You were banking on your sales team to increase business growth, and it fell short. You can’t seem to figure out why.
Let me guess, you’ve tried everything from great branding strategies to the good-old cold calls, but something just doesn’t click. Why does this happen and what is one of the most overlooked factors when it comes to building a successful sales team?
Even though it seems like increasing sales growth, maintaining sales rep motivation, or aligning sales with business functions are long-drawn-out processes, sales enablement can quickly turn things around and help boost sales and customer satisfaction.
We’ve put together 35 surprising sales enablement statistics that will help you understand why you should give it the importance it truly deserves.
Sales enablement statistics
Simply put, sales enablement provides a sales team with the information, tools, and resources they need to further customer engagement and close deals. It also facilitates the seller-consumer relationship by developing comprehensive sales playbooks. As a result, your sales reps are not only aware but thoroughly informed about the product they are selling and the benefits it offers to the buyers even before they hop onto a sales pitch.
Let’s look at some interesting sales enablement numbers that show the impact of this strategic business action.
- Sales enablement has recently surged in popularity, experiencing a 343% increase in adoption over the last 5 years.
81%
of sales executives cited content search and utilization as the top productivity improvement area.
Source: Spotio
- Searches for “Sales Enablement” on Google increase by 51.2% year over year.
- Sales enablement’s presence correlates with a 31% improvement in supporting changes in sales messaging and a 15% improvement in improving low-performing salespeople.
- Organizations with sales enablement achieve a 49% win rate on forecasted deals, compared to 42.5% for those without.
- 77.1% of companies with a sales force exceeding 500 people have dedicated sales enablement in place, compared to 39.3% of companies with 25 or fewer.
- Organizations see a significant impact on sales as a result of sales enablement; 76% of organizations see an increase in sales between 6% to 20%
Sales content and training statistics
There is a reason content is king. If you thought that content marketing and sales are poles apart, you might have to think again. Contrary to popular belief, your outbound sales team has a lot to gain from the right kind of high-quality content. It can help deliver organic leads and establish your business as a place of thought leadership.
- 26% of reps say their sales training is ineffective.
- Only 35% of sales teams track the effectiveness of their content.
- 84% of sales executives cited content search and utilization as the top productivity improvement area.
42%
of sales reps feel they don't have enough information before making a call.
Source: Spotio
- Enterprise organizations lose over $2.3 million each year because of opportunity costs associated with underused or unused marketing content.
- 84% of sales training is forgotten in the first three months.
- Effective sales coaching can improve win rates by as much as 29%.
- If your sales reps don’t feel they are learning and growing in your organization, you’re at risk to lose upwards of 60% of your entire workforce within four years.
- 64% of those who transitioned to remote sales either met or exceeded their revenue targets, compared to 50% of those who didn’t make the transition.
Sales and marketing alignment statistics
Sales enablement also functions as a way to align sales and marketing processes. As the purchasing activities continue to change, the methods of carrying out sales must change too. By not paying attention to the alignment of sales and marketing, your business is potentially risking the effectiveness of the sales team; not to mention the loss of marketing benefits that you could have reaped to reach business goals.
- Sales and marketing alignment can help your company become 67% better at closing deals.
- 76% of content marketers forget about sales enablement in their marketing efforts.
- Sales and marketing misalignment costs businesses $1 trillion each year in decreased sales productivity and wasted marketing efforts.
74%
of businesses that use CRM and marketing automation have aligned the Marketing and Sales departments.
Source: Review42
- Sales teams who work closely with marketing see 41% greater growth in reaching their quotas.
- 28% of media and marketing salespersons don’t have easy and direct access to their own sales collateral.
Sales reps productivity statistics
Maintaining the productivity levels of sales reps plays a key role in the overall success and health of a business. As with any department, productivity metrics in sales help understand where the team stands regarding converting prospects and generating revenue. Sales enablement facilitates the process of understanding these key factors by providing sales reps with tools and information to hit the ground running, saving time and money.
- At 44.9%, "decreasing new salesperson ramp-up time to fully productivity" is the most common sales enablement productivity goal.
50%
of sales time is wasted on unproductive prospecting.
Source: Hubspot
- 58% of pipeline stalls because reps are unable to add value.
- 55% of C-Suite executives say that sales enablement solutions are the top technology investment necessary to boost sales productivity.
- Sales reps spend an average of 440 hours each year trying to find the right content to share with their prospects and customers.
Consumer experience statistics
Let’s be real, the consumer experience can only be improved upon by a combination of customer success and sales enablement. If your customer representatives are equipped with the right content, they will be able to provide more value to the customer by answering relevant questions and maintaining relationships with prospects. For a seamless consumer experience, ensure that your sales enablement workflow is integrated with the customer success team.
- Companies with a sales enablement team are 52% more likely to have a sales process that’s tightly aligned with the buyer’s journey.
- 74% of buyers choose the company that was the first to add value.
80%
of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services.
Source: Salesforce
- 90% of B2B sellers don’t use sales material because it is irrelevant, outdated, and difficult to customize.
Sales enablement strategy statistics
Given the importance of sales enablement, it is a no-brainer that it is a strategic, and ongoing process that guides your salesforce to achieve targets. Moreover, sales enablement streamlines cross-functional teams to work together effectively to drive sales revenue. For a business to sustain itself in the future, well-formulated documented sales strategies will be imperative.
- 84% of sales reps achieve their quotas when their employer incorporates a best-in-class sales enablement strategy.
- Companies that execute the best practices for sales enablement that are ranked as best-in-class as a strategy experience an almost 14% increase in their annual contract values and overall deal size.
- The best sales onboarding programs help new sales hires become productive 3.4 months sooner, on average – a time-to-productivity that’s 37% faster than firms with low-performing programs.
65%
of sales managers say that the biggest challenge for them is the lack of time and resources to perform their job.
Source: Data Dwell
Sources:
Sales enablement is worth pursuing
Preparing your sales team and working hard to create sales enablement resources as well as spending time on guaranteeing that the resources (brochures, product overviews, etc) are accessible to the sales team, can have significant impacts on building a strong knowledge base and generating sales revenue.
Overwhelmed by how to support you sales team with content? Learn how to create sales enablement content to support sales teams.
by Mary Clare Novak
