In an increasingly digital world, the ability to conduct business virtually is a necessary reality across organizations and business functions — and sales enablement is no exception. In order to drive agility among the teams they support, many practitioners are discovering the importance of pivoting to virtual enablement programs.
Virtual enablement efforts extend far beyond merely shifting enablement programs to an online environment. Rather, it’s critical for sales enablement leaders to firmly grasp the common challenges of virtual conditions and learn how best to overcome them. When implemented effectively, virtual enablement promotes scalability, flexibility, and diversity within sales teams.
Virtual enablement encompasses myriad components, including:
Sales enablement must put in the work to ensure new sales reps are warmly welcomed to the team. When teams are unable to meet in person, it is all the more important to keep new hires engaged, excited, and prepared for success through remote onboarding.
Remote learning can present unique challenges, especially in maintaining interactivity, holding focus, and facilitating practice. Sales enablement practitioners must incorporate a multitude of teaching techniques to avoid fatigue among trainees.
Coaching for the purpose of continual improvement is at the heart of a strategic virtual enablement program. Maintaining a strong coaching program in virtual environments is critical to help sellers continually refine their skills and keep pace with change.
All sellers should be equipped with the tools necessary to self-learn, interact with their peers, and efficiently engage with their customers. These tools should enable optimal organization and accessibility and contribute to their confidence in the field.
As buyers are becoming increasingly more reliant on digital communication, mature virtual selling techniques are quickly becoming table stakes for success in the modern sales climate. Sales teams need to develop expertise on how to sell in remote environments, and sales enablement is critical to driving these best practices among the teams they support.
As sellers have more frequent online or digital engagements with customers, they should be equipped with new and relevant content in order to maximize the efficiency of their engagements. Sales enablement should tailor this content to meet the unique and evolving needs of their sellers and customers.
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It’s estimated that 25-30% of the workforce will work from home several days a week by the end of 2021, says Global Workplace Analytics. |
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is how much a typical employer can save for every person who works remotely half the time, according to Global Workplace Analytics. |
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Those that effectively utilize tools for sales plays experience win rates that are 8 percentage points higher than those that do not, according to the State of Sales Enablement Report, 2020. |
What have been your team’s biggest challenges adapting to a virtual sales enablement environment?
Ensuring that onboarding is digestible, highly interactive, and most importantly enjoyable is critical in a remote environment. Laura Welch offers some key tips on delivering sales training to a remote workforce:
Virtual sales onboarding and training efforts require a fresh, creative mindset to be successful and memorable. Here are some innovative ways to engage with your sellers in a virtual environment:
Buyers expectations have changed and are, in many ways, greater than they were before due to limited interactions with sellers. Here are some techniques from expert Rebecca Bell to remain customer centric within an online experience:
Digital selling programs are not just a matter of current circumstance—it is a soon-to-be requirement for many organizations in order to stay competitive. Here are a few transformative steps in building a digital selling program:
As digital selling is on the rise, the skills of sellers should evolve and adapt accordingly. Here are some of the skills, as well as the techniques for acquiring those skills, that sales enablement can implement:
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