The 2023 State of Revenue Enablement study shows that the use of Generative AI is being prioritized by high-performing revenue organizations to automate manual tasks and increase efficiency.
Mediafly, the revenue enablement company, unveiled findings from the 2023 State of Revenue Enablement study, that surfaced behavioral and technological insights, trends, and best practices from large, global revenue teams. The survey was fielded from revenue leaders at B2B and B2B2C enterprise organizations with over 1,000 employees and more than $500 million in revenue. It assessed the complex go-to-market challenges large enterprises face in reliably supporting tens of thousands of sellers, large volumes of transactions and data, consistency across various systems, and more.
The study found significant differences separating high-performing revenue organizations from their lower-performing peers. These include the pace at which they are experimenting with Generative AI, adoption of value-selling methodologies, automation of CRM data collection, and optimization of content. Additionally, high performers have made more aggressive shifts away from traditional sales enablement to full revenue team empowerment.
Experimenting with Generative AI
Revenue teams have started utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) for operations and enablement. AI helps revenue organizations enhance their personalization efforts and automate their manual tasks, ultimately driving sales efficiency.
The State of Revenue Enablement study revealed that the adoption of Generative AI is on the rise, with 59% of revenue teams either currently using or experimenting with this technology and actively consolidating their tech stacks. High-performing organizations are leading the way, being 44% more likely to embrace Generative AI solutions.
The amount of manual work facing revenue teams is massive, and the age of AI comes at just the right time. With this technology’s ability to automate manual efforts, revenue teams can look at achieving their goals on time and with efficiency, without leading to burnout from endless cycles of data processing.
Challenges in content management
The report quotes that sellers are spending too much time manually personalizing content, and organizations are unable to stop sellers from sending inaccurate or obsolete collateral. Such incidents not only increase the total time spent on crafting customised content for customers, it also implies time thrown down the drain.
As per the report, a few persistent roadblocks large organizations face with content management include the excessive time spent by sellers on content creation and personalization, outdated sales content, and the difficulty in governing content to ensure alignment with brand and regulatory requirements.
Organizations have also noted struggles with achieving the required insights to identify the most effective content and its ideal timing, and there is a common issue of sellers sending content that deviates from the established brand guidelines.
Key findings from the study also include:
- High-performing organizations are 37% more likely to track the impact of sales content using data and insights compared to low-performers.
- High-performing organizations understand the critical importance of CRM data accuracy. They are 20% more likely to depend on CRM data that is automatically collected and uploaded, easing the burden on sellers.
- Surprisingly, only 44% of organizations leverage data-driven processes for understanding pipeline health and forecasts. This indicates untapped potential for improving data intelligence practices.
- High-performing organizations prioritize value-selling methodologies, with 19% more likely to have integrated these approaches into their strategies. Additionally, they are 38% more inclined to use business value assessments in their sales cycles.
- A substantial 70% of respondents expressed a strong preference for vendors offering a single source of truth for revenue data, noting the growing importance of data consistency and reliability.
Times are tough, and revenue teams are under constant pressure to get a lot done in significantly short tenures. At such a time, disruptive technologies like Generative AI will be the go-to technology for revenue organizations to rise from the challenges and move forward towards enhanced results. The winning organizations are emphasizing investments in technology for sales, with a focus on content for influence. Companies that utilize Generative AI for immediate and future impact will survive in the long run.
