Enablers! It's time for yet another edition of This Month In Sales Enablement with all the resources you need to stay up to date with the Sales Enablement space including insights, reports, jobs, and more! Brought to you by Devon McDermott and Felix Krueger.
- Subscribe to this newsletter
- Watch the recording of the TMISE December live stream
- Join the TMISE January live stream
- Keep on scrolling for a list of this month's resources
Insights
SKO Season
- Alignment is one of the biggest opportunities that come with sales kick-offs (SKOs)
- Don't forget to share information prior to the event to make sure attendees are instantly engaged and get the most out of the experience
- Reinforcement after the event is crucial to counter the forgetting curve (just like in the context of training!)
- Prioritize content quality over content quantity to avoid information overload
- Great speakers are the most cost-effective way to ensure an engaging SKO with little or no budget (to source speakers, leverage internal rock stars, your network, and the networks of senior leaders)
- Consider asking attendees to record videos prior to the event or workshop content live during the event to add a new engagement dimension
What are your tips for creating engaging SKO experiences on a budget? Let us know in the comments below!
Enablement "Gurus"
- The loudest voice with the most likes and comments isn't always the one with the most expertise
- Consider curated content formats (e.g. podcasts, books, keynotes) as an "expertise filter" to determine who to follow
- Look for data-backed insights to ensure advice isn't just based on opinion
- Experience and track records are two of the key expertise indicators to consider when evaluating advice
Jobs
Are you looking for an Enablement job? Check out the the latest Sales Enablement job board (brought to you by Steffaney Zohrabyan) or add yourself to the Enablement Squad Talent Directory.
Are you a hiring manager looking for great talent? Message Steffaney Zohrabyan to add your job to her job board or check the Enablement Squad Talent Directory.
Articles
- False Traits of Leadership Potential (Fast Company)
- Should You Fire a Bad Hire? (HBR Ascend on Instagram)
Books
The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michael Watkins
"Whether you’re starting a new job, being promoted from within, embarking on an overseas assignment, or being tapped as CEO, how you manage your transition will determine whether you succeed or fail. Use this book as your trusted guide." - Amazon
Devon's rating: 
The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi
"The Effortless Experience takes readers on a fascinating journey deep inside the customer experience to reveal what really makes customers loyal—and disloyal. The authors lay out the four key pillars of a low-effort customer experience, along the way delivering robust data, shocking insights and profiles of companies that are already using the principles revealed by CEB’s research, with great results. And they include many tools and templates you can start applying right away to improve service, reduce costs, decrease customer churn, and ultimately generate the elusive loyalty that the “dazzle factor” fails to deliver." - Amazon
Felix's rating:
What is the best book related to Enablement you can recommend? Please share it with the other Enablers reading this newsletter in the comments below!
Reports
SE Pro: Sales Enablement Maturity Report 2022
Key Insights:
Sales Enablement Pro & WiSE Report
Key Insights:
- Practitioners are 31% more engaged in their roles when they feel that they are compensated fairly for their work.
- 18% of women surveyed are confident in negotiating salaries, compared to 54% of the men
- Organizations are 25% more likely to have high rep engagement if they focus on DE&I as an ongoing priority
Top 5 State of Sales Enablement Podcast Episodes 2022
- Sales Methodologies with Aaron Evans
- Effective Stakeholder Management with Devon McDermott
- Why New Hires Cry, Fixing Sales Development, Books Worth Reading, And More (TMISE | May)
- Strategic Talent Development with Roderick Jefferson
- Sales Development Excellence with Mark McInnes
We are looking for podcast guests to join The State of Sales Enablement Podcast in 2023! If you are interested in sharing your expertise with the broader Sales Enablement community, please message Felix Krueger and share the following information:
- The Enablement topic you're passionate about
- What makes you an expert in this topic
- What makes your take on this topic different to what is already out there
- Any links to previous public appearances
The Sales Enablement Christmas Poem
written by AI language processing model ChatGPT
'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The sales team was nestled, all snug in their beds,
While visions of quotas danced in their heads.
But up in the office, a team was at work,
Enabling the sales force with tools and with perks.
They set up the CRM, and tested the demo,
And practiced their pitches, all in a row.
The sales enablement manager sat at her desk,
Reviewing the data and taking a rest.
She knew that come morning, the team would be ready,
To close deals and hit targets, all steady and steady.
So here's to the sales enablement crew,
Who work hard all year to help the sales team renew.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night,
From the sales enablement team, all dressed in white.
Well, here we go... 2023 might be the year AI is taking over! In the January edition of TMISE we'll discuss potential applications of ChatGPT in Sales Enablement. Can you think of any good ones? Let us know in the comments below!
Fast forward your journey to Sales Enablement mastery with The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement Learning Experience
Training is so much more effective when combined with coaching.
We know this, right? This is true when it comes to developing training programs for sellers and front-line sales managers, yet most training resources available to enablers don't offer a coaching component.
The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement Learning Experience has been designed with this gap in mind and offers learning and implementation guidance supported by Felix Krueger and Mike Kunkle.
Steve Shorey is the global sales enablement leader at Thales, a publicly listed +€16b ($17B USD) cyber security business, and was one of the first to join The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement Learning Experience and its associated coaching sessions.
Here is what he had to say two weeks after joining:
Readers of this newsletter receive a 15% discount on all membership plans with the coupon code TMISE15.
If you want to make 2023 your most successful enablement year yet and take advantage of the 15% discount, join The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement Learning Experience today!