This is a guest post by iQuoteXpress.
Sales enablement is a tricky term. Is it just a buzzword, or is it an actual “thing?” Depending on who you ask, it could refer to a technology platform, a workflow, or a series of workflows. It could be something as simple as a basic business process, or something as complex as an overarching business methodology.
Rather than go all-out on what it means in every context, let’s keep it simple and figure out what it means as it applies to your Zoho CRM solution.
In the Zoho CRM context, sales enablement refers to automating and optimizing sales workflows to create repeatable processes that speed each sale, naturally. But it’s also about improving and speeding the onboarding and everyday work for your sales representatives, and putting each and every person on equal footing.
Using the tools that are baked into Zoho CRM, like lead nurturing, sales funnel building and tracking, or omnichannel and templated communications, every rep has the same amount (and the same kind) of arrows in their quiver. And that’s good for them.
What’s good for you, as a business owner or manager, is how Zoho CRM gives you the ability to track each sale in the same way while also allowing you to track individual and team performance. A sales enablement methodology is only ever as good as its practitioners. Therefore, sales enablement tools both equip your team for success and provide you with ways to measure how/if they’re using the tools you’ve given them.
One of the most critical and practical sales enablement tools you can give your sales team is the ability to automate the sales proposal process right from within their Zoho CRM system. This is where a "configure, price, quote" (CPQ) solution becomes a cornerstone in any effective sales enablement system.
CPQ: Sales enablement essentials
CPQ tools empower every sales representative with the ability to take a templated approach to create proposals, a drag-and-drop means of adding products and pricing, and a more granular approach to tracking the closing process.
When you add a CPQ like iQuoteXpress to your Zoho CRM, you can get more details about your deals and better understand what it takes to nurture a sent quote into a signed one. You get an actionable overview of individual sales, and you can create templates that help you close more deals in less time by evaluating past data and processes.
Zoho CRM will track when a lead became a prospect, when a prospect became an opportunity, and when an opportunity became a customer. This “play by play” helps you track the critical steps as a quote moves toward the finish line, giving you access to granular insights that are difficult to collect otherwise.
Multiple tools, one toolbox
If you’re like most sales leaders, you know that getting reps to use CRM the same way is often an uphill climb, though it can be done. You probably also know that introducing them to new tools (no matter how beneficial those tools might be) is even more of a challenge.
So if you’re trying to get them to start using a CPQ solution as part of your sales enablement approach, don’t introduce them to a new tool. Simply introduce them to a new feature inside their CRM solution by ensuring you have added CPQ as a single sign-on feature—a new tab in the system they know and use every day for every sale.
If you own a physical storefront and you buy tools to maintain your building, you add them to your existing toolbox. You don’t put them somewhere else, making them more difficult to find when a repair is needed. Take the same approach to adding sales enablement apps to your CRM solution. Put all your sales enablement tools—contact management, accounts, omnichannel communication, sales proposals creation and delivery, tracking, and reporting—in the same toolbox, Zoho CRM.
If you’re looking to add CPQ as a single sign-on solution to Zoho CRM, IQX can help.
Sales enablement is only as strong as its systems. Here's how IQX and Zoho CRM integrate to form the technological cornerstone of sales enablement.
It starts at sign-on
We're back to the toolbox metaphor here. When you have multiple tools to run your business, you don't want all those tools spread across multiple toolboxes. You want them in one, easy-to-find place to streamline your operations so you can focus on providing better customer experiences. This is why the IQX CPQ and Zoho CRM integration is a single sign-on solution.
Through no fault of their own, salespeople will often avoid new tools. Why learn a new tool when you spend that time closing new deals? For them to take advantage of CPQ solutions inside the CRM system they use every day, it has to be there with little to no “discovery work.” If you ensure your CPQ tool has a near-native feel for reps, then you can rest assured they’ll use it just like any other feature in your CRM.
Enabling sales means empowering reps
Without a doubt, sales enablement is about speeding along the sales process itself. But we believe it’s also about creating a level playing field for each individual rep.
With your Zoho CRM system, every rep has the ability to nurture a lead in the same manner—and if you’re serious about sales enablement, you ensure that’s exactly what happens: every rep tracking each sale in the same way.
With your IQX CPQ solution, every rep has access to the same proposal tools: templates, centralized/optimized pricing and product configurations, sales analytics, and more. Because every rep is equally equipped, you can quickly see which reps are performing well and which need improvement, and use the strengths of the former—all captured in your CPQ/CRM solution—to help all of your reps move forward as one team.
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