Revenue Enablement is by no means an old term, moreover it is still being coined by the large consulting and research firms. We read studies about how markets develop and how Revenue Enablement is set to supersede Sales Enablement. It came to us, that whilst it is a crucial function to the growth of a company, it may not be so easy for a smaller company to implement it effectively. It's the reason why we came up with the concept of Revenue-as-a-Service. In this post we'll share more about what we read in these past months, the conclusions we came to, and finally, why Gysho is here.
Sales vs. Revenue Enablement
Whilst a lot of companies are still getting to grips with Sales Enablement, Digital Marketing and many other developments of the last years, led to a new term: Revenue Enablement. The shift from Sales to Revenue indicates it has a broader focus, and indeed it includes marketing, sales and customer success in a single group. That sounds logical as they are all directly contributing to revenue growth, but there is a much larger trend happening behind the scenes that warrants an update to how we work. A few examples from the research we've seen:
- In late 2021 Gartner published some results from their 2021 buyer's survey. By that time, on average, 43% of buyers preferred a rep free buying experience, and amongst millennials the number was 53%. In another report they published a year later, this number accelerated to 71% for the Gen-Z and millennial groups. People rather spend time reviewing options online, comparing offerings, evaluating and deciding how to move forward. They highlight the importance of consistency in information shared by marketing/online and what reps give in interactions.
- Gartner's 2023 report called 'Integrating Sales and Marketing to Drive Demand' highlights various statistics to underline which benefits business can expect once they start aligning sales and marketing. Their study shows that businesses who do this effectively, are 2.96x more likely to exceed acquisition targets. That's a strong number. The benefits extend to the customer's side as well.
Customers who buy solely through a digital channel are 20% more likely to regret a purchase, whilst those who are completely led by a sales rep are 63% less likely to complete a high-quality deal. An organisation that manages to offer a unified experience across both channels, often give vastly better experiences, with happy customers as a result.
Breaking down the siloes between marketing, sales and customer success is becoming increasingly important. Customers want consistency regardless of the routes they choose and expect to get information on digital channels if they choose to. It has a huge impact on how businesses operate, it affects how you store, integrate and leverage data. It also affects processes that will run across departments and teams. Finally, your Tech Stack needs to support all these changes if you want to stay effective and scale.
Revenue Enablement for Small Business
It is a fact that companies, large and small, are likely to deal with the same people in the buying processes, which means they will face the same challenges we describe above. However, simply due to the scale of a large organisation they can pour a lot more money into making these changes. It won't be easy to change a large organisation like Microsoft, but they sure have deep pockets to get the job done.
So, where does that leave start-ups who don't have the deep pockets yet? And what about scale-ups who are almost there, but are way too busy to make big changes? They may be left behind in this transition, not getting the chance to have the same kind of impact on potential buyers. That looks like an unfair battle and could also mean that buyers miss out on a potentially superior solution simply because they did not find it online, or the information was not quite what they expected.
We wanted to solve that question. How do we bring Revenue Enablement to smaller businesses and give them a better chance to achieve an established position in the market?
When we looked at the needs for these businesses, we found some key differences compared to big companies. A few examples:
- Smaller companies are more agile and can respond to changes faster. It means they can adopt change in less time than established companies;
- There are no resources to create a dedicated Revenue Enablement role, nor is there budget for extensive implementation and change programs;
- New companies tend to have a strong entrepreneurial spirit, meaning they are more likely to put extra hours in and get things done by themselves;
- Newly formed businesses are more susceptible to change as they grow and scale, which means something that worked yesterday may not tomorrow.
Of course, the list continues, though this short list already shows that small businesses need something that's more flexible, less costly and more geared towards self-reliance. That's when we realised small interactions that are delivered at the right time fit much better. If those are delivered by the same person or team, it would even act as an extension of the team, almost like a dedicated revenue enablement expert, but at a fraction of the cost and time.
Gysho REaaS
That neatly brings us to what we have called Revenue-Enablement-as a-Service, or REaaS. It is our answer to the question: How small businesses can leverage revenue enablement to stay competitive in a changing market.
With REaaS, start-ups and scale-ups partner with Gysho to get revenue enablement support on tap. Using a subscription-based model, we act as an extension of the team and deliver our support in smaller modules, once they are needed and only in smaller interactions. It means that there is continued support when needed, without nasty surprises about the costs afterwards.
The modules are divided between two main categories:
- Sales Academy: this is arguably a more traditional enablement category, which contains training, workshops and materials to sell more effectively. They support anything from individuals to growing sales teams and are organised in a way to keep them small, pragmatic and cost effective.
- Revenue Operations: the second part focuses much more on the organisation. The modules in this category focus on measuring performance, breaking down siloes, redesigning commercial processes and fully leveraging the potential of technology to scale business.
We currently have a basic set of modules available and will extend the portfolio over time, as we learn which other things small businesses need.
The subscription model is also kept relatively simple. Every module requires an amount of time, skill and money to perform. The combination of those three factors is translated into a credits-based model. Every subscription comes with credits which are exchanged for the delivery of modules. Larger subscriptions, of course, have a more attractive cost per credit. If credits run out, there is an option to purchase more.
One thing we like about working in a subscription is all about partnering and certainty. By taking uncertainty out of a business partnership, both parties tend to focus on the work at hand rather than the amount of hours spent, the next invoice or trying to stay within an agreed cost. That certainty also translates to lower risk for Gysho and in turn, more favourable rates for our partners. In short- it ensures we're in the trenches working with you, instead of playing the external consultant who's paid by the hour.
The Next Months: You(?)
We have thought this plan through well, but at the same time it is only partially tested, and we have no doubt our portfolio is missing modules, with applied marketing being an obvious candidate. More work must be done to put each module through its paces and to gain further understanding of how they behave in different types of businesses. We want to confirm our estimates of credits for each module are accurate in real life.
That's why we are looking for 4 launch partners, who will work with us at a reduced rate for half a year. During that time, we will operate as your Revenue Enablement team, and deliver our services as we have presented them today. In return, we need feedback potential improvements we can make to fit our concept to start-ups and scale-ups. We need input on our REaaS module portfolio, to add modules we have missed and perhaps even retire ones that are unnecessary.
So, are you an ambitious, growing business who's keen to start accelerating with Revenue Enablement and who's excited after reading what we are doing? Then send me a message, book a call so we can meet. Let's get business moving!
