5 of the Best Sales Enablement Statistics & What They Mean for You

It’s no secret that adopting sales enablement is allowing companies to become leaner, smarter, more adaptive to the current market and make the most of face-to-face opportunities. Whether that is at a sales pitch in the board room or using a touchscreen experience at an event.

And it’s become so much more than just a buzzword on everyone’s lips.

Sales enablement is a long-term, holistic strategy that can help you streamline your sales processes and maximise opportunities for your business, by putting together all the many working parts of your sales, marketing and leadership teams and turning them into one well-oiled machine.

There are sales enablement tools and platforms to help companies do just that. As enablement experts we’ve been paying attention to some of the latest sales enablement statistics, and that’s what we’re going to share with you today.

5 sales enablement statistics you should know about!

1. Sales enablement can give you the edge over your competitors

Companies adopting sales enablement and applying it correctly are inevitably outperforming their competition – and they’re 96% more likely to achieve competitive levels of sales sophistication, according to Aberdeen.

But what does that mean? Well, they have to carefully align their processes and methods, so that every single aspect is working to deliver consistent, predictable results. This means embracing technology, communication, effective content and a holistic sales enablement strategy.

It’s not something that’s easy, or a quick fix. But it is a long-term strategy that, if applied correctly, can lead to long-term, sustainable growth.

TIP: Check out our blog on the signs you should invest in sales enablement for your team to learn more.

2. 95% of buyers chose someone who provided content at each stage of the buying process

This is a big one, and speaks volumes for content marketing – which is another important element of sales enablement. After all, a lot of the buyer’s journey is done online now, and providing helpful information your customers will find of value – and that answers their questions – is so important.

Especially if you’re selling in B2B or your product or solution is a bit of an investment, the buyer’s journey generally takes longer, and customers need to be nurtured into making the right decision for them. That’s why supplying them with content to keep them engaged at each stage of the buying process is so important.

Then, when it comes to making a decision, they’ll be more likely to buy from you – as you were the one to help them by answering all their questions and giving them all the information they needed, at the right time. (Source: DemandGen, via HubSpot)

3. Just three hours of coaching per month can increase revenue by 25%

Coaching is a big part of sales enablement. We’re not just talking about training to get sales reps on the right path, either. Research by the Corporate Executive Board found that sales reps who receive ongoing coaching – as little as three hour per month – can increase revenue by 25% and average close rates by 70%.

Your leadership team should be able to use tools such as playbooks to help offer guidance to reps about how to best connect with prospects – including how to use content more effectively to their advantage.

Is it worth giving up three hours per month to increase your revenue by 25%? We think so!

4. Sales enablement is showing no signs of slowing down

The next stat we’re going to share with you comes from CSO Insights, who recently found that the number of companies investing in sales enablement initiatives had risen by 81% between 2016 – 2017. However, in a different study, they also discovered that only a third of these initiatives stood up to or exceeded expectations.

We’re not entirely sure if this was down to the initiatives themselves not being as fully-comprehensive as they needed to be, or perhaps due to poor implementation – maybe a combination of both. For sales enablement to succeed, it has to be undertaken as a holistic approach to encompass different teams, processes, training/coaching, and technology.

TIP: We recently published a blog on sales enablement trends – this will give you more of an idea of the type of technologies and strategies companies are adopting to aid in their sales enablement processes.

5. 30% of B2B companies will be implementing AI to help with sales enablement

The adoption of AI (artificial intelligence) and MI (machine intelligence) is something we’re going to be seeing a lot more of in 2019. B2B companies that do this are being rewarded with an increase of around 50% in leads and appointments. It also means a huge 60% reduction of costs (source: Why Salespeople Need to Develop Machine Intelligence).

According to Gartner, around 30% of all B2B companies will be employing AI to augment at least one of their primary sales processes in 2019. Will you be one of them?

Tip: Take a look at the 5 Sales Enablement Best Practices to Help Drive Growth.

Could an interactive sales tool help your team?

Have any of these sales enablement statistics caught your eye?

We believe sales enablement is going to be huge in 2019, and sales teams are going to have a whole new generation of platforms, strategies and tools to help increase conversions, leads and sales.

Now is the time to take stock of your sales enablement strategy (or start creating one) and looking at ways to implement some of the latest technology, to give yourself a competitive advantage and fill in any of the gaps or holes in your strategy.

At POP, we specialise in creating interactive sales tools and content that empower businesses to make those all-important sales. These are visual, engaging tools that allow your team to access a wealth of content quickly and efficiently, to give the best impression in the boardroom – or anywhere.

Take a look and see for yourself!

If you’d like to know more about what’s possible with an interactive sales tool or presentation, get in touch today on +44 (0)117 329 1712 or hello@popcomms.com. We’d love to hear from you.