There’s an old saying that applies well to the world of sales: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” The point is, a standardized system of measurement is important for determining which areas your sales team is strong in… and which ones you need to shore up. What about sales enablement? There is one relatively simple but effective step you can take towards a more complete understanding of how your strategy is actually working in practice: the sales enablement scorecards.
Your sales enablement scorecards can help you to clearly identify the programs, initiatives, metrics, and timeframes you should be targeting in order to achieve your business goals.
Each business is different and may use customized sales enablement scorecards that match their current needs and objectives. Here are some key sections you’ll probably want to cover on your scorecard. Of course, you can come up with your own rating system. But we recommend using a scale of 1 to 5 for each area of measurement (with 1 being significantly below-average and 5 being “best in class.”)
Sales Enablement Scorecards Key Sections
1. Sales Process Maturity
This section will cover how well your sales enablement process performs in terms of moving prospects through the sales funnel and thereafter retaining their business. Sub-sections within this category may include:
Sales stages
How does your process compare to your competition? You’ll want to evaluate all major touchpoints within a typical buyer’s journey. Such as the initial contact, the product demo, the point of sale, and even post-purchase interactions.
Customer “hand-offs”
This subsection focuses on a lead’s transition from marketing to sales (or from one sales rep to another). Is the workflow simple and efficient? Are there clear guidelines in place as to when the hand-off should occur?
Policies
You’ll also want to explore the effectiveness of key sales policies. Such as how new leads are assigned to team members, and when reps should focus on customer retention initiatives.
2. Sales Enablement Tools
This section will highlight the tools and platforms that your team uses to generate and nurture leads, close deals, and increase retention rates. Are they the right tools for the job?
Of course, your sales enablement scorecards should allow for differences in roles and responsibilities. For instance, a traditional B2B sales rep would probably not be using the same software as a sales analyst! With that in mind, each tool’s performance should be framed in terms of the specific methodology to which its target users are subject. The basic question that needs to be answered is: Does this tool help the salesperson track and make sales?
One subsection that you’ll likely want to include under this category would be the quote tool. You want to ensure that your reps aren’t making mistakes when generating quotes for their prospects (such as providing excessively large discounts). Your quote tool should be helping in this regard by means of automated quote creation, while still allowing for some flexibility on the rep’s part.
Presentation of information should be another sub-section in this area. You want your reps to stay “on message” when delivering product information to a potential customer. You also must allow them the freedom to “tweak” the presentation as needed, and make it as appealing to the prospect as possible.
3. Sales Training
Sales training should be a major category on any comprehensive sales enablement scorecards. It’s vital that you ensure your training program is accomplishing its goals effectively. As one sales expert once said: “The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is not training them and keeping them.”
Your scorecard’s category for sales training should include several sub-sections, such as:
Instructor-led Training (ILT)
Is your live, classroom-style training effective for new hires? Does it sharpen the skills of experienced reps? Is the information covered relevant and valuable? Have your facilitators been trained to teach effectively?
Guided Video Instruction
This may include preset e-learning modules and guided virtual training over Zoom or another video conferencing platform. Is the video content up to date? Is it being delivered to sales reps according to their unique skills and experience levels?
Certifications
It’s important to certify that your reps are competent in terms of specialized product knowledge, as well as advanced selling techniques. What’s the average certification level for your team? Which certification areas are your team strong in — and which ones are your reps weaker in?
Core Competencies
Your scorecard should only focus on the most important competencies that your sales reps need to demonstrate. You may need to answer questions such as: Are your reps delivering a clear value proposition? Are they asking the right questions to determine customer needs? Are they engaging in active listening? Do they highlight the product benefits that are most closely aligned to customer pain points?
4. Sales KPIs
Key performance indicators are essential to any viable performance management system. In simple terms, you want to determine whether your sales reps are focusing on the right goals for themselves. And if so, whether they’re actually achieving those goals.
Some KPIs that you may want to include on your scorecard include:
- Number of calls made
- The average time between calls
- Number of leads generated
- Average time to 50%, 80%, and 100% quota
- Number of price quotes generated
5. Sales Enablement Systems
Last but not least, you want to measure how much value your sales enablement platforms are adding to the process, and how well your reps are using these systems. We’re talking about platforms used to track consumer data, organize leads and customers, manage content, share content, document prospect interactions, and so forth.
By mining these platforms for data, you can gauge how effectively prospects are moving through the sales pipeline, and locate any common bottlenecks that are hindering your reps from reaching their greatest potential. If your training program is built into your team’s platform, you can also analyze how your reps are doing in terms of continuous learning and development.