More sales, more revenue.

Every business wants that.

Sometimes, your numbers seem like they’re getting stuck in the same place.

But revenue enablement might be the key you are looking for.

What is revenue enablement, and how does it help businesses drive more revenue? To shed light on this important topic, we are joined by Andrea Abbate, VP of Global Enablement at Contentsquare. Andrea is a revenue enablement professional with over 20 years of experience and provable success in leading and transforming sales, go-to-market, and revenue enablement functions. Her career spans companies like LinkedIn, Showpad, and Mixpanel.

What Is Revenue Enablement?

Revenue enablement is a strategic service that equips customer-facing, revenue-generating teams with the necessary training, content, tools, and approaches to improve revenue creation effectively. It’s more than simply providing resources like a CRM system, as it involves a more structured methodology. This includes fostering knowledge, sharpening skills, and shaping behaviors essential to the sales process. Ultimately, the goal is to positively impact revenue and empower sales teams to drive higher profits for the business.

“We help salespeople make more money. If you want the back of the envelope on like a headline, we help sales sell better. We help revenue teams make more revenue”.

Andrea Abbate, VP of Global Enablement at Contentsquare

Choreographing Sales Success

Revenue enablement is similar to a strategic coach for a sports team or a master recipe developer for a food company. It’s all about designing a systematic approach to success that can be replicated at scale. Just as a football team needs a clear playbook to understand their roles and communicate effectively, a sales team needs revenue enablement to direct skilled individuals into a winning unit.

Moreover, enablement ensures that the best practices of top performers are thoroughly analyzed, codified, and taught to all team members, which ensures that exceptional sales techniques are part of a structured sales culture. In today’s digital world, revenue enablement is even more critical as it bridges the gap created by physical distance.

How Enablement Leaders Can Apply Sales Techniques for Strategic Stakeholder Management

Enablement leaders can leverage sales techniques, such as negotiation and discovery, to manage internal stakeholders more effectively. However, rather than providing training on request, they should engage stakeholders in a discovery process to unveil their real needs. This approach positions enablement leaders as strategic partners who require time and resources to ensure the success of their programs. Moreover, they should negotiate to maintain the integrity of their programs to nurture respect and establish a value-based relationship with stakeholders.

“Sometimes, enablement gets a bad rap as being, we’re just about training, and we love people, and we want to help everyone. And that’s true because if you just wanna close deals, go close deals. This job is about helping people improve. However, you are fighting for bandwidth, mind share, and resources internally, that’s the reality of the job. You are part of the cost of sale, and some of that cost is getting people to commit to helping you and doing the stuff, either going through your programs, engaging with the enablement at all, or, more importantly, taking what they learned and like applying it in the throes of their work”.

Andrea Abbate, VP of Global Enablement at Contentsquare

The Art of Discovery in Economic Downturns

When it comes to challenging economic times, effective discovery is essential for qualifying and advancing sales opportunities. Take a “slow down to speed up” approach, where thorough discovery can significantly increase the chances of closing a deal. Also, salespeople should change their perspective from simply transacting to acting as choice architects, guiding customers through the decision-making process.

To improve discovery, sales reps should focus on three critical questions: What needs to change and why? What’s standing in the way? What needs to happen for the change to happen? As a result, you will be able to map out the customer’s needs and challenges, aligning the sales strategy with the customer’s objectives and language.

“If we think about the salesperson as a point of sale human intermediary based on where we are in the 21st century, it’s no longer the only way to access the product. A salesperson is actually a choice architect. It is the art of getting someone to act in the way you want to get to the outcome that, hopefully, is a win-win that you’re both looking for but certainly that you, as a salesperson, are looking for”.

Andrea Abbate, VP of Global Enablement at Contentsquare

Now that you’ve learned the importance of revenue enablement in driving sales growth, check out the full list of episodes at The B2B Revenue Executive Experience, and instructions on how to rate and review the show are here.