,

Closing the Sales Enablement Gap

Co-Authored by Zift Solutions’ VP of Strategic Alliances Scott England  and Chanin Ballance, President and CEO of MobilePaks.

As Zift has grown within the channel marketing automation space, becoming a leader in Through Partner Marketing Automation (TPMA) and working closely with both suppliers and channel partners, we’ve recognized a striking new trend. It’s a subtle yet persistent thing – a blending of sales and marketing enablement that can no longer be denied.

We are confident that this trend will continue as more companies automate traditional processes in how they work with their indirect sales channels. And as new systems are put in place to provision and enable partners to market and sell more efficiently, these companies also expect to see measurable results from their partners’ with a bottom line mentality on revenue production.

New Expectations and Differing Attitudes

This shift is creating a gap in sales expectations and correspondingly in enablement. OEMs want, even expect, partners to sell more of their products using specific approaches, conditions and even require certifications to sell higher end products with the best margins. While partners are feeling the pressure from suppliers, their attitude is a bit different. Already laboring under time and resource constraints, channel partners are selling what they can, how they can, in the manner that pays the most amount as quickly as possible. They don’t necessarily have the time or desire to travel to an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) training center for training and/or certification.

Both OEMs and partners have skin in this game. They all want the same result: to capture more revenue. However, as new marketing automation tools are accelerating partners’ ability to market – sales reps are often left behind.

So what is the solution?

MobilePaks CEO Chanin Ballance Weighs In

Chanin Ballance is the CEO of MobilePaks, an award winning, cloud-based marketing and sales enablement provider.

The age old problem of OEMs engaging partners and educating them to sell products is not new. That said, we see a growing trend of OEMs using technology to make training more friendly and accessible – easier to digest, as well as tying consumption to certification programs, SPIFFs and other benefits.

Examples include:

  • Converting content to 2-5 minute bite-sized chunks vs. traditional 20-45 minute web-based training.
  • Improving the user experience so accessing training is simple and available on- demand, on any device.
  • Using notifications, as well as tracking usage and motivating completion of a collection or group of bite-sized modules through certification that include marketing funds, SPIFFs and other benefits.

With new sales enablement training software, OEMs can see at a glance which partners are engaged. They can correlate usage and seller competency to pipeline strength and quantitatively identify areas of improvement as a result.

Closing the GapMind the Gap on a London Underground Platform

Clearly, there is enhanced interest and need to close the sales enablement gap. As Zift’s customers are taking an increasingly comprehensive view of channel sales and marketing, they’re asking questions about combining partner certifications with marketing execution to create a more “virtuous” process that encompasses training, execution and evaluation.

For Suppliers and OEMs, it’s becoming imperative to evaluate training under the lens of value to revenue production. This is no easy task, even within a direct sales force, let alone an extended, third-party partner network. Technology holds the promise of linking once disparate marketing and sales disciplines and meeting today’s changing expectations for both.

Looking Forward

Using the Zift Platform together with tools like those MobilePaks offers will provide the ability to link sales and marketing enablement. Imagine being able to unlock unique demand-gen tactics after finishing specific training courses, achieving a certification or reviewing new messaging requirements. Marketing Development Fund (MDF) programs can be linked to both sales and marketing as well, driving toward complete partner enablement that is engaging and satisfying for both sides of the channel equation.

Interested to learn more?

Watch our upcoming joint webinar with MobilePaks: Closing the Sales Enablement Gap. We’ll demonstrate how technology can create a closed-loop process that engages partners and addresses both marketing and sales needs by encompassing training, execution and evaluation to generate more revenue for suppliers and channel partners. Click here to register now!

zift-and-mobilepaks-sales-enablement-webinar-image

 

/by
,

See How Better Content Delivery Helps Sales in AMA’s B2B Marketing Newsletter

Using Content Marketing to Enable the Sales Team

MobilePaks CEO Chanin Ballance makes it into the August issue of B2B Marketing with “Using Content Marketing to Enable the Sales Team.”

We’ve all been there: Blood, sweat and tears have gone into creating just the right content and collateral, and yet the sales team isn’t using it. In fact, a 2014 study by Sirius Decisions showed that only 30% of the content that marketing teams put together is actually used by sales.

It turns out that content alone isn’t enough. B-to-B marketers also need to improve the way that they deliver the content to their team and how they can access it at the time they need it. According to Forrester Research, the average sales person wastes seven hours per week searching for and/or creating customer-facing content. That’s a whole day each week wasted.

To find out more, you can read the full article here.

/by

A Seamless Learning Experience: The Gazelles Implementation of MobilePaks

Gazelles implemented a seamless learning experience with MobilePaks

Even coaches need to be coached—and Gazelles executive business coaches are some of the best in the world.

However, the onboarding process for new coaches at Gazelles was less than ideal, with master trainers sending pre-class assignments through lengthy emails. Because they couldn’t track who had completed which assignments, valuable classroom time was eaten up by assignment review instead of focusing on practice scenarios and discussing complex topics.

Enter MobilePaks. Using MobilePaks, Gazelles was able to turn their onboarding process into a seamless learning experience, with pre-class exercises that could be automatically assigned and sequenced, digital workbooks for use in-class, and on-demand support and memory boosters post-class. Master trainers could track completion and engagement to gauge progress and identify coaching gaps.

The results: trainees achieved competency 20% faster and gained more confidence. Furthermore, Gazelles finally had the usage data that allowed them to calculate content ROI and make informed program improvements. The 25% reduction in program costs were nothing to sneeze at, either.

Interested to see exactly how Gazelles went from an email-based system to a scalable seamless learning platform? Read the full case study here.
/by