Unless their individual contributor remit is 100% focused on the tactical mechanics of maintaining technology solutions, revenue enablement professionals do themselves, their colleagues, and their profession a disservice by internally identifying themselves as primarily focused on the many software-as-a-service tools typically deployed to B2B sellers.
At its core, revenue enablement is not about technology. It is optimally a servant function, existing for the sole purpose of helping quota-bearers hit their numbers effectively and efficiently. According to Forrester’s research, high-performing sales organizations are 8% more likely than underperformers to tell us that “Our enablement team thinks of our sellers as our ‘customers,’” and they typically author and socialize laser-focused functional charters that wisely recognize tech solutions as the means, not the ends, for helping customer-facing colleagues succeed.
With disturbing regularity, however, we see enablement teams’ charters, plans, communications, metrics — and even their identity — focused on tool adoption, believing that their own success depends not on revenue outcomes but on the utilization of tech tools in which they’ve developed a personal, and sometimes unhealthy, stake. This is anathema to the concept of enablement — it’s more like “sales inflictment,” because it appropriates the concept of empowering seller success, transforming the mission from revenue generation into task completion. This approach does more harm than good, as anyone who’s ever carried a bag can immediately sense when colleagues who are ostensibly tasked with supporting them are conflating true enablement with a check-the-box mentality. The outcome of this mindset is generally the opposite of adoption: It’s disregard, distrust, and sometimes even scorn.
No sales force can function without technology, of course, but our guidance for enablement leaders is to emphasize and communicate revenue-centric outcomes, treating tools as supporting actors rather than spotlighted vanity projects. They can accomplish this by setting a departmental policy and tone always focused on providing services for sellers:
- Focus every initiative on time management. For enablement’s internal customers, time is literally money. Enablement leaders tell us that their most significant challenge is “Too much sales-rep focus is on non-core selling activities,” though high-performing organizations are 10% less annoyed by this. But with the average B2B seller spending 2.1 hours per week on internal communications and email — and only 26% of their time on customer-facing, core selling activities — any easy win for enablement teams is an effort resulting in more time to sell. Deploy sales advocacy practices such as field sales coaches and enablement-specific help desks to this end, then support them behind the scenes with technology such as AI-driven concierge services, CRM-integrated sales content applications, and play-driven sales engagement solutions. Even behind-the-scenes technology can be promoted for its functional purpose: saving seller time and getting them in front of customers faster.
- Concentrate internal messaging on the assistance, not the tool. How you communicate your enablement efforts is equally important as what you’re accomplishing for sellers. Whenever technology is a contributing factor to your sales content, talent, communications, or methodology initiatives — and even if it’s the primary driver of the project — be sure to talk only about the aid you’re providing to sellers. The technology component matters — of course, automation drives the upscaling of most best practices — but your internal constituents should only hear about the functional assistance you’re providing to them. Instead of signaling “Here’s a new tool we bought for you,” convey only how you’re helping them with time, expertise, and quota achievement. White-label all technologies with internal branding to eliminate any hint of being seen as purveyors of tools instead of enablers of President’s Club attainment.
Of course, most enterprise-grade revenue enablement functions employ at least one full-time-equivalent employee whose entire role focuses on tool maintenance, necessitated by keeping hundreds or thousands of seats effectively online. That’s a job, and an important one, but it’s not a mission. After all, high-performing sales reps, managers, and leaders name “being available for on-demand or quick responses to any questions” as the most desired enablement deliverable, 20% more likely than “assisting sales team members with using technologies.” Never forget that revenue enablement is not in the tool business — it’s in the empowerment business.
