From learning technologies to information technology (IT) and technical training to leadership, all segments of the corporate training market have evolved alongside recent market shifts. The sales training sector is no different.

In today’s digital business environment, organizations are looking for virtual sales training and enablement solutions that provide reps with real-time support.

The demand for these solutions continues to rise. Training Industry’s 2023 “State of the Sales Training Market” report confirmed that sales training investment reached pre-pandemic levels in 2022, and that the sales training market is expected to grow by 13% globally over the course of 2023.

To meet this increased demand, sales training and enablement providers have been busy rolling out solutions and forging partnerships to do so effectively and at scale.

Here, we’ll explore how sales enablement provider Mindtickle’s recent acquisition of Enable Us, a buyer enablement provider, is set to streamline the sales process while also supporting reps’ professional development through AI-enabled coaching and learning reinforcement.

Bringing Buyer and Sales Enablement Together

Mindtickle’s acquisition of Enable Us makes sense for a few reasons. For one, it brings buyer and sales enablement together in a single place, says Krishna Depura, CEO and co-founder of Mindtickle. Enable Us’ Digital Sales Rooms (DSRs) offer a collaborative space in which buyers can access relevant educational content (i.e., articles, videos, FAQ documents, etc.) related to the provider’s products and services. The DSR also gives reps visibility into what buyers click, view and share, which can help them better understand customer pain points and needs. For instance, if a customer consistently views and shares content related to gamification, the seller can recommend gamified solutions to the buyer, Depura says.

Users can also create a “mutual action plan” — a customized sales plan that buyers and sellers create together. Users can view the mutual action plan to check the status of deliverables, check off action items and adjust timelines as needed. In the age of virtual selling, a mutually agreed-upon plan can help improve communication and transparency throughout the sales process.

AI-driven Coaching and More

The acquisition also gives Enable Us customers access to Mindtickle’s suite of sales readiness, conversation intelligence and sales coaching solutions, which are designed to bridge skills gaps and deliver personalized learning to reps through:

• Artificial intelligence (AI): Mindtickle’s conversation intelligence capabilities are integrated within its readiness platform. The platform uses AI to track, analyze and score reps’ interactions with customers based on data around topics, themes and deal risks.
• Skills mapping: The platform connects specific skills and competencies to revenue outcomes, helping sales reps better understand the connection between training and business results. This also helps learning leaders make the business case for sales training and coaching to stakeholders, Depura says.
• Learning reinforcement: The platform uses AI to deliver spaced learning reinforcement, increasing the likelihood that reps apply what they’ve learned on the job.

The Big Picture

Ultimately, Mindtickle’s acquisition of Enable Us is an effort to make both buyers’ and sellers’ jobs easier by bringing greater transparency into the sales process and supporting reps with personalized coaching and development. In terms of what’s next, Depura says, “this is just the beginning” of buyers and sellers coming together to forge a more collaborative sales experience.

With the acquisition, Depura says, “Mindtickle is pioneering an end-to-end solution for the entire lifecycle of a rep — from onboarding, practice, reinforcement, and coaching to day-to-day buyer enablement, conversation intelligence, forecasting, and analytics on both sellers and deals.” With the combined platform, sellers gain more visibility into buyer behavior and deal data is more personalized and actionable.

As sales training continues to evolve alongside shifting customer needs and business priorities, we look forward to seeing more sales training providers roll out end-to-end solutions that support both reps and the clients they serve.