A RECKONING.
15 YEARS
OVERDUE.
The first complete deconstruction of sales enablement as we know it. And the operating manual created for compounding revenue, ready to take its place.
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THE FIFTEEN-YEAR DIVERGENCE
$14B → $80B
In Five Years
Since 2017
2012 vs 2024
Since 2021
Same Window
More spend. Less performance. Fifteen years and counting.
THE THESIS
Enablement was built to deliver training.
The job is to drive performance.
Training NEVER produces performance. Neither do tools. People do!
The receipt is the data. Fifteen years and counting.
The Ten Truthbombs of Sales Enablement
Like physics, they exist whether or not you accept them. Embrace them, and you can begin to put some method to the madness.
Enablement is about performance, not training.
"Stop thinking like a training organization. Performance is the job. Period."
Your customer is the salesperson.
"Not the CRO. Not Sales Ops. Not the VP who approved your budget. The rep. If they don't see value, you're dead."
Reps want to close more deals.
"Build something that helps them close. Something so useful they choose it over the back-channel Slack thread. They'll come to you."
No one wants to sit in training.
"Stop building events. Start building systems. Build something they don't have to sit through."
Activity isn't the goal.
"Activity is the input. Outcome is the goal. Tie every metric to a business number or take it off the dashboard."
You have to know the numbers.
"Win rate. ACV. Time to close. Quota attainment. Not knowing the numbers in a leadership role isn't a gap. It's a disqualifier."
Be a profit center, not a cost center.
"You touch every rep. Every deal. Every skill. No other function has that reach on revenue. Show the work or you're a line item."
Know what you're solving for.
"Diagnose first. Then build. A playbook that addresses the wrong problem is a waste of everyone's time, including yours."
People are complicated.
"Ego. Fear. Habits. Pressure response. The greatest enablement teams get more out of people than people can get out of themselves."
Tools, data, architecture, methodologies, won't save you.
"You fix performance by making the humans in the seats better. Every other lever only works after that."
Co-creator of the Sales Enablement category at IDC, 2006. Founding member of the Sales Enablement Society.
See Where Your Org Stands
The book isn't out yet. These two assessments are built on the same diagnostic thinking, and you can take them today.
Diagnostic
The Four Orgs Assessment
Every sales org runs on one of four operating types. Ten questions tell you which one dominates yours.
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Quick Pulse Revenue Performance Assessment
Diagnose the operating system behind your revenue number and find the domain hurting performance most.
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Also by Keenan
Gap Selling
The Problem Drives the Sale.
The #1 Amazon bestseller and the methodology this book is built on. Diagnose the gap between where your buyer is and where they need to be, and close from that position.
Learn More →Gap Prospecting
The Problem Opens the Door.
The companion book on outbound. Lead with the buyer's problem before you ever pitch, and earn the conversation instead of interrupting for it.
Learn More →