Over the past decade there has been rapid growth in sales enablement in the marketplace due to numerous changes affecting the buyer-seller interface. Despite this growth, little is known regarding the magnitude of its presence, what assistance is being offered and to whom, and what metrics are found to be valuable. In an exploratory study, the results from 561 responses across 3 regions of the world (Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America) suggest that several significant differences exist as it pertains to sales enablement. Findings indicate that salespeople and account managers are the primary focus of sales enablement initiatives, but significantly different stakeholders also exist across the regions of the world. Moreover, the specific services offered by sales enablement (e.g., training, content, tools, processes, onboarding, coaching) are shown to vary widely across the globe. Even productivity goals are not uniform within sales enablement initiatives. This study contributes to the marketing capabilities theory by extending its application into a new paradigm of sales enablement. We summarize the findings and the managerial implications of this global inquiry.

在过去的十年中，由于众多变化影响了买卖双方的界面，因此市场上的销售能力迅速增长。尽管增长如此之快，但关于其存在的规模，向谁提供援助以及向谁提供援助，以及发现哪些有价值的措施知之甚少。在一项探索性研究中，来自全球3个地区（亚太地区，欧洲和北美洲）的561个响应的结果表明，在与销售能力相关的方面存在着几个重大差异。调查结果表明，销售人员和客户经理是销售支持计划的主要重点，但世界各地的利益相关者也存在很大差异。此外，销售支持提供的特定服务（例如培训，内容，工具，流程，入门，培训）在全球范围内差异很大。在销售支持计划中，甚至生产力目标也不一致。这项研究通过将其应用扩展到新的销售支持范式中，对营销能力理论做出了贡献。我们总结了这项全球性调查的发现和管理意义。