5 Questions To Ask When Evaluating Sales Enablement Software

Sales enablement has seen an impressive 343% increase in adoption over the last 5 years.

We’re guessing you want to get in on the action to empower your sales reps and marketing teams to increase closed deals and conversion rates–am I right?

To achieve these goals, you’ll need a modern and competitive platform to bolster your sales enablement strategy. Today, we will break down what you should be looking for in sales enablement software and list five questions you should ask when evaluating a possible solution.

What to look for in sales enablement software

You'll need the right features and a modern learning solution to get your sales enablement programs up and running and making an impact. 

With the right sales enablement tools included, you can coach your sales reps at scale, capture and share effective sales best practices from top salespeople, and upskill employees in the flow of the work—without slowing down the sales process. The right solution will also help your marketing teams develop support to help sales reps sell. 

To do this, you’ll need a sales enablement solution that includes features to help you accomplish the following foundational pillars of an effective sales enablement strategy:

1. Workflow automation: Make sure the sales enablement platform you’re considering leverages automation powered by artificial intelligence and modern technologies to streamline content management.

2.  Ramped up sales team performance: Look for an effective sales enablement solution that will empower your salespeople to access the right content to help them upskill, including case studies from top performers—those excellent pitches that consistently close deals.  

3. Onboard new sales reps at pace: Sales onboarding lays the foundation for new hires to develop critical skills, reduce ramp-up time, and positively impact the sales process. For example, a platform that facilitates one-on-one sales coaching will help connect your sales leaders with new hires and enable your company to build a team of talented salespeople. 

4. Upskill in the flow of work: You need a solution that enables your sales team to learn wherever they are when they need it. Also, check that your solution includes a dedicated app for your CRM, like Salesforce, where your sales reps spend most of their time. 

5. Monitor sales performance metrics: Be sure that your sales enablement software empowers you to leverage the latest and best analytics functionalities so you and your team can make data-driven decisions to improve your learning initiatives and prove your return on investment to key stakeholders.

Now, with those outcomes front of mind, let’s raise some questions you should ask when choosing your sales enablement solution. 

5 key questions to ask when evaluating sales enablement software

1. Will the solution meet the needs of my sales organization?

As you scout the sales enablement software market, you may notice solutions with many bells and whistles, but these may not be the proper functionalities for your company. 

To get around this issue, know what features you need and which are just ‘nice to have’ for your sales enablement strategy. Also, be mindful of how the software will integrate with any of your existing sales processes or systems, to be sure it won’t disrupt the busy day-to-day routines of your sales reps on the ground. 

2. Does the software streamline sales content?

Your sales reps need the right content at the right time and to be able to create and deploy high-impact collateral at pace and keep up-to-date in the buyer’s journey. 

A sales enablement platform will enable salespeople to access relevant sales content through centralized content management for creating, storing, and sharing sales materials, pricing data, and templates to ramp up your sales processes.

Along with streamlining the content creation process, the sales enablement solution should serve as a hub where sales team members can access critical information, such as marketing content and product messaging, preferably from their own dashboard. 

3. Can the sales enablement platform scale with my business?

As markets and economies change rapidly, your sales enablement solution should scale to meet new demands as your business grows or evolves.

When exploring options for sales enablement solutions, consider flexibility, agility, and scalability. It’s a good idea to make sure that your vendor is keeping pace with the latest advancements and trends, such as AI-powered tools. 

Checking how the solution can scale will guarantee you can provide your team members with engaging and effective sales support as your company grows.

4. Will the solution fit seamlessly into my sales system?

Be sure to check that the software has high integration and a decent API so that it merges seamlessly with your existing systems, such as Salesforce.

To truly streamline your sales team's efforts, it's essential that your solution can connect with your existing CRM system, meaning easy access to sales data, pricing figures, and templates all in one place. 

When your sales enablement platform works in harmony with your existing systems, you'll quickly see the benefits of improving efficiencies, hopefully pushing through more closed deals.

5. Is ease of use and great user experience part of the deal?

Using the solution and understanding how it works must be easy for your sales team. Otherwise, all the efficiency you aim to leverage will go out the window. 

Check that the solution doesn't have a high learning curve for implementation and that the vendor includes onboarding and training as part of the deal—most modern solutions do, but check regardless. 

Don’t be shy to test the sales enablement platform in a real-world use case. Again, most competitive learning solutions will offer a demo to help you understand the product in the specific context of your business. 

Close more deals with sales enablement content driven by collaborative learning

One more crucial element we recommend that you consider in choosing a sales enablement platform is collaborative learning. 

Leveraging a collaborative learning platform like 360Learning that combines the powerful features of an LMS, LXP, and Academies all in one solution will help you upskill your sales team members and even speed up your sales cycle. Here's a quick look at how it works:   

Academies empower you to launch expert-led courses in minutes, linking sales managers with sales reps to coach them at scale. With 360Learning, every salesperson will be ready to impact their numbers with sales training that includes unlimited pitch practice and one-on-one video coaching. 

With 360Learning, your organization can deliver relevant training via smart recommendations in Salesforce that can reach employees anywhere, anytime with a best-in-class mobile app.

If we’ve convinced you to put 360Learning on your shortlist, you can get your free demo to see how we stack up, below: