At this year’s ATD SELL 2025 conference, one message came through loud and clear: the imperative to move beyond training and content development has never been more critical — revenue enablement is now the backbone of sustainable growth.
The field has matured significantly, with many organizations treating enablement as an engine for revenue generation rather than a cost center. Despite this progress, there seems to be a growing gap between best-in-class and what average organizations are doing.
We attended ATD Sell to listen, learn, and identify what’s working and where enablement still has work to do.
The Desired State: Where Enablement is Headed
1. Coaching Connected to Revenue Outcomes
Leading organizations are moving beyond activity metrics to directly link coaching quality and frequency to sales performance indicators such as win rates, forecast accuracy, and deal velocity. Coaching is no longer viewed as a soft skill. Today, it’s a measurable growth lever. Yet many organizations still struggle to build and sustain a true coaching culture.
2. The Rise of the Manager of the Future
Frontline managers are emerging as the single most important force multiplier in the sales organization. The “Manager of the Future” blends data literacy, emotional intelligence, and AI-powered insight to guide teams with precision. These leaders don’t just inspect pipelines — they coach the behaviors that drive predictable performance.
3. AI-Powered Practice and Role Play
AI Role Play is moving from pilot to practice. Case studies such as MasterControl’s showcased how AI simulations can accelerate certification, scale readiness, and boost seller confidence while reducing time-to-competence. The lesson: pairing strong leadership sponsorship with structured simulation creates sustainable capability development.
4. Enablement as a Strategic Partner
The most effective enablement teams operate as business partners — co-creating with Product, Marketing, and Operations to drive launch readiness, customer experience, and revenue outcomes. When executives sponsor initiatives visibly and publicly, adoption and impact rise dramatically. It’s up to the enablement function to engage leadership early and foster sponsorship across every major program.
5. A Culture of Continuous Learning
High-performing organizations are embedding enablement into the daily rhythm of selling. Microlearning, gamification, and certification paths sustain engagement long after initial training events. Moving from “onboarding” to “everboarding” is essential to building a continuous learning culture — one where learning is the workflow, not an interruption to it.
The Reality: What's Still Missing
1. Proving Business Impact at Scale
While some leaders can quantify enablement’s ROI, most cannot yet connect enablement programs to revenue outcomes. Dashboards still focus on completion rates rather than behavior change. Without that proof, enablement risks being perceived as a cost rather than a growth lever.
2. Manager Enablement Gaps
Despite recognizing the manager’s importance, few companies have built effective enablement paths for frontline leaders. Managers are often promoted for results, not readiness — leaving them underprepared to coach, reinforce, and develop their teams. Coaching rhythms are inconsistent, and performance management often lags behind intent.
3. Weak Reinforcement and Sustainment
In too many cases, enablement peaks at launch and fades quickly afterward. Without systematic reinforcement — through AI-driven nudges, peer coaching, and manager accountability — skill adoption stalls. The challenge is not creating content, but creating habits that last.
4. Functional Misalignment
When enablement, product, and marketing operate on different timelines, message consistency breaks down. Sellers face outdated or conflicting guidance, undermining confidence and customer experience. Customer Success teams are often running off different playbooks than sales. True impact requires cross-functional alignment around the buyer journey.
5. Fragmented Technology and Data
Enablement tools, coaching platforms, and analytics systems are proliferating — yet few are integrated. Without a unified performance layer, leaders can’t see the complete picture of capability versus results.
The Opportunity Ahead
The enablement leaders who stood out at ATD Sell were those treating enablement as a system, not a series of events. They’re connecting data, technology, and coaching into a continuous performance ecosystem.
SBI sees three imperatives defining enablement’s next phase:
These aren’t just theoretical questions. They’re designed to help the seller think critically, sharpen their strategy, and take action that moves the deal forward.
- Prove the Business Impact — Connect enablement metrics to revenue outcomes and pipeline health across every initiative.
- Empower Managers as Multipliers — Equip them to lead, coach, and manage performance with confidence and data. Leverage AI tools to reduce administrative burden and free managers to focus on higher-value, strategic activities.
- Embed Learning into the Flow of Work — Replace one-time programs with ongoing reinforcement and real-time practice at the point of need, tailored to the individual.
The future of enablement will belong to organizations that move beyond content delivery and embrace performance enablement as a growth strategy.
At ATD Sell 2025, we saw glimpses of that future. It is powered by AI, grounded in coaching, and sustained by leadership commitment. The challenge now is execution.
To learn how SBI partners with clients to operationalize performance enablement, connect with our team or explore our Talent & Training practice.
