A robust sales enablement strategy is crucial for empowering sales teams to effectively engage with clients and drive growth. So, it comes as no surprise that 78% of asset managers state that it is either “important” or “very important” to have a dedicated sales enablement function.[1] However, even the most well-intentioned strategies can encounter pitfalls that undermine their effectiveness. Understanding these common pitfalls is the first step toward creating a more effective and sustainable sales enablement strategy.
While there are many potential pitfalls in sales enablement, we have identified the top three.
- Lack of Alignment Between Sales and Marketing: The most significant pitfall in sales enablement is the misalignment between sales and marketing teams. When these two departments operate in silos, it leads to inconsistent messaging, missed opportunities and wasted time and resources. Sales enablement, distribution and marketing leadership must foster a culture of collaboration with regular joint meetings, shared goals and integrated systems to ensure that all teams are working towards the same data, motivations and objectives.
- Lack of Clear Metrics and KPIs: Without clear metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), it is challenging to measure the success of your sales enablement strategy. Many firms fail to define what success looks like, leading to ambiguous results and difficulty in optimizing the strategy. Sales enablement leadership must establish clear, measurable KPIs that align with your business goals and regularly track and analyze these metrics to identify areas of improvement and success. This allows for informed decision-making as it relates to cutting, establishing new or doubling down on existing sales enablement programs.
- Neglecting Customer Insights: A sales enablement strategy that does not leverage customer insights can miss the mark in addressing client needs and preferences. Understanding what clients want and need is essential for personalizing not only the individual interactions but also the big-picture advisor journey with your organization. Sales enablement should strive for maximum utilization of all the data and analytics that are available. Many sales enablement professionals are not taking full advantage of the available data that could be used to sharpen advisor engagement. At the same time, sales teams should be encouraged to record and share feedback from client interactions (both manually and using tech-assisted programs) to assist in the refinement of content and engagement.
While these next two aren’t in the top three, they still have the potential to create disruption and confusion to well-intentioned sales enablement programs.
- Ineffective Use of Technology: Investing in the latest sales enablement technology is pointless if the tools are not effectively integrated and utilized. Many asset management firms struggle with fragmented systems that complicate workflows instead of streamlining them. Sales enablement tools that integrate seamlessly with your existing CRM and marketing automation platforms are the goal here and need to be considered in the selection and onboarding of these tools. Furthermore, leadership needs to ensure the sales and marketing teams are adequately trained to use these tools and regularly assess their effectiveness.
- Overloading Sales Teams with Information: While it is crucial to equip sales teams with information, overwhelming them with too much data can be counterproductive. Salespeople, as well as national account managers, need relevant and actionable insights, not an avalanche of information that can lead to analysis paralysis. Data and insights curation is key! Sales enablement should prioritize information that directly supports sales activities and provide easily digestible content and tools that help the users quickly find what they need.
And finally, our other honorable mentions:
- Insufficient Training and Onboarding
- Ignoring the Sales Process
- Inadequate Feedback Loops
Remember, the key to a robust sales enablement strategy is flexibility and a willingness to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of the asset management industry. Awareness of the existing or potential pitfalls to even the best programming is critical to avoiding disruption and optimizing your sales potential.
To learn more about how SS&C helps support Sales Enablement, learn more about our Distribution Solutions team.
[1] SS&C Productivity Insights Sales Enablement Survey: February 2024