Every profession has certain “tools of the trade.” A carpenter needs a hammer and nails. A nurse requires a thermometer and a stethoscope.
Revenue teams also need certain tools to do their jobs well. A revenue enablement platform is one such tool.
The right platform empowers organizations to create a team of top performers that consistently crush quotas.
But what is a revenue enablement platform, and what are the must-have features of such a platform?
In this guide, we’ll set the foundation by discussing a revenue enablement platform and how the right platform can boost your revenue team’s performance. We’ll also explore the key features to look for when deciding which platform fits your team and share some of the best platforms in the market today.
What is a revenue enablement platform?
Perhaps you’ve heard the term “revenue enablement platform” before, but you’re not exactly sure what it is. Or maybe you have a better idea of what a revenue platform is. Regardless of where you are on your revenue enablement journey, we’ve got you covered.
Revenue enablement, defined
To explain a revenue enablement platform, let’s first define revenue enablement.
Today, most organizations are familiar with sales enablement. A recent report found that 84% of organizations are investing in it. Sales enablement equips sales teams with the tools, training, information, and content they need to deliver engaging buying experiences and close more deals. Many organizations use a sales enablement tool (or tools) to power their programs and initiatives.
Think of revenue enablement as the next iteration of sales enablement. While sales enablement focuses on supporting the sales team, revenue enablement takes things a step further, ensuring all customer-facing functions are aligned around the customer journey and have what they need to deliver outstanding experiences.
Revenue enablement platforms, defined
A revenue enablement platform is an essential component of any revenue enablement strategy. An integrated revenue enablement tool centralizes everything related to revenue enablement, serving as a single source of truth for the entire revenue team.
Enablement teams use a revenue enablement tool to create and deliver programs, initiatives, and content and measure their impact. Customer-facing roles leverage revenue enablement solutions to access the tools, training, content, and information they need to engage with customers effectively – no matter where they are on the purchase journey.
We’ll look closer at a revenue enablement platform’s key features later.
How a revenue enablement platform can boost your business results
Organizations that adopt an integrated platform experience several benefits. Let’s look at a few that rise to the top.
Better sales content management
Modern B2B buyers depend on content to make informed purchase decisions. Many marketing teams invest significant time and resources into developing content, but sales reps often struggle to find relevant, up-to-date content.
An integrated revenue enablement platform simplifies content management, allowing reps to spend less time searching for content and more time engaging with prospects. With a platform, all content is housed in a single, searchable location. Some solutions offer AI capabilities that suggest content proven to work in similar sales scenarios. This helps sellers more effectively leverage content to engage buyers.
Personalized training and coaching for reps
A one-size-fits-all approach to sales training and coaching is ineffective. Instead, organizations must deliver personalized training and coaching that addresses each rep’s needs.
With the right revenue enablement platform, organizations can pinpoint which skills each rep has perfected and which they need to continue to practice. Then, organizations can deliver customized training and coaching that addresses their needs – without bogging them down with unnecessary, irrelevant training.
Streamlined analytics and reporting
Ongoing measurement is key to determining whether revenue enablement initiatives positively impact the metrics that matter most to revenue teams.
Some revenue organizations use multiple point solutions that each address a specific component of revenue enablement. For example, an organization may use a content management system to house and organize content, and another solution to create and deliver sales training. These point systems include analytics, but it can be challenging to cobble them together to determine overall impact.
An integrated platform streamlines sales enablement analytics and reporting into a single platform. Organizations can get a holistic picture of how revenue enablement efforts are helping sales reps sharpen skills, engage buyers, and close more deals.
Better alignment of customer-facing teams
All too often, marketing, enablement, and customer-facing teams work in silos. However, when these teams are aligned, it improves business results. Research tells us that when sales and marketing teams work in coordination, businesses can see 27% faster profit growth.
Businesses can see
A revenue enablement platform can significantly improve alignment by providing these key teams with a single source of truth for everything related to revenue enablement.
More accurate sales forecasting
An integrated platform equips organizations with revenue intelligence, which analyzes data across customer interactions. With these insights, sales leaders can more accurately predict outcomes and provide the right support to help sales reps close winnable deals.
Improved revenue operations
Revenue teams depend on the right tools to do their jobs. But adding a ton of tools can create chaos for revenue teams.
An integrated platform allows revenue operations teams to streamline the tech stack – while still ensuring sales reps have what they need to be productive and effective.
8 Must-have features of a revenue enablement platform
The right revenue enablement platform can greatly impact the effectiveness of your enablement program and the performance of your entire revenue org. Perhaps you’ve heard the message loud and clear and have begun shopping for a platform for your organization.
Many vendors offer solutions that promise to boost the effectiveness and efficiency of your revenue team. Weighing your options can be confusing, especially when you’re not sure what features and functionality are most important.
Each platform incorporates unique features and functionality. It is important to find the option that works best for your organization.
That said, certain must-have features should be incorporated into every revenue enablement platform. Let’s explore eight.
#1 Sales content management
According to Salesforce research, sales reps spend a mere 28% of their time selling. The rest is spent on meetings and admin work, including hunting down the right sales content.
Furthermore, while your marketing team may spend a lot of time creating content, there’s a good chance a lot of that content is sitting unused. That could be because sales reps don’t know it exists, don’t know how to use it, or find it irrelevant.
Any revenue enablement solution you’re considering should incorporate content management capabilities. That way, sales reps can easily surface content that’ll resonate with any prospect – no matter where they are in the purchase journey. Keep an eye out for a solution that incorporates AI. That way, your sales reps can get suggestions for content based on a prospect’s behavior and how content has performed in similar scenarios.
Your chosen platform should also feature robust analytics that helps you understand how content is (or isn’t) being used and how it is (or isn’t) impacting sales outcomes. That way, you can invest more in effective content and eliminate assets that aren’t working.
#2 Sales onboarding
Sales onboarding helps new reps get up to speed with your company, its goals, and their role in achieving those goals. Be sure your chosen platform incorporates features that allow you to develop and deliver sales onboarding programs that get your sellers ready to hit the ground running.
#3 Continuous learning
Learning shouldn’t stop after onboarding. Instead, revenue teams need continuous learning to ensure they’re always ready to deliver engaging customer experiences. Your revenue enablement software should incorporate features and functionality that allow you to deliver engaging, ongoing learning that helps revenue team members stay fresh.
Ongoing learning shouldn’t be “one-size-fits-all.” With the right revenue enablement platform, you can assess the strengths and weaknesses of each revenue team member. Then, you can deliver personalized learning opportunities that address the needs of each sales rep, without bogging them down with irrelevant training.
#4 Engaging reinforcement and practice opportunities
Research from Gartner found that B2B sales reps forget 70% of what they learn within a week of training.
B2B sales reps forget
For example, leading revenue enablement platforms allow you to build virtual role-plays. Sellers can record themselves giving a practice pitch, and they get instant, AI-powered feedback for improvement. They can also submit their role-plays for their manager and peers’ feedback.
#5 Sales coaching
It’s no secret that sales coaching improves performance. According to the 2024 State of Revenue Productivity Report, top-performing sales reps receive more coaching than their lower-performing peers.
While the importance of sales coaching is clear, it can be difficult to deliver effective coaching at scale.
Revenue enablement platforms incorporate revenue intelligence, which helps sales managers understand where there are risks. That way, the manager can provide deal coaching to help improve the deal’s outcome.
In addition, a platform provides managers with robust data that sheds light on where sales reps excel and where they need improvement. The best platforms also offer conversation intelligence capabilities which help managers understand how sales reps are performing on calls. With these insights, sales managers can provide personalized skills coaching that improves reps’ behaviors and long-term performance.
#6 Sales call recording and analysis
A sales rep may complete all assigned training and enablement activities. But that doesn’t mean they’re applying what they’ve learned.
However, sales managers can’t sit on every sales call to identify a rep’s strengths and weaknesses.
Winning revenue enablement incorporates conversation intelligence capabilities, which record and analyze reps’ calls. Each call is scored, and reps receive real-time feedback for improvement. Reps can use this feedback to improve their approach. In addition, sales managers can look for trends to see where additional skill coaching may be needed.
#7 Revenue intelligence
Accurate sales forecasting fuels better decision-making about key factors like goals, budgeting, and prospecting. But often, sales leaders aren’t confident in their forecasts. According to the Chief Revenue Officer + Sales Leader Outlook Report, 34% of organizations say inaccurate forecasts and limited predictability in the business are some of their top pain points.
The best revenue enablement platforms feature revenue intelligence capabilities, which allow revenue leaders to predict outcomes more accurately. Revenue intelligence also flags at-risk deals so teams can take action to improve outcomes.
#8 Robust data, analytics, and dashboards
When it comes to revenue enablement, ongoing measurement is key. Regular measurement allows you to see what’s working and identify areas for improvement.
Your revenue enablement platform should make it easy to surface insights that matter most to your business. In addition, look for a platform that uses AI to analyze reports so you can get the answers you need. Your chosen platform may also use AI to suggest actions to take based on your data.
The best revenue enablement platforms
When researching revenue enablement platforms, you may wonder which one is best. There’s no simple answer. The best solution incorporates features and functionality that meet your revenue organization’s needs and goals.
That said, the following are some of the most popular tools on the market today.
Mindtickle
Mindtickle is an award-winning, integrated revenue enablement platform used by top revenue organizations across the globe.
Winning revenue organizations depend on Mindtickle to streamline revenue operations and improve sales results. With Mindtickle, enablement professionals can quickly and easily develop and deliver engaging, effective training and enablement programs that ensure revenue teams are always ready to sell. Enablement professionals can also use Mindtickle to measure the impact of their programs and initiatives on sales performance.
Mindtickle also offers a user-friendly experience to sales reps. Sellers can easily find the training, enablement, and content they need to deliver engaging experiences and close deals.
With Mindtickle, revenue leaders always have easy access to the data and analytics that matter most. Sales managers can understand reps’ skill development and how they’re performing in the field. These insights help them deliver personalized coaching that improves reps’ long-term performance. Sales leaders can also access revenue intelligence, which fuels more accurate sales forecasting, pipeline, and deal confidence.
Seismic
Seismic is an enablement, training, and coaching tool that sales and marketing teams use. Sales reps turn to Seismic to access content, tools, and insights to engage prospects and convert them to customers.
Allego
Allego is a revenue enablement platform that provides sales teams with knowledge and content to move deals forward. Allego also provides actionable insights that revenue teams can use to maximize the potential of each sales rep.
Highspot
Highspot is a software company offering a revenue enablement solution that promises to improve sales performance. Highspot equips revenue teams with the tools, information, and content needed to improve behavior and close more deals, faster.
Take your revenue enablement to the next level with Mindtickle
Modern revenue teams face more challenges than ever before. It’s no wonder why so many sales reps fail to meet their sales quotas.
Today, many organizations are investing in revenue enablement teams and programs to ensure the entire revenue team is aligned and ready to deliver outstanding experiences throughout the customer journey.
The right revenue enablement tools are key to success. But not all revenue enablement solutions are the same. It’s important to find the option that best fits your organization’s needs.
While some organizations opt to invest in multiple point solutions, a growing number are streamlining their tech stacks by investing in an integrated revenue enablement platform like Mindtickle.
With Mindtickle, your entire revenue team has easy access to the tools, information, and content they need to effectively engage with buyers and close more deals – all in one platform.
Revenue Enablement with Mindtickle
Give your entire revenue team access to the tools, information, and content they need to effectively engage with buyers and close more deals – all in one platform.
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By Rahul Mathew
By Christian Pieper
