In response to the Salesforce State of Gross sales Report, 81% of gross sales reps say their managers are their most precious supply of help in navigating change. So, how are you going to allow gross sales leaders in order that they’ll successfully help their groups and drive change?

Shawnna Sumaoang: Hello and welcome to the Win Win Podcast. I’m your host, Shawnna Sumaoang. Be a part of us as we dive into altering tendencies within the office and navigate them efficiently. Right here to debate this subject is Bree Liscinsky, director of gross sales enablement at Blancco Know-how Group. Thanks for becoming a member of, Bree! I’d love so that you can inform us about your self, your background, and your position.

Bree Liscinsky: Thanks, Shawnna. I’m so glad to be right here. I’m at present the director of the worldwide gross sales enablement group at Blanco Know-how Group, as you’ve talked about. All through my profession, I’ve moved by way of gross sales roles and buyer help roles, primarily inside the client packaged items and know-how industries. I’ve all the time discovered my ardour in these roles to be round serving to others, making issues simpler, discovering easy processes, and celebrating the successes of these round me. The transition a couple of years in the past into gross sales enablement felt like such an apparent one as a result of it was actually the place, the place my coronary heart was.

SS: Effectively, Bree, we’re excited to have you ever right here on this podcast. One of many issues that you just and I talked about earlier than getting on the road was your space of experience round gross sales chief enablement. Why, out of your perspective, are gross sales leaders an necessary viewers to deal with as a part of your enablement technique?

BL: It’s such a terrific query, Shawnna, as a result of, to me, gross sales leaders are the individuals which can be most important to speak with. They’re those that sellers hearken to most. We will bang the drum from income operations and gross sales enablement, however once they’re in a one-on-one or a training state of affairs with their gross sales chief, that’s once they’re most receptive to data.

Gross sales chief buy-in is vital for practically each enablement program throughout our group. That buy-in actually begins even greater up although. Having these gross sales priorities set and communicated first by the president of our group after which from there, the enablement group can proceed to impart. The significance of offering the mandatory content material to our gross sales leaders and actually permitting them to then drive the message dwelling and with out these continuous reinforcements and contact factors from gross sales leaders to their downline, we’ve seen enablement initiatives simply fall by the wayside. Regularly speaking with gross sales leaders and having them talk with the downline is the technique I’ve discovered to be simplest.

SS: Completely. I’ve to say I’ve seen that work rather well inside organizations. I’d love to listen to, out of your perspective, What are the core parts of an efficient gross sales chief enablement program?

BL: I feel the core part is making it quite simple. Gross sales leaders are extraordinarily busy. Many people are. What’s on a gross sales chief’s plate is simply so immense and the priorities are all excessive, so don’t make them go looking for data or anticipate them to construct content material on their very own. My enablement group supplies the messaging and any related content material for our gross sales leaders on a silver platter by way of a number of mediums.

We make it so simple as potential to seek out the messaging and even the scripts that they want. We lately launched what we’re calling Supervisor Minutes, and these are three-minute movies offering the important thing messages for upcoming initiatives and initiatives, our expectations of managers, and that’s what’s in it for me. We all the time attempt to use knowledge to show what we’re working in direction of or what’s not working. Moreover, we construct the slide for our gross sales leaders to convey to their group conferences and to convey into their one-on-ones. We define the subsequent steps inside these slides for his or her downline. Once we see that the enablement group is basically proactive in supporting gross sales leaders’ wants and making it simpler for them to do their jobs, we shortly construct belief and our messaging is acquired with open ears.

SS: I really like that. Supervisor minutes are so catchy too. How do you accomplice with gross sales leaders to assist them perceive the worth of enablement?

BL: Right here, I feel it’s actually in regards to the why. We all the time speak about what’s in it for me and we give it some thought from the vendor’s perspective, however the identical goes for gross sales leaders with so many priorities to select from. We all the time make sure that our gross sales leaders know our why as outlined by our enablement mission assertion. We’re right here to drive income, make promoting extra environment friendly, to develop fashionable gross sales expertise, all of which make the vendor and gross sales leaders’ jobs simpler. I talk with our gross sales leaders on a really constant cadence, and I’m all the time sharing the information to strengthen what our group is engaged on and why we’re engaged on these initiatives.

SS: Completely. I feel knowledge is vital in serving to to strengthen that story. Now, on that word, inform us the way you constructed the enterprise case to put money into an enablement platform. What have been your greatest practices for gaining buy-in out of your gross sales leaders to implement Highspot?

BL: I’d say the buy-in was fairly easy as a result of the Highspot product itself is second to none to any others out within the trade. Even going by way of the gross sales course of with our Highspot salesperson was phenomenal as a result of I may inform she was being enabled by the platform itself, and I assumed, I would like our salespeople to behave the best way you might be. That’s the place it was so apparent to me that we wanted Highspot.

To realize the buy-in from the gross sales chief, as I’ve mentioned a couple of occasions, knowledge all the time tells the very best story. We launched a survey, which was offered to us by Highspot, and we tailored it for our personal enterprise wants. We launched that survey among the many international gross sales groups to be taught extra about their habits round gross sales content material administration, and their consciousness of the influence of what they’re sharing with prospects and prospects. Then, their wishes round how and once they wish to be taught.

From that survey, we have been capable of construct a very clear data-driven case for why we wanted Highspot. We’ll be launching that very same survey in a couple of months to judge the influence in our first quarter of Highspot at our group and to see how these behaviors have modified. I’ll say the survey was fairly shocking. We thought that many of those behaviors have been taking place, however they have been self-reported by our salespeople. For instance, obtain content material and reserve it on their desktop as a result of it’s best to seek out there. That content material turned shortly outdated. Having the ability to set timelines, create a governance technique, and see how content material is resonating goes to vary the sport for our group.

SS: Completely. Effectively, I really like to listen to that. To the purpose of knowledge, I’ve to say you’ve gotten an 88 p.c recurring utilization charge in Highspot, which is incredible. Do you’ve gotten greatest practices which you can share with our viewers round driving the adoption of Highspot?

BL: Completely. I’d say that charge can be a lot greater if we weren’t a world group. It’s summertime after we launched Highspot, so now we have lots of people out on their European holidays. They’re all rolling again into the workplace, and that might be 100% very quickly. We’re driving adoption by way of many various avenues. We’re offering messages and metrics to leaders to strengthen with their groups. We’ve launched a drip marketing campaign to spotlight fast wins and acknowledge salespeople who’re utilizing the platform to additional their buyer-aligned promoting. We’re additionally sharing greatest practices in that drip marketing campaign and utilizing multimedia to make it thrilling to open that e-mail, and to make it straightforward to know what you need me to do and why you need me to do it.

Subsequent, we’ll be launching leaderboards as a result of each salesperson loves some pleasant competitors. Then we’ll begin layering in gamification as a result of everyone knows the whole lot’s extra motivating when you may win one thing. I do discover that the adoption is so nicely acquired when it’s peer-shared, so one other avenue now we have is our Voices From the Area Podcast, which was very a lot impressed by you, Shawnna.

There, we discover individuals by way of the information who’re actually utilizing Highspot precisely or any of our different platforms or instruments. We convey them on the podcast and discuss in regards to the challenges and successes and the way they’ve improved their promoting expertise through the use of these. That has been one of the crucial motivating issues we’ve completed for our salespeople is basically sharing and amplifying their friends’ voices.

SS: I completely love that, and thanks. It’s an honor. I’d love to offer it a pay attention. I’m certain you run a incredible podcast. Now, final query for you, Bree. As you proceed to navigate change, how do you intend to leverage Highspot that will help you drive enterprise outcomes that additionally align with the targets of your gross sales leaders?

BL: This can be a nice query. Our subsequent step is basically connecting the gross sales content material to enterprise within the Highspot platform to the phases in our Salesforce CRM to actually proceed to drive that buyer-aligned promoting movement. By serving up the fitting content material for the fitting particular person on the proper stage of their shopping for journey, we’ll have the ability to align our gross sales motions to their journey, to satisfy them the place they’re. We will shortly construct belief, present we’re listening, and finally, shut extra offers shortly. The most effective half about that subsequent step in change administration right here is that the Highspot knowledge is really easy to know and really easy to share that we’ll have the ability to show this in a short time.

SS: I really like to listen to that. Bree, thanks a lot for becoming a member of us at this time.

BL: Thanks for having me.

SS: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Win Win podcast. Be sure you tune in subsequent time for extra insights on how one can maximize enablement success with Highspot.