Sales enablement teams recognize the need to track and measure sales performance indicators, yet few feel confident in their ability to execute. While 89% of sales enablement teams report carrying responsibility in measurement and analytics, only 44% claim proficiency in this area. Even among top-performing teams, just 61% rate themselves as highly proficient.
Sales enablement leaders must measure program effectiveness, but accurately linking enablement activities to revenue performance remains a challenge. Top-performing enablement teams stand out by tracking more and different metrics than their peers.
Review the research, How Modern Enablement Teams Scale for Growth, for a deeper dive.
Metrics That Matter
While investigating the most effective sales enablement organizations, three key themes emerged:
- Top-performing teams track a broader range of metrics.
- 68% of top-performing teams actively measure all ten of the most common enablement metrics, compared to just 49% of other organizations.
- Expanded tracking enables them to identify trends, adjust strategies, and maximize impact.
- Top-performing enablement teams emphasize outcome-based metrics rather than activities.
- While most sales enablement teams track activity-based metrics, like training completion rates, top-performing teams go further by measuring how those activities translate into seller performance.
- This includes key indicators like pipeline-to-quota coverage and time-to-productivity.
- Top-performing enablement teams use data to refine and optimize enablement strategies.
- Rather than just reporting on activities, top-performing teams leverage these outcome-based metrics to improve training programs, fine tune coaching, and align enablement efforts with revenue goals.
Why These Metrics Matter
The key differentiator for top-performing teams is their focus on pipeline-to-quota coverage and time-to-productivity to measure effectiveness. By prioritizing these data points, enablement leaders can move beyond surface level metrics and focus on what drives revenue growth.
- Pipeline-to-Quota Coverage: Tracks the amount of pipeline generated relative to quota targets. This metric helps leaders assess whether sellers are consistently developing enough pipeline to meet revenue goals.
- Time-to-Productivity: Measures how quickly new hires ramp up to full productivity. Top-performing teams use this to evaluate the effectiveness of their onboarding and training programs.
Areas for Improvement
For sales enablement teams looking to enhance their measurement capabilities, our research has identified three ways to stand out:
- Align Metrics with Business Goals: Enablement teams should track the same KPIs that sales and leadership care about. This ensures alignment and reinforces the role of sales enablement as a strategic driver of revenue growth.
- Balance Activity and Outcome Metrics: Training completion rates and certification pass rates are useful, but they fail to tell the full story. Pair them with performance driven metrics like pipeline generation or win rates to get a clear picture of the impact of enablement.
- Invest in Data Proficiency: With only 44% of enablement teams expressing confidence in their measurement capabilities, there is a clear opportunity to build stronger skills. By improving analytics proficiency, teams can extract more meaningful insights to drive continuous improvement.
Measuring enablement effectiveness presents a complex challenge, but top-performing sales enablement teams demonstrate that tracking the right combination of metrics can offer a clear picture of enablement impact. Measuring changes in seller productivity that result from enablement programs is critical to improving team effectiveness.
Review the research, How Modern Enablement Teams Scale for Growth, to learn more about what top-performing teams are doing differently.