Why are there so many new positions for Sales Enablement Managers?

I started a discussion on the Sales Enablement Leader Exchange group in LinkedIn that asked the above question. I believe that this whole area of Sales Enablement is gaining recognition and interest as something that has evolved into a valuable asset. I would ike to share with you one of the comments that came from Len Ramsay who is a principal at Mindful Sales in Toronto. Len allowed me to share this with you:

“My view is that selling has evolved through a number of pressures that have their roots in the exponentially increasing availability of information and intelligence. The practice of selling has changed and is continuing to change. Customers know more and their buying processes are continually increasing in sophistication. I.T. is providing tools for managing sales process and methodology that were unthinkable not too long ago. Forecasting that relied on intuition from experience for accuracy is being codified and made logically deductive in a wide variety of information processing tools. Sales Management process is informed by psychology and neuroscience that has emerged from massive amounts of money poured in to research. Team work that has long been recognized as valuable in other fields, now increasingly valued in sales. Specialization is growing in Sales and development of Sales Operations, Sales Support and Sales Enablement functions is an expression of that specialization. It’s a great time to be consulting in Sales Effectiveness. Increasing Sales Ops and Enablement capabilities under Sales rather than H.R. is a healthy response to the increased availability of information and intelligence.”

I want to thank Len again for his insights here, especially since he talks about increased availability of information and intelligence. In my mind, it isn’t about the massive quantity of information and intelligence that people have to sift through to find what they want, but it’s more about the quality of that information and intelligence. Also, about how easily it can be found, so it can be used. Those organizations that see a need for Sales Enablement Managers, should also recognize that part of their new responsibility will be to capture, catalog, and then deliver that information and intelligence, or what I like to refer to as “Tribal Knowledge”, to the people who need it, right when they need it, the way they need it. In order to do that, they will need to explore new tools that are now emerging in the market that will allow them to do that. So hopefully, as organizations embrace this new area of Sales Enablement managment, they will start to reap the rewards when they implement solutions that will capture and use the experience and knowledge that already exists within these organizations. Then deliver that knowledge, in a way that will shorten the sales cycle, and enhance the buying experience.