Often overlooked…

I enjoyed reading about sales enablement on LinkedIn recently.  Did you see Cassandra Mingus’ article? 

There are 3 reasons why I enjoyed it.  First, I happen to know Mike Demmert (always great to read about our friends’ success).  Second, the topic is near and dear to me because I’ve been in the sales enablement field for over a decade.  Third, Cassandra Mingus did an excellent job of covering the “levels of success” required for effective sales enablement.  Especially the “often overlooked” level. 

In the book, Sales Enablement 3.0 ©, Roderick Jefferson offers examples of leading practices in the sales enablement field from his long and experienced career.  To be successful Roderick says  sales enablement leadership needs to get all constituents to come to agreement on a unified, strategic definition of the sales enablement function.  Cassandra writes that Mike does this well. 

Mr. Jefferson continues that once the strategic level is established, the tactical level of sales enablement (e.g. tools, documentation, metrics, etc.) will fall into place.  Well OK, but... 

            A little experience upsets a lot of theory. 

S. Parkes Cadman 

I noticed in his book, Roderick overlooked the “often overlooked” level of successful sales enablement.  Thankfully, Cassandra did not. 

I believe the “often overlooked” level may be THE level that determines the success (or failure) of a company's entire sales enablement program. It is the "street level" aka "street credibility" aka “street cred”.  IMHO, who delivers the content is more important than what the content is.  Mike Demmert being who Mike Demmert is, makes THE difference at Signifyd. 

We all know that clients and prospects are a tough and demanding audience.  Ultimately, they have the final word.  Yet, many companies have sales enablement content delivered by those who have not been “on the street” very long; have limited experience; overly reliant on theory. 

Beyond tough clients and prospects, young salespeople are also a tough audience because they have limited practical experience to relate sales enablement to (along with a limited attention span, LOL!). 

Senior, experienced salespeople are the toughest and perhaps even the most cynical audience.  They have been hardened against “sales theory” and company “party lines”.  They’ve been burned too many times trying to apply content directly from a sales enablement program without additional directions about what to expect once on the street. 

The opening to my slogan, “When life gets tough we could get a helmet…”  comes from street  experience.  Our Unknown Sage put it this way: 

     Good judgment comes from experience. 

          Experience comes from bad judgment. 

Mike and I were both “on the street” before moving into sales enablement roles.  When I work with salespeople (young and old) I find myself adding directions that can stray a bit from a company’s “party line”.  You know it’s coming when I say, “Now if I were you what I would do…”  and then I offer additional directions based on my experience. 

This “street cred” level is not a guarantee of sales enablement success.  Skilled sales enablement professionals must be careful not to assume just because they know the tools, tactics, and techniques; just because they have experience; that their enablement efforts have been properly absorbed. 

Afterall, we have all been in this situation: 

Winfield's Dictum of Direction-Giving: 

The possibility of getting lost is directly proportional to the number of times the direction-giver says, “You can't miss it." 

Unknown Sage 

Yes, even with street cred, we have to be mindful.  I know Mike is. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.