Sales Leaders & Sales Enablement Leaders: Yin & Yang!

A Discussion Hosted By:

Rana Salman, PhD and Karen Kennedy

Please rate

The collaboration you have between sales and sales enablement functions

1 2 3 4 5

Poor Good Neutral Great Excellent

What Are You Up Against?

Knowledge Building

Scaling a Team and/or Turnover

TextCulture

KPIs

TextQuota Attainment.

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Text Box

46% of new hires fail within 18 months.(1)

34% Turnover in B2B Sales Roles.(2)

(1) Leadership IQ Study, 2016. The three-year study by Leadership IQ, a global leadership training and research company, compiled these results after studying 5,247 hiring managers from 312 public, private, business and healthcare organizations. Collectively these managers hired more than 20,000 employees during the study period.

(2) Bridge Group: 2015 SaaS Inside Sales Survey Report2

71% of companies take 6 months or longer to onboard new sales reps; and at a third of all companies, it takes 9

months or more.

CSO Insights and ClearSlide, 7 Sales Leader Insights to Improve Performance in 20163

What is a reasonable number of KPIs and can we measure our impact?

“12 Sales Enablement KPIs for Enterprise Sales Leaders” by Chris Monaco, Seismic, January 2017 4

85% of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work.

18% percent are actively disengaged in their work and workplace,

while 67% are "not engaged."

“Dismal Employee Engagement Is a Sign of Global Mismanagement” by Jim Harter, Gallup. December, 20175

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…although sales enablement is up from 19.7% in 2012 to 32.7% in 2017, surprisingly

sales performance has declined. In 2012 quota attainment of reps was 63%. In 2016

only 55.8% of reps achieved quota.

“Sales Managers: Overwhelmed and Underdeveloped” 2017 CSO Insights Sales Manager Enablement Report6

Do these challenges exist in your organization today?

Scaling a Team or Dealing with High Turnover Y/NChallenged to keep up with Knowledge Building/Training Y/NToo Many KPIs Y/NBuilding or Sustaining a Sales Culture Y/NImproving Percentage of Quota Attainment Y/N

Hands-On Exercise

Is there someone at work that drives you crazy?

Yes/No

Sales Leaders Sales Enablement

Strategic Leadership

Target Fixation

Command Instinct

Coaching Adaptability

Sales Intuition

Teaching Mentality

Collaboration & Empathy

Problem Solving & Process Orientation

Flexibility & Adaptability

Change Management

Common Traits

HBR: The 7 Attributes of the Most Effective Sales Leaders 9/2015BrainShark: Where Do Great Sales Enablement Leaders Come From?

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Sales Leader Sales Enablement Leader

High DominanceHigh ExtraversionHigh Sense of UrgencyHigh Need for Flexibility and SpontaneityPrefer being a GeneralistWilling to Delegate

High CollaborationSituational ExtraversionSense of PragmatismHigh Need for Accuracy and PlanningPrefer being a SpecialistDesires to Own Projects

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Common Innate Drives

Comfortable in tellingTalk it throughDo it fast, no need for frameworksDon’t tie me down to rules and structureI’d like to delegateI’ve never met a CRM worth my time

Opportunity to collaborateThink it throughDo it well and build to scaleWe have rules for a reasonI like being the subject matter expertI love systems, they make sense of the world

Knowing our Differences and Embracing our Opposite

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Understanding of the big pictureTo be challengedOpportunity to influenceVarietyFlexibility, spontaneity

Opportunity to implementGet actual work done! Implement!To bring a team together, benefit the groupStable work environmentBuild knowledge, know a lot

Must Haves

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Seek First to Understand, Then to be UnderstoodSales Leaders…

02 How others describe them?

03 What’s their advice to other sales reps and sales leaders?

01 What drives them away?

04What’s their feedback about optimizing our relationship?

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Before I promote people into sales management, I like them to dip their toe in the water. After going through this experience for several months and seeing firsthand the day in the life of a sales manager, half of them say ‘no thank you!’”

Source: Blog interview with Jim WensucDirector of Sales

SANS Institutehttps://www.LinkedIn.com/pulse/selling-tips-from-sales-veteran-rana-salman-ph-d-/

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Plenty Out There…But…

Source: LinkedIn Sales Navigator & Gong.io

50,700

101,066

82,187

55,88738,793

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

> 1 yr. 1 to 2yrs.

3 to 5yrs.

6 to 10yrs.

>10 yrs.

101,066 in Company 1-2 years

19 Months Tenure from 26 mo.

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What Drives Them Away?

• Changes in compensation• No innovation• Customer success afterthought• No career advancement• Reporting/administrative tasks • Short term vision vs. long term • Limited training

Source: Glassdoor reviews (random selection of reviews)

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How Others Describe Them on LI?

Trustworthy

Business-acumenCustomer service

Self-Reliant Business outcomesCommunicator

VisionaryGo-getter

Inspiring

Extremely Responsive

Result orientedIntelligently Aggressive

Goes extra mileDedicated

Customer-focusCreative leader

Genuine

Milestones

Adaptable

Settles for nothing but best

Team-player

Get-it-done

EmpowerOn-Time

Passion

Expert

Responsive RespectedCustomer Needs

Internal Alignment

Reviewed 200 recommendationsSample Size: 100 sales leaders

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What’s their Advice To Others in Sales?

• Deliver best customer experience • Know customer decision-making process• Actively listen to customers• Take an outside-in perspective • Qualify, Qualify, Qualify!• Set time for learning and growth (practice, train, learn)

• Treat each rep as unique individuals• Develop & grow reps• Embrace diverse mindsets• Learn how to delegate & coach• Embrace new skillsets• Provide clarity on vision and on expectations

For Sales Managers

For Reps

Source: Blog interviews of Sales Leaders by Rana Salmanhttps://www.LinkedIn.com/in/ranasalman1/detail/recent-activity/posts/

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If you are a Sales Enablement Leader, please rate your current relationship with your Sales Leader,

If you are a Sales Leader,please rate your current relationship with your Sales Enablement Leader

1 2 3 4 5

Poor Good Neutral Great Excellent

1. In general, how could sales enablement work better with sales to meet your team's needs?

2. What type of sales enablement leaders do you work best with?

• Seek sales leadership sponsorship

• Innovate! No ‘one’ size fits all

• Have thorough understanding of what’s driving sales goals and company direction (internal & external)

• Have direct & consistent engagement with customers & sales organization

• Don’t work in silos

• Show real life examples of program’s benefits

Source: Q&A email correspondence with group sales leaders17

1. In general, how could sales enablement work better with sales to meet your team's needs? If there is one thing I’m willing to pull my sales makers off of the phone for, it’s effective enablement. I always tell people to block two hours of time every week to learn something new, to sharpen their saw. Enablement and Sales are partners in crime! They tend to work in siloes. Enablement takes direction from corporate, then meets with sales for feedback, and then the output is the quarterly training plan. That is backwards! Instead, enablement should get feedback from sales, then interlock with corporate, and then produce the quarterly training plan.

2. What type of sales enablement leaders do you work best with? Collaborative individuals that are creative in their approach. Enablement is not a ‘one size fits all’; people learn differently. Innovate!! Don’t teach people by an online quiz or death by PowerPoint in a room. Get people offsite, bring in subject matter experts, make it interactive and fun! The best enablement I’ve ever had is when I was a sales leader for Healthcare. I had a subject matter expert come in and show how a hospital works by using stuffed animals and showing how the patient experience worked all the way from checking in, to the procedure, to the insurance company. It resonated because he made something complex simple. Lastly, enablement leaders need to seek feedback early and often. Be willing to shift your strategy based on the needs of the sales organization as well as the corporate objectives.

Anna WilkinsSenior Director, GSAT Strategic PMO

VMware

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1. In general, how could sales enablement work better with sales to meet your team's needs? I would expect that high performing sales enablement leaders have a high aptitude when it comes to program design, implementation, measurement and execution. In addition an expectation of strong market knowledge and a thorough understanding of what is driving the sales goals and company direction. Often times enablement programs and teams lack one major item, and that is direct and consistent engagement with the customers and the sales organization. I think if enablement leaders and their teams had more direct engagement with the sales teams and customers, in more traditional sales settings, that would drive quicker ROI from a program standpoint.

2. What type of sales enablement leaders do you work best with? Much like any other leader/colleague, someone with a diverse set of experiences, one that drives a different thought process and way of looking at things but is still practical and grounded. Someone willing to engage with the sales team and customers (not drive a program from afar) and a maniacal sense of customer focus.

JJ DePalmaRegional Sales Director

Lenovo

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1. In general, how could sales enablement work better with sales to meet your team's needs? Sales Enablement creates an environment where my team has the ability to grow and develop their business through a deeper understanding of the customer environment, including goals and challenges, which allows them to advise them on areas that will move their business forward. The confidence that come from empowering a sales force with this ability translates into trusted advisor status with customers.

2. What type of sales enablement leaders do you work best with? I work best with sales enablement leaders who understand my internal and external sales environment and can develop plans that help the team evolve by enhancing what is working well and focusing on priority areas of improvement, which will make the biggest impact to the team’s success…and the company’s overall bottom line.

John Dougherty VP of Customer Experience

Sema4

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1. In general, how could sales enablement work better with sales to meet your team's needs? Overall Sales Enablement teams are very helpful, but in my experience the most effective are enablement teams that:

• Create a sales enablement cadence• Have Sales Leadership support and backing to hold sales teams accountable on training and attendance• Implement a strategy for role-playing to help with learning and reinforcement of best practices

2. What type of sales enablement leaders do you work best with? Those that: • Seek sales leadership sponsorship: Effective enablement leaders engage with sales leadership, collaborate to

determine needs, and then develop programs to meet these needs. Sales leaders will then enforce, reinforce, and holds sales teams accountable going through the enablement program

• Partner with sales to deliver program(s): It brings a level of depth and value to the conversation when sales enablement partners with sales managers and top sales professionals to participate and co-deliver programs

• Are passionate: It’s critical that the enablement individual delivering the program is passionate and buys into the program. If they don’t, the rep would say, “Well if they don’t buy into the program, then why should I?”

Alan SandersonSales Director

FireEye

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2. What type of sales enablement leaders do you work best with (cont.)? Those that: • Discuss real life examples of how program benefited similar sales organization(s), sales

teams/reps, and helped drive move business/value (proof points)• Understand the sales role(s). Best recommendation is to go on the road or listen to a sales

call. This will provide context of what we go through and helps sales enablement personnel further understand our customers’ needs

Alan SandersonSales Director

FireEye

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1. In general, how could sales enablement work better with sales to meet your team's needs? Sales Enablement needs to consistently work with and align with sellers and customers to understand the ever changing needs of both the business and the customers served. Too often enablement team develop content and launch tools in a silo that do not meet the needs of the sellers or the end users.

Brenda HudsonVice President, Inside Sales

Insight

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1 Know our differences and embrace our opposites

2 Take time to know their world, their priorities, their pains

3 Collaborate on solution and seek sales sponsorship

Key Concepts & Takeaways

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Know Your Yin and Yang!Would you like to know your strengths and motivating needs, as well as your sales leader’s? (And Vise-versa?)

Karen will do a 30-minute side-by-side comparison for the Sales Leader and Sales Enablement Leader. You will both get a full profile report PLUS a Summary 1:1 Relationship Guide that covers key areas of relationship strengths, relationship cautions and relationship tips. Karen will then arrange a Zoom call.

Use this link: https://assess.predictiveindex.com/oi/ses2018 Feel free to complete in advance of the conference!

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Rana Salman, PhD.Founder512.799.8159rana.salman@salmanconsulting.comwww.salmanconsulting.com@SalmanConsult

Karen KennedyThe People Whisperer for Business + CEO949.412.0231karen@insightstogrowth.comwww.insightstogrowth.com@Insights2Growth

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