How mature is your organization’s sales enablement structure? If you don’t know how to answer that question, don’t stress. We’re here to help you figure it out.
Sales enablement provides your sales team with the resources needed for success, including tools, automation, content, and information that prepares reps to close new business. While sales enablement is still picking up traction for many companies, the returns are in your favor. Over 75% of companies that implement sales enablement strategies see an increase in sales between 6% to 20%.
It’s tempting to provide basic resources and call it good, but an effective sales enablement strategy needs intentional, phased implementation. The more effective your strategy, the higher the level of sales maturity your organization can reach. Sales maturity is achieved through repeatable processes that expedite growth, measured by the sales maturity model.
What is the sales maturity model?
The sales maturity model refers to the five defined maturity stages of sales enablement: chaos, defined, progressive, mature, and optimized. Understanding your current stage helps your team identify where they can improve to scale success and support company objectives. Knowing your position on the model gives you a starting point to improve your sales enablement efforts.
Below is a quick assessment to see where your team lands, followed by steps to reach the next level.
Assessing Process Consistency
- All sales groups at my company follow the same sales process with predictable outcomes and common measures for success.
A. Strongly Disagree; each team has its own way of doing things.
B. Disagree; there are some small similarities, but each team largely follows its own process.
C. Somewhat Agree; we follow the same core processes, but have small variations in measuring success.
D. Agree; all sales teams follow the same core processes and standards for measuring success.
E. Strongly Agree; all teams follow processes with predictable outcomes and standard measures related to company objectives.
Measuring Performance Alignment
- Our sales reps’ performance is regularly measured in alignment with our sales process.
A. Strongly Disagree; performance is measured solely on goods sold, not tied to goals or processes.
B. Disagree; reps are occasionally measured on adherence, but not consistently.
C. Somewhat Agree; performance is measured based on a common set of priorities.
D. Agree; performance is measured based on priorities and adherence to the sales process.
E. Strongly Agree; performance aligns with the sales process and correlates to customer experience objectives.
Connecting Sales to Business Goals
- My company’s business objectives are clearly tied to sales performance.
A. Strongly Disagree; no clear alignment between sales performance and business objectives.
B. Disagree; alignment is understood but not implemented.
C. Somewhat Agree; sales performance is loosely aligned with business objectives.
D. Agree; sales performance is aligned but not reported to the team.
E. Strongly Agree; sales performance is aligned, measured, and reported regularly.
Evaluating Process Stability
- When followed correctly, my company’s sales process leads to stable or predictable results.
A. Strongly Disagree; no processes are in place.
B. Disagree; processes are being documented but not implemented.
C. Somewhat Agree; some stable processes exist, but they are not fully repeatable.
D. Agree; stable, repeatable sales processes exist.
E. Strongly Agree; stable, repeatable processes lead to predictable outcomes.
Reviewing Training Resources
- My sales team has robust training resources available that help sales reps improve their skills.
A. Strongly Disagree; no sales-specific training is available.
B. Disagree; need for training is recognized, but no structured offerings exist.
C. Somewhat Agree; some training options exist.
D. Agree; robust, well-documented training resources are available.
E. Strongly Agree; robust, well-documented training has been deployed and proven successful.
Checking Collateral Accessibility
- When deploying new campaigns, common collateral is shared among the sales team for deployment.
A. Strongly Disagree; reps create their own collateral with no standard practice.
B. Disagree; need for common collateral is recognized but not created.
C. Somewhat Agree; collateral is created but not easily accessible.
D. Agree; collateral is created and stored in a central, accessible location.
E. Strongly Agree; collateral is created/signed off by marketing and stored centrally.
Strategic Priority Assessment
- Sales enablement is a strategic business objective for my sales team and company.
A. Strongly Disagree; neither team nor company recognizes it as strategic.
B. Disagree; improvement is desired but not prioritized.
C. Somewhat Agree; sales sees it as a priority, but other organizations are not on board.
D. Agree; implemented as a strategic objective and socialized with other teams.
E. Strongly Agree; fully implemented and recognized as a strategic business objective.
Navigating the Chaos Stage
If you answered mostly A’s, your team is likely in the “chaos” stage. During this stage, your sales team lacks sales enablement tools such as automation, standard metrics, shared sales collateral, or structured training plans. This results in heavy manual work for reps and a lack of consistency in efforts like call cadence, prospecting email drips, or film reviews due to a lack of process.
Next Steps: Begin with an audit of your team’s current work state. Have sales reps track time spent on job-related tasks weekly. Survey reps to identify tedious tasks or missing tools and trainings. Use this information to pinpoint areas where a sales enablement strategy can be implemented, one process at a time.
Moving to the Defined Stage
If you answered mostly B’s, your team is likely in the “defined” stage. Your team has started socializing the idea of sales enablement and has some basic tools and processes in place to streamline tasks. However, full adoption has not yet occurred.
Next Steps: To move towards the progressive stage, ensure enablement efforts are understood and implemented across the organization. Document existing processes supporting sales enablement and adopt core systems to scale your approach. If you haven’t already, this is the stage to adopt a CRM platform to manage contact information and streamline communication with prospects and customers.
Advancing to the Progressive Stage
If most of your answers were C’s, your team is likely in the “progressive” stage. Your team has an organized sales enablement initiative in place and recognizes it as a priority. A CRM platform is widely adopted, and metrics can connect sales objectives to business outcomes.
Next Steps: Your team has documented key processes and adopted helpful tools. Now, gain alignment across your organization. Incorporate documented processes and sales enablement strategies into your team’s training regimen to drive adoption of common language and tools. Ensure your team knows how to use implemented tools and that all processes are documented and centrally located for easy reference.
Reaching the Mature Stage
If you answered mostly D’s, your team is likely in the “mature” stage. Your team has fully adopted sales enablement across the organization, has shared definitions of common terms, and streamlined processes. Effective training strategies are in place to develop sales reps and help them build much-needed skills.
Next Steps: Ensure your processes are as predictable as possible to reach the optimization stage. Perform an audit measuring how long it takes sales reps to perform common tasks to track progress. Compare these results to your company’s overall KPIs to ensure these efforts are helping the company reach its broader objectives.
Achieving the Optimized Stage
If you answered mostly E’s, your team is likely in the “optimized” sales maturity stage. Sales enablement has become standard practice for the entire organization. Your efforts are aligned with your company’s overall strategic objectives and effectively measured with KPIs.
Next Steps: Even in an optimal state, continuous improvement should always be a priority. On a semi-annual basis, review your sales enablement processes to understand how they are performing. Take time to make improvements as needed for continued success.
Implementing a well-thought-out sales enablement strategy is one of the best ways to help your team land more sales and fuel business growth. If you’re looking for recommendations on tools that can help your team automate and scale, check out this round-up of 30 growth hacking tools your sales team will thank you for.
