Effective sales strategies are developed through careful evaluation and constant improvement. At Highspot, we work with sales and marketing leaders every day to enable their success, so we know firsthand the importance of a strong sales strategy.
Below, we’ve distilled our learnings with hundreds of customers to answer the most frequently asked questions about developing a winning sales strategy.
Prospecting, pitching, tracking engagement — there’s no question that modern technology solutions have made it easier for sellers to complete these essential tasks. But even as the tools have improved, selling has become more complicated as buyers’ expectations have risen. With increased access to information, buyers today do more of their research independently and invite more internal stakeholders into buying decisions. To capture and win buyers’ attention, sellers must now research and present insightful solutions tailored to multiple decision makers’ needs. The result is that reps end up spending more time trying to keep up with increasingly complex sales processes, impacting overall sales productivity.
Quality over quantity: we’ve all heard the age-old advice to prioritize value instead of numbers. But of course, in sales, sellers need both quality and quantity to build a busy pipeline of qualified buyers. Sales enablement and sales engagement support sales teams in forming meaningful connections with buyers at scale and streamlining sales processes. There’s strong support for both:
But what’s the difference between sales enablement and sales engagement — and which do you need for your sales team to ensure quality and quantity? To answer that question, it helps to start by defining the two different practices.
I always find it fun to interview fellow marketers and bond through our shared understanding of great products, strong value propositions — and common pain points. The pain of sales and marketing alignment (or misalignment) is one that every marketer knows but few know how to solve. After trying to tackle this issue in several different ways, Phill Sundal at DiscoverOrg finally found success with Highspot. In the interview below, he outlines the successes and failures he encountered as he worked to bring sales and marketing into alignment at his company.
Here is the video interview, as well as the interview transcript, below:
In our fast-paced world where modern-day buyers are more demanding than ever, sales enablement comes to play a crucial role in sellers’ success. But there’s more to it than that. Not only do companies need the right sales enablement solution — they need the right approach.
This is one reason why we’re excited to share insights and advice from Matt McClendon, President of DSG, as part of our Highspot “Hot Shots” series. Matt has a passion for creating sales-friendly playbooks and helping clients provide their sales channels with the content, tools, and training required to lead compelling customer conversations. DSG has provided professional services, creative services, and enablement tools to hundreds of B2B companies and more than 100,000 salespeople.
You know you’re talking to someone who values innovation when it’s in their job title. Jason Bailey is the Director of Marketing Programs and Innovation for Fiserv, a provider of technology solutions to the financial world, including banks, credit unions, securities processing organizations, and insurance companies. This interview provides insights into how innovators think about sales enablement.
Here is the video interview, as well as the interview transcript, below:
Whether it’s a modified sales process, updated compensation plan, or new sales tool, change management can be one of the most challenging obstacles that sales teams face. The ability to lead change can make or break the success of your team’s ability to adapt to major business changes, so it’s important to implement an effective change management strategy to help your reps adopt change within your organization.
One of the best things about being in marketing is being able to meet a future customer at the beginning of their buying journey! I had this opportunity with Dun & Bradstreet.
The Dun & Bradstreet team was keenly interested in learning more about how their marketing team could leverage sales enablement to both empower their salesforce and ensure their efforts were succeeding. I got to follow Dun & Bradstreet through their entire buyer’s journey, and once they were a customer, I got an insider’s view on everything that went into the purchasing process. This interview provides a peek behind the scenes at Dun & Bradstreet!
Here is the video interview, as well as the interview transcript, below:
You know you are doing something right when customers advocate to adopt Highspot when they move to new companies! Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Sean Goldie, Director of Sales Enablement at Apptio. For several years, Highspot worked with Sean while he was at SAP Concur — one of Highspot’s oldest customers. I was exceptionally excited when Highspot brought on Apptio as a new customer because 1.) Apptio is another awesome Seattle-based company and 2.) it meant I got to reconnect with Sean!
Here is the video interview, as well as the interview transcript, below:
In today’s competitive market, buyer behavior is constantly changing in response to new technologies and buying processes, and smart sellers must evolve to keep up. Even the highest performing sales teams have to stay alert and on the lookout for new ways to boost sales productivity to keep their competitive edge — or risk falling behind. According to our 2018 State of Sales Enablement report, nearly 70% of respondents reported that their company’s sales process was becoming more complex, and 55% reported that the increasing level of sales process complexity impacted their sales performance. With these new sales process challenges, it’s more important than ever to regularly take time to focus on optimizing sales productivity. After all, productivity means profit. When a business improves its salesforce’s effectiveness and productivity, it makes it easier for sellers to close deals that drive revenue.
