Four Must-Haves for Winning in Sales Enablement

Peter Ostrow
@PeterOstrow
April 16, 2019
Four Must-Haves
for Winning in
Sales Enablement
A Mindmatrix – SiriusDecisions Webinar
What Does Good Look
Like?

www.mindmatrix.net
WHO
WE ARE
Founded in 1998, Mindmatrix is the
ONLY provider in the market that
offers a single platform for enablement
of both-direct and indirect sales
channels

www.mindmatrix.net
ENABLED 45,000+ PARTNERS
OVER 400 CLIENTS & 5 OFFICES WORLDWIDE

www.mindmatrix.net
WHAT WE BELIEVE IN
One Platform for Direct
and Channel
• Improve operational
efficiency by 10x
• Get 100% visibility
PRM +
Partner marketing +
Partner sales + Services
on one platform
• Cut total cost of ownership
by 16X
Advanced sales
enablement for your
channel partners
• Help your partners focus
on the existing book of
business and drive
success faster
Integration of sales
enablement seamlessly
into the channel
environment and ease of
use of the platform
• Accelerate partner
engagement by 4x
Get content + channel
engagement and adoption
services
• The ONLY company in the
marketplace that offers
channel engagement and
adoption services

Harbinder Khera
CEO & Founder of Mindmatrix
www.mindmatrix.net
Harbinder Khera has over 20 years of experience in sales enablement and marketing
automation software development. He has provided IT consulting services to Southwest
Airlines, Nationwide Insurance, IBM, Siemens, Citibank, and Sprint PCS. Harbinder has an
MS in Information Networking from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and an MS in
Computer Engineering from Florida Atlantic University. He has published numerous articles
in the IEEE conference proceedings and has presented at various conferences in the field of
wireless and high-speed networks. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society and a
member of the Dean's Leadership Council at CMU
Peter Ostrow
Senior Research Director, Sales Enablement Strategies Service
Peter capitalizes on 20+ years of revenue growth leadership in sales
enablement, sales talent management, and operational expertise. Prior to
joining SiriusDecisions, Peter was a VP/Research Group Director for the
Aberdeen Group, where he founded and was Principal Analyst for the Sales
Effectiveness Practice, as well as overseeing research in marketing,
customer success, field service and human capital management disciplines.

© 2019 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved
What Does Good Look Like?
Peter Ostrow
Senior Research Director, Sales Enablement Strategies
@PeterOstrow
April 16, 2019
Four Must-Haves for Winning in Sales Enablement

SiriusPerspective:
7 © 2019 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved@SiriusDecisions @PeterOstrow
Why Does Sales Enablement Matter?
The goal of sales enablement is to ensure reps possess the skills, knowledge, assets
and process expertise to maximize every buyer interaction.
Have you
interviewed for a
different job in the
last 12 months?
Q.
29%A.
Source: SiriusDecisions 2018 Sales Talent Study

SiriusPerspective:
Choose the top five
activities where you
spend the most time.
Q.
Where do you feel
you should be
spending your
time?
Q.

SiriusPerspective:
63%
54%
46%
41%
39%
37% 37%
32%
10%
34%
29%
61%
7%
49%
29%
5%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Customer
service
issues
Preparing for
customer
meetings
Territory
planning
Conducting
buyer
meetings
CRM
input
Demand gen:
cold calling,
emailing
Account
planning
Forecasting
Actual Desired
Activities of high performers: actual vs. desired

SiriusPerspective:
Where Are Enablement Leaders Prioritizing Resources?
A recent SiriusDecisions survey asked sales enablement leaders their highest priorities
for the next 12 months.
Sales Talent
Sales Assets
Sales Comms
T
A
T
T
T
T
T
T
C
T
A T C
C
C
T
Source: SiriusDecisions Benchmark

SiriusPerspective:
The Case for Manager Enablement
Manager enablement is often neglected as organizations focus their resources on rep
enablement initiatives, which can lead to a negative impact on both reps and managers.
87%
High-performing reps
say perceived direct
manager competency is a
top decision driver when
considering a new job
45%
High-performing managers
indicate they received
inadequate training to
prepare them for their role
70%
High-performing managers
feel ongoing learning is very
to extremely important

Today’s Sales Enablement Agenda
1
Content
3
Buyer
engagement
2
Training
4
Analytics

Content
“Write when drunk. Edit when sober. Marketing is the hangover.”
~ Ashwin Sanghi

What’s the Problem with Content?
65% of sales
content created by
marketing is never
used by sales.
Too much material
No culpability
Workarounds
Misaligned w/ buyer’s journey
No data

Content Issues Are Relevant to Enablement Success
“Inability to find or access
buyer-facing content”
High
performers
Low
performers
39%
less

Content Issues Are Relevant to Enablement Success
“Investment in sales productivity
tools (e.g. sales asset
management, presentation tools,
ROI calculators,
confirmation/pricing automation).”
High
performers
Low
performers
29%
more

SiriusPerspective:
Empowerment Content: High vs. Low Performers
High-performing reps consume 68% more content at the front end of the sales cycle
compared to low-performing peers, who peak in the middle; and 33% overall more content.
5.2
Average assets
consumed by stage
3.3 2.4
3.1 3.9 1.2
High
Performer
Low
Performer
Early Middle Late

SiriusPerspective:
Empowerment Content: Anatomy of a High Performer
High-performing reps not only consume 35 percent more content than low performers,
but also leverage different types of content at each stage.
Early Middle Late
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
High Performers Low Performers

SiriusPerspective:
Sales Content All-Stars: Empowerment
Consider the impact of the content and map against usage to determine where to
focus content efforts.
Shining Stars Hidden Gems
• Competitive product comparisons
• Product/services guides
• Sales success stories
• Customer industry news and thought
leadership
• Competitive knockout stories
• Customer industry primers

www.mindmatrix.net
DID YOU KNOW?
70% buyers have pretty
much made up their mind
before they approach your
channel partners.

www.mindmatrix.net
CONTENT MANAGEMENT:
A Herculean Task For Vendors

INTEGRATING SALES ENABLEMENT INTO THE DIFFERENT SALES
ENVIRONMENTS
www.mindmatrix.net
INDEPENDENT
REPS
• Use corporate CRMs
• Need only sales content
• May have their own CRMs
• No company/corporate brand
• May need marketing content to build personal brand
• Also need sales content
• Established businesses with their own corporate brand
• May have their own CRM that could be different from that of the Vendor’s
• Need marketing and sales content
CHANNEL
PARTNERS
DIRECT SALES

www.mindmatrix.net
DIFFERENT
TYPES OF CONTENT

www.mindmatrix.net
CONTENT
DELIVERY
Who does the content have to reach?
Partners & Reps

www.mindmatrix.net
A KEY
CHALLENGE
Lining up content delivery with the sales process and with the buyer’s position in the sales cycle
PROSPECTING NURTURING PURCHASE

www.mindmatrix.net
VARIOUS CONTENT
DELIVERY MECHANISMS

www.mindmatrix.net
ENABLING AND TRAINING PARTNERS TO LEVERAGE
CONTENT TO SELL MORE, FASTER

• Providing your sales teams and channel partners with the tools and
resources alone will not guarantee them using it
• You need to make it easy for your salespeople and channel partners by
bringing the tools TO them, rather than expecting them to come to you
asking for help to market, integrate them with the sales/partner environment
MAKE IT EASY FOR YOUR SALESPEOPLE
AND PARTNERS BY BRINGING MARKETING
TOOLS AND RESOURCES TO THEM
www.mindmatrix.net

CRM
INTEGRATION
www.mindmatrix.net
3-fold integration for superior content management and delivery
• Sales and marketing content
• Playbooks
• Email campaigns
Promotes better utilization of assets as salespeople and partners have
access to all the content right from their CRMs

• A guide to what to say, when to say and how to say it
• Promotes consistent messaging
• Save 30% of your salespeople’s time that is otherwise spent looking
for content
PLAYBOOKS:
A PRESCRIPTIVE
APPROACH TO CONTENT
www.mindmatrix.net

• Email plug-ins
• Mobile applications
THIRD PARTY
WIDGETS
www.mindmatrix.net
Promotes efficiency, makes content sharing easier and more personal
for salespeople and partners

• Allow the right content to find your salespeople/partners when they
need it, versus them hunting for it
CONTENT RECOMMENDATIONS:
PUSHING THE RIGHT
CONTENT TO SALES
www.mindmatrix.net

• Co-branding
• Personalizing messaging for local markets
• Sender and customer-centric personalization for direct sales and
reps
• Provide your sales network with customized email campaigns,
landing pages, advertising campaigns and sales materials
• Create and run a national digital advertising campaign with complete
brand control, on behalf of local sales networks and drive the
campaign leads directly to them
CONTENT
PERSONALIZATION
www.mindmatrix.net

CONTENT SYNDICATION IS A POWERFUL TOOL THAT ENSURES
CONTENT CREATED AT THE CORPORATE LEVEL IS CO-BRANDED
& PERSONALIZED FOR THE LOCAL AUDIENCE
www.mindmatrix.net

www.mindmatrix.net
USING CONTENT TO GIVE YOUR
PARTNERS INSIGHT INTO LEAD
BEHAVIOR
• Train partners to use content analytics to their
benefit
• What content was consumed by buyer
• Insight into buyer’s interest level based on their
interaction with content

MEASURING
CONTENT EFFECTIVENESS
www.mindmatrix.net
Because you can’t fix what you can’t measure
• Building a scoring model for content
• Allowing salespeople and channel partners to rate content
• Tracking content usage by salespeople and channel partners
• Tracking content effectiveness from the end recipient’s perspective. E.g.,
Whitepaper downloads, webinar registrations, email opens, landing page
sign-ups, time spent on web pages, etc.,

@SiriusDecisions @PeterOstrow 37 © 2019 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved
How Do High-Growth Organizations Manage SAM?
16% 28% 46%
More likely to link content
effectiveness to deal
progression
More likely to deploy a
sales asset management
solution
More likely to limit rep
asset search time to < 5
hours per month

Training
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” ~
Albert Einstein

SiriusPerspective:
The SiriusDecisions Sales Talent Lifecycle Framework
The lifecycle approach to sales talent management drives consistency in sales
competence, behavior, performance and results.
Competencies Day One
Foundational – Progressive
(1-90 Days)
Progressive – Advanced
(90+ Days)
Company Actions
• Target
• Nurture
• Assess Qualifications
• Hire
• Assess Baseline
• Teach/Show
• Practice
• Certify
• Empower
• Measure/Assess
• Coach/Collaborate/Correct
• Reward Performance/Identify Potential
Tactics
• Employer
Branding
• Social
• Competency
Profiles
• Word of Mouth
• Behavioral
Interviewing
• Demonstrative
Interviewing
• Competency-
Aligned Learning
• Blended Delivery
• Testing
• Mentor
Programs
• Role Play
• In-Field
Observation
• Territory Plan
• Analytics
• Coaching
Cadence
• Career Mapping
• Learning Continuums
• Recertification
• Compensation/
Motivation
Candidate/
Employee
Actions
• Gain Awareness
• Loosening of Status Quo
• Explore Options
• Commit to a Decision
• Recognize Competency Gaps
• Execute Learning Plan
• Apply Knowledge
• Demonstrate Competence
• Set Metric-Based Personal Goals
• Apply Resources to Move Deals
• Conduct Effective Client Conversations
• Develop/Refine Skills
PERFORMLEARNCHOOSE
OPTIMIZEONBOARDATTRACT

The SiriusDecisions Sales Onboarding Execution
Framework
Define program
objectives on the
basis of
organizational need
and learning
outcomes built on
competencies
Design certification
materials and a
learning structure
prior to development
Deploy onboarding
according to a
launch plan and
identify training for
further
reinforcement
Develop the
learning
opportunities using
a consistent process
aligned to program
objectives
Define Design Develop Deploy

SiriusPerspective:
B-to-B Sales Learning: Compliance vs. Execution
In b-to-b sales, the stakes are high when it comes to sales team effectiveness; the key
driver is reps’ ability to execute independently and be credible in their interactions with buyers.
B-to-B Sales: Can You Do It?Most B-to-B Roles: Did You Do It?

SiriusPerspective:
The SiriusDecisions Continuous Learning Framework
Once foundational competencies are established in onboarding, ongoing learning
helps sales reps to perform better in their current role, prepare for a promotion or satisfy a curiosity.
Learning
Goals
Learning
Types
Learner
Value
Learning
Strategy
Learning
Measurement
Occupational
Aligned to current
competencies
1. Initiative
2. competency gap
Job execution,
transferable
skills
Activity
• Did they do it? (completion)
Knowledge/ Skill
• Did they learn it? (test)
• Can they apply it? (role play)
• Can they execute? (field
observation)
Impact
• Productivity KPIs
Aspirational
Aligned to future
competencies
1. Individual
contributor
2. Leadership
Prepare for new
role/ promotion
Inspirational
Aligned to
interests and
curiosity
1. Career
exploration
2. Peripheral skills
Discovery,
intrinsic
motivation,
“20% time”
Ad hoc,
experiential
Activity
• What did they do?
(completion)
Knowledge Transfer
• Teach back
• Findings
Do
Tell
Show
Reinforc
e
Own

SiriusPerspective:
Annual Volume of Product/Solution Sales Training
High-performing organizations annually deliver 17 percent more product/solution
training than low-performing organizations.
On average, how much overall product/
solution training do reps receive per year?
19.8 hoursHigh-performing orgs
17.0 hoursLow-performing orgs

Buyer Engagement
“There is only one boss. The customer.”
~ Sam Walton

SiriusPerspective:
Why Do B-to-B Customers Buy? Experience Is Key
Perception’s impact begins even before the sale is made – customers said that the
biggest reason they chose their provider was past customer experience.
• Previous experience with the company 37%
• Influence of customer references or testimonials provided by provider 16%
• Perception of the brand with no previous experience 9%
• Relationship with salesperson 7%
• Influence of customer references we sourced independently 7%
• The implementation or customer support services were the best 5%
• The promise of the offering to meet our buyer need(s) 12%
• The price was the best 7%
• Other 1%
81% Direct or
indirect
customer
experience
19%
Related to
offering
or price
Question: What was the most significant driver of the decision to select the provider of choice?
Source: SiriusDecisions 2017 Buyer’s Study

SiriusPerspective:
What Stalls the Buying Process?
Seventy-six percent of respondents indicated that their buying process was stalled by
one or more factors.
Mostly Outside Vendor’s Control:
Buyer organization’s
purchasing process
14%
Competing priorities
within buyer organization
21%
Budget38%
Contract review, legal negotiation18%
Competitive assessment18%
Financial negotiation22%
Availability or responsiveness
of vendor representative
23%
Within Vendor’s Control:
External influencers (e.g. industry
analysts, experts)
14%

SiriusPerspective:
Sales Reps Still Matter…But So Do Other Enabled Staff
Sales reps are not the only human interactions required to facilitate the b-to-b buying
decision; subject matter experts also influence decision-making.
Buying
Decision
Vendor Sales
Representative
Vendor Solutions
Specialist
Vendor Marketing
Representative
Vendor Executive Vendor Product
Manager
Vendor Consultant Distributor Vendor Customer
Service
Representative
Vendor Engineer Reseller
Ranking of Provider Representatives Whose Interactions Provided a Very Positive Impact

SiriusPerspective:
Education Solution Selection
The Path to Purchase Is Paved in Content
Throughout the decision-making process, buyers are receiving and consuming content
from marketing and sales.
6.3
Average # of sales assets consumed by buyer, per rep
6.1 4.9Source: SiriusDecisions 2017 Buyer’s Study

SiriusPerspective:
Activation Content: Anatomy of a Win
Buyers received/consumed 22 percent more content overall from winning reps, and the
content they provided was more likely to be perceived as high impact.
Education Solution Selection
Deal Winners Runners-Up
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%

SiriusPerspective:
All That Glitters…
The content reps choose to activate most frequently isn’t always what’s most valuable
to buyers or impactful on their decisionmaking process.
Shining Stars Hidden Gems Fool’s Gold
• Proposals and Contracts
• Third-Party Industry Articles
• Analyst Reports
• Vendor-Authored Articles
• Demos and Demo
Presentations
• Third-Party Blog Posts
• Sales Brochures
• Promo Videos

Analytics
“The goal is to provide analytical tools that will last students a lifetime.”
~ Edward Tufte

@SiriusDecisions @PeterOstrow 53 © 2019 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved
If You Don’t Measure it, You Can’t Manage It
54%
High-performing
organizations are
23%
more likely to indicate
that defining,
implementing or
refining sales
enablement metrics
are a top initiative.
44%

SiriusPerspective:
Sales Talent Acquisition: Measuring Success
High-performing organizations are eight percent more aggressive in tracking the
impact of sales hiring against results.
Cost to
hire
Time to
hire
Quota
attainment
Time to
first deal
Six-month
turnover
One-year
turnover
Two-year
turnover
Onboarding
completion

SiriusPerspective:
Metrics Used to Evaluate Sales Coaching Effectiveness
High-performing organizations are 12 percent more likely than low-performing ones to
track sales coaching metrics.
InformalLagging
indicators
Coaching
activity
Leading
indicators
360◦
feedback
from reps
Pipeline
size,
product mix,
deal velocity
Quota
attainment,
close rate,
deal size
Within
manager/rep
meetings
Cultural
emphasis
on closed
loop
excellence
Volume of
documented
coaching
sessions

SiriusPerspective:
SAM: Metrics Used to Report on Trends
High-performing organizations are 35 percent more likely to report on eight tracked
SAM metrics.
Content
views
#1
Content usage
tied to deal
progression
#5
Content
modification
#2
Cost per
asset
#6
Content
downloads
#3
Content usage
by rep
#7
Content
forwarded to
buyer
#4
Won deals by
content usage
#8

SiriusPerspective:
Sales Kickoffs: Measuring Success
High-performing organizations are 20 percent more likely to emphasize sales kickoff
ROI around feedback, and 35 percent less likely to link it to revenue.

SiriusPerspective:
How Should Sales Enablement Be Measured?
Sales enablement can directly impact leading and learning indicators, which may not
cause, but can correlate to, lagging indicators.

Wrapping Up
What is the crystal ball telling us?

Trends to Watch This Year
Talent
Acquisitio
n
Support
Managers will be key to
attracting and
assessing top talent.
Sales
Onboarding
Rethink when
onboarding is
“done.”
Ongoing
L&D
Drive engagement
by catering to
learning
preferences.
Sales Asset
Management
“Just-in-time
enablement” can
be a reality.
Sales
Comms
S. M. A. R.
T.
ABL: Always Be
Listening.
Sales
Enablement
Function
Establish an
enablement charter
and mitigate scope
creep.

2403 Sidney Street, Suite 150 | Pittsburgh, PA 15203 |
Phone: 412.381.0230 | Fax: 412.774.1992
Web: www.mindmatrix.net
Contact Mindmatr

Four Must-Haves for Winning in Sales Enablement

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