Demystifying Sales Enablement KPIs

How To Focus On The Right Metrics

Author

Ryan Parker
May 18, 2024 • Estimated Enjoyment Time: 6 minutes

It's incumbent on GTM enablement teams to drive results for their respective sales organizations. The big mistake we have been making in enablement is asking each other what metrics and KPIs each uses to prove that ROI. That is the worst approach we can take.
Today, we will share what really matters when it comes to enablement. You will also get insight into what CSOs are thinking about right now so you can "enable up" when they work with board members and other executives. 

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Demystifying Sales Enablement ROI

First, I fell in love with one particular enablement person this morning. 
When I heard Lauren Brownstone on the "State Of Sales Enablement" podcast, I immediately started grinning from ear to ear. 

My heart started beating faster, and my hands were sweaty.
It could be Lauren's enablement philosophies or the nitro-brewed coffee kicking in.
Either way, I am here for all of it, and you should be, too! 

In all of the forums and "professional communities" I am a part of, the most often asked questions are: 

  • What KPIs are you using to show ROI to the (insert leadership job title or executive role here)? 

  • What metrics are you using to show the impact of your enablement team? 

I am going to be plain about this. 
Stop doing that. 
It's not helpful to you. 
It's not helpful to the company you are working for. 
And, and... It is not helpful to the profession of sales enablement. 

What is the right approach? 

The right approach to proving and determining ROI is to have difficult conversations with the people who are asking you to do the job. 

Your VP of Sales, the CSO, and the CEO. 
As an enablement leader, you need to know what they care about and what return on investment they seek.

❝

I see it as the orgs goals are my goals. That’s where I am trying to get the organization… And then you back it down further and you say, if those are the behaviors I want, what does the intervention look like?
So I look at where the org wants to go and we figure out what behaviors are necessary to get there.

Lauren Brownstone

The hard and unpopular truth is they do not care what you think is a good ROI.
Yes, we can give guidance, educate, and share other ways that enablement provides a return on investment. If those metrics get your hair to stand up. 

Track them. 
Be able to articulate them to others. Yay for you. 

It's a hard pill to swallow that all of our expertise might not be considered when measuring an enablement program's success. But you have to swallow it. 

A personal story from this week that articulates this well.
I was talking to a founder in the SaaS space this week.
I asked him about his former Enablement Director.
Inquiring why he was no longer with the company. 

Founder: "He wasn't detail-oriented." 
Me: "Can you tell me more about that?" 
He said, "After 18 months, he could not tell me the effect enablement had on improving the SQL conversion rate." 

SQL conversion rate? 
Holy Hell.
I would have never imagined that the most important KPI a founder/CEO would pin on enablement for success and showing ROI would be SQL conversion. That would be way down my list… but see, that would be my problem.

Yes, let's recognize the flaw in that KPI and the many things that go into converting an SQL through a "closed-won" scenario.
That being said, if that is the primary KPI the leadership is attaching to enablements' success…

We damn well better define and measure how we are impacting that number. 

Until next time my friends…

❤️, Enablement

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