If you’re looking for a role in which you can help sales reps succeed, then the job of sales enablement professional may be perfect for you. In this article, we’ll take a look at
What is a Sales Enablement manager?
It seems that everyone has a different idea of what sales enablement job description is. It makes sense that the same vagueness should apply to the role of sales enablement manager.
There are many factors that can affect the skills, backgrounds, and salaries of sales enablement professionals. One person might manage enablement for a large company by himself, while another might be part of an organized 5-person team.
What “good” sales enablement looks to them depends on factors like company size, industry, philosophy, and other factors. Click To Tweet
However, it’s not difficult to see the value of formalized sales support. CSO Insights reports companies with a dedicated enablement team see double-digit gains in quota attainment (22%) and win rates (14%), compared to those without one. It is crucial to identify the right person to manage your sales enablement efforts.
This article will answer five important questions about hiring sales enablement leaders for your company. This article will outline the typical responsibilities and basic skills as well as salary data.
What Is A Sales Enablement Manager?
Sales enablement managers provide training, processes, and practices to support salespeople throughout the buyer’s journey. Sales enablement managers collaborate with sales, marketing, partners, and other key stakeholders to improve productivity and sales results.
Although it is a simple description, you can see that the position covers a wide variety of duties, priorities, initiatives, and responsibilities. What might an “average” day look like?
- Create new sales training content to promote a forthcoming product launch
Coaching sales reps in key skills and competencies. Facilitating a formal or informal training session. - Planning sales kickoff.
- Implementing a new technology platform is just one example of many activities.
Although “sales enablement manger” is the most popular enablement job title, it’s not the only one. You might also come across similar or related jobs like:
- sales enablement program manager
- Sales training manager
Director/head of sales enablement partner enablement program manager sales effectiveness program manager
Sales enablement job description: What Skills Does a Sales Enablement Manager Have to Have?
There are many responsibilities involved in the role, so there is no set standard for who you should hire to manage sales enablement. Their backgrounds can vary as much as the role.
No matter your background, delegation or prioritization are the most important skills.
It is difficult to be a tactical executor if you don’t learn how to delegate to your team. Prioritizing is a must. As a sales enablement leader, there are 100 things that you want to do. There are also 100 things that others want you to do.
6 Key Skills to Sales Enablement Managers:
- Excellent communicator. All sales reps must be informed of any changes within the company, such as new product offerings or sales content.
- Highly organized and skilled in project management. Sales enablement professionals often have multiple projects on their plate. They must prioritise their efforts based upon the activities that will provide the greatest return to the organization.
- Ability to work with many people. The sales enablement professional must be persuasive enough in order to unite multiple parties around a single vision and confident enough for execution to follow through. Any prior leadership experience is a plus.
- Strategic, data-driven thinker. You will need to use observation and metrics to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your sales process.
- Knowledge of adult learning theory, training content design, and B2B selling. These aren’t necessarily requirements, but having a background or knowledge in any of these areas will give candidates an advantage.
- Empathetic. Sales enablement professionals who are skilled in empathy can place themselves in the shoes of sales reps and understand every part of their day.
“It helps if your job is well-done because you have empathy for the people you are supporting and can understand their daily struggles and challenges,” says Daniel West (VP of go-to market strategy and operations at Oracle).
What is the Average Salary for a Sales Enablement Manager?
The average base salary of a sales manager in the United States of America for a sales manager is $92,675. These figures are from Glassdoor. ZipRecruiter reports similar salaries, citing a $106,993 median salary in the U.S.A as at July 2021. The $126,000 top 25th percentile earns higher than the .
The answer will depend on where you live, what industry you work, how big your company is, and many other factors. Glassdoor reports that the average base income for the “Computer Software & Hardware” category is $107338. The $176,000 highest-earning employees are among the richest.
What is the size and scope for the sales enablement job market? CSO Insights reported that more than 60% have a sales enablement role or program. This percentage is even higher for companies that earn more than 50,000,000 per year.
What Should The Job Description For A Sales Enablement Manager Look Like?
Here’s a template you can use to meet your organization’s hiring requirements:
Position Summary
The sales enablement manager will lead the sales enablement group, working closely with sales operations, marketing, and sales to ensure all three functions are aligned. The successful candidate will be a well-organized sales professional who has experience in running similar initiatives and defining them.
Primary Responsibilities
- Assists in the creation and implementation of sales messaging and training content, forms and processes.
- Assists in product launches by preparing and enabling sales force to understand our solutions and sell them.
- Responsible for all aspects of sales foundational and continuing learning programs, including scheduling and coordination, creation and delivery of on-demand courseware and instructor-led training.
- Responsible for the analysis and tracking of courseware
and other sales enablement content. - Supports the buying/selling process at all stages, from lead generation to win/loss.
- Assists frontline sales leaders and sales team members in implementing effective management techniques and establishing a sales coaching program.
- Coordinates sales enablement activities and manages several sales enablement projects.
- Expertise in sales technology, processes, and best practices.
- Expertise in best practices for sales training (analysis and instructional design. Delivery, implementation, evaluation).
- Expertise in modern sales methodologies, buyer’s journey alignment, and modern sales processes.
- A vast knowledge of best practices in sales management, including pipeline management and developmental sales coaching.
- A general understanding of sales selection and hiring processes.
- Expertise in project management from conception to completion
- Expertise in organizing and facilitating meetings
- Strong decision-making, strategic, conceptual, and analytical skills.
- Flexibility and adaptability. This includes the ability handle deadline pressure, uncertainty, and change.
- Strong negotiation skills in a context that conflicts with interests and political sensitivity.
- Highly developed writing, presentation, and training skills.
- Expertise in providing advice and consultation on complex topics to non-specialists; ability to communicate effectively with senior managers
- Expertise in collaboration and the generation of a spirit for cooperation while coordinating different activities and groups within a group.
- A bachelor’s degree or equivalent is required. A minor or advanced business degree would be preferred. A history of driving business outcomes or influencing business decisions will be considered more important.
- Superior organizational, conflict resolution, time management, and negotiation skills.
- Experience in sales enablement or training is required. Experience selling B2B solutions is preferred. If you can prove that you are delivering business results (increased sales speed, higher win rates and improved sales force performance), you can accept less experience.
- Multitasking and managing multiple projects simultaneously is possible.
- Highly motivated to achieve results.
How Do You Hire A Sales Enablement Manager?
After you have created your ideal sales enablement profile and outlined the steps required to recruit and interview candidates.
There are many great places to post your job openings, but we found 18 job boards that are especially helpful for companies with sales openings. These include the well-known Sales Gravy, SalesJobs.com and SalesTrax as well as many other options that you may not know.
These are the 5 questions to ask potential hires when interviewing them.
1. What do you think sales enablement means to you?
Different companies may define “Sales enablement” differently. Some companies simply define it as providing reps with the right content at a right time or aligning sales and product marketing. No matter how you choose to fill the position, the new
Brainshark is partial to CSO Insights sales enablement definition: “A strategy, cross-functional discipline that increases sales results and productivity by providing integrated training, content, and coaching services for frontline sales managers and salespeople along the entire customer buying journey, powered with technology.”
2. What would you need to succeed in this role with the team you are joining?
This question will tell you if your candidate is a good fit for your culture. If they are required to dig deep into a project to find the best solution, they must show that they are willing and able to do so.
3. What would X look like if it were created from scratch?
Ask them to facilitate an onboarding session or design an onboarding program. Next, ask them to present their sales-readiness exercises when they come in for an interview. Look for answers that show they have done this before.
4. Our company is experiencing X problem. How can you solve it?
The ideal candidate must be able to analyze data and identify factors that are affecting rep win rate. Sales enablement leaders must examine all data before recommending a solution. Ineffective leaders might respond by saying “We just need more leads!” Before you look at the entire sales process.
5. Tell me about your first year at work. What were your top priorities? How did they manifest themselves?
Asking “What would you do in your first 30 working days at our company?” This is a common question, but it’s essentially hypothetical.
It’s important to find out what the candidate did with their current opportunity, how it was achieved, and what level they achieved. Click To Tweet
Conclusion
Sales enablement professionals help sales reps succeed by providing them with the tools and resources they need to sell more effectively. Their job duties may vary depending on the organization, but typically include things like creating sales presentations and training materials, developing customer profiles, and creating process manuals.
A sales development job description will help you make the right choice.
