What Does a Sales Enablement Professional Do? [+ Template Job Description]
Sales enablement is to a sales organization what a pit crew is to a race car driver. They work diligently behind the scenes, equipping the sales team with everything they need to perform at their best—content, training, coaching, tools, insights, and more. The goal: Empower reps to consistently cross the finish line first.
It‘s a business-critical function that‘s seen explosive growth in recent years. Sales Enablement PRO‘s 2022 report found that 74% of organizations now have a dedicated sales enablement person, program, or function, up from just 20% in 2013.
But what exactly does a sales enablement professional do day-in and day-out to drive results? Let‘s pop the hood and take a look.
The 5 Key Responsibilities of Sales Enablement
No two days are the same for a sales enablement professional. From crafting battlecards to onboarding new reps to analyzing content usage data, they wear many hats. Most roles center around these five core duties:
1. Content Creation
Arguably the biggest chunk of a sales enablement pro‘s time goes into producing the content salespeople need to reel in buyers and land deals. This includes both internal and prospect-facing assets such as:
- Pitch decks
- Demo scripts
- Objection handling guides
- Email templates
- Competitor comparisons
- Customer case studies
- Product one-pagers
- ROI calculators
- Proposal templates
For example, reps at HubSpot have a library of over 1,000 sales enablement assets at their disposal, from industry-specific pitch decks to email templates for every occasion. The enablement team is constantly refreshing this content based on seller feedback and performance data.
"Our job is to create concise, compelling content that communicates the value of our products," says Debbie Farese, HubSpot‘s Director of Sales Enablement. "We want reps to spend more time selling and less time searching for or creating content."
2. Sales Training and Coaching
Getting new reps prepped to sell in record time is a major priority for resource-strapped sales orgs. Sales enablement designs and delivers onboarding programs to ramp reps on everything from the sales process and product to buyer personas and competitors.
A thorough onboarding at PandaDoc, a leading sales content solutions provider, includes:
- Sales methodology training
- Product demos and certifications
- Pipeline reviews
- Ride-alongs with successful reps
- Mock sales calls and objection handling
- Quizzes to reinforce learning
But it‘s not just new hires who benefit from sales enablement‘s training chops. Ongoing enablement via in-person workshops, video coaching, and micro-learning helps the entire sales force level up their game. These could cover timely topics like:
- Consultative selling
- Social selling
- Virtual sales presentations
- Storytelling
- Active listening
- Negotiation
"Continuous learning is essential in sales, especially with how fast things change," says Alina McComas, Director of Global Sales Enablement at PandaDoc. "It‘s our job to keep reps sharp and ahead of the curve."
3. Sales Technology Management
The average sales tech stack now includes 5-7 tools—CRM, sales content management, conversational intelligence, and more. It‘s up to sales enablement to ensure reps can use these tools effectively (and actually adopt them).
After all, a Ferrari without gas is just an expensive lawn ornament. Same goes for shiny new sales tech that goes unused.
Sales enablement professionals vet and implement tools that will improve sales productivity and performance. Then they create training and documentation to drive adoption and best practices. This might include:
- Written how-to guides and FAQs
- Video tutorials
- Live training sessions
- Office hours and ongoing support
"Rolling out a new sales tool is only half the battle—you have to get reps to use it," says Kurt Jones, Sales Enablement Manager at HR software provider PeopleFluent. "Understand what motivates them, make it as easy as possible, and show how it will help them hit quota."
4. Content Measurement and Optimization
In the race to arm reps with relevant content, sales enablement teams can end up with a massive library of assets. But more isn‘t always better. That‘s where content audits and analytics come in.
Sales enablement pros track content usage and performance data to understand:
- Which assets are used most frequently
- How much time reps spend searching for content
- Which pieces move deals through the pipeline fastest
- The average deal size and win rates influenced by content
These insights help enablement teams prune their content library and optimize under-performing assets. HubSpot‘s Farese puts it simply: "If content isn‘t being used or isn‘t tied to revenue, it‘s just clutter."
Easier said than done, of course. Only 35% of organizations say they‘re effectively tracking content usage, and even fewer have hard ROI data. But those that do report game-changing results, including:
- 59% improvement in win rates
- 14% increase in average deal size
- 23% reduction in sales cycle length
5. Cross-Functional Orchestration
With one foot in sales and the other in marketing, sales enablement often serves as the "connective tissue" between customer-facing teams. They ensure everyone is marching to the beat of the same drum.
An enablement pro‘s week might include:
- Meeting with sales managers to understand reps‘ needs
- Brainstorming new content ideas with marketing
- Coordinating with product on feature FAQs
- Partnering with business ops on CRM customization
- Presenting sales readiness metrics to leadership
"Alignment is the name of the game," says ADP‘s Flanigan. "We have to be in lockstep with sales, marketing, product, ops, and execs to create cohesive programs that drive results."
Perhaps most importantly, sales enablement must be the voice of the rep. Regular ride-alongs and check-ins build trust and surface valuable insights straight from the front lines.
The Anatomy of a Sales Enablement Professional
So what traits and skills should you look for when hiring a sales enablement coordinator or manager? Here‘s a rundown of the most important competencies, mapped to common job duties:
| Skill | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Sales acumen | Develop sales playbooks, train reps on sales methodology, provide deal coaching |
| Content creation | Produce internal and customer-facing content (decks, scripts, emails, etc.), manage content library |
| Instructional design | Design and deliver rep onboarding and continuous training programs, create learning paths |
| Data analysis | Measure content usage and effectiveness, track sales readiness and enablement KPIs |
| Change management | Roll out new processes and tools, drive adoption and best practices among reps |
| Project management | Coordinate cross-functional initiatives, manage content and training calendars |
| Communication | Align with sales leadership and marketing/product/ops, facilitate feedback loops |
But perhaps the most important attribute for success in sales enablement is adaptability. The needs of sales teams are constantly evolving, so enablement pros must be able to pivot on a dime.
"The only constant in sales enablement is change," quips Jones. "You have to be comfortable working in ambiguity and juggling competing priorities."
A Day in the Life of a Sales Enablement Manager
What does this skill set look like in practice? Here‘s a snapshot of a typical day for PeopleFluent‘s Jones:
- 8am: Review sales activity reports from the previous day, looking for content usage trends and gaps
- 9am: Join sales standup to share updates and gather feedback
- 10am: Interview top reps on their use of marketing content; document takeaways for team
- 11am: Update competitive battlecards with new intel from product marketing
- 12pm: Lunch and learn session on social selling tips and tricks
- 1pm: 1:1 coaching with new sales hire to roleplay discovery calls
- 2pm: Analyze data on role-specific content usage and performance
- 3pm: Brainstorm new video concepts to drive product education
- 4pm: Prep for weekly sales enablement team meeting
- 5pm: Respond to rep requests for content and resources
No two days in sales enablement look alike, but most revolve around a mix of content creation, training, data analysis, and cross-functional collaboration.
Template Job Description
Ready to bring a sales enablement coordinator on board? Here‘s a sample job description to get you started. Customize it based on your company‘s specific needs and objectives:
Job Title
Sales Enablement Specialist/Coordinator/Manager
Role Summary:
As a sales enablement coordinator, you‘ll be responsible for producing content and training programs that empower our reps to engage buyers and hit revenue goals. You‘ll work side-by-side with sales, marketing, product, and ops to develop tools and insights that unlock sales productivity. This highly cross-functional role requires a unique blend of sales savvy, content creation chops, and analytical horsepower.
Responsibilities:
- Develop, maintain, and optimize a comprehensive library of sales content (pitch decks, battle cards, email templates, etc.)
- Collaborate with product marketing on messaging and competitive differentiation
- Create sales playbooks, call scripts, and demo agendas
- Analyze content performance data and iterate based on insights
- Design and project manage sales onboarding and certification programs
- Facilitate ongoing training on products, messaging, sales skills, industry trends
- Support live deal coaching and ride-alongs as needed
- Implement and drive adoption of sales enablement technology
- Develop sales aids like proposal templates, ROI calculators, case studies
- Partner with sales leadership on key initiatives like sales kickoff
- Define and track sales enablement KPIs and ROI metrics
- Conduct voice-of-the-salesforce surveys and focus groups
- Shadow sales reps to understand content and training needs
- Ensure brand and messaging consistency across all customer touchpoints
Requirements:
- 3-5 years of sales enablement, sales training, or content marketing experience
- Deep knowledge of B2B sales process and buyer‘s journey
- Exceptional writing and content development skills
- Strong project management and cross-functional collaboration abilities
- Experience with sales and marketing automation tools (CRM, content management, LMS)
- Analytical and data-driven; experience with reporting and data visualization
- Extensive knowledge of sales methodology and adult learning best practices
- Outstanding communication and presentation abilities
- Customer-centric and results-oriented mindset
- Bachelor‘s degree; background in business, marketing, communications preferred
- Sales experience is a plus but not required
How to Structure Sales Enablement
One common conundrum is where sales enablement sits within the org chart. Does it report to marketing? Sales ops? Directly to the CRO? The jury is still out.
Recent data shows that enablement most often rolls up to sales (37%), followed by marketing (27%), and sales ops (17%). In some cases it‘s a stand-alone group under the CRO.
There‘s no universally right answer, but enablement pros say the most important thing is to be tightly aligned with sales.
"Regardless of where you sit on paper, sales enablement needs to be joined at the hip with sales," says HubSpot‘s Farese. "The magic happens when you combine marketing‘s content and storytelling with the sales org‘s tribal knowledge and human touch."
Opportunities & Challenges
So what‘s drawing people to sales enablement as a career? The ability to directly impact revenue tops the list.
"I love seeing our work come to life on sales calls and knowing we played a part in that closed deal," says PandaDoc‘s McComas. "There‘s nothing more rewarding than hearing a rep say ‘this training or piece of content helped me win the deal.‘"
Plus, demand for the function is skyrocketing. LinkedIn data shows that job postings related to "sales enablement" have jumped 47% since 2019. It‘s a high-growth field with plenty of room for career advancement.
However, the role isn‘t without its challenges. Sales enablement pros say their biggest hurdles are:
- Proving ROI and getting executive buy-in
- Keeping up with the breakneck pace of requests
- Overcoming resistance to change from reps
- Coordinating many moving parts across teams
- Scaling programs as the sales team grows
"Enablement isn‘t always the first thing leadership wants to invest in, so you have to fight for resources," says ADP‘s Flanigan. "Showing the numbers and tying your work directly to revenue is crucial."
Sales Enablement Organizations & Certifications
As the sales enablement profession matures, so too do opportunities for community and formal certification. Groups like Sales Enablement PRO and the Sales Enablement Society offer ways to network and share best practices among peers.
There are also two accredited certifications: The Certified Sales Enablement Practitioner (CSEP) from Sales Enablement PRO and Brainshark‘s Sales Enablement Certification.
"Certifications signal that you have a shared language and body of knowledge," says McComas. "They‘re a great way to validate your expertise, especially if you‘re transitioning into enablement from another field."
Getting Started with Sales Enablement
Whether you‘re building a sales enablement function from scratch or looking to uplevel your efforts, start with these fundamentals:
- Align with sales leaders on goals and priorities
- Audit existing content and map to buyer journey stages
- Interview top reps to uncover best practices
- Identify quick wins to build trust (updating outdated decks, creating email templates)
- Define key metrics and reporting cadence
- Implement a sales content management system
- Design a sales onboarding program
- Create feedback loops with sales on content and training needs
- Communicate early wins to secure executive sponsorship
- Join a sales enablement community for ideas and support
Rome wasn‘t built in a day, and neither is a world-class sales enablement function. But by starting with the seller (and buyer) in mind, you can slowly but surely equip your sales team for success.
