We all know that securing a new account is very much a team effort. Extended sales cycles, big-ticket purchases and complex buying groups require a consolidated effort from both marketing and sales functions.
Get it right, and the payoff can be huge; get it wrong, and those marketing dollars spent on generating leads could be wasted.
Below we look at the top 10 sales enablement pitfalls that can derail even the best customer acquisition efforts.
1. Misalignment issues
It may seem obvious but it’s amazing how many times sales and marketing functions aren’t aligned. To be on the same page, sales teams need to be continuing the narrative that the prospect has originally enticed and engaged with. Going off-piste can dilute your proposition or leave the prospect scratching their heads about what they are actually buying. Whether you have functional (i.e RevOps or Growth marketing) or operational alignment (i.e. interlocked sales and marketing ABX) is irrelevant – the shared language, vision, metrics are key.
2. Unarmed and underprepared
The saying goes ‘it takes a village to raise a child’; well, in a similar vein you can’t close a sale without sufficient assets across multi-touchpoints. When an MQL lands with the sales team, they need to continue to nurture the prospect until they are ready to engage in intent-led activities such as demo content. If the sales enablement content is missing or significantly lacking, your place on their short-list could be in jeopardy.
3. The customer is always right
Listen to your customers and feed that back into the sales process. Customers are often a source of enlightenment that can highlight specific silver bullets that encouraged them to buy from you. These may differ from the USPs identified by the product marketing team and could, if used correctly, make your proposition a whole lot stickier.
4. Mind the gap
Sales teams are at the coalface when it comes to feedback from prospects. If a recurring issue or challenge crops up, then it would be foolhardy to ignore. This could be not having enough social proof that your product does what it says it can do, or collateral that demonstrates the business value to the C-suite. Whatever the gap, this content chasm needs to be filled or your prospect could disappear into the abyss.
5. Computer says ‘no’
Tech is great when it’s used correctly. However in the case of ‘having all the gear and no idea’, there is no point having it at all. If the tech stack is operating in silos or not being used at all then prospects can be under served, neglected or just left to go cold. Integration of systems and a single source of truth is critical to making sure prospects are given what they want, when they want it. Without this you are back to good old-fashioned guesswork and blind luck.
6. Slow, slow, quick quick slow.
Moving interested parties through the funnel is nothing new, but customers hold all the cards and call all the shots when it comes to sales acceleration. With the constant pressure of quarterly sales targets to hit, it can be tempting to move prospects through to the end game as quickly as possible. Moving a ‘lead’ straight to a demo after they have only consumed a single piece of content could come across as desperate. But by the same token, not moving prospects onto to more sales qualification content when they want can also demonstrate lack of empathy. Pacing a lead is a balancing act and one that should be informed by clear metrics and digital body language.
7. Too many tools
Counter to point 5, the digitally enlightened sales team may embrace the benefits of sales applications, but give them too many and the law of diminishing returns will start to kick in.
8. Poor training and onboarding
Knowing your customers and aligning their needs with your products is a basic necessity for sales. Inadequate training and campaign alignment can leave sales teams underprepared and less effective at communicating your point of difference or objection handling. Gaps in product knowledge or inconsistencies in sales messages can leave your credibility exposed.
9. Low ball content
As mentioned in point 4, content is key. You may have a plethora of assets to send to your prospective customer to help encourage them to buy, but what if the content is the wrong pitch? Sure ‘speeds and feeds’ material have its place, but is it likely to pique the interest of business leaders – probably not. Sales teams need a raft of assets that appeal, inspire and convince decision makers from both technical and business camps.
10. Don’t stand still
Heraclitus said, “the only constant in life is change”. How true he was, this philosophy rings true within the sales engine as well. Just because something is resonating today doesn’t mean that it will continue to do so in 12, 18 or 24 month’s time. Change is inevitable and your sales enablement needs to adopt this mindset as well. Trends change, buying habits flex and priorities pivot, failing to recognise this will make your pitch seem outdated and irrelevant.
For a holistic view of your sales enablement assets and approach, speak to The Rubicon Agency. With over 25 years of B2B marketing experience working within the tech sector, we know what it takes to inspire sales teams and cut through the competition.
