4 key trends to master sales enablement change in 2024

This article comes from Garrett Rafols’s talk, ‘Key sales enablement trends you need to be on top of for success in 2023 & beyond’, at our 2023 New York Sales Enablement Summit, check out his full presentation here.

Feeling foggy about which revenue roads lead where in 2024? You’re not the only enablement pro struggling to predict priorities amidst economic uncertainty.

But what if riding out unpredictability started with asking the right questions?

Even with extensive experience enabling sales teams, today’s climate of hiring freezes and economic uncertainty introduces unfamiliar variables, and predicting our function’s path in 2024 becomes challenging.

But rather than fixating on the fog ahead, how can enablement leaders proactively build flexible frameworks to smoothly handle unpredictability?

The solution lies in:

Focusing on ROI,
Communication,
And nurturing talent.

Here are some of the trends I recommend that’ll help you thrive through the turbulence ahead, and truly enable long-term success.

Let’s dive in …

1 . Redefining sales & revenue enablement

While sales enablement and revenue enablement may seem quite similar on the surface, there are some important nuances in their focus.

As professionals in this space, we need to understand these differences clearly in order to shift our mindsets towards supporting wider revenue generation across the entire customer lifecycle.

Up until now, many sales enablement functions have operated squarely within the domain of supporting frontline sales teams directly. I speak from experience here with my own background, coming from that sales rep perspective too.

But in 2024, we have a crucial opportunity to expand our impact by progressing into a true revenue enablement paradigm across marketing, sales, customer success, and beyond.

This more all-encompassing approach pays attention to the whole revenue engine, rather than just one sales team component.

So while sales enablement focuses on equipping sellers, deal cycles, and win rates, revenue enablement also encompasses enabling awareness, retention, and lifetime value.

We should care about metrics like cost of acquisition, churn rates, marketing contribution, and cross-departmental health to fuel growth.

Transitioning fully to this revenue-centric mentality will require enablement professionals to build closer partnerships across marketing, services, finance and essentially all departments driving the customer journey.

It demands that we consult and communicate beyond our usual borders, and in doing so, we evolve from supporting only sales tools and customer-facing sales teams, to enabling business-wide revenue growth in a sustainable way.

2. Driving value through ROI & business outcomes

With continued economic uncertainty paired with rapid enablement solution proliferation, every enablement investment will require a clear proof of value in 2024. Demonstrating tangible returns is crucial.

As enablement professionals, we sometimes fall into the habit of touting impressive program output stats like completion rates, engagement scores and test performance.

But while those can indicate learning transmission success, they don’t actually prove downstream business impact. We need to get better at connecting enablement programs directly to go-to-market outcomes.

In my experience, there are some easy-to-track metrics across the categories of performance, proficiency and productivity that provide that complete story our leaders care about.

For overall performance, we should absolutely report total revenue influence, sales team attainment percentages, new vs existing customer revenue ratios and similar trending numbers. These give the 30,000 foot view.

Additionally measuring proficiency improvement through ramp time, training quiz scores, and confidence surveys gives insight on how well we’re actually uplifting knowledge and ability.

Usage rates of things like sales tools, playlists and collateral also showcase how enablement drives activity efficiency.

Pair this hard data with stakeholders’ discovery conversations to align on the precise business challenges enablement should focus on solving.

Try asking yourself, what revenue goals and rep performance gaps exist? These insights can inform priorities to demonstrate stellar ROI and visible value acceleration, which is essential in today’s climate.

3. Doing more with less

An economic cooldown coupled with company belt tightening translates to most enablement teams taking on amplified responsibility with limited resources.

Clearly, this combination demands flawless prioritization and disciplined delegation efforts.

My top piece of advice is being extremely selective about what enablement pursues, rather than stretching teams dangerously thin trying to fulfill every request.

Begin simply by asking leadership and reps for input on the biggest pain points hindering revenue. Diagnose before prescribing because we can’t afford to waste cycles on nice-to-have programs or technologies that leave little impact.

Then, prepare to transparently communicate about the narrowed focus areas enablement will drive ROI on based on that field discovery.

Want additional projects tackled? No problem, but be prepared to suggest removing something else off our plates. Saying “no” more often protects precious bandwidth.

Operationally, look closely at streamlining content management workflows or leveraging sales automation tools to prevent duplication of efforts.

Consolidate core training programs to sync targeted messaging as scale expands, and structure teams intentionally around efficiency at every possible junction.

4. Investing in enabling people

Even with flawless ROI tracking and response prioritization, company success still hinges upon that human element.

With continued work from home scenarios combined with reduced budgets, leadership development and internal community building are vital investments.

Extensive research proves time and time again that resignations spike when relationships to managers decay, so in these trying times where deficiency of cultural connectedness and coaching consistency abound, ensure managers receive dedicated enablement.

Equip them with the tools to motivate teams, unlock potential and boost empathy, as they intrinsically shape organizational health.

Additionally, enablement pros themselves need empowerment too! Seek out tailored professional development opportunities within your organization.

Learn to lean on partnerships with groups like Sales Enablement Collective to exchange ideas, attend key events, consume podcasts, and converse on discussion boards to continually inspire each other.

During phases of frustration brought by these uncertain economic times, it takes a village to stay motivated, so expand that network. Then pay it forward by mentoring fellow enablement specialists looking to upskill.

Progress unified elevates all ships when the waters get choppy and stormy.

Final thoughts

The reality is that more unpredictable turns likely await in 2024. But enablement teams can thrive through uncertainty by staying agile, transparent, and focused on developing people.

So in the coming year ahead, make flexibility and vision your friends. Revisit strategies frequently but act decisively in the present. Balancing vision with on-the-ground clarity smooths out the ride.

As enablement leaders, we have tremendous power to uplift performance by anchoring in adaptability, aligning to company priorities and delivering value.

If we hone in on realistic frameworks to drive revenue, communication and nurturing talent, our function will continue advancing impact through whatever economic shifts emerge ahead.

How will your team lead the charge on building resilient strategies to smooth out unpredictable territory in 2024? The time is now to prepare!

Future-proof your enablement: 4 key trends to master change in 2024