A successful product sale involves far more than the final agreement. Having the proper tools and operational support is essential to better enable and optimize the sales process. Think of sales enablement as an ongoing process of maximizing revenue per sales representative. To do that, companies ensure that sellers convey the right idea using the right content throughout each stage of the buying process.

Seth Kakuske, product manager at Optimally, leads the course Sales Enablement for Top-Tier Product Professionals. Kakuske draws from 16 years of product marketing experience in the software industry, where he has worked with both multinational and startup companies. He shares his expertise in a course designed for sales operations and product marketing teams.

“These two types of teams are indirectly responsible for the sales of a product,” Kakuske says. “For example, both teams need to be able to articulate the value proposition of a product. They need to identify who the target market is. Sales enablement can help effectively communicate that value proposition to that market and position your sales team for success.”

Enable, Engage, Win
Sales enablement impacts the bottom line on sales, sales support, and product marketing. In a 2022 report on sales enablement, organizations reported a twelve-percent improvement in win rate when using enablement to streamline sales processes and unify the buyer experience. Nearly half, or 48 percent, of organizations were more likely to experience high buyer engagement if they had a sales enablement process in place for more than two years.  

“Any company that is growing their sales team could benefit from this course,” Kakuske says.  “Companies want to ensure they have good systems established so new sales team members have the tools they need to start generating revenue for the company.”

Sales Support Plays an Essential Role
Product teams and marketing teams are both ultimately graded on how well their products sell. “They’re not usually the ones on the phones with the prospects trying to close the deals,” Kakuske says. “They’re trusting the salespeople to do that. It is in everyone’s best interests to make sure salespeople have every resource they need to close deals. Otherwise, leadership is going to take a hard look at product and/or marketing efforts.”

In his course, Kakuske covers helpful tools in a sales enablement playbook. This in-depth discussion helps salespeople at companies that haven’t developed this resource. Kakuske’s insights may also spur new ideas at companies seeking to add or update their existing playbook. The course goes beyond discussion. Kakuske says, “We’ll workshop a couple of items as a group, so you get actual ‘hands on’ time creating documents as a group.”

Key Benefits

• Faster onboarding time for new sales staff. Kakuske says, “The sooner they understand what they’re selling, the sooner they’ll start generating revenue for the company.”
• Ensure that messaging is consistent across sales staff.
• Build confidence in new sales staff. Kakuske says, “The reference material is available as a tool, if necessary, until they grow more adept at closing sales.”
• Clearly identify who is and who isn’t a target customer to focus marketing efforts.
• Gain insight into what works to ensure sales representative consistency.
• Increase engagement and performance among sales representatives who feel empowered and supported.
• Tailor marketing material to the right demographics for a smart use of time and resources. Kakuske says, “Sometimes disqualifying a prospect is just as important as qualifying one. There’s no sense in barking up the wrong tree.”

Kakuske says, “Ultimately, sales enablement tools are useful for salespeople to reference at their desk when on calls to ensure that they’re qualifying correctly, able to empathize, and strive to close the deal.”