sales, from being open to feedback and delivering quick wins to celebrating team achievements and being a constant learner. This goes beyond the need to have shared goals and an understanding of roles and responsibilities. Be Open to Feedback When I first start working with a team, I conduct a listening tour to understand what's working well and where improvements can be made. I maintain this feedback loop through ongoing engagement with key stakeholders, using their feedback to strengthen relationships and optimize team deliverables. Deliver Quick Wins Collaboration with sales is about showcasing the immediate value of marketing efforts. This doesn't always require extensive effort—simply identifying and executing key initiatives that support sales priorities can build credibility early on. Celebrate Team Achievements It’s important to celebrate achievements with the team and recognize those who exceed expectations. Remember, budgets are not required to say thank you and recognize someone and it makes a huge impact. Perhaps this one should be first on the list! Always Be Learning Continuous learning is essential for growth. For instance, I recently completed the MEDDIC sales methodology training, widely used in enterprise settings. Find what you are passionate about and deepen your expertise.

As you are seeking solutions to reinforce training materials on a product launch or key initiatives, it is always helpful to initially understand why this is necessary. A brief survey and/or conversation with the sales leads that you are supporting can further direct so you can effectively optimize existing sales enablement efforts. There are different objectives and roles within sales (e.g. account executives, business development managers, and customer relationship managers) that need to be supported appropriately. Some ideas for evaluating knowledgebase & re-inforcing training could include: * Product certification: If it's a new product launch, and fairly technical, it may be important for all those in customer-facing roles to be certified. * Assessment Quizzes: Engaging, short, and meaningful quizzes can support confidence and ensure alignment on the material that was shared between marketing and sales. Another concept related to this could be a scorecard with a bit more of a gaming component to make it fun! * Office Hours: Do you remember office hours in school? Well, this is similar, but allowing different slots for Q&A, especially if led by a peer, can be quite helpful. The format can vary based on what's most productive and effective for the team. * Customer Stories: Oftentimes, when we hear things as a story versus a core message with supporting benefits, even if relevant, it's more effective. There are many formats a story can be in from use cases to case studies

To effectively measure sales enablement success, product marketers should integrate both qualitative and quantitative methods: 1. Alignment and KPIs: Establish shared objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) between sales and product marketing teams, with a focus on metrics aligned with sales outcomes. When a common KPI like sales is leveraged, in my experience, this allows for an elevated partnership even if the ways to influence the KPIs vary given expertise. 2. Qualitative Insights: Proactively gather feedback through stakeholder meetings and surveys to identify overarching themes and optimize approach / deliverables. 3. Quantitative Usage Metrics: Utilize sales enablement platforms like Guru and Seismic to track content usage metrics. Ensure widespread adoption of these platforms to derive meaningful insights. 4. Training Effectiveness: Work with sales to monitor training completion and assess readiness for customer engagement during product launches. 5. Impact on Sales Metrics: Evaluate how sales enablement content contributes to revenue generation - such as driving lead conversion, accelerating deal closure, and positively influencing win/loss ratio. Not everything is able to be measured at an organization, so ensure you focus on what matters, as ultimately the commonality is to delight customers and drive growth for the business.

It is helpful to look at what needs to be achieved and how to achieve it to effectively ensure alignment between product marketing and sales for sales enablement. This framework may be applied to what each person is responsible for in product marketing. What Needs To Be Achieved * Define shared goals. Examples include revenue targets (new customer acquisition, retention, upsell opportunities), lead generation (target and quality), and/or product adoption (adoption and usage rates for successful launches) How To Achieve It * Understand business performance. With my first job in finance, I often seek knowledge on how the business is performing versus the plan, from sales to budget figures. Being well-informed can create more credibility and productivity when connecting with sales, and other cross-functional stakeholders. * Conduct a listening tour. I’m a huge advocate for being customer-first, and similarly, I consider my key stakeholders, sales, as a customer. I encourage product marketing to learn what’s working and what can be improved to effectively capture that as part of informing plans and deliverables. * Utilize existing communication channels. It’s best to maintain existing meetings and include discussion topics such as training, launch announcements, and dashboard reviews. * Develop a shared GTM roadmap. Priority product launches, marketing campaigns, and sales initiatives help ensure all activities are coordinated and complementary, and in part, limit the “surprises”. This would also include sales enablement collateral for review for alignment, from a sales playbook and training to customer-facing collateral. * Identify common KPIs (as feasible). At a large fintech company, one of the main KPIs for each team was revenue; as the lead marketer, focusing on prospects and existing customers was critical. While the way to achieve the common KPI was different, the commonality did deepen the relationship for greater success. Keep in mind that every company operates differently which may further inform how work gets done; this implies it may not just be solely the need for alignment between product marketing and sales. I’ve worked at major tech companies that take a general management approach to others where one function leads more than others on how work gets done.

Technology to support sales enablement will vary significantly, with key factors around product marketing’s responsibilities, size of the organization, and budget. Less is more, as ultimately, you want to ensure relevancy and team utilization (“team” utilization was intentional!). CRM systems, sales enablement platforms (from content management to account-based marketing), and collaboration and communication tools are some of the most relevant groupings. CRMs: Salesforce and HubSpot are well-known CRMs for sales, serving as a source of truth for prospects and current customers. When developing case studies, much of the data will come from your CRM, such as segmentation, geography, industry vertical, product usage, and conversation highlights. These systems are robust for strategic planning and execution. Sales Enablement Platforms: Seismic (for enterprise) and Guru (for SMBs) are popular content management platforms. Similar to CRMs, it's important to have a source of truth for sales enablement content. This is the go-to repository for sales on internal enablement (sales playbooks, buyer personas, battlecards) and customer-facing collateral (demos, presentations, case studies, data sheets, solution briefs, webinars). Account-Based Marketing Platforms: 6Sense, DemandBase, and many other ABM platforms are popular, and with companies still getting started to employ this discipline, it’s important to determine what is best for your team. This is a significant endeavor (one I’m fairly passionate about!) between sales and marketing from strategy to execution across regions. Collaboration & Communication Tools: Zoom, Microsoft, Google, and Slack are typically top of mind on communication and collaboration tools, and not specific to only sales and marketing. Additionally, Confluence and Coda are strong tools for internal documentation and knowledge sharing. If you are new to these, think of an internal Wikipedia but much better! They offer turn-key templates that can be used instead of a sales enablement platform depending on your business needs or to augment what already exists.

This is a very exciting challenge to have as a product marketer. In partnership with product and sales leadership, it's crucial to understand the relationship between the new and current buyer personas. For example, if the IT administrator is the current buyer persona and the new buyer persona is the head of a revenue-generating business unit, such as sales, there is likely a synergy since they are both part of the collective buying group for decision-making, especially if focusing on sales enablement software. To effectively manage this challenge: 1. Understand Leadership Priorities: It's essential to align with leadership on prioritization between the new product and existing solutions in both short-term and long-term. 2. Generate Excitement Around the New Product: * Persona Mapping: Begin by mapping out the roles, needs, and interactions of both current and new personas in the buying process. * Clear Communication: Develop targeted messaging that addresses specific pain points and goals of the new persona. * Engagement Tactics: Conduct webinars, workshops, and demos tailored to the new persona as training is critical. Consider leveraging customer-facing collateral that worked well in previous GTM launches with the inclusion of use cases and case studies to showcase the impact of the new product. 3. Continue Enablement on Core Capabilities: * Prioritization and Alignment: Balance sales enablement efforts between the new product and core capabilities based on alignment with leadership.