Sales Operations and Sales Enablement work towards the common goal of improving sales results, but what is the difference? Are they the same? Is it possible to have Sales Operations without Sales Enablement? It can be confusing to know what Sales Enablement is and how it differs from other aspects of a company's sales processes. Today, we’ll explore the difference between these two concepts. At its core, Sales Operations often have less direct contact with customers than Sales Enablement. While both departments may manage certain tasks for their respective areas, there are some key differences in how each operates. For example, Sales Operations are in charge of the financial side of sales while only Sales Enablement would be responsible for putting the campaigns together.
In this post, we will be taking a closer look at the general responsibilities within each role, and why they both play a vital role in a successful sales force.
What Do Sales Operations Team Members Do?
Sales Operations teams are the building blocks of how sales teams work and function from a day-to-day basis. They are in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly. The term is broad, so this role can include a wide variety of technical activities and can vary within each company.
Sales Operations team members are responsible for ensuring that sales teams have all of the resources they need to be successful. They track performance, maintain data accuracy, and work directly with marketing to create reports that help drive better business decisions. Sales Operations make sure that everything is in place for sales reps to make effective pitches.
Sales Operations Responsibilities
- Sales Incentives and Compensation: Sales Operations team members implement and monitor the sales compensation plan. While monitoring performances, they use those insights to give recommendations on how to get maximum performance from their sales teams.
- Sales Forecasting & Reporting: Another thing they focus on is the sales pipeline, forecasting, and creating reports. This can include reporting on numbers monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
- Sales Rep Operations: You never want two reps selling to the same prospect. Sales operations team members create teams and clearly define boundaries, so sales reps know who to sell to and where.
- Sales Administration: They also manage proposals, quotes, pricing, and contracts. This usually includes managing a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) that plugs into your sales enablement solution. This is a way to manage all customer interactions through their complete lifecycle.
What Do Sales Enablement Team Members Do?
Sales Enablement isn’t as easy to define, especially since it is a relatively new term. The sales enablement team is responsible for providing their sales force (and every team that interacts with sales regularly) with the right tools and data to help them plan and engage with their prospects, sell more efficiently, and close deals. They aren’t as focused on specific day-to-day activities like sales operations, but empowering sales operations and reps to do their job even better. They work with marketing teams to identify key messages that align with company goals while developing content pieces like webinars, PDFs, and presentations. Sales Enablement is also about providing data-driven insights into customers' interactions with your content to close more deals. Sales managers need to know what their team does to prospect because it will help them understand how to support their staff throughout the year.
Sales Enablement Responsibilities:
- Sales Onboarding and Training: Sales training doesn’t need to take hours, but it should be a constant and consistent part of a sales force. They are responsible for all sales training including content and training events, like SKOs.
- Sales Technologies: The sales enablement team oversees finding a sales enablement solution that equips their teams with content, training, etc. They work closely with sales ops to plug in their sales enablement software into their CRM.
- Content Management: Sales reps spend their valuable time sifting through mountains of content trying to find the right content. Creating and managing content in a centralized location gives your reps access to powerful content at their fingertips so they can focus on what they do best, selling!
- Marketing and Sales Alignment: For sales reps to have powerful, up-to-date content, sales and marketing teams must be aligned. The sales enablement team works closely with both teams to maximize the value of their content. Marketing creates optimized content (like one-sheets and brochures), and sales reps have quick access to the right content to improve efficiency in their sales process.
- Performance Analysis: This involves tracking how the sales reps are sharing and using content throughout sales conversations. By having instant analytics, you know what is working, and what is not.
Even though these two roles have different day-to-day responsibilities, they are both working in their teams to drive more sales. As a result, their teams are better equipped with the tools and content to close deals more efficiently when they work hand-in-hand with each other. Sales Enablement and Sales Operations are a vital part of any business. The responsibilities of these team members will vary depending on the type of company they work in, but their function is always to make more sales by providing customers with information that will help them make the right decision in the end.
Are you looking for a sales enablement solution? The best solutions will align your sales operations and sales enablement teams for success. verbTEAMS is the answer. With its powerful analytics, content control system, and unique messaging tools verbTEAMS offers, your team will have the resources they need to drive sales and reach their goals. Request a demo today by clicking here!
