5 Sales Enablement Challenges of 2023: How to Thrive in the New Era

Sales enablement challenges can make it difficult for your sales team to succeed, particularly in today's remote work environment and complex organizational structures. As a sales enablement leader, you face numerous obstacles that can hinder the success of your sales team. Identifying and addressing these sales enablement challenges is crucial to maintaining a high-performing sales team and driving revenue growth.

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In this article, we’ll explore the top 5 sales enablement challenges that sales leaders encounter in their daily operations and provide solutions we believe need to happen in 2023. 

The 5 Biggest Sales Enablement Challenges for B2B Companies

1. Sales and Marketing Alignment

Problem: Making sure both the sales and marketing teams are working towards the same goals and objectives

Solution: Effective communication and collaboration between teams are key to finding a solution. With online tools like Figma, real-time collaboration and workshopping have become much easier. We use this tool during our presentation architecture phase with new clients, allowing us to work together remotely and develop presentation flows in real time. This process eliminates the back-and-forth that often occurs when two departments are working together.

It's also important for leaders to establish a sales enablement evaluation process that includes regular check-ins, whether monthly, weekly, or quarterly, to discuss objectives, needs, and key performance indicators (KPIs) for the upcoming quarter. We meet with our clients every quarter to assess how their presentation content is performing so that we can make informed decisions about how to improve and optimize it. When both teams work together harmoniously, the organization is better equipped to overcome sales enablement challenges. 

2. Creating Visually Engaging Sales Content

Problem: Developing content that resonates with buyers and helps sales reps communicate effectively.

Solution: In today's business environment, prospective clients are flooded with sales content from competitors and other businesses. To stand out, you must provide visually engaging content that increases brand awareness and quickly communicates what your product or service offers and how it benefits clients. 

Relying on traditional methods such as one sheets and templated presentations may no longer suffice. To truly engage your audience, you must approach your sales content like a storyteller, crafting a narrative that not only informs but also inspires a desire to learn more. This means going beyond mere brochure delivery and incorporating immersive content, such as video and 3D experiences, that enriches your story and adds depth and dimension.

3. Measuring ROI

Problem: The challenge of measuring the impact of sales enablement initiatives on revenue and other business outcomes.

Solution: Measuring sales enablement success can be challenging because sales is a personalized approach, and salespeople have their way of selling. However, success can be attributed to actual content and how it is used. Therefore, setting up a sales enablement platform and system that tracks specific engagement on content and links it to individual users within the organization provides a basis for measuring the ROI of your efforts.

The key here is to use those analytics to better your sales content and improve your ROI. We make it a point to sit down with our clients every quarter and assess how their content is performing, who's using it, how they're using it, why they're using it, and where they're seeing success. It's this information that allows us to optimize their presentation content to show better ROI.

4. Enabling Remote Selling

Problem: The challenge of providing sales reps with the tools and resources they need to sell effectively in a remote or hybrid work environment.

Solution: While various tools exist in the sales enablement landscape to enable remote selling, it is crucial to provide your team with the right sales content for every touchpoint in the sales cycle, ensuring it is highly visual, engaging, and communicates your product's value instantly. Remember that the tool is just a tool, and what you provide within it is what makes your team successful.

You want to make the presentation creation process simple. Most sales enablement tools on the market have robust content management systems that allow your sellers to easily find the content they need for the buyer journey. But what sometimes gets overlooked is how much time is spent searching for assets or cobbling together presentations. It's important that we give our team tools that allow them to present in seconds.

Also, you need to ensure that the content you're sharing with prospective clients is "remote-ready," meaning everything should be 100% mobile-responsive. Always assume your prospects are on their phone, so limit their need to download content or pinch and zoom to view your sales pitch.

5. Integrating Technology

Problem: Selecting the right sales enablement technology to support sales processes and improve productivity.

Solution: Technology, when used correctly, can make the job of the sales team more efficient, thus enhancing your organization's reputation in the eyes of prospective clients. To choose the right tools, consider what can help the sales team sell better. For example, some of our clients have found customized ROI calculators valuable as they enable them to demonstrate the value or ROI in specific scenarios instantly. Other clients, especially those in the medical device industry, are utilizing 3D visualizations and interactive experiences to better showcase their products remotely, allowing prospects to get a visually detailed understanding of how the product works.

However, bear in mind that these can be expensive investments for your organization. Nonetheless, they can significantly enhance your team's selling efficiency and potentially reduce your sales cycle time.

The “New” Sales Enablement 101: Thriving in Today's Remote Sales Landscape

The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a new era of sales enablement challenges, especially in remote sales. B2B sales and marketing leaders have had to rethink their presenting processes as well as the tools their teams need for success. While remote selling presents many benefits, it also brings unique challenges and requires a fresh approach.

How do B2B sales and marketing leaders need to be thinking about sales enablement success in today's landscape?

Tim Dingersen, the founder of Nuvue, had this to say on the matter:

“I understand that revenue growth is a top priority for many companies. But I strongly believe that combining creativity and technology is the key to success in today's remote sales landscape. It's important to provide your sales team with an amazing story and visually impactful experience that sells itself and pair it with a piece of technology that allows for consistency, control, and full insight into how your sales content is performing.

Investing in both creative content and technology not only provides your organization with powerful sales tools but also shows your team that you have confidence in your product or service. By providing them with the right tools, you're making their job easier and ultimately making them look good in front of prospects.

There are many technologies available in the sales enablement landscape, but it's important to choose one that offers a creative twist to truly make your brand stand out.”

Streamlining Sales Success with Nuvue's Tech and Creativity

Nuvue was born from creativity. Tim Dingersen, its founder, has over 25 years of experience in the production business, creating B2B sales content for startups to Fortune 500 companies. In 2019, after repeatedly hearing the same concern from clients about visualizing their story and delivering it consistently, Tim decided to build world-class technology to complement his creative offerings, and Nuvue was born.

Since then, Nuvue has helped leading B2B brands build scalable modular sales systems, achieving exponential growth while fostering a culture of team members empowered to sell faster and more efficiently. Schedule a “Hello Call” with our team to learn more about how we've helped other brands produce real results.