How do you ensure that sales teams are adequately trained on new products and updates?

Training is the easy part. The challenge is making sure reps are confident, actually using what you built, and winning because of it. A training session you can cross off a launch checklist doesn't mean much on its own. The question is whether it changed what happens in deals. A few things that have made a difference for me: Train for retention over completeness. It's tempting to cram everything about a new product or update into one session. But reps are inundated, especially in a world where A ...Read More

One of the most important skills for an PMM is to tailor our content to the audience. Working with technical products like APIs, and recognizing that our buyers and users are often different people with different technical levels means our product launch training also has to address those differences. Like most teams, we use sizing to dictate the level of effort of each launch and release by stage. Ideally, ahead of any significant launches we host live trainings at globally-friendly times for a ...Read More

Every PMM has experienced the issue of creating sales enablement materials, sending them "into the void", and not knowing how/where they're being used or if the sales team is adequately trained on them. A few tactical tips that I've used: Create a predictable rhythm: Don't just drop your launches into the ether and wait for Sales to pick them up. Have a GTM plan focused on Sales as an audience. How will they learn about the new launch? Do they know exactly where to find materials? Where and to w ...Read More

The biggest mistake in sales enablement is treating it like a presentation instead of a learning problem. The first time sales sees your enablement should not be during the enablement session. Before I train anyone, I want to understand what sellers are actually struggling with: where deals are getting stuck, what objections are showing up, what competitors are saying, what parts of the story are confusing, and what they need to sell with more confidence. So I talk to sales first. I listen to ca ...Read More

Training sales prior to a launch is a go-to-market milestone I incorporate into any of my launch plans. This starts at the beginning of your launch planning. I always align with my sales leaders to assign a primary point of contact (POC) that can represent the sales team. This might come from a sales enablement department, a senior sales leader looking for a stretch project, or other designated role based on your organization. This individual is often responsible for assisting with beta customer ...Read More