Sales enablement
Winning together across product, sales and marketing
Cross-functional collaboration is fundamental to everything we do as product marketing. Sales enablement is an anchor to our team collaboration and shared goals - from integrated marketing programs to enabling the sales and partner teams to be successful and drive growth and revenue.
I had the opportunity to share my learnings on cross-functional collaboration - do’s and don’ts at the PMA Summit in San Francisco earlier this month.
Sales Enablement
Q1. When you're working on a product launch or go to market, there are so many teams that are interlinked and connected to make this happen across product, sales and marketing. How does Sales Enablement fit into the equation?
As part of the product launch and go to market it is critical to make sure your sales, partner and your internal teams are enabled and understand the value of this new product or go to market. That's why sales enablement is crucial to the success of the product or solution launch and go to market.
Whether you're working with your internal sales team for different market segments such as SMB, mid-market or enterprise, it is important to understand that the sales motion is different and needs to be tailored accordingly.
Q2. The opportunity lies in us to challenge the status quo and not accept the friction that exists in organizations today. What are some examples in your experience to establish sales enablement?
I remember my first sales kick off in 2017 where I had the opportunity to connect the dots between API and what does it mean in simple words. We used a restaurant analogy to help explain what an API is and why it's important for our business and for our customers.
Our sales leader was championing for APIs and I got to be the connection on why this matters. After the talk, sales folks shared that this is the first time they understood what an API is.
And that is what I strive for when I am working with the sales enablement team to derive the key takeaways and the narrative for the launch and go to market.
Q3. How to create buy-in from internal stakeholders across sales, marketing and product for sales enablement?
I believe in bringing alignment across the product, sales and marketing teams. And making sure that we are working together and rowing in the same direction.
It is easy for us to work on our own priorities but once we have shared goals it propels the momentum forward.
Q4. What are some of the key skills PMMs need to effectively collaborate cross-functionally for sales enablement to be successful?
For PMM success, I like to think of the CEO mindset - curiosity, empathy and openness. This creates new doors and windows of opportunity.
We need to be empathetic to our customers, have empathy for our internal teams across product sales and marketing, have empathy for our own PMM team and ourselves. Some days can feel like an uphill struggle and it's important to keep our focus on the north star and why this matters.
Q5. Could you share examples of sales enablement and cross-functional collaboration in an international or global company (how PMM should collaborate with teams from different regions/cultures - NA, LA, EMEA, APAC)
I remember working with a global product marketing and product management team of 25 folks in 10 countries where we had sales councils to help make sure that we had alignment within each region.
We also created a sales confidence survey to assess and set a benchmark for how the team is today and where we want to be tomorrow.
When we rolled out our new narrative and pitch, we ran a regional pitch contest and encouraged sales teams within each region to participate and include their customer story. And selected a winner in each region and were recognized with reward points.
This reminded me of my time in Raleigh, NC. I miss the fall colors - so sharing my love for Fall :)
Q6. Closing: 2024 & The Future
What was the one thing you wish to change or guide the leadership team on how to think about PMM value for sales enablement? Which stakeholders are key to our PMM and sales enablement team’s success?
Our company goals and priorities are dependent on the teams collaboration and it is important to have a winning together mindset.
It is fundamental to have a conscious business mindset where we are driving change in the industry and the market for a better and stronger tomorrow.
As I'm reading the book Conscious Business, it makes me realize the importance of connecting the dots between people, mindset and growth.
A conscious business promotes mindfulness for all of its stakeholders.
Business is an essential part of our lives, so doing business consciously is an essential aspect of living consciously.
Join our amazing panelists who will share their sales enablement experiences on PMM Talks - Sept 2024!
