If you offer someone a task and give them a variety of resources to use and refer to while they labor to finish it, it’s usually safe to presume they’ll finish it more efficiently and effectively than someone who doesn’t have those resources.
This is also true for your sales team. So, if you equip them with the materials, tools, and resources they need to convert leads, they will complete more transactions and create revenue for your company.
But how can you ensure that your salespeople have the resources they need to increase conversions and move more leads through the buyer’s journey? The solution is sales enablement. The sales enablement manager is one of several important responsibilities in any sales enablement team. Hence, this blog will address five primary concerns regarding recruiting the ideal sales enablement manager for your company, job description, critical talents, probable interview questions, and salary.
What is Sales Enablement?
The process of giving your company’s sales force the resources they need to close more deals is known as sales enablement. These resources could also include content, tools, knowledge, and information that can help you offer your product or service to customers effectively.
What is the role of a Sales Enablement Manager?
The sales enablement manager offers salespeople the training, material, processes, practices, and also the relevant tools they need to support them throughout the buyer’s journey. Working together with sales, marketing, partners, and other important stakeholders to improve sales performance and productivity is part of this.
It is a simple definition, yet it’s clear that the role involves a diverse set of duties, priorities, and also its activities. So, to name a few activities, a “typical” day can include generating new sales training content for a future product launch, coaching sales professionals on important skills and competencies, leading a formal or informal training session, preparing sales kickoff, or installing a new technological platform.
While “sales enablement manager” is the most popular enablement job title, it is by no means the only one. So, other positions that may be comparable or linked to yours include:
- Sales Enablement Program Manager
- Sales Training Manager
- Director/Head of Sales Enablement
- Partner Enablement Program Manager
- Sales Effectiveness Program Manager
What’s the Sales Enablement Manager Salary?
The typical base salary for a sales enablement manager is $68,957, plus $21,088 in supplemental compensation such as incentive bonuses.
These figures are from Glassdoor. According to ZipRecruiter, the average sales enablement manager salary in the United States in October 2020 was $105,863, with the top 25th percentile earning more than $109,000.
Of course, the answer will differ depending on region, industry, firm size, and other things. For example, when only the salary of a sales enablement manager in the Computer Software & Hardware category is included, the average salary jumps to about $76,942, according to Glassdoor, with the best earners earning more than $125,000.
What about the size of the job market for sales enablement? According to CSO Insights, more than 60% of organizations have a dedicated sales enablement function or program in 2018. That figure rises well above 70% among enterprises with more than $50 million in yearly revenue.
Now that we’ve seen the average sales enablement managers salary in the US, let’s also see their basic skills and qualifications
What Qualities Does a Sales Enablement Manager Require?
There is no hard and fast rule for the type of individual you should hire to oversee sales enablement because the function comprises such a varied range of tasks. Their backgrounds can be also as varied as the position itself.
According to SiriusDecisions, 85 percent of current sales enablement professionals have prior sales or sales management expertise. Many others come from backgrounds in sales operations, sales training, and product or industry marketing, while some come from corporate L&D (learning and development) or instructional design positions.
Read Also: PRODUCT MANAGER: Job Description and Salary updated
Six Essential Skills for Sales Enablement Managers:
#1. Excellent communicator and listener.
Any changes to the organization, product offers, or sales content must be conveyed explicitly to all sales reps.
#2. Highly organized and proficient in project management.
Sales enablement professionals frequently have multiple initiatives on their plates; hence, they must be able to prioritize their efforts based on the activities that will yield the best return for the organization.
#3. Capability to work with a wide range of teams and personalities.
The sales enablement expert must be convincing enough to unite numerous parties around a single vision, as well as confident enough to ensure that the execution is carried out. So, any prior leadership experience will be advantageous. “In many cases, sales enablement becomes the core convergence and integration point for marketing, sales, and product,” Ninivaggi explains. “You must be a chameleon and be able to work with various teams while never losing sight of the fact that your two most essential constituencies are your salespeople and your customers.”
#4. Thinker who is strategic and data-driven.
A strong fit for the role should also be able to use measurements and observation to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the sales process.
#5. Knowledge of adult learning theory, training content design, and B2B selling is required.
Although these are not definite prerequisites, having a background in any of these areas will only help prospects.
#6. Empathy.
Effective sales enablement experts can put themselves in the shoes of sales representatives and also comprehend every facet of their daily lives.
“It helps if you’ve done the job because you have empathy for the individuals you’re helping and understand their day-to-day issues and struggles,” says Daniel West, Oracle’s VP of go-to-market strategy and operations.
What Should a Job Description for a Sales Enablement Manager Look Like
The sales enablement manager is in charge of overseeing the sales enablement team as well as collaborating with sales, sales operations, and marketing to ensure strategic alignment across all three areas. So, the ideal candidate will be a highly organized sales professional with prior experience creating and managing similar programs.
Principal Responsibilities
- Leads the development and implementation of appropriate salesforce training, content/sales message, procedures, practices, forms, and tools.
- Supports product launches by preparing and enabling sales representatives to comprehend and sell our solutions.
- Responsible for all areas of sales foundational and continuous learning programs, including but not limited to training content design, scheduling and coordination, on-demand courseware design and deployment or delivery, and instructor-led sales training.
- Responsible for courseware and sales enablement content utilization tracking and analysis.
- Supports the purchasing and selling processes over their whole life cycle, from lead generation to win/loss.
- Assists frontline sales managers and the sales leadership team in building a sales coaching program and also implementing effective management disciplines.
- Manages and coordinates numerous sales enablement programs and also initiatives.
Knowledge, Ability, and Skill
- Knowledge of sales enablement tools, processes, and also that of best practices is required.
- Extensive understanding of best practices in sales training (analysis, instructional design, delivery, implementation, and evaluation).
- Knowledge of modern sales tactics, sales processes, and buyer’s journey alignment is required.
- Extensive knowledge of best practices in sales management, including pipeline management and also developmental sales coaching.
- General understanding of effective hiring and selection methods for sales positions.
- Expertise in project management from inception to conclusion.
- Expertise in meeting planning and facilitation.
- Strong strategic, conceptual, and analytical thinking abilities, as well as decision-making abilities.
- High adaptability and flexibility, as well as the capacity to deal with deadline pressure, ambiguity, and change.
- Strong negotiating skills in the face of political sensitivities and competing interests.
- Excellent training, presentation, and written communication skills.
- Expert ability to consult or advise non-specialists on complicated issues; capacity to communicate effectively with high management.
- Expert ability to collaborate and foster a cooperative atmosphere while coordinating various activities and groups within a team environment.
Qualifications, Experience, and Education
Generally, applicants must have a bachelor’s degree or higher. A minor or advanced degree in business is preferred, but experience making an impact and delivering business objectives is more important.
Outstanding organizational, dispute resolution, time management, and negotiation abilities.
Requires 3-5 years of direct experience in Sales Enablement and/or Sales Training. Previous experience selling business-to-business solutions and/or managing business-to-business sales teams is preferred. Accept less experience if there is proven proof of generating commercial results (increased velocity, increased win rates, decreased rep ramp-up time, improving sales force performance).
Capability to multitask and manage numerous projects at the same time.
Self-motivated; driven to achieve results.
Interview Questions for Sales Enablement Manager?
After you’ve defined your ideal sales enablement profile, you’ll need to find and interview people.
When interviewing new employees, consider asking the following 5 questions:
#1. What is your take on sales enablement?
The term “sales enablement” might signify different things to various businesses. For some, it simply means sending the appropriate content to the appropriate salespeople at the right time or harmonizing sales and product marketing. Regardless of how you fill the job, it is vital that your new sales enablement manager shares the organization’s perspective on enablement.
We like CSO Insights’ definition of sales enablement: “a strategic, cross-functional discipline designed to increase sales results and productivity by providing integrated content, training, and coaching services for salespeople and front-line sales managers along the entire customer’s buying journey, powered by technology.”
#2. What do you expect from the team you’ll be joining in order to be successful in this role?
The response of your candidate to this question will suggest whether or not they will be a suitable cultural fit for your organization. For example, if you require someone to delve into the weeds to figure out a project, make sure their reaction demonstrates the willingness and lack of ego.
#3. What would X look like if you built it from the ground up?
Request that they create an onboarding program or organize a workshop for top leaders, for example. Then, when they arrive for their interview, have them demonstrate sales-readiness activities that correspond to their plan. Look for responses that show they’ve done something similar before.
#4. At our company, we’re dealing with X issues. How would you go about fixing it?
Ideal applicants should be able to dig through your company’s data and discover which elements, for example, are causing a decline in rep win rates. Before prescribing a solution, effective sales enablement executives will thoroughly examine all available data. Before taking a closer look at the sales process, ineffective executives may say something like, “Well, we just need more leads in the funnel!”
#5. Please tell me about your first year at your current company. What were your top three priorities, and how did you follow through on them?
The inquiry, “What would you do in your first 30 days at our organization?” is extremely popular, yet it is hypothetical. So, it is more critical to determine what the prospect accomplished with their current opportunity, how they made it happen, and what level of success they obtained through the hiring process.
What Does an Expert in Sales Enablement Do?
Your duties as a sales enablement professional involve giving excellent customer service and sales assistance. You contribute to ensuring customer retention and the prompt and satisfactory resolution of all escalated calls or emails requiring extra knowledge.
What Issues Are Resolved by Sales Enablement?
A team of motivated sales representatives will have a consistent impact on the business as a result of sales enablement. Reps may be more driven to accomplish their goals and less inclined to leave the company when enablement creates initiatives that foster a great seller experience.
Is CRM a Tool for Enabling Sales?
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a crucial component of a sales enablement strategy since it manages interactions and relationships between your business and prospects and customers while also streamlining business procedures.
What Distinguishes Sales Operations from Sales Enablement?
Although the terms “sales operations” and “sales enablement” are frequently used interchangeably, the two actually have numerous major differences. Simply said, sales operations manage team organization logistics to advance strategies, and sales enablement makes use of those logistics to carry out those goals.
How Does Sales Enablement Differ from Sales Training?
While sales training focuses on giving instruction and practical exercises so reps can put them into practice, sales enablement focuses on finding and testing new techniques and methods. All of this is geared toward assisting reps in exceeding their quotas more frequently and maximizing deal size for each kind of buyer.
Conclusion
Understanding the important features of today’s sales enablement manager can help firms establish a fledgling sales enablement unit. Individuals can evaluate if the role is suited for them by learning about the responsibilities, required skills, and career path of a sales enablement manager.
Sales Enablement FAQs
Who is responsible for sales enablement?
Who owns sales enablement? Sales enablement is owned jointly by sales and marketing. There are five simple organizational rules that can help you structure your program. Both sales and marketing must collaborate on what resources are needed for the program.
What is the goal of sales enablement?
The goal of sales enablement is to align the intersecting elements of sales, marketing, customer care, product/brand management, legal, and human resources to improve seller productivity and enhance the buyer experience. These generally include: Optimization of technology resources such as CRMs (sales orchestration)
Is sales enablement part of marketing?
At virtually every company, sales enablement is owned by both marketing and sales. Marketing provides reps with a variety of resources they need to effectively sell. … This way, they can create and share those new materials with reps to allow them to reach customers and sell more effectively.
How much do sales enablement managers make?
The average salary of a sales enablement manager in the United States as reported by Glassdoor is $99,299 as of September 2020. According to the same source, the low end of that range is $63,000 and the high end sits at around $147,000.
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