This forecast from Gartner first caught our eye when first released back in February 2023.
Rather than leap on it right away, we wanted to see how this prediction would play out in relation to our own experiences with customers working to increase their sales effectiveness.
So, a year and a half down the line what are we seeing?
Let’s remember – Gartner’s headline and supporting rationale for the article was;
“Gartner Expects Sales Enablement Budgets to Increase by 50% by 2027
Sales enablement budgets will increase by 50% within the next five years as a way to address shifting buyer preferences, boost seller effectiveness and drive revenue growth, according to Gartner, Inc.”
This is a clear message – with greater investment in sales enablement, there will be greater requirement for sales leaders and teams to show positive return of investment (ROI) from them – this shouldn’t be a surprise as this is a challenge they have to address with their own customers every day.
However….if only it were that simple.
Identifying a need for extra investment acknowledges the increasing complex and fragmented way in which customers buy.
This was confirmed by the Global ABM conference in London in November 2023;
These findings were echoed by an article by The Daily Sales via LinkedIn around the same time, who volunteer some solutions for the challenges identified at the ABM conference;
The role and the tasks involved in selling are therefore evolving to overcome the changing buying process.
Gartner believe that Enablement leaders can support the changing role of sellers by:
- Redesigning tools to create collaborative resources that sellers and customers can use together to improve the buying experience – Digital Sales Rooms, for example
- Optimising workflow for sellers to improve quota attainment, engagement and retention
- Updating talent profiles to emphasise digital engagements, buying stakeholders, buying jobs, and situational awareness
- Downsizing training by implementing more effective and efficient learning methods aligned to seller learning habits like microlearning, nudges and practical learning experiences
And the predicted outcome?
Doubling down on sales enablement increases seller motivation
Investment in Sales Enablement supports seller performance, experience and ultimately, the commercial gains for each sales exec and therefore the organisation..
So in real life, how do our experience at Sales Engine relate to all of this?
In no particular order, over the last 18 months we have seen;
- Discussions with customers are noticeably more wide-ranging than 1-2 years ago.
- Yes, companies realise they need to ‘upskill’ their sales people to help them deal most effectively with the more fragmented buying process their customers undertake.
- More fragmented buying cycles puts greater emphasis on the sales processes too – these need to evolve to ensure nothing falls between the cracks.
- Companies have either already started to use Sales Enablement platforms, or are actively investigating what would work best for them. They are also reviewing with fresh eyes the document templates they use to support the selling journey – all of this is to help ensure sellers and companies have the right tools to do the job
This focus on People, Processes and Tools aligns exactly with how we break down the challenges facing sales leaders and teams – both now and in the future – into smaller, more manageable yet interrelated parts. Our approach provides a clear structure to diagnose what the issues are within an organisation and a clearer path to address them to offer a defined roadmap for accelerated growth.
Customers still come to us with standalone requests for training, but this happens less often than it used to as companies realise this risks the ‘firework’ effect – it looks and feels great at the time, seems like high impact, but doesn’t address deeper cracks in sales skills or processes or embed changes into these processes so they become habit. Fast forward a few months and people have reverted back to old, familiar, less successful habits. Turns out that training budget was not a good investment.
In summary, then, how does the reality we have seen relate back to Gartner’s view from February 2023?
Firstly, we can’t support the assertion of 50% growth in sales enablement investment by 2027 – yet – simply because there’s still plenty of time until we get to this point, a long way to go and much to be done.
However, everything we have seen suggests that the market is absolutely moving in the direction Gartner anticipated.
If your sales organisation is not moving in this direction, you risk being left behind by your more active competitors who are.
Sounds so simple but we recognise it is anything but. We help our customers navigate this increasingly complex world to design a strategic and tactical plan across your People, Processes and Tools to help you win and retain more business.
As sales nerds we’d love to understand more about the challenges you face and whether we can help, so please do get in touch.