1. Presented By
Calculating Sales Enablement’s Impact
on Profitable Revenue Generation
A Framework to Measure the Impact of Enablement and Collaboration
on Sales Effectiveness & Efficiency Across the Enterprise
During the most recent economic bubble, the goal of most sales and marketing organiza-
tions was simply to drive revenue at any cost and by any means. However, operating in
today’s precision-based business climate, executives are not only charged with driving
top-line growth, they are also expected to grow sales profitably and responsibly.
In the ThinkForward 2010 report, Denis Pombriant, Managing Director at Beagle
Research Group, pointed to today’s market leaders as those companies “that provide
solutions that foster business process innovation, cost containment and fully engage cus-
tomers as partners.” Pombriant added that the new realities of the market have shifted
priorities of today’s chief executives. “In the face of financial crisis, recession, market
maturity and skyrocketing energy costs today’s businesses are being summoned again to
think about the future. Many front office solution providers have already begun the pro-
cess. They have devised business solutions that build profitability into front office business
processes by making them more sustainable.”
These changing priorities are complicated by the lingering effects of the recent recession
– marketing and sales teams are being asked to grow revenue even while their budgets
are being reduced. With banks, venture capitalists and boards operating in a risk-averse
mode, the old tactics of adding headcount or lowering margins to inflate near-term
top-line performance are no longer cutting it. Now instead of expanding staffs, many
midsized to large enterprises are looking to consolidate the number of salespeople calling
on key accounts and expanding the solutions and products salespeople present.
Sponsored by

2. Enablement Increases
Another new dynamic re-writing the rules of sales and marketing is that buyers have also
Efficiency For Both Sales
become more risk-averse and are looking for efficiencies at every turn. “There is a lot of
& Marketing
strain on the buyer/seller relationship right now in the BtoB sector, mostly from the buyer
Sales Enablement tools have shown side,” said Scott Santucci, Senior Analyst, Sales Enablement at Forrester Research. “The
dramatic impact for both sales and number of options available to buyers has grown in order of magnitude greater than it
marketing departments. Some of was just 10 years ago, thanks to globalization and advances in technology.”
the short-term wins achieved by
both “sides of the house” As the number of options has increased, Santucci pointed out that the bar has been raised
have included: significantly for solution providers competing for the time and attention of buyers. “The
amount of time available to deal with salespeople has dried up,” he noted. “Executives
Sales Benefits
want to deal with anyone who is going to help them solve their problems, but they have
• Increased Average Deal Size
zero time left over for product demonstrations.”
• Improved Win Rate
• Reduced Sales Cycle Length “Most vendors recognize the need to elevate their messaging and improve how their
• Increased Quota Attainment salespeople communicate and sell, because if their salespeople aren’t adding value they
• Increased Number of Opportunities are not going to be relevant, and they are not going to get access to the right people,”
Santucci continued. “This scenario forces them into a transactional selling model, which
Marketing Benefits
you obviously want to avoid because there are no margins in a commodity market.”
• Content Workflow Improvements
• Self-Service Efficiency for These new market dynamics have created something of a perfect storm for marketing ex-
Document Retrieval
ecutives. How do they help their sales team add value and communicate more effectively,
• Reduction in Printed Documents when at the same time most of their sales team is being asked to handle a wider array of
and Unused Files
products and solutions?
• Increased Collaboration Between
Marketing and the Sales Channels The answer for many midsized to enterprise-level businesses has been the deployment of
• Detailed Analytics to Understand Sales Enablement solutions. While Sales Enablement has been a hot topic for the last few
What Content is Used years, the reality is most companies have really only taken a toe-in-the-water approach to
Sales Enablement to date. Some organizations have dabbled with enablement by building
out web-based access to collateral, but breakdowns in usability and inability to measure
effectiveness have diluted the ability to track real returns on these initiatives.
The tide has shifted quickly over the past year however, as progressive companies have
shown dramatic top-line revenue gains and bottom-line cost savings results by deploying
SaaS-based Sales Enablement solutions that foster increased collaboration, drive a consis-
tent message and enable measurement across sales, marketing and other customer-facing
areas of the enterprise.
This white paper will explore the benefits mid-sized firms and large enterprises have
realized by deploying out of the box Sales Enablement solutions. Through a series of case
study examples and insights from leading analysts, the paper will demonstrate the impact
on productivity, as well as revenue generation and the cost savings of a SaaS-based Sales
Enablement platform.
2 • A DemandGen Repor t

3. “When we look at the As companies look to replace static sales, partner and customer portals with a full
technology hierarchy, and featured, single Sales Enablement platform they must take into consideration what’s
the value that each category needed today and in the future. A hosted solution that targets Sales Enablement means
“out of the box” functionality while receiving the quickest time to value.
provides to sales and
marketing, sales enablement
and knowledge management
Maturation Of Sales Enablement
have now become
required components.”
Shortening Time
Joe Galvin, SiriusDecisions Degree of To Value
Enablement Value
Hosted Sales
Enablement Solution
SFA Vendor
SharePoint/Framework
Technology
Home-Grown
Functionality
Source: SiriusDecisions
The ROI of Increased Sales & Marketing Efficiency
Driving growth in this profit-focused, yet capital-constrained market has shifted Sales En-
ablement from the “nice to have” list to an imperative for organizations with distributed
sales forces and complex marketing messages.
“When we look at the technology hierarchy, and the value that each category provides to
sales and marketing, Sales Enablement and knowledge management have now become
required components,” said Joe Galvin, VP & Research Director with SiriusDecisions, a
leading research consultancy in the sales and marketing space.
3 • A DemandGen Repor t

4. “Creating a strategic sales Sales & Marketing Productivity
enablement program allows for a Company with $300 M in annual revenue; 1k employees, 400 reps
marketers and salespeople to Productivity Gains Before After
Current Company Revenue $300,000,000 $315,109,012
drive significant cost savings
Total Revenue Increase with iCentera (Projected) $15,109,012
in the short term while
improving their companies’ Annual Revenue Gain For Each Sales Rep $36,094
Sales Productivity ROI 497%
competitiveness to thrive in
Total Marketing Productivity Improvements $286,800
the new growth cycle.”
Total Productivity Gains $15,395,812
Scott Santucci,
Numbers based on customer feedback and industry analyst research
Forrester Research
Rollouts of Sales Enablement solutions have also accelerated due to the increased ability
to measure and track the ROI impact of hosted enablement solutions. Early adopters of
hosted enablement platforms have consistently experienced the following payoffs across
their direct and indirect sales teams:
• Increased Average Deal Size • Increased Quota Attainment
• Improved Win Rate • Increased Number of Opportunities
• Reduced Sales Cycle Length
Based on the success of customers and work done with analysts over the years, iCentera
has developed a Sales Enablement ROI Calculator, which helps organizations forecast
the projected productivity gains they can realize through the deployment of a hosted
Sales Enablement platform. Using a conservative productivity gain of .05%, the formula
demonstrates that a large enterprise could drive six figures in additional revenue within
the first year. “We have seen the majority of our clients increase revenue while decreas-
ing costs in year one,” said Craig Nelson, President of iCentera, a pioneer in the Sales
Enablement space and owner of www.salesenablement.com.
Sales Enablement Productivity ROI Inputs and Assumptions
Before After Percentage Revenue
Enablement Enablement Increase Increase
What is your average deal size? $50,000 $52,500 5.00% $15,395,812
What is your average deal win rate? 25% 26% 5.00% Gain Per Rep
What is your average sales cycle length (in months)? 6 5.70 5.00% $36,094
What is your average percentage of quota attainment? 60% 63% 5.00%
What is the average number of opportunities you typically have open? 50 53 5.00%
Numbers based on customer feedback and industry analyst research
While the most obvious payoffs of Sales Enablement are in revenue generation, other
immediate beneficiaries of these tools and processes are the product management and
marketing departments. Some of the core benefits realized from hosted sales
4 • A DemandGen Repor t

5. enablement solutions include: content workflow improvements with content published in
minutes not days, fewer printed documents and unused files, greater self-service efficiency
across all sales channels in accessing relevant sales information and increased collaboration
to better align marketing and sales.
In addition to driving revenue, Sales Enablement solutions with measurement capabilities
have had a positive impact on the bottom line for many companies, driving six figure cost
savings in numerous cases by addressing many of the inefficiencies that exist in the sales
and marketing process. For example:
• 10% of documents are either lost or misfiled at a cost of $360 each, according to
research from Coopers & Lybrand, Immersion Technologies Inc.
• 50-80% of the materials marketing creates for sales never see the light of day,
according to the American Marketing Association
• The typical cost for document creation, publication and maintenance is $2,500 per
item, according to IDC research
• Increased collaboration between marketing and the sales channels
• Detailed Analytics to understand what content is used
Total Cost Savings for Hosted Sales Enablement Solution
for a Company with $300 M in annual revenue; 1k employees, 400 reps
Cost Savings
Total Automated CMS Cost Savings $491,313
Annual SaaS Buy vs Build Savings $728,927
$1,220,240 Total Cost Savings for Year 1
Total Automated CMS Cost Savings = Cost savings from lost documents, unused files, going green savings and
headcount reduction for systems maintenance.
Annual SaaS Buy vs Build Savings = Total cost of building and maintaining home grown applications less the
annual investment in iCentera.
The recent Forrester Research report titled, “Engineering Valuable Sales Conversations,”
found technology vendors are spending, on average, 19% of their SG&A costs – or
$135,262 per salesperson – on support-related activities. In that report, Santucci pointed
out that “corralling” the “random acts of sales support” that take place throughout
different parts of an organization presents a golden opportunity. “Creating a strategic
Sales Enablement program allows marketers and salespeople to drive significant cost
savings in the short term while improving their companies’ competitiveness to thrive in
the new growth cycle,” he stated. Business owners and stock holders today demand
profits, thus the need to rethink the way enablement is implemented and measured.
5 • A DemandGen Repor t

6. Redefining Roles Around Enablement
Sales Enablement has been labeled and categorized several different ways over the past
two decades, but the progressive organizations who have seen the greatest impact from
a focus on enablement have realized these tools and processes are as vital to marketing
as they are to the front-line sales team. In order to be truly impactful in driving profitable
revenue growth, the enablement process is not something that marketing can simply
relegate to training, sales or the IT department.
Given the changing dynamics of the marketplace, Sales Enablement is now centered on
knowledge transfer making the right knowledge assets, tools, subject matter experts and
other resources available to the sales channels to improve the conversation with buyers to
advance each sale.
When marketing and sales collaborate effectively on the right content and delivery plat-
forms, the vendor is able to bring the weight of the organization’s market and product
knowledge to every sales call and drive more profitable revenue growth.
By leveraging hosted enablement platforms, progressive marketing departments now
have the ability to deliver relevant, up-to-date information on an hourly basis, foster
online collaboration, and adjust the Sales Enablement effort based on real-time usage
analytics that show the behavior of sales, partners and the customers.
As a result, the direct or channel sales rep becomes the “trusted advisor” that Forrester’s
Santucci stressed is now required, adding value to the buying process in today’s
risk-averse market.
The 5th P: Productivity
According to IDC data, the average rep spends two hours per week looking for marketing
collateral and another five hours per week creating and recreating presentations/docu-
ments for customers and prospects. The IDC 2009 data also found that 50% of compa-
nies are still distributing information to their sales team via email. The report found only
30% of the IDC respondents were distributing information via a sales portal environment,
and of those, less than 20% indicated they were able to measure usage.
It’s important to keep in mind these are not just sales productivity issues. With a growing
number of marketing executives now incentivized on reaching revenue goals, non-produc-
tive reps are costing everyone in the company money. In addition, it has been estimated
6 • A DemandGen Repor t

7. “Selling is an art. Productivity that marketing and product marketing teams in some companies spend up to 75% of
is a science. It’s the ability their day explaining and reviewing issues such as pricing, positioning and sharing competi-
to add a new opportunity at tive data. Making this information readily available in a self-service platform to sales and
partners greatly increases the efficiency of marketing teams.
the top of the pipeline and
increase the number of active
In addition to maximizing the efficiency of sales executives, industry analysts are also recom-
opportunities a rep mending marketing departments focus more on Sales Enablement to drive lead acceleration
can manage.” to help unclog those deals that are getting clogged later in the pipeline. Once viewed simply
Joe Galvin, SiriusDecisions as cost centers, marketing departments at many of the fastest growing companies are now
viewed as essential partners in the revenue generation process. By helping to move deals
from pipeline to closed, marketing departments are gaining recognition in the board room.
Marketing executives have traditionally been trained to focus on the four P’s – product, price,
place and promotion. However, SiriusDecisions recently suggested marketers should add the
“fifth P” of sales: “productivity.” At SiriusDecisions’ 2010 Summit, the research consultancy
added a new perspective on its Demand Creation Waterfall, aimed at helping sales and mar-
keting improve collaboration throughout the different stages of prospect engagement.
Tony Jaros, VP of Research at SiriusDecisions, pointed out that the role of marketing contin-
ues to evolve. “We have witnessed the charter of marketing – and thus its relationship with
sales – change twice in a decade,” Jaros said. While the first wave of change had marketing
expanding its role in demand creation, Jaros said that has resulted in an over-emphasis on
generating leads at the top of the waterfall, and not enough work on lead nurturing and
lead acceleration in the later stages of the waterfall. “The over-hype on the ‘create’ task has
devalued the other tasks that sales and marketing should be working on together.”
As part of the second sea change Jaros also pointed out that some progressive organiza-
tions are establishing competitive differentiation by giving prospects an advanced view of
what it is like to be a customer. By creating content portals which directly address where
the prospect is in the buying cycle, it allows the vendor to provide targeted information and
allows the prospect to be self-sufficient in their research.
SiriusDecisions’ Galvin added that a collaborative focus on Sales Enablement ultimately
drives core revenue metrics. “Selling is an art,” he noted. “Productivity is a science. It’s the
ability to add a new opportunity at the top of the pipeline and increase the number of
active opportunities a rep can manage. The right collaboration and solutions can help drive
the number of new opportunities, the number of active opportunities and lead to shorter
sales cycles by improving the conversion rates from phase to phase inside the buying cycle.”
7 • A DemandGen Repor t

8. “We have seen the majority Improved Access To Key Information Leads
of our clients increase To Pipeline Improvements
revenue while decreasing
While Sales Force Automation (SFA) Systems helped to manage sales cycles, pipelines and
costs in year one,”
forecasts, Sales Enablement solutions help to manage buying cycles by making the appro-
Craig Nelson, iCentera priate content available and enabling the collaboration that matches the customer’s needs.
The need for greater efficiency in providing relevant collateral to sales representatives was
underscored in the 2009 Sales Performance Optimization Survey from CSO Insights. That
report found reps experienced “some effort required” or “significant effort required” to
access even basic knowledge, as indicated:
Some Effort Significant
Required Effort Required
Best Practices 43.8% 27.2%
Customer References/
43.2% 21.8%
Case Studies
Proposal Templates/
37.6% 15.2%
Business Case Samples
The CSO Insights Survey also showed that providing easier access to competitive analysis
and past marketing/sales information was emerging as a significant competitive differ-
entiator. According to the report, companies providing easy access to information were
seeing near double digit performance advantages over competitors in key areas:
Easy to Access Significant Effort
Overall Revenue Plan Attainment 87% 79%
Reps Meeting/Exceeding Quota 64% 52%
In Forrester’s “Engineering Valuable Sales Conversations” report, Santucci emphasized
that the right mix of tools and process improvements is vital to Sales Enablement success.
“Engineering these successful sales conversations demands a strategic and systematic
process that provides all client-facing employees with the content and tools to consis-
tently and empathetically engage with and deliver value to the right set of customer
stakeholders at each stage of the customer’s problem-solving life cycle.”
8 • A DemandGen Repor t

9. Enabling Efficiency: Cost Savings Via Enablement
Top line revenue gains are not the only performance benefit companies are seeing
through the deployment of Sales Enablement solutions. “Combining the cost savings
from improved distribution of documents and a reduction in printed documents and
unused files together with headcount reduction for systems maintenance, means many of
our clients have seen six figure cost savings,” Nelson said.
In one prime example of the efficiency realized by enablement, a leading global enter-
prise software company with more than 70,000 customers and 116 different offices,
reduced its printing costs by nearly 90%. By shifting to an iCentera web-based portal to
manage its marketing collateral, the software giant reduced printing costs from $130,000
per quarter to less than $15,000 per quarter.
At the same time, the software company has made it easier for its marketing and sales
support teams to find the most up-to-date collateral, managing more than 5,500 sepa-
rate pieces of collateral with the iCentera service, including more than 1,200 data sheets
and brochures, more than 400 case studies and approximately 250 white papers that can
be used by its marketing and sales teams.
Based on the company’s positive impact on sustainability initiatives, iCentera recently
received a “ThinkForward,” award from Beagle Research Group, a leading analyst firm
in the CRM space. The ThinkForward award for sustainability highlights front office
software companies that provide solutions that foster business process innovation, cost
containment and fully engage customers as partners.
The TCO Comparison: Build Vs. Buy
Over the past few years, Sales Enablement has gained mindshare although economic
woes have slowed widespread adoption. During this period, budget constraints led com-
panies to opt for basic in-house solutions with the idea that it would save them money.
Some organizations dabbled with enablement by providing web-based access to collat-
eral through home-grown systems or framework development tools, such as SharePoint
or Interwoven, but the inability to quickly provide functionality that targets enabling sales
and measuring the effectiveness of the content and tool usage has prohibited them from
tracking real returns on these initiatives and in many cases spending more money over
time as they attempt to “get it right” rather than buying a Sales Enablement solution
delivered quickly as a service.
9 • A DemandGen Repor t

10. While defining what is required to enable sales there are capabilities that are fundamen-
tal to the success of such a solution. Industry experts suggest a Sales Enablement solution
should provide the five following key features for successful knowledge transfer:
1) Targeted Messaging
2) Guided Search
3) Real-Time Coaching & Collaboration
4) Content Delivery & Tracking
5) Usage Pattern Analysis
Key Capabilities of a Sales Enablement Solution
• Delegated Content Publishing
Targeted Messaging • Content Workflow Support
• Targeting Specific Roles
• Accurate Information Available
Guided Search • Personalized Portals to Meet Specific Needs
• Customized To User Preferences
• Discussion Forums
Real-Time Coaching • Subject Matter Portals
& Collaboration • On Boarding Portals
• Automatically Assemble Acrobat or PowerPoint files
Content Delivery • Integration with Salesforce.com
& Tracking • Ability to Create Customized Portals
• Understand Buyer Behavior
Usage Pattern
• Help Marketing See Which Content
Analysis Is Being Used
Many of these companies opted for what appeared to be the quick fix of providing
web-based access to collateral through tools such as SharePoint or Interwoven, but the
inability to quickly provide functionality that targets enabling and measuring the effec-
tiveness of the content and tool usage has prohibited them from tackling real returns on
these initiatives.
10 • A DemandGen Repor t

11. “When you think about sales The key differentiators between IT-developed versus hosted solutions, according to indus-
enablement, and many try analysts, are the level of analytics offered, the breadth of enablement features to drive
companies are today, it has to more effective selling, and delivery of targeted selling and buying environments, which
can be specific to verticals or even individual accounts.
begin with how you are going
to deliver value then in turn
Most home grown solutions in use today typically only push out mass messaging via
measure the impact.”
email, provide flat pages and links for content. They usually have no real-time sales
Joe Galvin, SiriusDecisions coaching capabilities, and they require users to first download content prior to emailing
the file attachment. Perhaps the biggest drawback of home grown solutions has been
the inability to provide analytics around usage of the system. Analytics provide market-
ing with critical feedback on the content that is most valuable to the sales team and
provide the executive team with support that the right information is being distributed
throughout the enterprise.
“As we have learned over the past 20 years, sales will quickly adapt to the use of solu-
tions that add value to their day,” said Nelson. The famous saying “it’s easier to be a
critic than a creator” certainly applies to sales and channel sales staff. Given their hectic
schedules, sales executives prefer to refine something that has already been created and
proven rather than to create it from scratch. However, they must first be able to easily
locate and understand the enablement material prior to refining it.
While home grown systems built from scratch or on framework portals and content
management technology provide flat HTML environments where sales representatives
can search for relevant documents, users and analysts have reported that documents
are often hard to locate with no support for real-time sales guidance or collaboration
and other functionality (see diagram above) and therefore adoption has suffered. These
systems are also dependent on support and maintenance from over-burdened IT staff,
which often hinder their effectiveness.
The biggest limitation with SharePoint and most home grown Sales Enablement systems
has been the inability to add value to a salesperson’s day and to measure usage and
compliance, or to analyze the effectiveness of different collateral. “When you think
about Sales Enablement, and many companies are today, it has to begin with how you
are going to deliver value then in turn measure the impact,” said Galvin. “If you can’t
measure it in terms of simple activity – what gets used, how often, who is using what
– you are really only amplifying old problems. One of the critical truths of Sales Enable-
11 • A DemandGen Repor t

12. ment is the requirement to measure. In order to be successful you have to generate and
embed feedback from sales into the system.”
The most immediate business driver for hosted systems versus an internal build-out is
time to value. Building out a system can take anywhere from six to 18 months to get
right, compared to the two to four weeks it typically takes to deploy a hosted solution.
For many companies new initiatives only gain “green light” status if they provide value to
the bottom line within six months.
However, after tabulating the total costs of developing and maintaining a home-grown
system, many have realized the annual investment in a hosted solution actually has a
substantially better total cost of ownership (TCO). “We’ve seen mid to large enterprises
invest $200,000 to well over $1 million trying to build a first generation Sales Enable-
ment system and they are typically disappointed with the functionality and the ongoing
headcount needed for maintenance,” Nelson said.
While the initial development of code to deliver web-based access to content may seem
attractive, many companies have realized that is only the “tip of the iceberg,” as the real
costs for an on-premise system start to pile up once companies take a longer-term view.
Nelson said the company’s ROI/TCO calculator tool has helped companies realize the true
costs associated with factors such as:
Ongoing Resource Costs: These costs should include the IT staff required to build
and support the system, which has been conservatively estimated at $100,000 per
year, per resource for most mid-sized organizations. This variable alone can quickly rise
to close to $1M.
Hardware Acquisition & Maintenance Costs: Conservatively, the cost of the serv-
ers and other hardware required to run a robust Sales Enablement system, which is
accessible to a distributed sales force, is in the $200,000 - $1M range.
Software Acquisition Costs Including CMS, Document Generation, Analytics
& Reporting Engines, and Other Component Costs: In order to realize the
functionality offered by most hosted systems, IT organizations are required to acquire
and deploy several different software applications. The integration costs alone to patch
these tools together can approach the licensing fee for a hosted application.
Training & Support Costs: The initial training across an enterprise can represent a full-
time job, even before the ongoing support costs for IT are factored in to the equation.
12 • A DemandGen Repor t

13. Three Degrees
of Enablement
As organizations migrate from focus- Comparing the current state of Sales Enablement deployments to the early days of the
ing exclusively on enabling their sales CRM category, SiriusDecisions’ Galvin pointed out that many companies tried to build
teams, three types of engagement in-house systems and ultimately migrated to packaged solutions. “I think we learned that
platforms are emerging: very few of our organizations are set up for application development,” he said. “It is not a
core skill set for most IT departments, which are often over-burdened and understaffed.”
Customer Communication
Enablement: When is the last time your intranet/extranet was down? In addition to measurement
and tracking capabilities, up-time availability has emerged as another core differentiator
In order to keep pace with the fast
between in-house and hosted solutions.“We have invested a substantial amount in infra-
break speed of its high powered
structure and provide a 99.99% uptime assurance for our enterprise customers,” Mark
marketing partners, the NBA recent-
Tasseel, VP of Engineering at iCentera, pointed out. “Sales and marketing teams cannot
ly worked with iCentera to set up a
afford to have a server crash or their in-house support to be unavailable when they need
portal site for its marketing and busi-
a key document or a proposal.”
ness development teams to share
“pitch books” and large multimedia
In today’s highly competitive markets many companies are moving to solutions that
files on new advertising and sponsor-
enable all customer facing roles as well as the customer. Key benefits derived in taking
ship programs with partners. Based
this more holistic approach include:
on the measurement and increased
collaboration with its partners, the
league has expanded the portals to
more than 200 marketing and sales Customer • Improved relationships with prospects
and customers
reps around the world, and to be- Communication • Enabled cross-selling and up-selling
tween 300 and 400 external partners.
Sales Channel Enablement: • Increased productivity of both direct and
Sales Channel indirect sales channels
A best practices example of optimiz- • Reduced marketing costs for distributing materials
Enablement across complex and disparate networks
ing sales enablement across a com-
plex sales network is NetApp, a lead-
ing supplier of innovative storage and • Enabled entire staff and supply chain with single
data management solutions that ac-
Enterprise source of truth, access to current information
celerate business breakthroughs and Enablement • Better customer retention and profitable
revenue growth
deliver outstanding cost efficiency.
Known for its industry-leading chan-
nel program initiatives, NetApp has
made investments in infrastructure
and enablement tools to make it easi-
er for partners to do business with the
13 • A D e m a n d G e n R e p o r t
(cont’d on next page) 13 • A DemandGen Repor t

14. company. Using the iCentera for Sales The ROI of 360 Degree Enablement
Channel Enablement solution, NetApp
now supports a sales team of 25,000 One common mistake executives make when mapping out their Sales Enablement
direct and indirect representatives, strategy is that they consider only the needs of their internal sales and marketing teams
with 65% of communications now when other staff must also be considered. A Sales Enablement system should ideally arm
driven through portals. an entire organization with the ability to enable sales and access the insight, experts and
information to drive all revenue generation initiatives. There is no doubt, companies that
Enterprise Enablement: “bring the weight” of the entire organization to every deal have an edge over
Aviat Networks, Inc., a leading wire- the competition.
less expert in advanced IP network
A second common mistake is the idea that direct sales and indirect sales need to have
migration, came together though
separate Sales Enablement solutions. A Sales Enablement strategy should be built to
a merger between two companies
facilitate the information needs of both direct and indirect sales channels using a role-
each with their own very different
based approach that puts the right news, messaging, content and tools in front of the
communication methods in place.
right sales audience.
Following the merger, the company
needed a simple way for marketing
A third common mistake is leaving out the customer. A Sales Enablement solution must
to share information and to enable
reach and provide custom portals with built-in analytics for the buyer/customer to fully
sales in a more timely and effective
realize the value that 360° Sales Enablement® brings. In the end a custom portal that
manner. To help present more than
can be used to collaborate with the buyer will differentiate vendors from their competi-
1,400 documents across a distributed
tors by providing a high level of service. In addition, similar to the benefits that solutions
organization in an organized, easy
from companies like Omniture provide in tracking website behavior, the same level of
to access format, Aviat Networks
tracking should now be in place for intranets/extranets and private customer portals.
utilized iCentera’s hosted platform.
With the documents now stored in
one central place, critical informa-
tion is easily accessed enterprise-
wide, with audience specific portals
created and managed entirely by
the business user. Prior to using the
portals, Aviat’s marketing team was
spending 48 hours per week updat-
ing content on an intranet. After de-
ploying the portals, the marketing
team now gets information into the
hands of sales in just a few minutes
as opposed to days.
14 • A DemandGen Repor t
14 • A DemandGen Repor t

15. CONCLUSION
In her new book, “SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales & Win More Business with Today’s
Frazzled Customers,” author Jill Konrath said busy prospects now evaluate a selling com-
pany based on relevancy, urgency and value. “If the seller adequately addresses these
concerns, the conversation continues and the sale advances. If not, they get deleted and
opportunities get derailed.”
Operating in this climate of time-starved prospects, the bar has been raised for sales
and marketing organizations to improve productivity and information. Salespeople can’t
afford to waste time searching for information or recreating basic information. Marketing
departments that focus on productivity, the 5th P, make it easy for dispersed sales teams
to access vital information and put their organizations in a favorable position by:
• Speeding up ramp time for new reps
• Improving the flow of content turnaround times from days to hours
• Shortening the sales cycle
Industry leaders who have made Sales Enablement a priority have increased profitable
revenue generation by optimizing the flow of information to sales as well as customers.
By providing reps more time to understand the needs of customers, salespeople increase
their value and ultimately drive more revenue.
At the same time, marketing departments are seeing the payoffs of Sales Enablement
solutions – spending less time distributing information and instead spending more qual-
ity time creating meaningful content that provides real value to the revenue generation
process. Adopting a Sales Enablement solution ensures that a company’s resources are
equipped with the appropriate news, messaging, content and tools to help them focus
on their jobs and gain a head-start with the 5th P.
Today there are numerous success stories that illuminate how marketing has impacted
the 5th P which leads to immediate gains in the profitable revenue growth. In the end
360° Sales Enablement® is about knowledge transfer — making the right knowledge
assets, tools, subject matter experts, product and company news, and other resources
available to the sales channels and customers. If done right with targeted portals users
are no longer required to seek and find Sales Enablement content and resources, the
resources find them.
15 • A DemandGen Repor t

16. Presented By
iCentera’s patented approach provides Intelligence Centers for a new era of sales and
marketing, available as a service today. In the new era of marketing the right expertise,
tools, and content finds the sellers and buyers. This leads to better sales conversations
while making it easier for the customer to buy your solution over the competition’s. The
iCentera sales enablement platform replaces static sales, partner, and customer portals
with a single sales enablement platform that adapts to the needs of each user with
functionality that increases win rates and deal size while reducing the cost of sales – this
is what iCentera calls 360° Sales Enablement®. Visit us at www.salesenablement.com
or www.iCentera.com.
DemandGen Report is a targeted e-media publication spotlighting the strategies
and solutions that help companies better align their sales and marketing organizations,
and ultimately, drive growth. A key component of our coverage focuses on the sales
and marketing automation tools that enable companies to better measure and
manage their multi-channel demand generation efforts. For more information, visit
www.demandgenreport.com.