AMA: Adobe Director, Adobe Sales Academy, Jessica Holmes on Sales Enablement

Theory provides the groundwork and techniques in an ideal setting, while practice applies these concepts to the unpredictable real world, especially in fields like sales. To bridge theory with real-world experience, break down classroom-taught skills into practical applications for daily interactions. What is the skill that's being taught in the classroom and where else can it be used, outside of the sales process? Negotiation, executive presence, conducting discovery, etc. are all skills that can be applied to other ares of work/life. Where and how can you provide an opportunity to practice building this skill besides with your customer? Then, consider the amount of effort/scale the skill can be practiced to gain more experience: * Large scale/low touch: Use tools like AI simulations and roleplays for controlled practice. This is best leveraged when learning a new framework or skill. * Med scale/touch: Offer chances for individuals to apply skills in internal meetings and conversations where the skill can be demonstrated with others in a safe space. * One-to One/high touch: Encourage leaders/trainers to provide feedback through reviews of recorded calls or shadowing in-person meetings for timely coaching to the individual and the skill.

Leverage Simon Sinek's "Golden Circle" to understand the WHY, then align your enablement to the HOW and the WHAT. To ensure your efforts are aligned to the overall goals and objectives, start with some informational interviews with sales leaders gain more insight on they WHY behind the goals. Why = Understand the sales organization’s strategic objectives. Have a clear understanding as to why we are working toward these goals. How = Collaborate with sales leadership to define clear goals for enablement. What are the actions sellers will need to take to accomplish these goals. This can include the specific steps in a process, sales tools or product information, etc. as well as skills needed to successfully reach the goal. What = Ensure your enablement initiatives build the skills and simplify the processes in the HOW that will directly contribute to the company's WHY. Keep in mind that sellers do best when understanding the reasoning behind the goal and will lean into the enablement if you're aligning the HOW and WHAT to the WHY.

To foster collaboration and support sales enablement efforts effectively, it's crucial for enablement leaders to grasp the goals of other departments and their alignment with the company's overall vision. By creating enablement strategies that not only empower the sales team but also benefit other departments, we can foster alignment and cross-functional collaboration. For instance: - Marketing: Marketing focuses on lead generation and the quality of leads that convert into opportunities. By collaborating closely with Marketing, enablement can provide sales teams with insights on how to effectively engage with marketing-generated leads and convert them into opportunities. This alignment helps achieve both Marketing's goal of lead conversion and Sales' goal of generating and closing pipeline. - Product Teams: Product teams possess deep expertise in the solutions we sell. Leveraging them as subject matter experts allows enablement to equip sales teams with comprehensive product knowledge. In turn, sales teams can provide valuable customer feedback and competitive intelligence to product teams, enabling continuous improvement and innovation. By aligning enablement efforts with departmental goals and fostering collaboration across functions, we can optimize our support for sales while contributing to the broader success of the organization.

To build a strong enablement culture within the sales organization, it's important that we: 1. Understand the impact of the enablement. How will this help them do their job better/faster? Will they see the results in more time available, more opportunity to pursue, more money? 2. Allocate the time and resources to complete the enablement. Ensure you're delivering the training in the best mode possible for the highest outcome. Does this need to be delivered in person or will virtual sessions provide the same impact? Is the learning something that can be done through a job aid or process document, or will it require hands-on experience? 3. Offer the opportunity to practice and gain an understanding of the learning in a real-world application. Watching recordings of a skill can help in theory, but practical application will make all the difference in an individual's absorption of the material. 4. Demonstrate the success of the enablement. Create buy-in from leadership as well as the individual sellers by providing proof of the impact and what it means to the individual seller, their leadership and teams.

Measuring seller ramp is key to understand if your enablement is effective, but it's one factor into the seller's ramp. You need to consider the individual's prior experience, tenure in the organization, understanding of your market and product, as these can all factor into how quickly your new seller ramps in their role. When measuring enablement's effect on seller ramp, consider the following: 1. Benchmark the average time for key seller metrics (whatever those may be for your organization). How long does it take for your top seller and the average seller to hit those metrics? For example: 1. Activity metrics/efficiency: lead conversion rates, call volume, meetings held, etc. 2. Sales stage success rate: time in each sales stage, % of pipeline in each stage, etc. 3. Quota attainment: avg. attainment, time to reach 25% and/or 50% of attainment 2. Once benchmarks are established, compare new sellers against these data points. Are they reaching average seller levels in a similar or shorter time frame? 3. Also, compare new sellers against each other, considering their prior experience with skills, your organization, products, or the market. This comparison can reveal areas where additional enablement efforts are needed and where ramp time can be accelerated.