The State of Sales Enablement

In this episode of The State of Sales Enablement, Coach K sits down with Samantha McKenna, founder of SamSales Consulting, to explore the evolving dynamics of sales enablement and leadership alignment. Samantha, a well-known expert in sales strategy and enablement, shares valuable insights into what makes enablement effective, how to measure its impact, and why it’s essential to tie enablement efforts to business objectives.

Samantha and Coach K dive deep into:

• Samantha’s Career Journey: From her Swiss upbringing to becoming a sales enablement leader, Samantha discusses her experiences in both the C-suite and as an enabler, along with her philanthropic work supporting veterans and teachers.
• The Disconnect Between Leaders and Enablement: Samantha addresses the common disconnect between leadership and enablement teams, focusing on the challenges of defining enablement’s role and measuring its impact within organizations.
• Measuring Enablement ROI: Samantha shares how her team at SamSales Consulting tracks the success of enablement initiatives, emphasizing the importance of balancing qualitative feedback from sellers with hard metrics like response rates and conversion improvements.
• Personalization and Prospecting: Discussing her "Show Me You Know Me" methodology, Samantha explains how personalized, research-driven approaches to sales outreach can drastically improve engagement and conversion rates.
• Bringing in External Expertise: Samantha highlights the benefits of enablement teams leveraging external specialists to enhance their effectiveness, emphasizing that the role of enablement is not to know everything but to source the best resources.
• Practical Strategies for Enablement: From improving email outreach to redefining discovery calls, Samantha offers actionable advice on how enablers can drive success within their teams, focusing on practical steps rather than just theory.

Connect with Samantha McKenna:

• Website: SamSales Consulting
• LinkedIn: Samantha McKenna

Connect with Coach K:

• LinkedIn: Coach K

Tune in to learn how to shift sales enablement from a cost center to a strategic driver of business success and improve sales performance across your organization!

In this episode of The State of Sales Enablement, Coach K welcomes Tina Teodorescu, a behavioral science expert and founder of Talent Edge Advisors. Tina shares her fascinating career journey, from her background in psychology and behavioral science to becoming a fractional Chief People Officer, advising small businesses on talent strategy and organizational performance.

Tina and Coach K dive deep into:

• Tina’s Career Path: How her passion for psychology and behavior science led her to organizational behavior management and performance optimization.
• Behavioral Science in Business: Tina's early experiences working with top sales performers to create performance improvement models and her continued use of these principles today.
• Enablement and Competency Models: The importance of starting with business outcomes, working backward to identify the skills and behaviors needed, and building training and enablement programs that align with top performance.
• AI and Performance Improvement: Tina shares her perspective on AI's role in optimizing performance and talent strategies, and why the human element remains critical in coaching and mentorship.
• Inside-Out vs. Outside-In Approach: Tina explains the benefits of working from the business's desired outcomes to define necessary roles and skills, rather than building enablement programs in a vacuum.

Connect with Tina Tiodorescu:

• LinkedIn: Tina Teodorescu
• Website: Talent Edge Advisors

Connect with Coach K:

• LinkedIn: Coach K

In this episode of Troubleshooting Enablement, Devon McDermott, your host and EnableNerd, welcomes Mike Kunkle, Vice President of Sales Effectiveness Services at SPARXiQ, author of The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement, and the mastermind behind the Sales Effectiveness Straight Talk newsletter. With decades of experience, Mike shares his views on how to maximise the impact of the sales enablement function.

Here is what Devon and Mike discussed:

• How to effectively measure the business impact of enablement initiatives.
• The importance of understanding top performers and differentiating them from top producers.
• How to effectively diagnose and resolve gaps in enablement initiatives by focusing on what really drives performance.
• The critical role of sales managers in enabling their teams, including the challenges they face and how to support them in coaching and development.
• And more...

Tune in to hear Mike’s invaluable insights and strategies that can help you drive meaningful impact within your enablement function and beyond.

Connect with Mike Kunkle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekunkle/

Read Mike Kunkle's Book: https://www.amazon.com/Building-Blocks-Sales-Enablement/dp/1952157625/

Subscribe to Mike’s Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6958899285706821632/

Mike Kunkle's Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/mikekunkle

Connect with Devon McDermott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devonmcdermott/

In this episode of the State of Sales Enablement, Jonathan Kvarfordt, aka Coach K, sits down with Cory Bray, a prominent voice in the sales enablement space and co-founder of CoachCRM. Corey shares his candid thoughts on the current state of enablement, discussing its challenges, inefficiencies, and the need for a more streamlined approach. With years of experience in sales and enablement, Corey offers a refreshingly direct perspective on what works and what doesn’t in the industry.

Here are some of the questions Corey and Jonathan attempted to tackle:

• What is Corey’s background, and how has his experience shaped his approach to sales enablement?
• What is the current state of sales enablement, and why does Cory believe it has become bloated?
• Why does Cory challenge the idea of sales enablement being a true "community" and what are the implications of this view?
• How does Cory differentiate between building and operating enablement functions, and why does he see this distinction as crucial?
• What is Cory’s approach to solving enablement problems quickly and effectively?
• How does Cory view the role of sales experience in leading an enablement function, and why does he believe it’s critical?
• What should enablement professionals focus on to prove the value of their work within an organisation?

Tune in to hear Corey’s unfiltered opinions on the enablement landscape and his practical advice on making enablement more effective and results-driven.

Connect with Coach K: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmkmba/

Connect with Cory Bray: https://www.linkedin.com/in/buy-triangleselling/

The Sales Enablement Playbook: https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Enablement-Playbook-Cory-Bray/dp/1546744762

The Sales Management Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sales-management-podcast/id1631765942

In this episode of the State of Sales Enablement, Coach K sits down with Christina Brady, CEO of Luster.ai, to explore the intersection of AI and sales enablement. Christina brings her extensive experience in sales leadership and enablement to the conversation, offering insights into the evolving role of AI in enhancing sales performance and training.

Here are some of the questions Coach K and Christina attempted to tackle:

• How can AI be effectively integrated into sales enablement without overwhelming sales teams with too many tools?
• What strategies can be used to ensure that AI tools support, rather than replace, essential human elements in enablement?
• How can enablement professionals maintain control over the tech their teams use in the face of rapidly evolving AI tools?
• What does "perfect practice" look like in sales enablement, and how can AI facilitate it?

Tune in to hear Christina's insights on leveraging AI to enhance sales enablement and her vision for the future of learning and development in the workplace.

Connect with Coach K: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmkmba/

Connect with Christina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinapbrady/

In this episode of Troubleshooting Enablement, Devon McDermott, aka EnableNerd, sits down with Eric Mingorance, Senior Director of Sales and Field Enablement at Zixi. Eric shares his vast experience, from working in media and tech to leading enablement teams in various capacities. They dive into the challenges of being a "Team of One" in enablement, offering practical strategies for managing workload, creating scalable programs, and maintaining effectiveness despite limited resources.

Here are some of the questions Eric and Devon attempted to tackle:

• What has Eric's enablement journey looked like, and how has his diverse background shaped his approach?
• How can a one-person enablement team balance onboarding new hires and providing ongoing support to experienced reps?
• What strategies can be used to create scalable, customised enablement programs with limited resources?
• How can enablement professionals set boundaries and manage expectations with leadership regarding what can realistically be achieved by a small team?
• What role does an enablement charter play in setting the stage for success, and how can it be effectively used?
• How can enablement leaders leverage cross-functional collaboration and peer learning to scale their efforts and improve team performance?

Tune in to hear Eric's insights on navigating the enablement landscape as a solo practitioner and how to drive meaningful impact within your organisation.

Connect with Eric Mingorance: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emingo

Connect with Devon McDermott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devonmcdermott/

In this episode of the State of Sales Enablement podcast, Dannii Mathers sits down with Celine Gray, a seasoned sales enablement leader with over 25 years of experience. Currently serving as a sales enablement leader at Personio, Celine has also been recognized as one of the top leaders to watch and has delivered impactful keynotes at the Sales Enablement Collective.

During their conversation, Dannii and Celine dive deep into several key topics:

• What are the critical gaps in how sales enablement is approached in organizations today?
• Who holds the responsibility for ensuring that sales leaders are properly equipped to coach and guide their teams?
• How can sales enablement professionals encourage sales leaders to be more actively involved in the enablement process?
• What are the most effective ways to measure the impact of leadership enablement?
• Why is it crucial to establish a strong alignment between leadership enablement and overall sales performance?

Connect with Celine Grey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celinegreypelissier/

Connect with Dannii Mathers: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannii-mathers/

In this episode, Coach K interviews one of his favorite voices in the enablement community, Senait Isaac, who shares her extensive experience from customer success to tools enablement at PagerDuty. Senait delves into her strategies for effectively utilizing tools such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Gong to make sales teams more efficient and successful. They also discuss the challenges in defining the role of enablement in organizations and how leaders can better support and coach their teams. 

Connect with Senait: https://www.linkedin.com/in/senaitisaac/

Connect with Coach K: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmkmba/

What do CROs expect from enablement? Well, what better way to find out than to ask one?! In this episode of the State of Sales Enablement podcast, Coach K speaks to Kevin "KD" Dorsey, a Demandbase top 25 sales leader and one of Salesforce's top 16 sales influencers to follow. KD has built teams from 0-$100M several times and insists that enablement reports to him at every organisation he works for.

Here are some of the questions this episode tackles:

• Why is there a disconnect in the industry about the role and responsibilities of sales enablement?
• How can sales enablement teams influence metrics they do not have full control over?
• What is the role of sales leaders in defining and guiding sales enablement activities?
• What is the importance of top performer analysis in sales enablement?
• What methodologies and frameworks can be used to improve sales manager performance?

Connect with Kevin "KD" Dorsey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kddorsey3/

Explore KDs Sales Leadership Accelerator: https://www.salesleadershipaccelerator.com/slamembershipoverview

Explore KDs community: https://www.patreon.com/insidesalesexcellence

Connect with Coach K: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmkmba/

In this episode of Troubleshooting Enablement, host Devon McDermott dives into the complexities of behavior mapping and competency tracking with special guest Nick Lawrence from Snowflake.

Here are some of the questions they attempt to tackle:

• What recommendations do you have for someone starting from scratch with behavior mapping and impact tracking?
• What recommendations do you have for enablers working in an environment with questionable data?
• What are some tips for enablement folks who don't have the power and authority to drive change?
• What is the best enablement advice you've ever received?

Want to submit a confidential question? Simply fill in this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwcrkKKiFS6vbLbgt2S4jn9bCLkIc-KZaMqXdisdPb5F3CTg/viewform

Connect with Nick Lawrence:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elevatingenablement/

Connect with Devon McDermott:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/devonmcdermott/

Resources Featured in this Episode:

"Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance" by Thomas F. Gilbert

• https://www.amazon.com/Human-Competence-Engineering-Worthy-Performance/dp/0787971580

"Design for How People Learn" by Julie Dirksen

• https://www.amazon.com/Design-People-Voices-Matter-DIrksen/dp/0134211286

"Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change" by Julie Dirksen

• https://www.amazon.com/Talk-Elephant-Design-Learning-Behavior/dp/1953845013

"Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning" by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel

• https://www.amazon.com/Make-Stick-Science-Successful-Learning/dp/0674729013

"Performance-Focused Learner Surveys: Using Distinctive Questioning to Get Actionable Data and Guide Learning Programs" by Will Thalheimer

• https://www.amazon.com/Performance-Focused-Learner-Surveys-Distinctive-Questioning/dp/1941577136

"The Success Case Method: Find Out Quickly What's Working and What's Not" by Robert O. Brinkerhoff

• https://www.amazon.com/Success-Case-Method-Working-Whats/dp/1576751856

"The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement" by Mike Kunkle

• https://www.amazon.com/Building-Blocks-Sales-Enablement-Transformative/dp/1645438645