SALES

ENABLEMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 Introduction 19 Lead Nurturing & Qualifications

4 Executive Summary 23 Benefits

6 Sales Enablement Commitment 25 Analyst Bottom Line

8 Content Challenges & Outcomes 27 Acknowledgements

13 Content Creation & Usage 28 About Skura & Demand Metric

17 Managing Content 30 Appendix: Survey Background

INTRODUCTION
In the summer of 2013, Demand Metric completed a benchmark study on Sales Enablement, discovering varying views and
levels of contribution for the function. At that time, Sales Enablement seemed to suffer from an identity crisis, with many study
participants unclear on what the function was or what it was supposed to do. Other participants in the 2013 study had a very
clear vision for Sales Enablement, reporting that it was making significant contributions. At the time, about half of the study
participants had some level of commitment to a Sales Enablement function in their organizations.

Today, the understanding of Sales Enablement seems much clearer. Many organizations are placing a heavy emphasis on sales
and marketing alignment, and Sales Enablement has proven an effective strategy for achieving better alignment and facilitating
better performance, which generates measurable results. Anyone who is part of the marketing or sales community has probably
observed that the Sales Enablement strategy has gained traction in the past few years. Where it once might have seemed like
a fad, Sales Enablement as a business strategy seems to have earned legitimacy, with an increasing number of
organizations committing to it.

Sales Enablement is a cross-functional discipline that links corporate business goals with tactical execution on the sales and
marketing front. Skura and Demand Metric collaborated to field a study that examined the extent to which organizations
are using Sales Enablement, what best practices are in use and what benefits the strategy is delivering. The results of
that study are contained in this report.

3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Half of this study’s participants identified as marketers, and a vast majority were in B2B organizations, of which slightly over half
reported revenue growth in the most recently completed fiscal year.

The analysis of this study’s data provides these key findings:

 While the commitment to a Sales Enablement strategy varies, 83% of the organizations in this study have implemented it
to some degree.

 The most common reasons companies in this study cited for not having a Sales Enablement function are lack of staff,
budget, systems or technology.

 Organizations in this study that are mostly or totally committed to Sales Enablement experience fewer challenges with
getting sales representatives to use marketing content.

 A strong commitment to Sales Enablement results in better sales and marketing alignment, a better understanding of the
buyer’s journey and more accurate market/competitive knowledge.

 The sales team is included in the creation process for customer-facing materials by almost two-thirds of organizations
with a strong commitment to Sales Enablement. With weak or no commitment to Sales Enablement, this collaboration
occurs in less than half of organizations studied.

4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
 When marketing often or always includes sales in the content creation process, almost half the time content consumption data
is shared well. When collaboration around content creation is rare, the sharing of content consumption data occurs
well for only 14% of the organizations studied.

 When the sharing of content consumption data occurs well, the content that marketing produces for lead
generation, nurturing and qualification is effective in 78% of the cases this study examined. When this data sharing
doesn’t occur well, the content effectiveness rating drops to 49%.

 The top benefits of Sales Enablement are capturing a greater number of leads, greater sales and marketing
collaboration and a higher conversion rate of leads to qualified leads.

This report details the results and insights from the analysis of the study data. For more detail on the survey participants, please
refer to the Appendix.

5
SALES ENABLEMENT COMMITMENT
Figure 1: Few organizations have no commitment to Sales Enablement.

One of the first things the study examined was the level of
Commitment to Sales Enablement Strategy
commitment to a Sales Enablement strategy.
40%
The results are shown in Figure 1.

30%
The study reveals that 83% of the population surveyed
31% have some level of commitment to a Sales Enablement
28% strategy, and over half the population identify themselves
24% as mostly or totally committed.
20%
There was no relationship between a commitment to Sales
Enablement and company size as measured by annual
10% revenue: companies and organizations of all sizes are
9% 8% embracing the strategy.

0% The biggest change in this posture comes in small firms,

I don't know None Partial Mostly Total
with less than $25 million in annual revenue. In the 2013
study, over half indicated the lack of any Sales
Enablement function. In the current study, only 10%
2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131 indicated no commitment to the strategy.

6
SALES ENABLEMENT COMMITMENT
Figure 2: The classic barriers of staff, budget, systems or technology are cited as the top reasons
for the absence of Sales Enablement.
Reasons for Lack of Sales Enablement
Don't have the staff or budget
Don't have the systems or
technology
What we're doing now is working
fine
No management support
Don't understand what Sales
Enablement is
Don't believe the benefits are there
Reps don't use digital content to
make sales
Organizations "silos" are barriers
0%
2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131
7
While the strategy seems to claim more adherents in this
2015 study than in 2013, there are still companies that don’t
have the function. The reasons why appear in Figure 2.
38%
What’s notable about the distribution of responses in Figure
38% 2 is first that there is no, single dominant reason for the
absence of Sales Enablement in a company. Furthermore,
25%
the top two reasons given – staff or budget and
25% systems or technology – reflect a view of Sales
Enablement as headcount and infrastructure, not as
25% process and culture.
13%
There is no question that Sales Enablement is aided by
13% technology, and many companies that have committed to
the function dedicate staff and resources to it. But Sales
0% Enablement is first a strategic, cultural commitment to
better align sales and marketing.
10% 20% 30% 40%
The reasons cited in Figure 2 for the absence of a Sales
Enablement function point to a lack of understanding
and/or a lack of enthusiasm for it. In the companies
that don’t have it, it simply isn’t a priority.
CONTENT CHALLENGES & OUTCOMES
Figure 3: Organizations with no or just a partial commitment to Sales Enablement are more likely to
experience these content challenges.
The scope of services a Sales Enablement function can
Challenges Using Content & SE Commitment provide is quite broad, often including onboarding new
Total/Mostly Partial/None sales reps, coaching and training. At the core of the
Getting the right content in front of the 37% function is content, and the focus in this area is to
buyer 39%
Content not tailored to the buyer's 24%
overcome the myriad of content challenges that have
decision journey stage 39% traditionally plagued marketing (the content producer) and
Content too generic 33%
39% sales (the content users).
Findability of content in the field 26%
35%
Getting content to Sales reps in the field 20% This study catalogued the challenges organizations are
35%
Getting sales reps to buy into content 37% having getting sales representatives to use marketing
marketing 27%
Content lacks value 7% content. Figure 3 shares these results, filtered by
27%
11% commitment to having Sales Enablement (Figure 1).
Content not relevant to the buyer
27%
Field content accessibility (device 9%
limitations) 12% A close inspection of the data in Figure 3 reveals that
15%
Content too self-serving
12% organizations with no commitment – or just a partial
Other challenges 2%
8% one – to Sales Enablement are far more likely to
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
experience these challenges: 8 of these 10 challenges
are present for at least 25% of these organizations. By
contrast, when organizations are mostly or totally
2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131
committed, just 4 of these challenges are
experienced by 25% or more of companies.
8
CONTENT CHALLENGES & OUTCOMES
What’s also important about the data in Figure 3 is the size of the gaps between the two commitment level groups, as
Figure 4 illustrates.

Figure 4: A commitment to Sales Enablement mitigates some of the more serious challenges organizations face with getting sales reps to use marketing content.

Frequency for No or Frequency for Mostly or

Challenge Gap
Partial Commitment Total Commitment

Content not tailored to buyer’s decision journey stage 39% 24% 15%

Getting content to sales reps in field 35% 20% 15%

Content not relevant to buyer 27% 11% 16%

Content lacks value 27% 7% 20%

2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131

The negative impact of these four challenges in Figure 4 for getting sales representatives to use marketing content is
softened considerably when a strong commitment to Sales Enablement exists. Curiously, this strong commitment
doesn’t mitigate every challenge shown in Figure 3: getting sales representatives to buy into the idea of using content
marketing is higher. This is a challenge easily swept aside by metrics that prove results.
CONTENT CHALLENGES & OUTCOMES
Figure 5: Comparison of the outcomes of Sales Enablement collaboration.
The collaboration fostered by Sales Enablement initiatives
Outcome of Sales Enablement Collaboration can produce new tools, information and assets. The study
Mostly/Totally Partially measured what this collaboration is producing. Figure 5
66% shows a comparison between respondents with just a
Better sales & marketing alignment
46% partial commitment to Sales Enablement to those who
More relevant messaging 61%
62% are mostly or totally committed.
Better understanding of buyer's journey 58%
49%
More accurate market/competitive 58%
knowledge 41% The surprises in the data represented by Figure 5 come in
Better content assets 54%
51%
two areas. The first has to do with the relative importance
New product or feature ideas 46% of the outcomes depicted. While the respondents who are
24%
Sharing/engaging buyers thru any 42% just partially committed to Sales Enablement and those who
channel with all content 30%
41% are mostly or totally committed have the same top five list
More comprehensive personas
35% of outcomes, their order is very different.
Awareness into content usage by sales 39%
reps & buyers 35%
34%
All content fully searchable & findable
22% Partially Committed to Sales Enablement:
Every type of content usable by field 31%
sales reps 19%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

1. More relevant messaging
2. Better content assets
2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131
3. Better understanding of
buyer’s journey
10
4. Better sales and
marketing alignment
5. More accurate market
and competitive
knowledge
CONTENT CHALLENGES & OUTCOMES
Mostly/Totally Committed to Sales Enablement:

1. Better sales/marketing alignment 3. More accurate market/competitive knowledge 5. Better content assets

2. More relevant messaging 4. Better understanding of buyer’s journey

This comparison represents the order in which these outcomes are experienced by companies on either side of the commitment
divide. It’s important to see what ranks at the top of the list for those that are mostly/totally committed: Better sales/marketing
alignment. This is major feature of the strategy, and better alignment leads to a series of cascading outcomes.

The second surprise from Figure 5 is the delta between some of the outcomes, with the biggest gaps shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: The most significant outcome gaps from Figure 5.

Outcomes from Collaboration Fostered Frequency for Partial Frequency for Mostly or Total
Gap
by Sales Enablement Commitment Commitment
New product or feature ideas 24% 46% 22%
Better sales/marketing alignment 46% 66% 20%
More accurate market/competitive knowledge 41% 58% 17%
Every type of content usable by field sales reps 19% 31% 12%
All content is fully searchable & findable 22% 34% 12%
Share/engage buyers w/ all channels & content 30% 42% 12%
2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131
CONTENT CHALLENGES & OUTCOMES
The analysis of the data from Figure 5 reveals some compelling differences in achieving outcomes from Sales Enablement.
When there is a strong commitment to it, sales and marketing alignment improves, paving the way for other valuable
outcomes in the form of tools, information and assets. As Figure 6 shows, there are also big differences in the rate at which
some of these outcomes are experienced.

Organizations that have a firm commitment to Sales Enablement face fewer challenges in getting sales representatives to use
marketing content in their sales efforts. The tools, information and assets that are the outcomes of the collaboration
fostered by Sales Enablement initiatives are superior in almost every case, and often by a wide margin.

12
CONTENT CREATION & USAGE
Figure 7: Marketing teams in organizations firmly committed to Sales Enablement are far more
likely to own the content creation mission.

Is Marketing the Content Creation Owner?

None/Partially Mostly/Totally

100% Marketing is the ideal function to own content production.

However, there are often issues in the interface between
80% marketing (the producer of content) and sales (the user of
84%
that content). Marketing is the assumed owner of the
content creation mission.
60%
62%
Figure 7 shows how this ownership looks on both sides of
40% the Sales Enablement divide: organizations with none or
only a partial commitment, and those who are mostly or
33% totally committed.
20%
5% 16% With the alignment that Sales Enablement can provide,
0%
0% marketing teams are better equipped to create the
I don't know No Yes
content that sales teams are willing to use.

2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131

13
CONTENT CREATION & USAGE
Figure 8: A commitment to Sales Enablement results in greater sales involvement in the creation of
the materials they use.
Sales Enablement fosters collaboration between the
Sales Inclusion in Creation of Customer Materials
sales and marketing teams, and content creation is
None/Partially Mostly/Totally
favorably impacted by this collaboration. Figure 8
50% shows the differences in how well marketing includes sales
in the creation of customer-facing materials based on the
40% 44% level of commitment to Sales Enablement.

36% In the absence of a Sales Enablement function, the sales

30% 33% team is still included in creating the customer-facing
29% materials they use, but not as often. Figure 8 shows that
20% when there is a commitment, sales team inclusion
20% occurs often or always (64% of the time) versus less
than half the time when the commitment to Sales
10% 14%
12% Enablement is partial or non-existent.
2%
5% 5%
0% As sensible as it seems to always include the sales team in
Never Rarely Occasionally Often Always
the creation of the materials they will use, it happens only
occasionally, rarely or never (52% of the time) when there
isn’t a firm commitment to Sales Enablement to facilitate
2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131 the collaboration.

14
CONTENT CREATION & USAGE
Figure 9: The effectiveness of content consumption data sharing varies greatly based on how well
marketing includes sales in the content creation process.

Effectiveness of Content Usage Data Sharing

Always or often Occasionally, rarely, never or I don't know

Very well
8%
0%
A key part of the dialogue that ideally occurs between
41%
Well
14%
sales and marketing is the sharing of data about how
28% the sales team consumes the content that marketing
Neutral
47% creates. Closing the loop on communicating this content
19% consumption data is critical to helping the rest of the sales
Poorly
28% team perform better.
Very poorly
0%
5% The ease with which this data is shared is related to how
Data not used or 4% well marketing includes sales in content creation (Figure 8).
captured 3%
Figure 9 shows how well consumption data is being
0%
I don't know
3% captured and shared.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131

*Data Filtered by Marketing's Inclusion of Sales in

15 Content Creation (Figure 8)
CONTENT CREATION & USAGE
When the sales and marketing teams have achieved a genuine level of collaboration (Figure 8), an environment for
sharing content consumption data is in place. Without such an environment, it’s very easy for marketing to view such data
as a referendum on marketing’s value or usefulness. When such an environment exists, there is transparency about content
consumption data, and sharing this data is far more likely to occur well.

Organizations that have a firm commitment to Sales Enablement are much more likely to see marketing own the
content creation mission, include sales in the creation of content and share data about how that content is consumed.

16
MANAGING CONTENT
Figure 10: No content management method dominates this list of approaches.
The content mission encompasses more than just the work
Primary Content Management Approach for Reps of collaboration and creation – it also must include a
management and distribution strategy. The best quality
Cloud system 22% content that an organization can produce is of no value if it
is inaccessible. The content management function,
Email 22% therefore, concerns itself with storing, distributing and
managing the currency of content.
CRM or Sales Force
Automation system 18%
It’s very typical for companies in the beginning to not have
Intranet 17% a formalized content management/distribution strategy. As
the content repository grows, the lack of strategy and
Dedicated sales content
management system 9% infrastructure in this area complicates accessing and using
content for sales reps in the field. Figure 10 shows the
Personal hard drives 9% primary way that reps are managing content in the field.
Other method 3% Of the options listed in Figure 10, email is primarily a
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
distribution channel and not designed as a repository. Other
options, such as cloud system, intranet or personal hard
drive, are storage solutions. Neither category of
2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131
approaches is likely to provide critical functions, such
as version control or usage analytics (both critical
to content currency and understanding usage).
17
MANAGING CONTENT
Figure 11: Just one attribute is present in these systems more than half of the time.
Content Management System Attributes
Content is relevant
Content is current
Works seamlessly on all devices
All file formats supported
Content repository is integrated
with CRM
Content is easy to find
Content consumption is
tracked/analyzed
Feedback mechanisms exist
Outdated content is appropriately
retired
Complete functionality on and
offline
Content ratings are available
Rich content for all stages of
buyer's journey 10%
0%
2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131
18
For those participants that indicated a primary management
approach of CRM, Sales Force Automation or a dedicated
sales content management system, Figure 11 shows the
57% frequency of the key attributes of these solutions.
48%
38% Each attribute listed in Figure 11 is desirable and useful.
38% This list identifies the presence and frequency of these
38% attributes. The top two attributes pertain to relevant and
33% current content, and are directly related to content quality.
The next four items relate to content accessibility. The
29%
insight that this order provides is that current systems
29% seem to stress quality first and accessibility second.
24%
19% In the middle of the list, the attribute, “content consumption
19% is tracked/analyzed” is one of the most important. Without
this consumption data, attempts to improve content can
20% 40% 60%
only occur using intuition and guesswork. Also a concern is
that “rich content for all stages of the buyer’s journey” is last
on this list. Marketers are increasingly expected to own
marketing through every stage of the customer
lifecycle. Support for doing this is mission
critical for the modern marketing organization.
LEAD NURTURING & QUALIFICATION
Figure 12: This marketing content effectiveness assessment is fairly evenly divided between
ineffective/neutral and effective.

Marketing Content Effectiveness for Lead Gen

50% A historical friction point between marketing and sales
concerns leads, where disputes often erupt over how to
best nurture them and when a lead is qualified enough to
40% pass over to sales. A Sales Enablement process and the
42% 42%
content that results from it can do much to make lead
30% nurturing and qualification common ground instead of a
battleground between sales and marketing.

20% Figure 12 shows how effective marketing created content is

at lead generation, nurturing and qualification in advance of
passing leads to the sales team.
10%
12%
3%
1% 0% The effectiveness of content for the task of lead
0% generation, nurturing and qualification is closely
I don't know Very ineffective Ineffective Neutral Effective Very effective
related to how well content consumption data (Figure 9)
is shared between sales and marketing.

2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131

19
LEAD NURTURING & QUALIFICATION
Figure 13 shows the data sharing impact on the lead process depicted in Figure 12.

Figure 13: Effective data sharing leads to greater content effectiveness in the lead process.

Content for Lead Gen,
Content Consumption Data
Nurturing & Qualification is
Sharing Effectiveness
INEFFECTIVE
Content for Lead Gen, Content for Lead Gen,
Nurturing & Qualification is Nurturing & Qualification is
NEUTRAL EFFECTIVE

Neutral, Poor or Very poor 2% 49% 49%

Well or Very well 0% 21% 78%

2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131

Once the sales team has taken over a lead, it is ideal for marketing-created content to continue influencing the buyer
and progressing the decision journey to a favorable close.

20
LEAD NURTURING & QUALIFICATION
Figure 14: Slightly over half of the study’s participants report the effectiveness of marketing content
after sales assumes ownership of a lead is neutral to very ineffective.

Content Effectiveness After Sales Takes a Lead

50%

Figure 14 shows how effective marketing content is in the

40%
latter stages of the buyer’s journey for participants.
39%
37%
30% The effectiveness of marketing content after sales takes
over a lead is heavily influenced by how often marketing
includes sales in the creation of customer-facing materials
20% as Figure 8 shares.

10%
This collaboration occurs well for almost two-thirds of
12% organizations committed to Sales Enablement, but only
3% 4%
5% occasionally to never just over half the time in the
0% absence of that commitment.
I don't know Very ineffective Ineffective Neutral Effective Very effective

2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131

21
LEAD NURTURING & QUALIFICATION
Figure 15* shows the impact that including sales in the creation of content has on the effectiveness of marketing-created content
as summarized in Figure 14.
Figure 15: Up-front collaboration produces content effectiveness late in the buying cycle.

Content Effectiveness After Content Effectiveness After Content Effectiveness After

Inclusion of Sales in Creation
Sales Owns Leads is Sales Owns Leads is Sales Owns Leads is
of Customer Content (Fig. 8)
INEFFECTIVE NEUTRAL EFFECTIVE

Often to Always 11% 29% 54%

Occasionally to Never 21% 54% 21%

2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131

Over half of the organizations studied report that marketing-created content used by sales late in the buying cycle is
effective when sales was included in the creation of that content. Without that up-front collaboration, the effectiveness of
marketing content plummets to 21%. These results should surprise no one, but despite the intuitive nature of this relationship
between collaboration and content effectiveness, the numbers in Figure 15 are still startling.

22 *The rows in Figure 15 don’t sum to 100% because the “I don’t know” responses were omitted.
BENEFITS
Figure 16: A comprehensive list of benefits derived from any level of Sales Enablement commitment.

Benefits of Sales Enablement

Greater number of leads captured 46%
Greater sales/marketing
collaboration 42%
Higher conversion: leads to
qualified prospects 38% Sales Enablement is delivering benefits to the organizations
More efficient sales rep time
utilization 35% that have committed to the strategy.
Shared goals/processes in
sales/mktg 34%
Higher conversion: prospects to
Figure 16 summarizes these benefits for organizations at all
sales 34% levels of commitment to Sales Enablement.
Shorter sales cycles 33%
Faster on-boarding new reps 28% The extent to which organizations in this study
Higher sales quota attainment 21% experience many of the benefits in Figure 16 is directly
related to their commitment to a Sales Enablement
More proposals/RFPs delivered 21% strategy (Figure 1).
Other benefits 4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131

23
BENEFITS
The gap for the rate at which three of the benefits listed in Figure 16 are realized averages 19% based on commitment
level, as Figure 17 summarizes.

Figure 17: A strong commitment to Sales Enablement makes a pronounced difference in the rate at which these benefits – all related to revenue – are experienced.

Partially Committed to Mostly/Totally Committed

Benefit Gap
Sales Enablement to Sales Enablement

Greater number of leads generated 33% 54% 21%

Higher conversion of qualified prospects to sales 21% 42% 21%

Higher sales quota attainment 12% 27% 15%

2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, September 2015, n=131

24
ANALYST BOTTOM LINE
As Figure 16 shows, the benefits of Sales Enablement are wide-ranging. What matters more than the impressive list of benefits,
however, is the way they impact the organization: many are tied directly to revenue, which means there is a convincing
business case with precise ROI. This study confirms that Sales Enablement is more than just a strategy to embrace because it’s
the right thing to do; it’s a function with proven benefits that directly affect a firm’s ability to generate revenue. Its impact is
felt on the bottom line.

Where once the justification for committing to Sales Enablement was mostly built on principle, there is now solid evidence of the
financial impact it has. This impact is realized in the way that a successful Sales Enablement function helps knit the sales
and marketing teams together, and along the seam that joins them is content. When that seam is strong, there is
collaboration around creating content and the sharing of data about how it is used. This content feedback loop helps ensure that
the sales team is equipped with the right content to enable valuable, productive sales conversations. It allows for sales reps to
spend their time selling rather than looking for or creating their own content.

Here’s what organizations must do in order to get the benefits this study attributes to Sales Enablement.

 Be “all in” on Sales Enablement. Just sticking a toe in the Sales Enablement pool is not enough to get the benefits. The
companies in this study that are “all in” are the ones seeing the best results. Commit the necessary resources to the Sales
Enablement initiative if you want to get the full set of benefits. If no one owns the function, and there is no measurement or
accountability, it is unreasonable to expect any of the outcomes this report discusses.

25
ANALYST BOTTOM LINE
 Approach Sales Enablement as a process. Sales Enablement is not just another box on the organizational chart. As a
process, its inputs include people and systems. Equipping the people that manage the process with the systems to enable
their work and its measurement is a critical success factor for Sales Enablement. Allocate enough time during the process
implementation phase to ensure that the systems planned for use are integrated with CRM and marketing automation platforms.
Of equal importance is to have systems that facilitate the storing, finding, distributing – and most importantly – the
tracking of key metrics.

 Close the loop. This study has shown that many of the benefits of Sales Enablement are linked to a content feedback loop that
works. The start of this loop is the involvement of the sales team in the creation of customer-facing content, but it doesn’t end
there. The deployment of content for use by sales must always include mechanisms for capturing and sharing content
consumption data. Marketing must then use this data to learn how well content is working in the field, and use the
insights from that data to constantly improve the content it creates. Technology can significantly aid and abet this
feedback loop. The larger and more dynamic marketing content libraries are, the more important it is to have a closed-loop
process for content creation and feedback.

A strong commitment to Sales Enablement pays off in a big way where content is concerned, and this study has detailed
many of those benefits. But while better content that is more relevant, easier to find and use and with consumption feedback
flowing to marketing is major advancement for many companies, it’s not the end game.

Companies really don’t want these content advantages – they want what these content advantages will get them: sales teams
that can spend more time focusing on customers, and customers who are more engaged as a result. Sales Enablement
is the means to this end.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Demand Metric is grateful to Skura for sponsoring this benchmarking study and for those participants that took the time to
provide their input to it.

27
ABOUT SKURA
Skura is empowering the next generation of sales reps. The Skura SFX™ platform is the first to offer adaptive sales enablement,
providing unprecedented visibility and insight throughout the entire sales process.

Skura SFX enables sales and marketing executives to engage with customers across all channels and devices – from a single
platform – providing accountability and measurement across the entire sales cycle. This platform offers next-generation predictive
analytics, ensuring the right message reaches the right person at the right time, increasing sales and customer success.

For more about Skura, visit www.skura.com.

28
ABOUT DEMAND METRIC
Demand Metric is a marketing research and advisory firm serving a membership community of over 70,000 marketing
professionals and consultants in 75 countries.

Offering consulting methodologies, advisory services, and 500+ premium marketing tools and templates, Demand Metric
resources and expertise help the marketing community plan more efficiently and effectively, answer the difficult questions about
their work with authority and conviction and complete marketing projects more quickly and with greater confidence, boosting the
respect of the marketing team and making it easier to justify resources the team needs to succeed.

To learn more about Demand Metric, please visit: www.demandmetric.com.

29
APPENDIX: SURVEY BACKGROUND
This 2015 Sales Enablement Benchmark Study survey was administered online during the period of August 31 through
September 16, 2015. During this period, 143 responses were collected, 131 of which were complete enough for inclusion in the
analysis. The representativeness of these results depends on the similarity of the sample to environments in which this survey
data is used for comparison or guidance.

Annual Sales: Primary Role of Respondent:

 Less than $10 million (57%)  President, CEO or Owner (26%)

 $10 to $24 million (11%)  Marketing (50%)
 $25 to $99 million (11%)  Sales (13%)
 $100 to $499 million (7%)  Other (11%)
 $500 million to $999 million (2%)
 Over $1 billion (12%) Revenue Growth (Most Recent Fiscal Year):

Type of Organization:  Significant increase (15%)

 Slight increase (38%)
 Primarily B2B (70%)  Flat (24%)
 Primarily B2C (12%)  Slight decline (11%)
 Mixed B2B/B2C (18%)  Significant decline (5%)
 I don’t know (7%)

30
 Benchmark Report

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