In today’s rapidly evolving world of work, staying ahead of the curve is crucial for sales teams and enablement professionals alike. With buyers’ needs shifting and technology transforming customer engagement, companies must invest in modern revenue enablement—and enablement professionals must invest in mastering the latest enablement tools and strategies.

Because when you invest in revenue enablement—technology or people—you help your sales teams win more deals.

You’re “enabling anyone on the go-to market team who interacts with customers and prospects to help them have more effective conversations. And effective conversations lead to closed business, and that’s what we’re all looking for,” said Mary Shea, general manager at HireQuotient and revenue enablement thought leader.

Shea, also a former analyst at Forrester, joined me for a recent episode of The Adapter’s Advantage podcast. Her perspective on how technology, particularly AI, is transforming the workplace were insightful. Whether you’re interested in the evolving role of revenue enablement or how AI is shaping the way go-to-market teams engage with customers, this conversation offers valuable takeaways for professionals across industries.

If you’re in revenue enablement … and you aren’t using generative AI every day, either in your embedded tools and ideally with tools on your own, you are working way too hard and you’re falling behind. — Mary Shea, General Manager, HireQuotient

During the interview, Shea shared her vision of revenue enablement as a natural progression from sales enablement, emphasizing the importance of staying on top of new technology and equipping the entire go-to-market team to have more effective conversations with customers. It’s clear that companies that focus on innovation, insights-driven decision-making, and strong partnerships are leading the way.

We also explored the impact of AI on revenue enablement and how companies can strike the right balance between caution and innovation. Shea’s advice is to embrace generative AI enablement tools but remain strategic and personalized in their application. She offered practical examples of how these technologies can drastically improve efficiency, allowing sales teams to close deals faster and with higher value.

Shea also reminded enablement professionals to keep up with new technologies. She stressed that in a rapidly changing market, enablement leaders must focus on upskilling and continuous learning to stay competitive. Her advice for professionals in this space? Take charge of your own education, and you’ll remain ahead of the curve.

Continue reading to learn more or watch the full interview below.

Episode 66: Unlocking the Future of Work | Mary Shea

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From This Episode:

Mark Magnacca: Welcome to the Adapter’s Advantage podcast. I’m Mark Magnacca, and my guest today is Mary Shea, who’s the General Manager at HireQuotient. Mary is a globally recognized thought leader, a keynote speaker, podcast host, author, and advisor. Her deep investment in the future of work, innovative technology’s role in providing competitive advantage, and her commitment to elevating underrepresented professionals and their voices in the workplace, position her as a significant industry influencer. She’s been featured in a wide range of publications from The Wall Street Journal to Forbes, and she wrote the foreword to our new book, Digital Sales Revolution: How Digital Sales Rooms Can Transform Your Buying and Selling Journey. So, Mary, welcome back to the podcast.

Mary Shea: Mark, it’s so wonderful to be here, and I couldn’t be more enthusiastic to spend a little bit of time with you today.

What do you do now that you are at HireQuotient?

Shea: I do what I’ve always done, which is educate, inform, inspire, engage with the marketplace. And instead of focusing exclusively on revenue enablement, which is near and dear to my heart, I’m looking a little bit more broadly at the future of work. As we all know, generative AI has the ability to really transform how we work, how we spend time, how we socialize, how we interact with the world.

As someone who helped to shape the space and define it, what is your definition of revenue enablement and why should people care?

Shea: When I think about revenue enablement, I think it’s a natural evolution of where sales enablement was back in the day when we were talking about it probably a decade ago. When you think about how buyers buy, they don’t buy just through the direct selling channel. They buy through a range of different, I want to say, formats. That could be through a partner [or] ecosystem. … They can buy from a direct seller, and they can actually go on a marketplace or a website and purchase there. So, when I think about revenue enablement, it’s really enabling anyone on the go-to-market team who interacts with customers and prospects to help them have more effective conversations. And effective conversations lead to closed business, and that’s what we’re all looking for.

What do you think separates some of the top performing revenue enablement platforms, those that might be categorized as a leader in this space?

Shea: First of all, congratulations on how Allego did in the Forrester Wave for Revenue Enablement Platforms Report.

You did extraordinarily well. I was not surprised, but it was great to see. I think the technology providers and companies that are leading in these evaluative research papers that Gartner and Forrester do, and others as well, are organizations that focus on creating a UI [user interface] and user experience that’s easy to use, are committed to doing deep integrations, and having strategic partnerships. … They’re really focused on innovation and R&D. If you look at some of the best AI companies out there, there are consistent themes. They’re using data to make decisions. They’re insights driven.

What’s the biggest trend from AI that you’ve observed in terms of how companies approach revenue enablement? And I say that knowing many companies are still very cautious about how they’re using AI.

Shea: You should be cautious, but don’t be so cautious that you’re sitting on the sidelines and losing your competitive edge. Because again, what some of these innovative technologies are designed to do is help you win in the marketplace. The reality of the situation is that if you’re in revenue enablement, if you’re in a go-to-market role, and you aren’t using generative AI every day, either in your embedded tools and ideally with tools on your own, you are working way too hard and you’re falling behind.

You’ve got to be sensible about it, and you can’t expect it to be a panacea for everything. There’s a level of personalization and customization that you need to apply when you use it. And if you use it sensibly and in strategic ways, you’re going to find that things that used to take two days will now take two hours. Things that used to take a week will now take a day. It’s about helping sellers deliver a better experience to buyers. Because when you do that, you’re going to have shorter sales cycles, you’re going to have happier, more informed prospects, and you’re going to transact deals quicker at higher order values.

What’s your experience been when a company has bought a revenue enablement platform and they’re bringing these things together so that everything is in one spot for sellers. How did you help them think about ROI [return on investment]?

Shea: Metrics and ROIs are tough. And oftentimes when I consult with organizations or advise them, I’m coming to the conversation thinking, I wonder if they really do have the right metrics in place, if they’re looking at metrics that really indicate positive change for the business. And oftentimes, they don’t. It’s about how I can create greater efficiencies and effectiveness so that each seller can do one to two more meetings a day and that in those meetings, they’re three to four clicks more effective than they were prior to having that solution.

If you are not upskilling yourself personally and professionally, you’re going to fall behind very, very quickly. — Mary Shea, General Manager, HireQuotient

In 2016, you talked about consultative sellers and that many transactional sellers were going to go away. What about people who are in enablement who oversee everything—from onboarding, to certification, to sharing best practices with the team?

Shea: Because you’re dealing with smaller sales forces, and buyers are buying across a range of different channels, you’ve got to get this productivity level up. It’s not OK for me to make my number now with 20 or 30% productivity. It’s just not. I do think sales teams and sales organizations will be and are in the process of being much smaller, but they’re going to be much more effective.

The role of the enablement professional is absolutely crucial. So, if you think about the whole employee cycle, it really starts with talent, the recruiting process, and the candidate experience, of which I’m really focused on now. But you can hire the best possible talent and if you don’t have a solid enablement program and professional to lead them through their journey, you’ve wasted all that time, effort, and money.

Enablement professionals have had a tough time over the last 24 or 36 months. I know a lot of them. But I think we will see a resurgence in focus on the importance of enablement. Having an enablement professional helping sales organizations get to this productivity level is essential.

What’s one or two things sales enablement professionals are doing to stay competitive in this market?

Shea: If you are not upskilling yourself personally and professionally, you’re going to fall behind very, very quickly. There’s a lot that you can do. You should be learning as much as you can. Take a prompt engineering course or figure out all the different types of AI tools you could be using. The world is changing, so learn as much as you can. Learn from your business partners, learn on your own, and take control over your own education. I think that’s the most important thing. If I were to leave these enablement professionals who are your audience with advice, it would be to invest in your own career.

As always, this has just been a thought-provoking and fascinating conversation. Mary, if people want to know more about HireQuotient or they want to get in touch with you, what’s the best way to do that?

Shea: As you know, Mark, I’m super accessible. I’m on LinkedIn, so you can find my profile, Mary Shea PhD. Drop me a DM.

You can also reach me at HireQuotient, Mary@hirequotient.com, and then check out our website at HireQuotient.com. We’re doing what your customers have done over the last 10 years. Back then, we got involved in the sales digital transformation. Unsurprisingly, HR is a little bit behind because it’s typically not as out there as go-to-market, but we’re now transforming the world of recruiting and bringing more humanity to the process by marrying the human practitioner with the most innovative technology that’s available. So, I’m happy to talk anytime. Just reach out.

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