What is Sales Enablement? My Journey to Success

Audio Transcript Auto-generated

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  Hi, I'm Steve Gobert.

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  Global sales enablement lead for the digital arm of G

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  E Healthcare.

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  I'm broadcasting live from my kids bedroom today I was

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  kicked out of my office.

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  My fiance is a psychologist and is using it for

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  tele therapy.

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  And that's indicative of the world that we are currently

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  living in.

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  So connecting with your clients and your colleagues and anyone

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  else is critically important in this video.

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  I'm gonna explain to you what sales enablement is all

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  about and then go through my journey.

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  A ce faras how I got involved in sales enablement.

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  So let's get started.

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  What is sales enablement?

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  Well, sounds name it really is.

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  Ah, hybrid of instructional design, sales training, client engagement and

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  then, uh, the clear understanding of sales management.

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  So with that in mind, there are some basic qualities

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  that you want to understand about sales enablement before you

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  get started and then see if this is something you

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  would be interested in.

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  I majored in finance and had the aspiration to be

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  a stockbroker.

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  And I quickly found out that that wasn't for me

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  as well.

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  I also got involved in underwriting insurance again, Not for

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  me. along the way, I found that I really enjoyed

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  helping people out, and I was very lucky to get

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  the opportunity to join a group of instructional designers at

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  Kraft Foods.

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  I had good skills in editing videos and using a

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  software application called Flash to create e Learning at Kraft

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  Foods. Fortunately, I got ah, whole bunch of education on

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  instructional design.

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  What makes good training objectives?

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  What is good feedback?

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  So the four different levels of evaluation and then the

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  understanding off adult learning theory.

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  So as an adult, you have a preference toe learn

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  in your own way.

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  Some of us like to just read tax.

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  Some of us like to touch and feel in practice

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  what we're learning, and some of us just enjoy watching

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  a short video.

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  Now I will tell you that in the world that

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  we're living in where we're Bart, bombarded with so much

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  information, the way that I approached he healthcare when I

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  apply for the job that I have is that I

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  have a good talent of taking very complex information and

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  breaking it down into bite size pieces so that the

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  goal is to provide the right information to the right

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  person at the right time.

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  And when you understand sales and buyers journey, there are

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  many different stages to get from initially approaching the client

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  to, you know, making the sale.

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  So when you're learning how to sell and learning a

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  product, you don't want to just sit down and learn

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  everything in two hours and then go out and sell.

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  What you do want to understand is that there is

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  the right information to provide to a client at the

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  right time.

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  So when they're making the decision as to whether or

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  not you are the person they're gonna engage within a

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  sale. Then you're coaching and training your sales people to

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  say the right thing at the right time.

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  So with that in mind, let me tell you how

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  I got here.

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  This is a picture of me presenting at the Transform

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  Conference that show pad put on at the end of

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  last year.

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  And there's my colleague, Andrea Hera, that in that situation

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  I delivered a speech, a ce faras How do you

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  get involved in sales enablement?

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  So let's take a look at how I got here

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  first. Like I alluded Teoh, I majored in finance.

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  And with that in mind, the reason I majored in

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  finance is because I have a strong entrepreneurial spirit.

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  So in my mind, I thought, Hey, I want to

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  be a sales person and sell stock or, you know,

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  help people with their finances.

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  But you have to believe in the product that you're

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  selling. And unfortunately, I got involved in a few organizations

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  where I just didn't believe in what I was selling.

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  So I got very discouraged and I went down a

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  different path.

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  Along the way, I found that training and helping people

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  understand complex information is what I really do enjoy.

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  So I didn't quite do that at Kraft Foods.

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  I did learn instructional design and how to put together

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  good E learning.

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  I understood how to and it videos and you know,

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  all the different things that are evolved in learning design

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  in corporate America, which also means understanding, learning management systems.

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  But from there I went to Walgreen's corporate, and I

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  did take a MAWR traditional role as an instruction er

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  little designer with, you know, Walgreens, but eventually had the

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  opportunity to become a sales trainer for R B two

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  b sales force There, I learned how to best present

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  myself in a classroom setting, how to effectively onboard new

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  sales people and, really, how to support new product introductions.

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  So very grateful for my experience at Walgreens.

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  But eventually, like I wanted to have a war ingrained

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  sales enablement role.

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  Um, I did take a short stint with Zurich North

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  America, supporting commercial underwriters and how to effectively sell commercial

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  insurance. And then, really, what I was lacking was an

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  understanding of sales management.

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  So I did take a role as a sales director

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  for the Illinois Lottery.

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  I managed four teams of field sales people and really

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  felt that that experience helped me understand the challenges of

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  sales management.

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  So when you look at the three together sales, management,

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  sales, training and instructional design, to me, those are the

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  three experiences that really should help shape your sales enablement

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  career and give you a great understanding of how to

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  best be a sales Nayman practitioner.

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  Now, let's talk about a few tips.

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  I highly suggest the book enablement mastery by a leg.

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  Cohan. If you don't get anything out of this video,

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  other than my tip about reading this book.

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  I still think that's a great tip.

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  It will give you Ah, good.

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  A dizzy understanding of what you should do to prepare

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  yourself to become a sales enablement practitioner.

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  I probably skipped over a bunch of different things here.

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  But at the end of the day, if you have

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  a good understanding of sales enablement before you walk into

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  your first role as a sales enablement practitioner, you are

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  gonna knock it out of the park.

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  So what does that mean?

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  Putting together a good charter, knowing how to develop a

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  91 180 day plan, how to engage with sales management,

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  how toe interact with marketing and then also have an

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  understanding of HR.

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  So as a sales name of Practitioner, you're gonna sit

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  in between sales and marketing and HR and field, and

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  they're all going to give you their different opinions.

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  What the goals of the organisation are you in that

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  situation need to be a good consultant.

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  So that is my last tip is really like, understand

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  what makes a person a good consultant for an organization,

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  whether it's a small organization or a very large organization

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  having tactical feedback and ah, good you know, uh, understanding

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  of what to say to help the organization move forward

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  is really where you can add value to an organization

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  beyond just the sales training and enablement pieces.

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  So here's actually have one last thing.

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  So really, to me, this is what I tell people.

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  You can provide us a sales enablement practitioner.

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  It's providing the right information to the right people at

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  the right time.

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  So we have a buyer's journey.

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  And if you understand that you cannot train somebody in

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  two hours to make a sale, what you do is

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  give them initial understanding of the value proposition, and then

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  how to best you lies the enablement materials that marketing

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  or sales has put together at the right time.

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  So that hopefully gives you an understanding what sales enablement

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  is. If you want some more information about my journey

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  into sales, enablement or you're just getting started and you

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  want some feedback on, you know what you're trying to

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  do? Feel free to connect with me on Lincoln.

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  There's the address and hopefully enjoyed this.

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  10 minutes of me talking and best of luck in

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  your career.

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  Take care