5 terms to know before creating a sales enablement strategy

Sales enablement

Sales enablement consists of different ways for sales agents to increase productivity and generate revenue using various strategies, tools and processes. Sales enablement tools can automate sales tasks and automatically upload customer data to the CRM platform, giving sales representatives more time to focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience.

Sales enablement tools can track sales representative performance, which enables sales managers to give feedback on how reps can improve performance. These tools also enable sales and marketing teams to work together to find more customers and find ways to engage them more.

Businesses can use different sales enablement strategies to improve sales. For example, companies can implement sales methodologies to bring structure to the selling process, or map to buyer personas, which can help businesses engage with customers.

Customer relationship management

A good sales enablement strategy includes the use of CRM software to analyze customer interactions and data with the goal of improving customer service for existing and future customers.

A good sales enablement strategy includes the use of CRM software to analyze customer interactions and data with the goal of improving customer service for existing and future customers. A CRM system collects data from interactions via phone, email, social media and other channels, which businesses can use to address customer concerns and personalize interactions. Sales enablement tools, such as CRM data automation -- automating sales tasks -- and sales agent productivity tracking software, can enable more accurate CRM data. Sales agents can use the data in a CRM system to personalize interactions with customers. It also helps representatives locate all customer data in one place, increasing efficiency.

Popular CRM vendors include Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP C/4HANA and Oracle CX.

Marketing automation

Marketing automation tools enable companies to target customers through different automated mediums, such as email, websites, social media and text messages to generate leads. By automating repetitive tasks, marketing processes become more efficient, freeing up marketing and sales agents for more important tasks.

Marketing automation software works in conjunction with a CRM system and can access customer data, making it easier to segment customers and automate personalized messages about promotions and surveys. AI, in applications such as chatbots, can also automate information to future customers, driving more sales.

Popular marketing automation vendors include Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Oracle Eloqua, Marketo and HubSpot.

Lead generation

lead generation is the use of computer programs and services to collect information that can increase sales and acquire new clients. Leads are the names and contact information of people or organizations.

Companies can find leads through the internet; however, it is time-consuming and often more efficient to outsource this task to a company that focuses on lead generation instead of doing it in-house. By using lead generation, sales agents can find more potential customers, enabling more sales.

Customer segmentation

Customer segmentation is a strategy where marketing teams separate its customer base into different groups to improve marketing efforts and better target content. Companies can separate groups in various ways, including customer demographics, geography, psychography -- social class, lifestyle and personality traits -- and behavioral tendencies.

Customer segmentation enables companies to send their segmented customer base personalized emails and messages that can increase sales to that particular group. For example, if a business has customer data showing they have success in sales among a specific age group, it can use that data to market more heavily toward that group of consumers.