Around the country, enablement budgets are being slashed and resources are being cut. A few common scenarios we’ve seen:
- Enablement teams losing a member and finance not re-hiring for that position
- Additional headcount promised in 2023 has suddenly vanished
- The in-person SKO being moved to digital (again!)
But, even with cuts to enablement and revenue support teams, there is still work to be done leaving teams to do more with less. So, how do you work with what you have to keep enabling your teams and driving revenue? In this blog, we’re sharing 4 tactical ways to get the most out of your budget and utilize your resources.
1. Spend Less Time As an Admin
As a sales enablement manager, you should be focused on tasks that move your team forward like creating new assets, mentoring to improve the sales cycle and using feedback to improve efficiency. Unfortunately, many tools require hours of admin tasks each week to maintain, taking time away from those tasks that actually add value.
Tasks like maintaining your content library, performing content audits, and answering requests from sales for existing content are all tasks that can be eliminated by implementing effective, low-touch tools. For example, an organized content library can easily be set up in Google Drive or a content management platform and this can: let you spend less time managing content, allow reps to easily find content on their own, and even get reps to utilize more content.
The key here is to only use tools that actually enable your team, and give you more time to focus on the tasks that really matter.
2. Simplify your Tech Stack
Another way you can cut down on the amount of time you spend managing tools is to…. use less tools. Having a separate tool that specializes in each task might seem like a good idea, but in reality it’s a waste of time for your team. Learning, adopting and switching between a bunch of tools takes time and energy away from the tasks that your team should be focusing on.
Combining tools and simplifying your tech stack can:
- Free up budget: Eliminating or consolidating tools can free up budget to be used for other things that can add even more value to your org.
- Make existing tools more useful: If many tasks can be completed within one tool, your team members are not only going to waste time switching between platforms, but they will likely get more value from them too.
- Less time setting up and maintaining tools: Simplifying your tech stack means less tools to manage and more time to focus on tasks that are adding value.
- Better analytics: Combining tools like content, learning and your CRM can give you access to really important insights. For example, a combined tool can help you understand things like how learning paths or specific content assets are impacting revenue.
Combining tools can also create opportunities for new use cases like just-in-time training for your sales reps or the ability for partners to register their own deals directly into your CRM. Take inventory and simplify your tech stack to free up time and budget, while also delivering more value to your team.
3. Maximize Net Retention
Now that we’ve discussed how to maximize our tools, let’s talk about overall strategies that are going to help you get the most ROI from your enablement budget. Your sales and marketing plans likely focus heavily on generating new revenue, engaging new leads and closing deals with new customers. But, what if you focused more of your effort, time and budget on retaining and maybe even upselling current customers? As an enablement team, your efforts might actually be better spent supporting other areas of revenue, not just the sales team.
According to Hubspot, “Great customer service experiences increase the chances of repurchases and renewals by 82%” (Hubspot, 2023). So, let’s discuss ways that your enablement efforts and budget can be used to support the CS team and drive customer retention:
- Develop Customer Success-Focused Content: Customers that see the clear value in your product are less likely to churn, so create content that educates and reiterates your product value and ensures your customers are getting the most out of your product.
- Product Training: Additionally, regular training sessions can help ensure that customers are up to date on the latest features and are taking full advantage of what your product has to offer.
- Share Insights: Provide the CS team with insights and analytics on customer behavior, preferences, and feedback to further improve the customer experience.
- Keep users informed: Throughout the customer lifecycle it’s important to keep your users informed of product updates or changes along the way.
As an example, with Enablix’s customer enablement suite of tools, you can create custom learning paths to keep customers up to date on features, communicate through the Broadcasts feature and so much more. Maximize net retention by supporting your CS team and increasing the chances for a customer upsell or renewal.
4. Maximize your Learning and Development Budget
Not long ago learning and development budgets were high and teams were pouring money into training their teams. But as economic conditions have changed, those same budgets have been cut or are staying the same. With this in mind, here are our top resources to get the most out of your budget.
Sales Enablement Collective – The Sales Enablement Collective is a community that offers a wealth of free resources like whitepapers, research reports, and case studies to help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in the field. They also offer paid memberships for even more access to resources and community to help you learn from peers and maximize your budget.
Enablement Squad – The Enablement Squad is another community primarily run through Slack giving opportunities to ask questions and share experiences with other professionals.
Sales Enablement Society – The Sales Enablement Society offers a range of resources, including research reports, webinars, events, and a member directory, to help sales enablement professionals stay connected and collaborate with peers. This community is great for connecting with a global network of sales enablement professionals to get ideas, network and more.
Product Marketing Alliance – The Product Marketing Alliance provides resources and education to help members develop their skills and advance their careers. They also offer a variety of resources, including webinars, events, podcasts, and a job board, to help product marketers stay up-to-date on industry trends and best practices.
Focus On Adding Value
The key takeaway is that in order to maximize your enablement budget, it’s important to focus on tasks and expenses that are going to add value and produce a clear ROI for your organization. Want to learn more about how Enablix can help you maximize your budget and drive value? Let us know!
