Last week, I attended the Sirius Decision’s 2011 Forum. It was my third attendance to this stellar program. And I mean stellar. Sirius runs one of the most content rich and professional forums of its kind. Not to mention the five-star venue and the food. Oh the food!! The desert table at the cocktail reception was the best I've ever seen – or better yet – tasted. From content to the senior-level attendees to the speakers to the vendors, that Sirius crew really knows how to put on a class “A” event and if you are a sales or marketing professional, it should be a must attend in 2012. Did I mention the event was also sold out! Yep, standing room only.
I would have to say that the leading topic at the event was sales enablement. Not lead generation, lead management or even the much pontificated topic of social media. Just flat out how can sales and marketing teams work together to drive the generation of revenue. From the number of sessions covering the topic to how packed the tables where at the “birds-of-a-feather” breakfast, sales enablement was the topic of choice.
Even the vendors were hot on the message. You could have blind folded me and asked me to toss a dart through the exhibit area and I would have hit signage that had the words sales enablement on it.
Why sales enablement? Why now? Is it just another fancy term for sales and marketing integration? Not to many of the attendees that I spoke to. It’s the next step in evolution. Becoming laser focused on revenue generation – having both sales and marketing looking through the same lens in order to view a common goal.
Many attendees at the event were looking to tighten the bond of marketing and sales. Be it through strategy, tactics, process or technology, there was plenty to learn. I would like to comment that sales enablement is more than strategy, tactics, process or technology. Those critical components are the “what” of sales enablement.
Let’s not forget the “How”. The act of teaching sales people how to engineer a better sales dialogue. To teach marketing professionals how the sales process works – down to the nuts and bolts. Even teach them how to align content to the sales process based on what sales people need by stage. By combining the “what and the how”, sales and marketing teams will truly be closer to the nirvana of becoming one seamless revenue generation engine. Isn't that what this is all about?
