What Is Sales Enablement? Definition, Jobs, and Strategy

What is sales enablement?

Sales enablement is the use of training, educational content, and coaching to onboard sales representatives and improve their skills. The purpose of sales enablement is to help sales reps sell effectively to potential customers. Sales enablement can be used to orient new hires to a company's best sales practices and to further develop existing sales reps, who must be at the top of their game to continue closing deals in a competitive marketplace.

Sales enablement is integral to sales positions. In this article, you'll learn more about it, why it's so important, and the jobs that use it. You'll also learn how to create a strategy for sales enablement and explore cost-effective, flexible courses from sales industry leaders like HubSpot that can help you do it.

What is a sales enablement strategy?

A sales enablement strategy provides sales reps with the resources they need to engage customers throughout the buying process. Resources vary across organizations and industries. Here are some general types of resources you may encounter in an enablement strategy for sales:

• Marketing content that sales reps can use to inspire and educate customers 

• Data from market and industry research to inform salespeople about the latest trends 

• Training to empower salespeople with the right skills 

• Access to technology solutions, such as a customer relationship management (CRM) system or sales enablement technology to streamline sales processes 

Some of the principles that guide sales enablement include:

• Usability: making sure resources are easy to find and apply to sales situations 

• Measurability: making sure that teams track meaningful metrics such as the average sales cycle length, average deal size, and total revenue

• Customer focus: designing sales enablement resources to deliver what customers want

Why is sales enablement important? 

Along with a clear sales enablement definition, it’s important to know the benefits of sales enablement. Here's how having a clear sales enablement strategy can improve your business or sales operation: 

Providing customers with a human touch

Today's customers are more empowered and hold companies to higher standards than before. As companies increase their use of generative AI to improve customer experiences, customers value brands that offer a human touch and faster service. In fact, according to Salesforce’s 2023 survey of over 14,000 consumers, 80 percent of respondents said that companies should establish trust amidst AI's potential risks by validating AI outputs [1]. The study says consumers want consistency, efficiency, great experiences, and personalization. 

This is where sales enablement can help. Sales teams can engage customers more effectively when they have the tools and relevant content they need to educate customers on a company’s products, services, values, and commitments to customers' individual needs.

Improving win rates

Industry expert Sales Enablement PRO’s 2023 State of Sales Enablement Report revealed that a consistent, data-driven sales enablement strategy can lead to higher win rates. Surveyed respondents who used sales enablement had an average win rate of 39 percent, while those without sales enablement practices had an average win rate of 30 percent [2].

Streamlining sales collateral

Sales enablement also streamlines collateral, such as product sheets, case studies, success stories, testimonials, sales scripts, demo video, and product tours, so sales reps can avoid time-consuming searches for materials or creating content from scratch. It provides visibility for multiple teams within an organization, including sales, marketing, content creation, and customer service, allowing teams to coordinate their strategies and tactics around the organization’s sales goals. 

Attracting top talent

A sales enablement strategy can help companies attract top sales talent, by signaling to job candidates that:

• Sales leaders are committed to the success of their teams.

• Sales reps can maximize their earning potential.

• There is a positive and supportive workplace culture in place.

Sales enablement jobs

In general, sales enablement professionals enter this field with experience in sales or sales operations, marketing, business, or human resources. They are responsible for enhancing the relationship between sales and marketing teams, training sales staff, and furnishing marketing content for sales staff. 

Educational requirements may vary from one position to another. A bachelor’s degree is a common requirement. Other credentials, such as certifications, may be preferred. Some employers may be more interested in specific skills and experience.  

While you may already have an industry or role in mind, it’s a good idea to explore the range of possibilities in sales enablement to make an informed career decision. 

An April 2024 search on LinkedIn for “sales enablement” yields over 17,000 job listings at companies such as Airbnb, Docusign, Spring Health, Zillow, and Grammarly. Job titles include: 

• Sales enablement content specialist

• Sales enablement skills content manager

• Sales enablement content designer 

• Sales enablement specialist

• Sales enablement program manager

• Manager, sales enablement operations

• Sales enablement & training manager

• Sales enablement manager 

• Sales enablement lead

• Sales enablement advisor

• Director of sales enablement

• Sales enablement associate coordinator

LinkedIn also lists jobs that don’t include “sales enablement” in the job title but that list it in the job description as a task, responsibility, or required skill set. These jobs include: 

• Principle of channel enablement

• Senior product marketing manager, education sales

• Business change advisor, sales incentive plans

• Sales training manager

You may find that you can draw upon prior experience in areas such as business leadership, content writing, or customer support to pursue a career in sales enablement.  

As you review job openings in sales enablement, highlight roles that align with your career goals. Then, search for general career information on these roles, including the average salary, common tasks, and the skills and qualifications required, and compare them with job listings.   

Below, we’ve put together two examples of jobs in the field, using information from Glassdoor, which you can use to guide your research process. 

Sales enablement manager

• The average total annual salary for a sales enablement manager in the US is $132,293 [3]. 

• Professionals in this role recruit, train, and lead sales teams, help drive sales targets, provide sales forecasts, and manage team performance.  

• Skills and qualifications for this role include sales experience; a bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, communications, or related field; an understanding of CRM systems; verbal and written communication skills. 

Sales trainer

• The average total annual salary for sales trainers in the US is $122,016 [4].

• Professionals in this role develop sales training programs based on an organization’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and goals, create educational content to support the sales training program, and build relationships with customers, stakeholders, and other teams. 

• Skills and qualifications for this role include a bachelor’s degree, sales background, experience creating educational material, and leadership and communication skills. 

Steps to build your sales enablement strategy

Devising a sales enablement strategy is a good practice and an important skill for anyone in sales, whether you’re a business owner looking to empower your team or a job seeker looking for a sales position. Use the steps below to build a sales enablement strategy. 

1. Gather feedback from your sales team. 

Gathering feedback is an important step for your sales enablement strategy. Doing so empowers your sales team to reflect on their firsthand interactions with customers and share important insights that can guide the strategy. What do sales reps experience? What challenges do they face? What resources would help them engage customers more effectively?  

2. Set enablement goals. 

Ground your strategy in clear, data-driven goals. Work with your team to establish what to accomplish in a specific time period. Here are two examples: 

• Close 25 percent more sales every month.

• Acquire 30 percent more new accounts In Q3 than in Q2.  

3. Define enablement for all roles. 

Your next step is to list all the roles that comprise your sales team, such as sales enablement manager, inside sales representative, sales associate, and sales development representative, and define what sales looks like for each role. What is each role responsible for? What resources, skills, and training does each need to succeed? 

For example, a sales representative on your team may benefit from buyer persona profiles, effective selling courses, and resources for selling on different social media platforms. 

4. Update your sales playbook. 

A sales playbook is a written document, often a combination of text and graphics, that an organization’s sales team uses to outline its unique sales approaches. A good sales playbook will determine what team members should do in different situations.  

Compose an updated version of your sales playbook using the feedback you’ve gathered, the goals you’ve identified, and the description of what sales enablement looks like for each team member. Distribute to everyone on the team. 

5. Choose sales enablement software.

The right software can streamline processes, including managing a library of marketing content, guiding reps through new strategies, and analyzing sales performance. 

Here are some sales enablement tools to investigate:

• Salesforce: Offers deal visibility and alerts, easy communication and collaboration, automation, and AI solutions.

• Hubspot: Offers deal pipelines, meeting scheduler, document tracking, sales playbooks, analytics, and more.

• Seismic: Offers content personalization and AI content generation, training for reps, analytics, CRM integration, and more.

• Highspot: Offers sales content management, sales playbook software, digital salesrooms, onboarding and training programs, and more.

• Showpad: Offers centralized content and sales tools, 3D product demos and 360-degree immersive showrooms, AI-powered sales coaching, and more.

6. Measure results and customer impact. 

Measuring enablement efforts regularly helps keep your sales playbook updated and ensures your sales team is meeting goals. 

Use your sales enablement software to track such results as:

• Content that best engages customers

• Specific tactics reps are using to close sales

• Biggest revenue drivers 

To learn more about developing a sales enablement strategy, watch this video from the HubSpot Strategic Customer Relationship Management & Sales Technique Specialization.

Best practices and key takeaways 

Remember: Benefits of a robust sales enablement strategy include streamlined content, skilled and prepared sales teams, and effective buyer engagement.  

Follow these best practices to get the most out of your sales development strategy: 

Tailor sales processes to the buyer’s journey. 

Align approaches and methods to the different stages of the buyer's journey (awareness, consideration, and decision), so that you meet the needs of prospects at each stage.

Create unique content for each stage of the buyer’s journey.

Content, including presentation slide decks, scripts, brochures, and other resources, should provide customers with the information they need, wherever they are in the buying process.

Read more: How to Develop a Content Strategy: Step-by-Step Guide

House all resources in a central location for easy access. 

Centralizing resources in a sales enablement platform enhances efficiency and collaboration among your sales team. Organize materials so that your team can find what they need quickly, improving productivity and consistency in their interactions with prospects and clients.

Design your sales strategy with the end goals in mind.  

Whether it's increasing revenue, expanding into new markets, or boosting customer satisfaction, your sales strategy should be structured to achieve these specific outcomes. For example, if your goal is to increase revenue, your sales strategy might include objectives such as achieving a certain percentage increase in sales volume or average deal size within a period of time.

Build sales skills with Coursera

Online courses can be a great way to learn more about sales techniques and career opportunities.

Explore sales enablement, lead generation, sales reporting, and more in Hubspot Academy's Strategic Customer Relationship Management & Sales Technique Specialization. There, you'll learn how to develop a market-driven sales enablement strategy, generate and manage leads with the Sales Hub tools, and organize, visualize, and report on sales data with HubSpot’s CRM.