Understanding the Shift from Sales Management to Sales Enablement Whitepaper

Sales Enablement is a discipline that has obtained more and more traction in the last five years following the wave of digitalization. New technologies have modified market dynamics in favor of buyers and made it harder for salespeople to sell and compete against each other. If you would like to know more about what sales enablement entails, download our latest Sales Enablement Whitepaper entitled, "Understanding the Shift from Sales Management to Sales Enablement" below.

In the last five years, Sales Enablement activities have gained significant traction, and large and small companies around the globe have started to integrate this function into their businesses. In the US alone, there are now over 150 thousand people with the words "Sales Enablement" in their working title on LinkedIn.

In the B2C environment, the advent of the Internet and new technologies brought tremendous changes for both buyers and sellers over the past 20 years: online shopping, the use of CRM systems, and comparison websites are just a few examples of our rapidly progressing sales environments where the human factor gives way to algorithms, analytics, and an increasingly globalized marketplace. By having access to more information on the products and services, as well as their alternatives, buyers' power has escalated, with profound consequences for salespeople. At first, complex B2B solution selling seemed to be immune to these alterations in sales approaches, and the Internet and tech played only a small part throughout the entire buying process. However, in the last ten years, it was only natural for consumers in B2B markets to also start using technology to gain an advantage.

Times are changing. Will you change with them?

Sales cycles have become longer, more stakeholders are involved in purchasing decisions, and new agile competition has driven prices down--just to name a few consequences. Sales Management has suddenly found itself on the back foot, and many sales teams have been using out-of-date methods and tools to respond to this growing challenge. This situation has paved the way for the birth of Sales Enablement. Sales Enablement is indeed nothing new--it is merely a combination of several functions, which have been integrated to assist salespeople throughout the sales process and optimize collaboration between revenue-driven departments. Analytics, technology, training, coaching, and sales collateral all come together to even out the playing field and to create the competitive advantage sales reps need to be successful.

What's Behind Our Sales Enablement Whitepaper

We interviewed several Sales Enablement experts to understand how they view their roles and area of influence, and the way they have approached Sales Enablement to generate a positive and lasting impact on their businesses. Based on the outcome of the interviews, Kiran Gill, a consultant for PDAgroup, and Sara Lunardelli have written the following Sales Enablement Whitepaper to inform and assist sales leaders in this vital journey. Sign up by clicking the image below to have our free Sales Enablement Whitepaper packed with valuable insights sent directly to your inbox!