Resilience Through Strategic Sales Enablement - Part 1

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As many of you know, ValueSelling has a satellite office in Charleston, South Carolina. At the time of writing, spring is in full swing—it feels like the whole city is shaking off the gray winter and embracing the opportunity to gather outside again.

To take advantage of the nice weather, I’ve extended my daily walk along the river. At first, I stuck to my early morning time. However, the warm weather isn’t the only thing that has returned: Spring has brought back the no-see-ums, a biting insect prevalent in tidal areas across the Southeastern United States that can quickly ruin any outdoor event. To avoid these pesky insects, I started planning my walks around the wind. I look at the forecast and make tactical adjustments to my route and my timing based on the wind speed and direction. The core of my strategy remains the same: I want to hit 10,000 steps every day, but the way I do that shifts based on the trends.

It’s easy to see the parallels to the business world. When economic headwinds are in flux, companies must make tactical adjustments to stay on course. Periods of market fluctuation test the resilience of even the most sophisticated revenue organizations. While they expose the cracks in strategy, culture and execution of some companies, they also reveal the hidden strengths of other teams, those built to adapt and perform under pressure. It’s a difference that I’ve always found deeply intriguing. So, a few years ago, we partnered with Training Industry to investigate what separates high-growth companies from those whose operations stagnate in the face of uncertainty.

The report revealed fascinating insights—insights that are perhaps more relevant today than when they were initially printed, which is why I’m creating a two-part series exploring these differences. Today, I’ll focus on the first half of the report.

High-growth Companies Take a Value-based Approach

After surveying 256 sales and enablement leaders, one fact immediately jumped out to us: While most companies take a blended approach to sales, high revenue-growth companies are focused most heavily on a value-based sales approach.

In fact, 87% of high-growth companies “almost entirely” use a value-based selling approach, compared to only 45% of negative-growth companies. It’s easy to see why—after all, in times when businesses are more risk-averse, having a compelling business case with mutually agreed-upon ROI is crucial to moving any deal forward.

Essential Skills: What the Top Performers Prioritize

High-growth companies understand that resilience stems from agility—and agility begins with the right competencies. While all companies prioritize skills like closing and moving deals forward, the leaders go further. They prioritize skills like:

Prospecting (cited by 64% of high-growth orgs vs. only 38% of negative-growth ones)
Negotiating (cited by 57% of high-growth orgs vs. only 35% of negative-growth ones)
Business acumen and executive sales calls (cited by 51% of high-growth orgs vs. only 25% of negative-growth ones and 47% of high-growth orgs vs. only 23% of negative-growth ones, respectively)
Empathy (cited by 49% of high-growth orgs vs. only 35% of negative-growth ones)

These skills reflect a strategic understanding of what today’s buyers expect. In unpredictable market environments, buyers seek partners who can solve problems and anticipate them. That’s where high-growth orgs excel. They align skill development with buyer expectations and market conditions, ensuring their sellers are prepared to respond and to take on the role of trusted business advisors.

Soft Skills: The Unseen Differentiators

Technical know-how may drive deals forward, but it’s soft skills that create lasting momentum. High-growth organizations recognize this: 57% emphasize empathy and rapport-building, compared to 35% of negative-growth peers. Likewise, 60% of high-growth teams prioritize active listening, a sharp contrast to 38% on the other end of the growth spectrum. These aren’t optional traits, but rather essential capabilities for navigating change.

High-growth companies also place greater importance on team collaboration, emotional intelligence and clear communication, reflecting a deeper understanding of a crucial truth: In uncertain times, trust wins—and trust is built through authentic engagement.

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Ultimately, this data reinforces a powerful takeaway: high-growth organizations achieve consistent results because they stay aligned on what matters. Their teams are equipped with the skills today’s market demands, and their approach to selling is rooted in customer value and trust.

In the same way that a shift in the wind changes the path of my daily walk along the river, a shift in the market calls for measured recalibration, not a change in destination. High-growth companies realize this better than most. Regardless of the conditions, these companies invest deliberately in developing capabilities that match buyer expectations, and they build cultures where adaptability is both supported and expected.

Watch for Part 2 of this series. In it, we’ll look at how these companies turn strategy into execution. From change management to training relevancy to reinforcing learning over time, we’ll explore how high-growth organizations turn adaptability into a sustainable advantage.

In the meantime, check out: