Sales enablement is only effective if the salesperson is well-equipped with essential information while out in the field. But companies encounter many challenges with sales enablement processes that can disrupt the flow of work, limit effectiveness, and reduce the amount of time salespeople spend with prospects and customers. Before any company can build a strong sales pipeline, team members must be trained and equipped. To do this, leaders must reduce barriers to learning and improve the overall experience so that sales personnel can train quickly, effectively, and at any time.
With a digital LMS software, companies can reduce wasted time and improve sales outcomes by equipping their teams rapidly with digital sales enablement and sales enablement technology.
What is sales enablement?
Gartner’s definition of sales enablement is the process of equipping sales personnel to sell more effectively by distributing essential information, content, tools, and resources. In the corporate learning world, sales enablement is one of the key ways that companies must train and equip their team members to succeed.
Sales enablement resources will include essential information about products and services, resources related to target markets, and tools or guides for making more effective sales pitches. Sales rep ramp time is usually the beginning of the sales enablement process, the first step. It acquaints the sales rep with essential information and processes. But sales enablement is an ongoing and continuous process that constantly improves the salesperson’s skills and contributes to growth.
What are the challenges of sales enablement?
Sales enablement has multiple challenges, from distribution and engagement to determining the best resources to include in training. The most fundamental challenge that companies face when implementing sales enablement programs is determining the correct technology to use for learning. On the one hand, sales training is unique and separate from any other type of corporate training. It needs to be tied to sales data and tailored to each salesperson because most teams work in different locations or markets, and it must be accessible to the learner.
Other challenges with sales enablement include:
- Connecting sales training to sales data
- Integrating a sales learning platform with a corporate learning platform
- Ensuring that sales team members are engaged in training
- Measuring the effectiveness of sales training
- Scaling sales training as the business grows across regions and teams
To address these challenges and build effective sales enablement programs, companies must first address the basics: building a tech stack that supports sales training while integrating and operating in conjunction with other essential workplace systems. A digital LMS platform was built to address these critical business challenges and improve sales outcomes.
How to reduce sales ramp time through training
To reduce sales ramp time, companies must build a digital training model that provides flexibility for learners and tailors training to each salesperson’s needs. An enterprise LMS platform for sales enablement is the ideal technology for training because it gives learners autonomy. Instead of waiting for managers to assign training or for a designated learning session at a specific time, learners can log onto the platform to work through courses at their own pace. The ExpertusONE LMS platform uses AI to provide personalized training recommendations to serve each learner with courses relevant to their role. In sales enablement programs, this ensures that a team member working in a specific region only receives training and data that are relevant to their active role instead of wasting time learning about other regions for which they’re not responsible.
How to improve sales enablement content management
For companies with large and distributed sales teams, content management can be a challenge. It is not only a question of providing relevant and interesting content for learners but also a challenge of distribution. With a digital LMS platform, companies get sales enablement content management solutions and can distribute learning to a large range of learners at once. Using the ExpertusONE platform, course suggestions can be tailored to the individual learner. All of the content for the sales team is managed within a single system where training and data reporting can take place. The sales enablement experience can be managed centrally within the learning management system.
Sales enablement training may include synchronous training (like live video calls) and asynchronous training (like go-at-your-own-pace courses). With the ExpertusONE LMS platform, both can be managed at once. Our live meetings feature allows sales managers to train individual team members, record those sessions, and create new courses from them. That way, no training session goes to waste.
How to boost knowledge retention for sales enablement training
The key to boosting knowledge retention in the sales enablement process is to make training interesting and engaging. With ExpertusONE’s rapid authoring tool, companies can add interactive elements to each course, like polls, quizzes, videos, and audio content. By providing learners with multiple ways to engage with the training, companies can boost knowledge retention and can create better learning experiences.
Other LMS features can also encourage engagement and knowledge retention, like LMS gamification, which can motivate learners to keep up with training, and an integrated digital content player, which can streamline the learning experience.
How to integrate sales training technology with sales systems
The ExpertusONE LMS offers a Salesforce LMS app to shorten the path from learning to sales, connect critical sales data to training, and decrease rep ramp time. By connecting training to the sales platform your team is already using, their learning experience will be streamlined and more effective. The app ties partner and customer information to training to give sales personnel a deeper understanding of customer and partner needs. These integrations make the sales team more effective by providing the data that is essential to be an effective salesperson.
How to track and measure the effectiveness of sales enablement training
Sales enablement training is an ongoing process that extends far beyond the initial ramp time. As such, it needs constant evaluation and analysis. Instead of turning into external reporting systems or even manual reporting, companies that use an LMS for training get the benefits of detailed training reports, compliance tracking, and learner data within a single system. The ExpertusONE LMS offers two key data-driven features to help track and measure the effectiveness of sales training. Our Insights feature is an LMS reporting and analytics tool that generates quick, meaningful reports in just a few clicks. With an intuitive interface design and advanced analytics, training managers can consolidate data to find essential information easily. The Learning Record Store is our deep-dive data feature that uses xAPI standards to track, record, and manage essential learning data. The feature offers real-time dashboards and standardized data reports so that you can quickly and easily determine the effectiveness of your sales training.
With the ExpertusONE LMS platform, companies can reduce wasted time and increase sales effectiveness by creating engaging, data-driven sales enablement experiences. Our digital LMS platform offers a positive end-user experience that is engaging and tailored to the individual. As your business scales, turn to ExpertusONE to equip your team and win more sales.
Interested in learning more about how an LMS can help your sales enablement? Contact us for a free demo.
