How can you make your B2B sales enablement tools more user-friendly?

I often come across user interface changes with my team. When enhancing the tools feature, we always keep one rule at the back of our mind – make it as simple as possible. Sales teams won’t have time for complex features, they need easy navigation to get the work done. I’d recommend regularly gathering feedback from the users to identify pain points and address them promptly. This will ensure that your tool’s interface is simple and user-friendly as always.

In my transition from software engineer for a SaaS company to a B2B marketing specialist, I've realized the critical importance of interface simplicity in sales enablement tools. From a software engineering perspective. This means reducing clutter, using familiar navigation patterns, and ensuring that key functionalities are easily accessible. In B2B marketing, where time is a precious commodity. Sales teams should be able to quickly find what they need without navigating through unnecessary steps or complicated menus. To achieve this, I recommend adopting a user-centered design approach, where feedback from actual users (the sales team) is continuously gathered and incorporated.

Simplicity is the key. Often times multi-feature tools offer a complex user interface and have many obsolete or redundant features. A simple user interface with easy navigation is the best solution to go ahead. I have used several automation tools for hiring, team management, and sales as well but this is common to all. Redundant features and complex navigation.

I think making UI easier is critical to having a sales enablement toolset that works. This goes much deeper than making a button bigger, changing some colours or even DARK MODE! It's more of a UX approach, thinking of the audience and making ever step and action easy for them to comprehend and use. If you do this step well, you'll have a much easier job trying to train and on-board your team. Focus the toolset down to exactly what you need, automate where you can, use the users own language and make it a simple user flow.

Everyone is time constraint. How many clicks does it take to accomplish something? Make it fewer. Map how long everyone is on a page and figure how to make their interactions faster and easier.

Before making the interface, ask the people who are going to use it what they need for their day-to-day work. If you have a lot of employees in the sales team, make a simple focus group for 10 sales representatives followed by a questionnaire for the rest to complement and fine-tune the results you got from the focus group. When you start the interface, add nothing but what they need, and give them sufficient time to train on how to use it. Once they are hooked you can add more items.

Make your sales enablement initiatives a habit with the lowest entry barrier for your Go-To-Market teams. There's (unfortunately) no value in a tool in which you centralize all your content when it takes more than a handful of actions to find what is needed for prospecting. If possible, try to build upon the stack that is already being used. Instead of adding another tool to the mix, see if there's an integration to your sales backbone - like your CRM.

Don't assume that once your team has been trained, and if they're not asking for support, that they are off and running. Check usage reports and follow up with personalized support for those slow to adopt. Provide regular training tips and updates in bite-sized content via various channels. Hold office hours where reps can pop into a standing meeting for support. Utilize feedback to update FAQs and documentation.

Once the Sales team knows the tools exist, it comes down to a UX mindset. Who are the users using your tools? Both sales and potential customers. Like any users coming to a website, they shouldn't have to re-learn how to use your tools. Fundamental UX best practices still apply whether it's a website, PDF, or video. Understand the sales process, how the tools will be used, and the end goal. Then create useful tools based on user needs and prospect personas. Train Sales on delivering the solution-based brand message. Ensure the sales teams can also guide prospects in using the tools. The result is brand consistency throughout the experience and prospects are not left feeling confused or with a disjointed brand experience.

Training not only helps in coping with complex sales solutions but also makes them aware of the culture and values of a company. Ethical or non-ethical sales are completely dependent on this factor. Helping sales rep to get to the point where they can make sales decisions on their own is crucial. It can be 10X the growth for both employees and the company.

Train, remind them often and catch up with them at every opportunity to drop a hint and ask if they’ve used the collateral and tools you’ve built and gather qualitative feedback. Marketing’s relationship with sales is something to be nurtured for the long term!

A live training session is very important, followed by an exam. Case studies are to be sent and prizes for the best answers Give them an online portal to return to with videos and transcripts on how to use the dashboard

Do not only train but also identify super users/advocates of your newly introduced tool. Human beings have a hard time adjusting their behavior, so it's of advantage if you have someone testifying how easy and compelling it is to use. When it comes to training - tailor it to the needs of your teams and make it a critical part of newby onboardings. Don't simply rely on video courses provided by the provider. Run training and open office hours in which team members can exchange their best practices and create a steady momentum. Constantly check on how the tool is being used and share success stories of it, motivating others to fully embrace the change.

Ideally, Marketing and Sales collaborate closely. This relationship is key to organizational success. Set a standing sales>marketing touch base to hear what challenges sales is facing, and what prospects are saying to identify opportunities to improve sales enablement.

Before you buy any tool, get your most influential sales people to walk through the tool, review it with you, and test it out. This will be a key component to any kind of success with a sales enablement tool.

Create a solid feedback loop. This should be easy if you're working with your sales team closely. Taking an RevOps team for example, you could easily add in some specific catch up session throughout on-boarding to gain feedback. It's more important to get in-app feedback also, as other opportunities rely on people remembering issues and holding them until a feedback session or taking it to another channel (which doesn't happen often!) Take time to engage the team, don;t rely on the team coming to you to build a great tool. See the big picture, their job is to sell, don't expect them to have the skillset to find bugs, refine a product etc. Take accountability and treat to team like SMEs (subject matter experts), rather than your employees.

If it solves the problem then only it will win. A simple rule of the sales. You need to make their life easy. They are salespeople, Employees surviving in the toughest terrains. So the tool should really feel like a support system. Finding their pain points won't be tough. You just need to reach out. and done!

See the logon data for those who used the new dashboard. Ask them for a meeting to know what they liked and what they hated in the new dashboard. Do your updates and inform all the users on what you did and follow up on the log on status, did it increase?

When asking for feedback, make sure you also act on it. There's nothing worse than getting valuable user insights that won't be acted upon. Clarify what might be the boundaries of the tool setting expectations among all stakeholders. Team up with the Sales Leadership team to understand the tactics and GTM strategy and combine that with feedback from the Sales team operating with your sales enablement tool. If possible, create custom dashboards tailored to the respective audience aligned with their success metrics. E.g. whereas marketing might be curious about active users and tracked activities, your sales leadership might be more inclined to quickly understand how much pipeline is influenced by your tool. Communicate accordingly.

Had a shiny new CRM that the sales team wouldn’t touch. They clung to old spreadsheets. Lesson learned? Simplicity rules. Ease Over Features: Choose tools that feel natural to your team. If it needs a manual, it's too much. Integration is Crucial: Tools should fit into your existing tech stack like a glove. No compatibility, no deal. Team Input: Before choosing, ask the team what they need. Their hurdles guide your choice. Consistent Support: Adoption isn't one-and-done. Offer regular training, and highlight those quick wins. Once we made the CRM simple and integral to their workflow, it clicked. Tools should empower your team, not burden them. Keep it simple, keep it synced.

Even after offering it all, one tool is not enough. I used MAKE to automate the sales process but what I found was the need to add one more. The sales needs are often subject to the businesses. and hence, need customized solutions. If you integrated MAKE with Dripify. I can do wonders. You just need to know the purpose and desired outcome for that.

The most important thing is the ability to extract the data from the dashboard for them to use in any further analysis. Adding an option for email notification for certain actions is a plus

Ideally, the sales team should be able to access your materials and tools from within the core platform they're ALREADY using every day, whether that's your CRM system, outreach platform, or other core software. Don't give them something else to log into or learn. Make it intuitive so your materials are easily accessible within their existing workflows so they can do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. That's a win-win.

Before investing in a new tool, run an audit understanding the current tool stack of your GTM teams. Chances are high they have become accustomed to them, meaning transitioning to another/new tool can be a challenge. Validate to which degree your new tool can be built into those instead of just adding another icon onto their screens to take care of. Be clear on how your sales enablement tools distinguishes from the others, mitigating confusion.

If Sales can't find it, and quickly, Sales won't use it. The biggest hindrance to effective Sales Enablement tools is that they are hard to find or it takes a while to find what is needed or materials are spread across multiple locations/tools. Simplify your sales enablement interface by hosting all items on a platform (like a Highspot), upload/link EVERYTHING there. Optimize it with quick links, tags, and custom landing pages tailored to content type, use case, industry or other criteria. Integrate any external tools into the one tool to reduce logins. And bonus points for curating the tools and content to match the buyer personas and stages of the buyer's journey to help Sales find the most effective tool precisely when they need it.

Personalize the experience! One size doesn't fit all when it comes to B2B sales enablement tools. Provide customization options that allow sales individuals to tailor the tools to their specific requirements. Whether it's adjusting dashboards, reports, notifications, or selecting their own resources (whitepapers, datasheets, videos, etc) that meet their outreach needs, personalization enhances usability and drives engagement.

Something I experienced myself: if it takes more than a few seconds to find it, it has missed its mark. Most tools these days are SaaS, meaning they run in your web browser. I encourage to check for plugins or extension provided by that new sales enablement tool. It's just a better experience for your Sales team, to click on a quick icon in the top bar with a contextual menu than opening a new tab, visiting the URL, logging in, searching what they need, and using it!

Work where sales works. Sales lives in the CRM. In software companies with multiple verticals, personas, products, add-ons, competitors, succes stories; the enablement content library can easily scale fast. Most CRMs have the option to automatically attach enablement files to the deal that is most helpful for sales to win that deal. Sales should not waste time searching for the correct file. Enable them. MOps and SalesOps can help you with this, or RevOps depending on the company.

Sales automation to do everything but sales. The final call is going to be from a sales rep. So ensure that they only have to take the final call nothing else. they can put in their time in strategizing. Suggest what are those automation out there in the market?

Turn B2B sales tools from 'must-use' to 'can't-live-without' with these tactics: Hyper-Personalization: Mold the tool to fit each rep's workflow. When it feels made for them, usage spikes. Gamify: Embed leaderboards, rewards for hitting milestones. Turn routine into a race everyone wants to win. Success Broadcast: Let reps share wins within the tool, turning it into a hub of live strategies and triumphs. Smart AI Insights: Make the tool more than a database – a smart sidekick that offers real-time, actionable advice. Role Play Realities: Use the tool in simulated scenarios. Bridge the gap between knowing and doing. Sales tools should be a rep's go-to, not an afterthought. Make them personal, make them smart, make them essential.