Most viewed posts (excluding outdated job posts) for 90 days ending April 2, 2013:

Search Terms for 90 days ending April 2, 2013:

I wish you a successful year 2013!

Here are some statistics WordPress summarized for my blog:

This blog got about 10,000 views in 2012.

The busiest day of the year was April 16th with 82 views. The most popular post that day was A look at the user interface of the BizSphere Sales Enablement Solution Suite.

These are posts that got the most views in 2012.

1. Work in progress list of Sales Enablement vendors July 2011
2. Sales Enablement is the top investment area for 2010 – Who owns it inside an Enterprise? February 2010
3. Developing and rolling out apps for b2b sales people June 2012
4. define a taxonomy of customer pain points and map your products and solutions against them March 2012

However, I have always tried to cover even vendors that target small companies in my list of Sales Enablement market players.

That list had 59 companies on September 28, 2012.

In the responses to the following question on quora, Tobin Harris wrote a good one:

http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-examples-of-the-iPad-as-a-sales-enablement-tool

[...] you can get good mileage out of the iPad using apps like this:

Low cost sales enablement apps

• Prezzi mobile for presentations / slide shows
• DropBox [or Google Drive or box.com etc] for storing images, PDFs and videos
• iBooks for PDFs (without needing WiFi)
• Apple Notes or Evernote for capturing meetings notes
• Paper app for drawings and scribbles

[...]

CRM integration will become more important for sales teams. Who wants to double enter their meeting notes via the laptop?
The fact that the iPad is instant-on, lightweight and has good battery life makes it a very viable replacement for paper based sales aids [...]“

Image credit & copyright: BizSphere AG, http://www.BizSphere.com

Of course, sharing many different Prezzi / presentation files, PDFs, forms, documents, images, and other media files across a sales team of more than one person will require a lot of discipline in order to achieve that everyone presents a consistent story / look&feel as well as only the most up-to-date version. As this becomes a problem, the more sophisticated Sales Enablement solutions, that sit on top of document management systems with “version control”, “tagging from controlled vocabulary”, and “user access rights management” or can integrate with all kinds of sources, come in.

See my list of Sales Enablement market players.

“[…]

Step 3: Legacy systems—know the users and the owners.

Build a cross-functional team.

Think about existing software systems and business processes that will integrate with the iPad. The owners of those systems—on the technical, operational and business sides of the organization—should get involved early in the process. Build a cross-functional team that connects internal stakeholders with external consultants and developers.

Integrate successfully.

Get key people in IT, marketing, sales and other relevant areas involved early by creating a cross-functional team. It will show others that the idea has broad-based support. Finding allies now and keeping them throughout the iPad rollout will make it easier to navigate company policies, and it may inspire a broader mobile strategy for the organization. Involving stakeholders certainly will help with the development process and ensure a more relevant outcome.

The added expense of integration should come with higher returns, including better workflow efficiencies, more satisfied sales teams and the slick look and feel of a made-to-order solution.

Step 4: Set a realistic budget.

Engaging other departments may reveal additional ways to use iPads for sales, which also may reveal additional expenses. Use the input of others to create a realistic budget. Remember to look beyond the cost of purchasing an iPad for each person. In addition to purchasing the hardware, common iPad-related expenses that may get overlooked, include:

iPad cases	Sales people need an easy-to-hold case that keeps the screen clean.
Data plans	Talk to current and competing data plan providers.
Support	What can the company absorb and what needs to be outsourced? What support can vendors provide?
Provisioning	Make the internal app accessible from the iTunes library or an enterprise-based “store.”
Programmers	Internal or external, programmers are expensive. Use them to custom-design apps or assist with integration.
Security	Invest in encryption and wipe functionality for when an iPad is lost.
Distribution	Account for the cost of shipping “loaded” iPads to team members.
VPN	Check to see if VPN access apps are included in current services.
Integrators	Decide if CRM and ERP integration is required for success.
Apps	Plan a budget that encompasses business and pleasure.
Pilot program	Identify a subset of the budget for a one- or two-phase pilot program.

Step 5: Find or make apps that work for sales.

Unless a company has the desire and budget to build its own mobile development and support team, the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to keep pace with changing hardware and software is to rely on external developers. Developers that specialize in designing all-inclusive apps for enterprises live and breathe everything related to the iPad. These specialized vendors have worked with other enterprises, giving them a great deal of exposure to user experience preferences. They may have additional advice and ideas on the best way to securely deploy iPads, as well as their product, their product to enterprise sales teams.

Whether working with internal developers or outside consultants, make sure the people designing or customizing apps for the sales team understand what sales people need. Their understanding can make all the difference in the ultimate sales force adoption of an app. For example, does the team understand the following?

• What do sales people in their company do on a daily basis?

• How do they interact with customers?

• What does the sales process look like?

• How can sales be improved and enhanced with new tools?

Learn, adapt and deploy.

No developer team will code the perfect app the first time. An app’s success will grow over time based on user experiences from the field. The iPad is so flexible that apps can, and should, evolve with feedback. Use caution when an over-zealous IT department or developers tell the sales team what it needs or how an app “should” work. For example, sales people may discover that “standard-sized” app buttons don’t work well during customer encounters. If they need big buttons, give them big buttons!

Step 6: Test assumptions in a pilot.

A great way to test assumptions, uncover missing budget items, and reveal enterprise software integration needs is to conduct an iPad pilot. Phase 1 of a pilot might include a small group of enthusiastic users. Consider tapping people who already own the iPad for personal use or who have been especially vocal about adding them to the sales team’s tool box.

Define pilot goals.

Clearly define goals for the pilot participants, and consider how much time it will take them to provide pilot feedback. If necessary, compensate participants for lost opportunities so they can attend weekly meetings or log experiences. Let participants discover what they need to make the iPad an effective part of the sales process and daily workflow.

Don’t pilot more than four apps at a time.

Sales people have the job of closing sales, so don’t plan for users to test more than three to four apps in a pilot. Starting simple with a mix of everyday apps and one custom app is much more manageable.

 Sales people often look for app-based solutions to help:

• Manage e-mail
• Connect to the VPN
• Organize and access literature
• Navigate product catalogs
• Participate in training
• Update CRM systems
• Log expenses
• Track compensation

[...]“

You can download the full document here or follow their blog, where they discuss each step in more detailed blog posts.

Higher efficiency through focus on knowledge transfer and a more individual, target group-oriented information supply

In the new release of its Sales Enablement Solution, BizSphere has incorporated an enhanced dashboard and an additional multimedia function. Whilst previously searching for information and finding knowledge were the priorities, the two new modules now enable a more individual supply of information and a more effective transfer of knowledge. The new release concentrates on the requirements of each individual user, providing further opportunities for a customised information supply and an instructive visual presentation of results.

The new dashboard function facilitates access to information relevant to the individual user, on the one hand assembling information selectively with their interests and activities in mind. The content supplied is defined by the user through bookmarks or subscription. On the other hand, the system monitors past user activities, supporting sustainability in the use of this information.
The new dashboard function improves content governance capabilities of the BizSphere Sales Web. There are clear responsibilities for all contents (resources), so that an owner of a specific subject area can constantly monitor his content responsibilities and the need for update or rework.

The new release focuses heavily on context-driven knowledge transfer. The structure of the BizSphere Sales Enablement Solution allows information to be cross-referenced, thus facilitating cross-selling and upselling potential to be displayed. Now, these relations can be specified more extensively. The user is able to determine, for instance, whether the cross- selling opportunity offered is actually relevant to the specific client situation.

The new multimedia function within the BizSphere Sales Web reduces the sales representatives’ preparation time for client meetings. Information packages can be prepared in such a way that users can easily understand and hence use the information provided on a certain topic. This graphical layout aims to provide the best possible knowledge transfer by using text and multimedia elements. Such an information package may, for instance, include information on a product or solution release or on a client reference. The information provided in such a package is structured consistently, so that each product release or customer reference has the same agenda which determines how the information is made available. Governance and social functions are also made available to the user in this new multimedia view.

As part of the One Cisco strategy, Cisco Capital has adopted a leadership position in providing innovative financial solutions for Cisco Services to our customers and channel partners. However, the next generation of Cisco Capital sales efforts places an even stronger focus on defining customer experiences that drive ongoing business relevance and scaling value to our account base by deploying best practices, processes and products.

The Sales Enablement Mgr, Americas will align to the Cisco Capital’s Senior Mgr, WW Sales Enablement in a strategic sales role focused on Cisco Services in the Americas. This position will support broad Cisco Capital sales enablement, transformation, alignment and the ongoing growth of Cisco Services offerings. S/he will work collaboratively with other cross-functional Theatre leadership including: Sales Leadership, Entitlement, Sales Finance, Planning & Strategy, Architectures, Technical & Advanced Services and Vertical Solutions to drive important sales initiatives in concert with field sales. This individual will also lead short to medium term high impact sales efforts around specific solutions, selling processes, programatization of Cisco Capital integration and offers, financing-centric business justifications, capabilities and metrics, and ultimately acceleration of Cisco’s Services business via Cisco Capital.

The successful candidate will be expected to motivate and inspire a large, virtual (and cross-functional) Cisco and Cisco Capital team to drive change and increase financing sales productivity and time-to-market. Travel required.

Key Responsibilities:

. Help develop ongoing alignment to Cisco Services sales and cross-functional leadership across the Americas
. Lead a team of Sales Enablement Managers in other Theaters, leveraging common opportunities, challenges and best practices to provide a consistent approach to Services growth
. Develop bold plans and partner with sales leadership to achieve its objectives. Be strategic, tactical and execution oriented, in that order
. Meet and exceed annual quota goals aligned to coverage model
. Identify risks and challenges and recommend actions to mitigate risk and overcome challenges
. Develop process and cadence to communicate status and results to stakeholders
. Maintain strategic and strong relationships with the Cisco Capital leadership team as well as with field sales leaders

Experience:

. Excellent track record of meeting and exceeding aggressive sales goals consistently
. Proven ability to develop and implement sales strategies on a broad basis at Cisco
. Demonstrated ability to influence at senior executive level
. Demonstrated ability to present clear and succinct business cases and recommendations to all key stakeholders across multiple cross functional groups
. Demonstrated ability to deliver presentations in public and internal settings
. Ability to drive a virtual teams and multiple initiatives simultaneously
. Excellent analytic and project management skills

Leadership Skills:

. Outstanding ability to communicate a compelling vision that inspires others to engage
. Strong financial skills
. Decisive leader with sharp business sense and passion to take informed risks
. Builds solutions through diverse perspectives by constructively challenging others while simultaneously inviting challenge of own ideas
. Ability to attract, build and lead high-performing teams; puts the right talent in the right place at the right time
. A level of business maturity, flexibility and the instincts to adapt to a high-energy, dynamic environment characterized by high growth expectations and a collaborative culture

Educational Background:

. BS/BA or equivalent with MBA highly preferred

Location:

. Eastern US highly preferred

The Sales Enablement Program Manager is responsible for needs assessment, program definition, development, source content (where applicable), and delivery of ShoreTel Sales Enablement programs. This position will require a high degree of collaboration with Senior Sales leadership and Channel Marketing, assuring the highest priority enablement programs are defined, developed, and delivered. It is a key responsibility of this position to measure and report the business impact of all Sales Enablement programs.

We are looking for someone who has a great positive attitude, highly motivated to learn and grow within the organization. If you are an overachiever and want to contribute to a team that will truly appreciate your dedication and hard work, then consider a career at ShoreTel. You can dramatically shape everything from our daily operations to our global presence.

Responsibilities:
Excellent public speaking, presentation and interpersonal skills are required; must have good stage presence, and exhibit enthusiasm, and strong sales coaching skills.
Coordination and planning of global field driven sales enablement programs targeted to both ShoreTel and ShoreTel partner sales organizations
Source/evaluate third party suppliers of sales skills training content (e.g. Solution Selling, qualifying skills, objection handling, executive level selling skills, negotiating skills, financial skills).
Delivery of sales skills training where sustained/ongoing needs are identified (e.g. Solution Selling, Executive Selling)
Deliver train-the-trainer and manage trainer certifications related to these programs
Development of course content and selling tools as defined by sales enablement programs
Integrate Sales Enablement programs into existing Sales employee and partner onboarding curriculum
Program compliance and business impact reporting

Requirements:
5+ Years Sales Enablement training experience
5+ Years Telecom Industry Sales experience, selling VOIP, IP Telephony, LAN/WAN technology, and PBX systems
Current certified trainer for Solution Selling, plus one or more of the areas indicated above.
Successful candidates will possess high energy, self-motivation, and require little guidance. Strong process and organizational skills are highly desirable.
Project management skills; attention to detail.
Well-developed listening, verbal, and written communications skills, with the ability to present professionally to all levels within an organization are a must.
Strong financial/business acumen
Ability to quickly learn technology concepts and terminologies
Excellent phone presence, high degree of professional acumen
Fun loving, positive attitude – excellent interpersonal skills
Must be willing to travel 50%-75%

Education:
Bachelors degree or equivalent experience required.

“I believe I commented on this some months ago, but the situation appears to be getting worse. The term “sales enablement” appears to have been largely hijacked by a variety of vendors, selling hardware, software, and services, as a means of jumping on the latest, sales-associated, money-making bandwagon.

Savo continues to attempt some level of balance with “professional services” and much to say about their version of sales enablement, but it all still comes across as product marketing and PR. BizSphere takes a more credible, solution-approach. [...]“

Yesterday, BizSphere AG uploaded new slides to slideshare. Note the second one, which as a comparison is a view on the ecosystem too:

Here is my recent blog post on the user interface of the BizSphere Sales Enablement solution suite.

Full disclosure: I work with BizSphere AG. You can find them on Crunchbase. Here is the list of all other vendors I know of.

Full disclosure: I work with BizSphere AG. You can find them on Crunchbase. Here is a list of all other vendors I know of.

In case you speak German, you can read/watch interviews with the BizSphere staff here.

Visit www.BizSphere.com for a number of new screen shots of the application.

BizSphere SalesWeb

BizSphere ContentLandscape

Content Landscape: Interaction prototype from Moritz Stefaner on Vimeo.

Here is my answer:

Each business or organization has to get to know their respective customers or audiences very deeply in order to list all possible issues that trouble them or could trouble them. This list has to be written from the point of view (!) of the customers or audiences and with their choice of words (!).

Then this list can be structured as a taxonomy and the vocabulary can be used to articulate all unique value propositions (USP) that the business or organization has to bring to the table.

Once the taxonomy exists, all unique value propositions, marketing content, sales content, human resources information about subject matter experts’ contact details / learning and development content / training content, and other content can be mapped against the taxonomy. This will reveal gaps and outdated versions.

The suggested approach to articulate a THE one taxonomy as the overall standard across all industries on the planet sounds very ambitious. I’m with Jorn Barger and Daniell Koller who write on quora that

“You can’t build a universal ontology using natural language. Its words are too vague.” [...] “You can’t build an universal ontology, but I would like to add that – for most of the use cases I have seen until now – THE one correct & complete ontology is not needed. [...] To my understanding it is much more important to be able to work on your own ontology subset and to link it with somehow more general documented wisdom. [...] My experience from this kind of standardization projects is that you might be able to manage the technical side of it, but the organizational and managerial aspect get very complicated once you target a singel taxonomy [...]“

As stated above, I think each business or organization has to go through the process of crafting this taxonomy for themselves and keeping it fresh (in times of mergers and acquisitions etc). The very process of crafting it in the voice of the customer or audience, will help the content and the conversations, the employees have, to resonate better with the customers/audiences. The customers need to be surprised by the extend to which the sellers speak their language and know about their pain before they actually expressed it.

When I worked at Nortel, we had the role of an information architect for Nortel. This role was in charge of keeping the taxonomy (of all products, services, and solutions) fresh and ideally making each taxon on the higher level sound like a need in the voice of the customer.

I agree that there is value in seeking standards and one common ontology, especially when we really reach the times of the semantic web / web 3.0. Then applications need to know which taxon is a treatment/intervention/mitigation for which other taxon etc…

The company BizSphere AG  (which introduced the role of the information architect at Nortel and provided a semantic solution including software to edit the taxonomy) also developed the approach shown in this screen shot.

Full disclosure: I work with BizSphere AG. Here is a list of all other vendors I know of.

Usually, I use the blue graphic by BizSphere AG to explain why the context, in which the content and contacts from marketing/sales/HR/training and other departments “live”, is multidimensional.

Solution for Sales at solutionforsales.com created a great graphic (see below) that drives home the same point along with an article laying out 7 key requirements for Sales Enablement platforms:

“The Sales Enablement Platform, sometimes called the sales knowledge management system, is taking its place alongside the CRM system as one of the must-have platforms of an advanced sales organisation. Any company planning to implement a Sales Enablement platform will have a long list of requirements, but the true significance of some factors is not always clear ahead of implementation. This article draws on experience of implementing and using Sales Enablement platforms to highlight 7 key requirements and explain their significance. It focuses on the needs of larger, more complex companies – the ones that have most to gain from a Sales Enablement platform.”

The 7 key requirements are:

1. One source

2. No double-posting

3. Dedicated cross-company system

4. Structured information space

5. Integrated community content

6. The means to attract attention

7. Effective inventory management
To see the link to the PDF with the full article, click here

Thanks to twitter I was just reminded of a great case study Jeanne Hellman wrote about the implementation of the BizSphere Sales Enablement Solution Suite at Nortel Networks in 2006 and the following years. It was published in 2010 by salesandmarketing.com

“Jeanne Hellman is a published subject matter expert on Sales Enablement strategies. [...] she has focused on the implementation and adoption of a Sales Enablement strategy in a global $11.2bn telecom equipment and professional services company. [...]“

For a complete copy of the implementation Case Study and her other articles and presentation slides, contact her through LinkedIn.

Before

Nortel…

“[...] decided to implement a Sales Enablement strategy mid-2006 as part of a larger business transformation initiative to reduce SG&A [...] and to address long-standing complaints from the salesforce. It was a heavily matrixed, global organization with approximately 450 products, 30 solutions, and more than 90 different professional services, and every seller was expected to sell “everything on the truck.” Information was spread around 20-plus team sites and the corporate-sanctioned sales portal, which hosted more than 6000 documents distributed among 185 different document types, not to mention the separate competitive and business intelligence sites; installed base sites; and the mix of ordering, pricing, proposal generation, CRM, and tracking tools. In addition, there was no federated search (no common search platform).

[...] it took sellers hours to look for basic information (validating numerous studies from several industry analysts). Seller confidence in marketing was low and complaints were high, as was attested to by the yearly seller satisfaction surveys (or dissatisfaction surveys) that had been conducted.

After

[...] the Sales Enablement efforts contributed to the reduction of the SG&A. Looking back to the 13 Top Initiatives from the CSO Insights’ Survey, we decreased the SG&A by approximately $22m dollars just by “improving rep access to knowledge to sell effectively” and “more closely aligning sales and marketing.” These were measurable, impactful savings from improving the productivity of the selling resources and support staff and eliminating waste (unnecessary tasks and content duplication). [...] It’s ultimately up to your salesforce to find relevant content, digest it, interpret it, fill in any missing gaps, and then adapt it to match their customer needs. While the topic of the actual content is a different discussion that needs to take place, Sales Enablement can successfully help your teams convert your messaging from company spiel to customer value and deliver it more intuitively and efficiently.”

Full disclosure: I work with BizSphere AG. Here is a list of all other vendors I know of.

Communispond, along with their CEO Bill Rosenthal, have an interesting point of view on how to create a winning sales presentation. (Communispond provides communications skills training for interpersonal communications, management and sales.) Get the full document on their website.

1. Put away your trusty old dog and-pony show and start learning everything you can about the prospects critical needs. [...]

2. Create a unique solution to the customer’s critical needs. [...]

3. Build the team, and organize the presentation. [...]

4. Sharpen your team’s presentation skills. [...]

5. Start selling before you begin.
Get to the presentation room early. Stand at the door and greet the audience members as they enter. Introduce your co-presenters and get into a dialogue with the prospect’s people. Make a mental note of some personal information, and cite this in your presentation.

6. Watch for booby traps in the Q&A.
Prepare for the Q&A in advance by anticipating the questions you’ll be asked, particularly the tough ones. Be sure the entire team agrees on how they should be answered. Plan replies that are concise, persuasive, and tie back to one of your major points. For example, if someone asks: “How can you justify such exorbitant prices?” you answer: “Our pricing includes all of the following services.” Then you tie back to the part of your presentation that described your cost-effectiveness. Address the group as you answer questions, but look back to the questioner occasionally to show courtesy.

7. Finish with a flourish. Explain how the information from the previous presenter relates to what’s coming up. Make sure the presentation isn’t dragging on too long. Pre-plan a visual clue that lets a speaker know when to stop. Go out on a strong finish. Look at the audience intently. Smile and express your feelings: “We’d love to work with you.” Pause and drop your hands to your side to signal that you’re finished. Lead your group out of the room smoothly to show that you’re a well-organized team. The final impression you’ll leave with the customer is one of confidence and conviction. You’ll also feel this way because you’ve out-performed the competition.

“Key findings: Sales enablement tools for customer conversations in a virtual environment are missing”

I would suggest to take a look at AvayaLive Engage.

AvayaLive Engage (formerly named web.alive and originally developed at Nortel) is web conferencing in a virtual 3D environment for remote meetings, training, sales [enablement], and [sales] support. I’m no longer affiliated with the product or any of the companies behind it, but I used to do product marketing for it back in 2009. On the website AvayaLive.com you can sign up for your chance to participate in the beta program. You’ll get 90 days of FREE AvayaLive Connect service. There is also a free trial with your own environment for 15 days.

“[...] rich and immersive avatar-based collaboration [...]

• [...] allows you for the first time to meet with your online customer in the same way as if they crossed the physical threshold of your business’ front door. Unleash your real-time voice and existing highly skilled staff to go and talk to your customers, either one-on-one or in a crowd. By doing so, you provide them relevant information to help them down ‘off of the fence’ [...]. The same environment can be used to provide support, and a community of users with knowledge can help deepen your relationship with customers, as well as providing a place to work with your customers [...]“

“[...] In IDC’s research, we observe the broad and long process of how marketing assets are created, and then how those assets are provisioned and used by the selling teams. [...] tech sales reps are overwhelmed with sales tools, collateral, presentations, etc. [...] Sales reps use just one of every five “things” that marketers produce for them! They spend a lot of time trying to get prepared and ready and smart—or in other words “enabled”—but more often than not they leave the office to go on a sales call in a state of un-readiness. [...] Tech buyers give tech sellers consistently poor scores on preparedness. [...] tech sellers are ranked poorly on product knowledge, account knowledge, relevance of their presentations, and other factors. The purchase cycle from awareness through to P.O. (purchase order) is now 19 months for big-ticket IT purchases, and this expanded by two months just in 2011. [...]“

When you combine this with the statement form the Forrester Sales Enablement Forum, that 86% of B2B buyers source information independent of interactions with vendor sales, then it is clear that in many cases the buyer knows more than the seller.

Read the full post, in which IDC’s Rich Vancil gives you two ideas to improve on the problems he described, here.

Emely Abbey ‏ @EarlyStageNQE

Companies with Mature Sales Enablement Programs Witnessing 15+ Percent Annual Growth Rates

–

Paola Norambuena ‏ @panoram

Only 25% of companies actively listen to, and respond to, what consumers say about them. @jeffmancini

–

@Onboardly

An #Interview With @AprilDunford, #Blogger and Vice President of #Marketing, #Huawei #Enterprise http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/03/cm-2015-april-dunford/

–

Scott Santucci ‏ @scottsantucci

Q&A with Tamara Schenk @tamaraschenk, VP of #SalesEnablement, T-Systems. #Forrester #Blogs http://blogs.forrester.com/scott_santucci/12-03-03-qa_with_tamara_schenk_vice_president_of_sales_enablement_t_systems

–

@corpv

ReTooling #Sales Enablement Tools: Make the Selling Simpler via CRM Magazine
http://destinationcrm.com/Articles/Columns-Departments/ReTooling/Sales-Enablement-Tools-60853.aspx

–

dgriesman ‏ @dgriesman

always fun 2 discover: RT @stevekeifer: Shadow marketing: rogue content creation by sales teams outside of corp/product marketing

–

@fisiononline

“By 2017, a #CMO will spend more on #IT than the #CIO”; says #Gartner Group. #marketing #enterprise #technology

–

@forrester

From Sales Enablement Forum: 86% of B2B buyers report sourcing information independent of interactions with vendor sales

–

@JRSilber

Daniel West, Informatica: “18 months ago, sales enablement was nice to have, now it is recognized as a must have.”

–

@JasonAndersson

#IDC Directions: Sales enablement is marketing’s job # 1.

–

@julianng

Sales enablement in 2012: Buying cycle now 19 months for big-ticket IT purchases, expanded by 2 months in 2011.

“Sales Enablement: Where does it live?
Several clients have asked us for best practices in sales enablement – specifically who owns it?

I’d support our marketing colleagues who are trying to align selling messages with product positioning and messaging documents. Others on the training side would say that their training materials are the baseline for sales enablement. Finally, the “sales enablement automation” crowd would claim ownership of the process and fulfillment of sales enablement materials on their web-based or internally-hosted portals.

So I ask YOU – learned Sales Enablement Content Group members: Where does Sales Enablement live?”

Coming from the point of view of someone providing web-based or internally-hosted portals for Sales Enablement, I would not claim ownership. All stakeholders like product marketing, training, CI/MI, the teams for pricing and ROI / business case calculations, the customer reference database, corporate branding, MarComs, etc… should be invited… invited to house their content and – just as important – their contact details in that one joint portal.

A portal… not for the sake of the technology or to have yet another portal… but… a portal to let all these stakeholders see which of their content works and which doesn’t (also which content is missing and which gets insightful comments as a feedback loop from the field or the channel back to corporate).

When there is this one interface that cuts across all team sites and the silos the many regional or functional groups might have built with SharePoint or LiveLink or any of these solutions, your sales people and channel partners can – for the first time – see what is available for the given sales situation they are in. None of the stakeholders “owns” this more than the others and the portal just helps to filter by sales step, region, industry vertical, content type, etc… to make visible whether the sale is being enabled or specific content and contacts are missing.

The single biggest complaint about Sales Enablement, I hear from sales people is missing content… content that is more specific than the generic pitch. A portal, that comes along with all stakeholders agreeing on content governance, a life-cycle duration for the content and responsibilities to respond to feedback & requests, will first of all make these gaps painfully visible and then guide the content planning to invest marketing’s dollars as effective as possible.

To come back to your question, in some organizations it might be the CMO and in others the sales leader or portfolio manager – who is the executive sponsor, who aligns all the stakeholders to feed the new portal and shut down the old ones.

The comment was asking where to find sales people in the graphic and what the role of sales playbooks is. I have to admit that it is difficult to read, but the sales people are actually represented within the green area as indicated by the words Sales Force. (This is not a reference to salesforceDOTcom.)

This speaks to the point that sales people and the legacy sales portals, that are supposed to enable them, sit in between a highly matrixed organization on the one side and just as complex an organization on the client’s side. These legacy sales portals are one-dimensional (they fail to show content & contact details of subject experts in the context of the highly matrixed organization and in context to which pain point on the client side is addressed) and there are often several portals as there are so many silos of information.

Each sales playbook is a great tool for a small subset of the sales force (as shown in the graphic), but comes out of one of the silos, fed by only some of the Product/Portfolio Marketing teams or one regional team. When all content (e.g. customer references from different regions or specific value propositions per industry vertical…) lives in a multi-dimensional business context like it is made possible in BizSphere (which is a Sales Enablement Solution Suite that was designed to cut across all silos. Full disclosure: I work with them.), a completely customized sales playbook for any given sales situation can be auto-generated.

In contrast to legacy sales portals, BizSphere takes at least three dimensions into account. These could be:

• Where is the seller going to a meeting? (Sales regions, countries…)
• What does the seller want to sell (Portfolio of products, services and solutions.)
• What does the seller need in order to be successful in the meeting? (Content types like white paper, case study, ROI-Calculator, contact details of a subject matter expert, etc…)

You might also want to define a taxonomy of customer pain points and map your products against them or add other dimensions that your company thinks in. BizSphere then lets you filter down by media type, language of the content, and/or the sales step you are in with the opportunity you are working.

“[...] Try searching social media sites and tools for certain signal phrases, such as “seeking vendor recommendations,” or those that mention specific pain points your company can address. Refine your searches to social media channels your target customers use, such as by relevant industry hashtags on Twitter or industry-specific groups on LinkedIn or Facebook. This method of discovery requires minimal effort and can uncover leads that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. [...]“

From my experience I would add ifttt [can be set up to search twitter etc], socialmention, and of course Google Alerts [which can be a bit slow] as free tools that allow companies to track their brand, to identify their potential customers, or as Laura writes to “track their competition. They can see what tactics their competitors are using” and when the competition is failing at something. However, Lauren also mentions “that many C-level execs aren’t chatting it up on Twitter and LinkedIn”, but that the people, who influence them or at least have access to them, could be.

Check out Lauren’s blog post for some great examples of how B2B sales professionals can get creative with social media.