Sales enablement's footprint is expanding fast.

According to the 2025 Sales Enablement Salary and Landscape Report, nearly 39% of enablement teams added headcount in the past twelve months, and 36% of practitioners have only been in their roles for three years or less. Eighty-five percent of companies kept or grew their enablement budgets this year, with 42% actually increasing them.

That growth has generated a wave of conversation about sales enablement maturity , what it means, how to measure it, and what separates a reactive function from a strategic one.

This article walks through the core maturity stages, how to assess where your team sits today, and what it takes to move forward.

What is a sales enablement maturity model?

A sales enablement maturity model is a framework that helps you evaluate how developed your enablement function is today and what it needs to look like as it grows.

Think of it as a maturity curve for your enablement strategy, one that gives you a shared language for describing where your team is now, where gaps exist, and what "good" looks like at the next level.

Most models assess the same core dimensions:

  • Strategy and leadership alignment — is enablement tied to business goals, or driven by ad-hoc requests?
  • Training and onboarding — are programmes reactive or structured by role, tenure, and performance data?
  • Content — are assets scattered across tools or organized in a way reps can actually use?
  • Tech stack — are systems disconnected or integrated around your CRM and workflows?
  • Data and analytics — are decisions based on instinct or measured impact on sales performance?
  • Cross-functional collaboration — is enablement siloed, or aligned with sales, marketing, product, and ops?

Notable sales enablement maturity frameworks.

Across the web you will find maturity models with four stages, five stages, and even six and the stage names often differ. That variation matters less than the underlying logic, which stays consistent: enablement moves from reactive and undefined toward strategic, data-driven, and revenue-accountable.

Several authoritative frameworks are worth knowing:

  • Forrester's Sales Enablement Maturity Model is one of the most widely referenced. Forrester structures maturity around five disciplines, strategy, content, training, technology, and analytics; and maps progression from "undefined" through "dynamic." Its value lies in how explicitly it ties maturity to revenue impact, rather than internal program quality alone.
  • Gartner's approach frames enablement maturity in terms of its integration with the broader revenue technology stack and its alignment to buyer journey stages. Gartner research consistently flags the gap between how enablement teams perceive their maturity and how their sales stakeholders experience it, a useful diagnostic lens.
  • CSO Insights / MHI Global (now absorbed into Korn Ferry research) produced influential work tying maturity levels to win rate outcomes. Their finding that teams reaching a "dynamic" coaching stage enjoy win rates 28% higher than peers remains a benchmark figure in the field.

More than half of enablement organizations already have or are drafting a formal enablement charter to guide strategy, evidence that the discipline is steadily moving from ad-hoc to structured and measurable, regardless of which framework a team uses.

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Sales enablement maturity stages

Now, we’ll look into the stages, remembering that the names and definitions aren’t set in stone and can vary depending on who you ask.

Stage 1: Ad-hoc/undefined

At this early stage, often seen in high-growth startups, enablement has no truly defined roles or responsibilities and usually lacks a dedicated team. The goal is to support the sales team, but the structures are not in place to do that effectively.

Training is done on a case-by-case basis with little proactive effort, not out of neglect, but because time and resources are not there to implement solid processes. Sixty-four percent of firms build sales collateral through joint enablement, marketing, and product-marketing efforts, but at this stage that collaboration is informal at best.

The tech stack is minimal. A CRM may exist, but it is not properly aligned to the sales process or configured to support reps.

Stage 2: Tactical/reactive

Sales leaders have a working understanding of what enablement is and what it brings to the table. There is more likely to be a dedicated enablement team, even if it is only one person.

Training has some structure, perhaps periodic, but is not supported by data or individualized to sellers' strengths and weaknesses. Onboarding processes are formally set up but lack efficiency. When reps lack a central content management platform, they bounce between three or more locations hunting for content, a time sink that pulls them away from selling.

Metrics tracking begins at this stage, though typically with the aim of proving enablement's value rather than truly understanding rep performance.

Stage 3: Progressive/integrated

This is where sales enablement comes into its own. Enablement starts genuinely driving reps towards their sales objectives and earns a legitimate claim to a seat at the table.

Collaboration with marketing and product marketing becomes active and consistent. Training moves beyond reactive and routine pieces; pilot initiatives are explored and backed by data.

Repetitive processes like onboarding and SKOs are continuously iterated on. The CRM is integrated with the sales methodology, and the stack expands into content management systems, learning management systems, and conversational intelligence tools.

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Stage 4: Strategic/mature

Enablement is an established and trusted strategic partner to the organization.

It not only has a seat at the table but is a major player, in some cases reporting directly to the CRO.

Companies delivering the right amount of enablement coaching grow revenue 16.7% faster year over year. Onboarding and continuous development are seamlessly linked. Content is organized and easily accessible.

The tech stack is fully integrated, with a single source of truth for data reporting.

Cheat sheet

Here, you’ll find a quick visual guide with the key points to remember when it comes to sales enablement maturity stages.

How to assess your current sales enablement maturity level


Before trying to move forward, you need an honest picture of where you are. Work through the following questions:

On strategy and alignment:

  • Does your enablement team have a documented charter or annual strategy?
  • Can you articulate how enablement priorities map to your company's revenue goals?
  • Does senior leadership treat enablement as a strategic function or a support service?

On training and onboarding:

  • Is your onboarding program structured by role, or is it the same for everyone?
  • Do you have any mechanism for identifying individual skill gaps and addressing them?
  • Are you iterating on training based on performance data or on gut feel?

On content:

  • Do reps know where to find the content they need, and can they find it quickly?
  • Can you tell which content is actually being used in deals?
  • Is content created reactively in response to requests or planned as part of a strategy?

On technology:

  • Is your CRM aligned to how your team actually sells?
  • Are your enablement tools integrated, or does data sit in separate systems?
  • Can you pull a coherent performance report without manual data consolidation?

On measurement:

  • Can you tie enablement activity to pipeline or revenue outcomes?
  • Do you have KPIs that go beyond completion rates and satisfaction scores?
  • Is your data trusted by sales leadership?

If most of your answers point to informal, reactive, or unclear, you are likely at Stage 1 or 2. If your processes are structured but not yet data-driven, Stage 3 is your horizon. If you can tie enablement directly to revenue and your stakeholders see you as a strategic partner, Stage 4 is within reach.

How to move between maturity stages

Knowing your stage is only useful if it informs what you do next. Here are the practical moves that shift teams from one level to the next.

Stage 1 → Stage 2: from ad-hoc to tactical

  • Secure at least one dedicated headcount for enablement, even a part-time role
  • Document your current onboarding process, even informally, a written checklist is a starting point
  • Identify the three to five questions your sales team asks most often and build repeatable answers
  • Get your CRM to a baseline level of adoption before expanding the tech stack
  • Start measuring something, anything; so you have a baseline to improve against

Stage 2 → Stage 3: from tactical to integrated

  • Write a formal enablement charter that ties your priorities to sales and revenue goals
  • Move content from scattered folders into a single, searchable repository
  • Build a training calendar based on performance data, not just available time in the schedule
  • Establish a regular cadence with marketing and product marketing, monthly is sufficient to start
  • Choose two or three KPIs that connect enablement activity to rep performance, not just program completion

Stage 3 → Stage 4: from integrated to strategic

  • Seek direct alignment with the CRO or VP of Sales on quarterly priorities
  • Build a content governance process: ownership, review cycles, and deprecation of outdated assets
  • Implement coaching at scale, group sessions anchored to deal data, and individual sessions anchored to skill gaps
  • Consolidate your reporting into a single dashboard that sales leadership can read without interpretation
  • Begin tying enablement ROI to pipeline velocity and win rates, not just activity metrics

Wrapping up, we can see that a sales enablement maturity model is useful as it allows you to track your team’s sales enablement journey and the progress you’ve made in growing, maturing, and developing.

From stage one, where your enablement is very ad-hoc and might not even have a dedicated team, to stage four (or five, depending on who you ask!), a mature, strategic enablement team that has a seat at the table and is a major player in your organization.