How do you measure the success or effectiveness of your sales enablement efforts?

Here are four great ways to measure effectiveness:

• In the data --> what hard data can we look at (through Seismic, Salesforce etc.) that identifies how often enablement is used or how often it is leveraged when closing deals.

• Talking to reps --> talking directly to reps and asking them what they are using and what is the most helpful is a great way to get a pulse on enablement efficacy. Especially if you've got a trusted group of seasoned reps you can check in on on a regular basis.

• Listening to calls --> you can get into calls directly to learn how and how often enablement is used (and whether it is being used correctly and/or effectively.

• Are we winning deals --> are we effectively winning the deals that leverage enablement materials? In other words does the enablement actually work and help reps close. If not, we may need to revisit.

Determining the success and effectiveness of your sales enablement efforts depends mainly on your sales or organizational goals. However, some ways to keep an eye on and measure success rates include:

• Survey the Field: I run quarterly sales enablement surveys to understand changes in confidence levels selling to different personas, selling different packages, selling against different competitors, etc. The information here also gives me insights into gaps in our enablement so I can focus on building it in the next quarter.

• Review Win Rates: Track win rates across main verticals, ICPs, and competitors. Look for dips in those win rates and seek to understand why the gaps are occurring.

• Ask the Field: Set some time with smaller groups across the field to get honest feedback on what they need in the enablement sessions to be effective.

A bonus method would be to run win/loss surveys and interviews with customers/prospects to get a more unbiased feedback on where gaps are.

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.