Welcome to OrchestrateSales.com‘s Inside Sales Enablement Season 3 Enablement History. Where we hop in the Enablement Time machine and explore the past, present, and future of the elevation of a profession.

On a superfun ISEs3 Episode 13, Erich Starrett is joined in the Orchestrate Sales studios by Meganne Brezina, CCMP™. Meganne is not only the Senior Director of Enablement at Seismic, she's published Tomorrow's Enablement for Today's Leaders: The Strategic Guide to Demonstrating Value and Driving Outcomes alongside Irina Soriano.

Highlights from the episode include...

PAST:

⌛️ While carrying a bag for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (in partnership with John Deere) she quickly learned that hitting four or five dealerships and educating their salespeople how to sell to horse people was far more productive than going directly to 50 farms.

⌛️ Meganne's next stop was Exact Target, which was in the process of being acquired by Salesforce. She moved into an operations role and saw an opportunity to educate the customer facing team about the power of their internal "customer data warehouse" and spoke at SKO. That is when Meghan Gendelman came up to her and said "you need to be in Enablement!" And thus it began.

⌛️ In search of "what the heck is enablement?" Meganne searched the company directory and and up popped Brian Noss and Nina LaRouche (who co-leads the Indianapolis Chapter of WiSE with her today!)

⌛️ Her early experience in Engaging the Revenue Enablement Society was being sold by vendors vs. solving problems in community. 

PRESENT

💼 The the RES has evolved into "such an incredible community."  Meganne and I met F2F for the first time last fall at the 2023 Sales Enablement Society Experience conference in San Diego. 

💼 Position two - that in order to be effective Enablement should be run as a business withing a business - is a big part of why Meganne got into Enablement. 

  👉🏻 She is passionate about Enablement teams being grounded in a charter and mission statement.

  👉🏻 Enablement "requires the orchestration of so many pieces within an organization to bring it to life."

  👉🏻 Enablement built with a North Star driving the practice forward results in tangible business outcomes.

💼 The biggest #Enablement opportunity in present day? Putting forth a proper enablement strategy.

💬 "Getting the executive buy-in for it, doing their socialization across the business, and then start to execute on it. That is the only way we're going to get out of the fire department world and into the fire prevention world." 💬

💼 The digital copy of Meganne and Irina Soriano's new book - Tomorrow's Enablement for Today's Leaders: The Strategic Guide to Demonstrating Value and Driving Outcomes - is OUT NOW and available for free from Seismic's site!  Paperback coming soon. 📚

💼 The concept of the EVC - Enablement Value Chain - was born of Meganne and Irina preparing to go in front of their executives to give a semi-annual report and struggling to connect the dots with the business outcome that their Enablement team drove.

💼 The resulting data and analytics report from the EVC empowered them to secure executive buy in and gain the necessary resourcing to effectively enable their organization going forward.  To be seen as part of their company's revenue engine.

💼 RE: the move to "Revenue" enablement...

    💬 "I view the idea of enablement as (serving) anybody who is customer facing. Anybody who is customer facing deserves to be included in an enablement strategy because we are here to service the events that are happening along the customer lifecycle. Customer lifecycle does not start and end with the buying journey. It doesn't stop at the first signature. In fact, that's the first of many milestones that you should be expecting from your customers."

FUTURE

🤖 Meganne and Del Nakhi, CCMP™ see huge opportunity for Enablement to more fully embrace change management.  Meganne just picked up her CCMP. 

🤖 The opportunity *still* remains for many in Enablement to gain the gravitas (shoutout Sheevaun Thatcher, CPC and @Dr. Stephen Timme) of an executive sponsor / seat a the C-table ...AND to equip their customer facing teams to "speak CxO" and gain the same credibility with customer execs.

🤖 AI will fundamentally change everything that we do. Enablement teams will shift from AI education mode to developing and executing on strategy to harness productivity gains. Must have a clear plan for the revenue generating activities for teams to lean into with the time recouped.

🤖 Practices will be leaning into data and analytics much more to drive their decision making processes.  To make decisions faster ...even in real time.

    💬 "This idea of launching a campaign, launching a program, and then waiting six months to see if anything's happened with it? Done and gone and dusted."

Please click 👇🏻, subscribe 📲, listen 🎧 ...and 🎙️ join the conversation! 

ORCHESTRATE Sales!

Erich

#RevenueEngine #DigitalTransformation #ChangeManagement

#RevenueEnablement #Sales Enablement

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Hello everyone and welcome to Inside Sales Enablement

2

Season three Enablement History

we have in the studios today.

3

A person that started out selling

tractors in my neck of the woods,

4

Salina, Kansas, even knew the place.

5

John Deere tractors to be exact,

which is cool in and of itself.

6

You still have any of

those hats laying around?

7

I'd love one.

8

I'm just, maybe you could have a

giveaway for our audience, such a

9

hip brand for might be the only cool

thing about my childhood was being

10

associated with John Deere, but she's

been a lot of places since then.

11

She actually was on the customer

advisory board for Lessonly

12

before that Salesforce.

13

And then Lessonly, as I'm sure

everyone in the listening audience

14

knows, was acquired by Seismic.

15

And so she's gone on a journey from

salesperson to being salesperson.

16

As senior director of enablement

at one of the enablement platforms.

17

So with that, Meganne, I'd love to

hand it over to you to fill in any

18

gaps and just say hello to the crew

19

Meganne Brezina: Thanks, Erich.

20

And I appreciate the opportunity

to be here and have a

21

conversation with you today.

22

The enablement community is such

a special place and I'm so proud

23

to be a part of it and to share

a little bit of my story today.

24

It's a very unlikely story.

25

I had completed a postgraduate

certificate at the university of

26

Louisville in equine business.

27

And through those networking opportunities

found my way to the national thoroughbred

28

Racing Association who has a very

deep partnership with John Deere.

29

And so as a seller for the NTRA,

I had my territories across

30

the United States and Canada.

31

In fact, lived in three

different cities as I moved with

32

them as my territory changed.

33

And it was my responsibility to promote

this program and sell the equipment

34

to racetracks and horse farms.

35

What I learned very quickly in that time

when I was traveling to these places was I

36

hit my quota a lot faster when instead of

going to 50 farms over a two day period,

37

I would hit four or five dealerships

and educate those salespeople in those

38

dealerships how to sell to horse people.

39

I've been riding horses since I

was six years old and I have a very

40

deep affinity for the industry, the

community, I know these people very well.

41

I know what use cases they have and

how the John Deere equipment could

42

help solve those problems for them.

43

So it's very much a solution sale

approach, which has really served me

44

well in my capacity here at Seismic.

45

I frankly got tired of

traveling my last trip.

46

I took with them I was on the road for

three weeks Living out of a suitcase and

47

it was a lot and I was at a time in my

life where I needed And wanted to be home.

48

I was newly married wanting to start a

family And so I came back to indianapolis,

49

which is my hometown And there was

a little digital marketing company.

50

You may have heard of called Exact Target.

51

And they were in the throes

of the acquisition process

52

with Salesforce already.

53

I jumped on board in an account

support role, which was great.

54

I was customer facing.

55

I really got into the, or dip my toe

rather into what the software industry

56

was, because coming from a sale,

which was a tangible, hard product,

57

making that transition to a cloud

software company was an adjustment.

58

And so this role really enabled me

to learn the intricacies of what

59

that buying process and what the

customer life cycle looked like.

60

So I rode the wave with Salesforce

for a while did an operations role for

61

them for a little bit and eventually

found my way to the enablement space.

62

Erich Starrett: So when did you

first hear sales enablement?

63

What do those words mean to you?

64

And was it when you were out educating

folks about the finer equestrian

65

arts or when along the journey?

66

Meganne Brezina: I think at that time,

Erich, I didn't know what enablement was.

67

I was doing enablement things when

you think about educating on personas,

68

educating on that solution sale,

but I didn't know what that was.

69

When I was at Salesforce in an operations

role, they had rolled out something

70

called a customer data warehouse,

which was great, super helpful.

71

I was interested in how all of the

tools work together in the data,

72

but my first thought was, we have

to teach people how to use this.

73

And so I brought that idea to my

manager at the time and she got me

74

a spot on the sales kickoff agenda.

75

And so I got up in front of 300 or 400

people and talked about how they could

76

use this CDW for their uses as their,

researching account planning, whatever.

77

Went great.

78

I had a good time.

79

I came off of the stage and

Meganne Gendelman, she might

80

not even remember this.

81

She's now a marketing leader at

Salesforce, but she came up to me and she

82

said, what are you doing in operations?

83

You need to be in enablement.

84

And I'm thinking, what

the heck is enablement?

85

I don't even know what this is.

86

And I came back to the office the

following week and I typed in enablement

87

into our company directory and up popped

Brian Noss and Nina LaRouche, who I

88

am both in very close contact with to

this day, Brian and I meet for coffee

89

every month and Nina and I Co lead

the wise chapter here in Indianapolis.

90

But I went to go to them and I

said, what is this enablement thing?

91

And so they really educated me on

what it was about the purpose of it.

92

And I remember talking

to Brian's, especially.

93

Him talking was like that is my jam.

94

That is where I need to be.

95

That is my world.

96

And so my career then

progressed from there.

97

And that's really where I have

found my calling and where my

98

skillset has really thrived.

99

Erich Starrett: What a great story.

100

So you learned about sales

enablement and what I would

101

argue is the piece of software or

not software it's in the cloud.

102

I remember when that was a big deal

and Salesforce changed everything.

103

You learned about it in the mothership.

104

Meganne Brezina: I suppose I did.

105

Yes.

106

Erich Starrett: That's awesome.

107

Love that history.

108

So what about the society itself?

109

I know WiSE, which is awesome.

110

And thank you for your service

in Women in Sales Enablement.

111

What about the sales enablement society?

112

When did you first hear of the

Sales Enablement Society or did you?

113

Meganne Brezina: I did.

114

In fact, I did.

115

In fact, I just looked this week

preparing for this conversation.

116

I joined the sales enablement

117

So it's just about six years.

118

And I was a very frequent,

shall I call it a lurker?

119

I read everything I could get my

hands on in those community boards

120

and I would post occasionally.

121

But what I found really interesting

in that experience, Erich, and

122

this will come back later in the

conversation that I would post.

123

But the first people that would respond

to it would be people who are trying

124

to sell me something and that was,

that has changed that has evolved.

125

Erich Starrett: Interesting.

126

That's important.

127

Meganne Brezina: it is important

because I remember what those emotions

128

and what those feelings looked like.

129

And I'm very intentional about

how I engage with other people.

130

Practitioners in my current role because

I remember what that was like when

131

you're really just trying to get to

the heart of I have a problem to solve.

132

How do I put together a

mutual action plan template?

133

For example, how do I figure

out the negotiation levers I

134

need to educate my teammates on?

135

All of those things, and it

was not the response that I

136

was looking to get originally.

137

However, the community

has evolved so much.

138

I attended where I met you last fall,

the conference in San Diego, and it's

139

just, it's such an incredible community.

140

And we've been so fortunate to

see the enablement community

141

blossom and grow in these past.

142

To call it 6, 10, 12 years with the

advent of groups like Women in Sales

143

Enablement, which I'm heavily involved

in Sales Enablement Collective, the

144

Enablement Squad, you name it, it's a

wonderful community where people can

145

really find their find their community.

146

Erich Starrett: I think you were

even doing something a little bit

147

with Sales Assembly as well, right?

148

Meganne Brezina: I am.

149

Yes.

150

They reached out so I can connect

with practitioners who are very much

151

in their early stages and to help

them scale and grow their practice

152

and paint the picture of what that

transformational practice can look like.

153

Erich Starrett: That's awesome.

154

You're serving on all fronts.

155

So , you missed the early days of

the Sales Enablement Society when

156

they founded in 2016, but you were

there pretty close to the beginning.

157

It's interesting, the original

founding positions of the Sales and

158

Enablement Society, aren't even

listed on the Revenue Enablement

159

Society site at this point.

160

So I'm curious, I know you had a

little bit of a time to look at

161

those three, , do any of those

resonate with you still today?

162

Meganne Brezina: Absolutely.

163

Number two.

164

two was really what attracts

me to the enablement space.

165

And there are three things in that

statement, Erich, that really get me.

166

Number one is this idea of

the needs to be chartered.

167

And I think about that charter

as the mission statement, as the

168

grounding for any enablement practice.

169

I'm consistently amazed at the

number of people that I speak

170

to that don't have a charter, or

they say, Oh, I'm just too busy.

171

I can't get to it.

172

And 9 times out of 10, dare I say 10

times out of 10, these are often the

173

practices that are in the business

of having to put the fires out, as

174

opposed to proactively preventing the

fire from starting in the first place.

175

The second piece of this is all around

the cross functional business aspect.

176

Enablement is a team sport.

177

Enablement takes a village.

178

Any enabler who's going to go off the

reservation and do their own thing will

179

not be successful because it requires the

orchestration of so many pieces within

180

an organization to bring it to life.

181

The third piece that's really

compelling here is this idea of

182

a business within a business.

183

So just as you said about the charter

being that North Star or that piece,

184

it's really driving the practice forward.

185

I have to control what I can

control within my business.

186

And if I am doing a good job of that,

we should be seeing the business

187

outcomes on the other side in the

larger context of that organization.

188

So this second position is something

that intrigued me to even enter

189

into the enablement society

or the enablement community.

190

And it's something that continues to

motivate me even today after now, I've

191

been in the space now for over 10 years.

192

So it's something that's really

critical and really important.

193

Erich Starrett: And if I may, if

anyone has proven their passion for the

194

space, it's someone who has actually

written a book about it, right?

195

And so you are officially a

part of enablement history.

196

It's on the library shelf.

197

So really exciting.

198

That's only in the last

really, what, three months.

199

Meganne Brezina: It is.

200

And in fact, I just got my paperback

copy in the mail for final review.

201

So we'll be publishing the physical

book here in the next couple of weeks.

202

But I appreciate you saying that.

203

I think when Irina and I sat down to

write this book, there were only, dare

204

I say, 10 or 11 books on the market that

had the word enablement in the title.

205

So we're very happy to contribute

and add to that lineage.

206

Erich Starrett: That's awesome.

207

That concept, the enablement value chain

diagram that you have . I'm excited to

208

explore that further, because I think

in that lies a lot of the DNA of exactly

209

what we're talking about in position two.

210

Can you unpack maybe just

that a little bit further?

211

Meganne Brezina: Absolutely.

212

So Irina and I sat down.

213

This was about, gosh, this has to

have been almost three years ago.

214

We sat down and we were about to go

in front of our executives to give

215

a quarterly or semi annual report.

216

And we were looking at it and said,

man, we have done so much great work.

217

But we were really struggling to

connect the dot with here was the

218

business outcome that we drove.

219

We had documentation of the metrics

that had improved, but it was really

220

hard for us to hang our hat on and

say, we were the ones that did this.

221

And I think many practitioners

struggle with us.

222

And it was through that

experience that the EVC was born.

223

So essentially what we were able

to do over the past three years was

224

take that experience, build out a

robust analytics program that we now

225

use to drive all of our decisions.

226

We also use it to drive a lot of our

cross functional partnerships because

227

the data is something that everybody

in the business can align behind.

228

It doesn't matter if we're talking

to field leaders, if we're talking

229

to operations, teammates, product

marketing, it doesn't matter.

230

That data is truly that central force that

all of us can align to and unpack what the

231

gaps are and align action items behind it.

232

The next step is being able

to secure executive buy in.

233

Using this data and analytics report to

help us secure the necessary resourcing

234

that we need in the organization.

235

Erich Starrett: If I'm hearing

you correctly, all of the verbiage

236

you're using is, this is what

we built to do what we do.

237

This is our Seismic champagne on

how Seismic does Seismic on Seismic.

238

Meganne Brezina: Yep.

239

That's exactly right.

240

Erich Starrett: There seems to be

such a great opportunity for you to

241

tell that story clearly in the book,

but there's a difference between that

242

and actually getting out and walking

alongside some of these practitioners.

243

How are you bringing that

book to life in the community?

244

And how might folks be able

to engage you in that aspect?

245

Meganne Brezina: Sure.

246

Absolutely.

247

So this book is really

about enablement strategy.

248

We are extremely fortunate to have

the Seismic enablement cloud backing

249

us in our enablement practice.

250

And so we are able to do

everything that we need to do.

251

I can look at how the initial

enablement engagement translates to

252

behavior change that then translates

to business outcomes fluidly.

253

Very easy for us to get there.

254

So this book is really about

the enablement strategy piece.

255

Does it come to life with Seismic?

256

100 percent.

257

Is our door always open to talk to other

practitioners about how they too can

258

bring this reality to life, no matter

what they have in their tech stack.

259

Absolutely.

260

This book is really also about giving

back to the community, Erich as well.

261

Erich Starrett: I love that.

262

So back to being informed by your

first experience at the sales

263

enablement society, as you shared

was a full on vendor assault, right?

264

Meganne Brezina: That's exactly right!

265

Erich Starrett: You're like,

I'm making the world better.

266

If there's a vendor in the space Seismic

among the top of them, but I'm not

267

coming at you with my logo on my chest.

268

Yeah, it's there.

269

But what we're here to talk about

is elevating the profession.

270

I love that approach and I

applaud it wholeheartedly.

271

So is that also then, is part of

your model, some of the approach

272

to training as well, or is it

more about that core blueprint?

273

Meganne Brezina: This is

really about the strategy.

274

We do get into the tactics in terms

of the how there is plenty of content

275

available out there on how to facilitate

best virtually or how to create a

276

content governance process or whatever.

277

So we don't really go there.

278

In fact, In this book, we talk about that

there is a bit of pre work that needs to

279

happen before you crack open this cover.

280

We assume that you have the

necessary business acumen to have

281

conversations at the executive level.

282

We are assuming that you have been

in the enablement space for a while

283

and you understand the importance of

things like a customer life cycle.

284

For example, so it is very, it's

much more of a strategic focus,

285

but we do get into the tactics.

286

In fact, we have 26 downloadable

templates and pamphlets and

287

outlines and everything to literally

take this EVC and implement it.

288

If a reader goes through this chapter

by chapter, there should be no excuses

289

for not implementing the EVC in the book

because we even provide things like a

290

gap analysis to give you the roadmap of

where you need to begin this journey.

291

Erich Starrett: Outstanding.

292

What a great service.

293

I'm looking forward to

digging into it more deeply.

294

I believe that folks can go to

the Seismic site or even from your

295

linkedin profile, download the ebook.

296

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

297

And also when can people get

their hands on a hard copy?

298

Meganne Brezina: I'm

so glad you're asking.

299

So in order to get the current

book, it is available digitally.

300

You can go to Seismic.

301

com and download it for free.

302

Or if you prefer to have it on

your Kindle, you can also go to

303

Amazon and purchase it there for

the ebook, the digital version.

304

If you are old fashioned like me, and

you like to have paperback books that

305

you can highlight and, fold, dog ear the

corners, that is going to be coming out.

306

I believe in the month of May.

307

I'm sure that Irina and I will be blowing

up LinkedIn when it does come out because

308

we are so excited and so proud to share

this story with the enablement community.

309

Erich Starrett: Outstanding.

310

We'll be shouting from the rooftops

here on the podcast as well.

311

So keep us in the loop.

312

If you would.

313

Recently, and we touched on this a little

bit earlier, but it was a pretty big deal.

314

And last October, I believe we

were darkening the same hallways,

315

brightening the same hallways.

316

I've never liked that phrase.

317

I'm like, what about brightening?

318

When the announcement came out that we

as a society, sales enablement society,

319

we're moving to revenue enablement.

320

Again, notice that you have

just enablement on your profile.

321

What are your thoughts and maybe even

some experiences around your clients

322

and some of the folks that you're

consulting agnostically outside of the

323

platform and what you're seeing in sales

enablement versus revenue enablement.

324

Meganne Brezina: Erich, last October

on the last day of the conference,

325

I was sitting on the second row

in the front, second seat in.

326

And when Paul announced that they were

changing from sales enablement into

327

revenue enablement, I literally jumped

out of my seat and threw my hands in

328

the air because it was so validating.

329

There, yes, there have been a lot of us

in this space that have been servicing

330

the full go to market team for years.

331

And it always felt alienating for it

to be sales enablement because there's

332

so much more to do in the enablement

space than simply focus on our

333

teams who are in the buying journey.

334

So I was thrilled to see that evolution.

335

Absolutely thrilled.

336

Erich Starrett: And so by the

way, I was right behind you.

337

You're the lady that was

jumping up in front of me.

338

I was

339

Meganne Brezina: That was me.

340

Erich Starrett: It's awesome.

341

Now we've connected the dots officially,

but along those same lines, what I

342

heard was, Hey, Erich, I jumped for joy

because it's not just a sales focus.

343

Now we can encompass these

other areas of the business.

344

What are those other areas of the

business that you've been thinking

345

about for a long time hey, y'all, when

we say revenue enablement, we're also

346

talking about groups, A, B, C, D, E

what, who are those groups in your mind?

347

Maybe some of the folks in sales

enablement are still missing them.

348

Meganne Brezina: So I view the idea

of enablement as anybody who is

349

customer facing, anybody who is customer

facing deserves to be included in an

350

enablement strategy because we are

here to service the events that are

351

happening along the customer lifecycle.

352

Customer lifecycle does not start

and end with the buying journey.

353

It doesn't stop at the first signature.

354

In fact, that's the first of many

milestones that you should be

355

expecting from your customers.

356

And so the validation of moving from

sales enablement society to revenue

357

enablement society is what I hope will

be a good nudge for folks who might

358

be still practicing buying journey

only to be expanding their horizons,

359

to looking at the value journey.

360

I think it was Gartner that talked

about how teams who have enablement

361

support on the value journey are

something like 70 or 80 percent more

362

likely to hit their cross sell targets.

363

And in a world where it's, we all

know that it's more beneficial from

364

an economics perspective to retain

the customers you have, as opposed to

365

acquiring a new company or a new customer.

366

So why aren't we enabling those

teams who are servicing customers?

367

Like it doesn't make any

economic sense either.

368

So the evolution of the space,

and I've seen this in my time too,

369

I started with SDR enablement.

370

That was my little narrow remit.

371

And now here we are, my team is servicing

everybody who's customer facing.

372

So there, there certainly is an evolution.

373

There certainly is a reason behind it.

374

And it does drive business outcomes.

375

Erich Starrett: Great take.

376

So this is where we generally

shift into the present, which

377

were already there, right?

378

You're talking a lot.

379

And in fact, a little bit about the

future when the hard copy comes out.

380

Anything else in this moment in time

where we have this revenue enablement

381

move, what are the, maybe top couple

of things that you think Enablement

382

folks listening to the podcast

should really be taking advantage

383

of and leaning into in the present.

384

Meganne Brezina: Great question.

385

So there are a few things that I

think people need to be leaning into.

386

Number one is this idea of strategy.

387

I talked to my team a lot about

the difference between being

388

tactical and being strategic.

389

Both have a purpose in an enablement

practice, and you can't have all

390

strategy people or all tactical people.

391

You've got to have a good mix.

392

But I think this idea of truly putting

forth a proper enablement strategy.

393

We are way past random

acts of sales enablement.

394

A lot of people are living that reality,

but in order for this industry to really

395

thrive, more and more practitioners have

to step behind this role of building

396

out a proper enablement strategy,

getting the executive buy in for it,

397

doing their socialization across the

business, and then start to execute on it.

398

That is the only way we're going to

get out of the fire department world

399

and into the fire prevention world.

400

That's what it means.

401

Erich Starrett: Going from in case

of emergency break the enablement

402

glass to bring enablement in early and

often, So there isn't an emergency.

403

Meganne Brezina: That's exactly right.

404

That's exactly right.

405

And give us the autonomy to say no

or to say yes, but you need to wait

406

six months for these reasons, right?

407

The other thing I think people

really need to start focusing on

408

is this idea of change management.

409

I am very interested in this field.

410

I earned my CCMP last year,

so I'm a certified change

411

management professional now.

412

I was so curious about this

space, I wanted to learn more.

413

This is something that is becoming

more and more of a conversation piece.

414

Del Nakai and I talk about

this on a regular basis.

415

Hi Del.

416

Where we, it's really important that

The enablement team are the ones driving

417

transformation in the organization.

418

And whether that's something tactical,

like a new field in Salesforce, or that's

419

something more robust, like a product

launch, if a practice does not have a

420

dedicated approach to the way that they

manage change, It's going to fail or it's

421

not going to be as good as it could be.

422

And so I think this idea of focusing

on a change management strategy,

423

which frankly is probably going to

look a little bit different at every

424

organization, depending on your players,

the size, the maturity, there are

425

a lot of factors that go into that.

426

But I think focusing there in concert

with your enablement strategy will

427

pay dividends if it's done correctly.

428

Erich Starrett: great.

429

And all founded in having that

baseline blueprint and charter, right?

430

Meganne Brezina: That's correct.

431

Erich Starrett: One of the things that's

come up a good bit of late is in fact,

432

coming out of, I was a digital now last

week in Chicago land this whole idea that

433

we need to elevate the value conversation.

434

And one of my big a-ha's is if you,

as an enablement practitioner, don't

435

have a seat at the executive table,

which I think you and I would agree

436

that a big conduit that is building

and getting that executive sponsor,

437

the business, but what your experience.

438

What's the percentage of enablement

folks that you feel like really have

439

the gravitas borrowing from Sheevaun

of a seat at the executive table

440

and maybe in general as well, the

opportunity for sales to address.

441

That same issue and how they're

approaching the C suite out in the

442

real world, because a lot of those same

Forrester, Gartner, you name it reports

443

are coming back and saying the executives

don't feel like the folks that are

444

showing up are speaking their language.

445

Meganne Brezina: Let's unpack

that one a little bit, Erich.

446

I think from an enablement perspective,

the number of practitioners who have

447

the gravitas or have the credibility

to really have that seat at the

448

table, it has grown in recent years.

449

I'm really happy to say that.

450

However, I do think that there is A

large opportunity to bring up the rest

451

of the 80, 90 percent of the community

to be able to activate in that way.

452

Sadly, when you look around with the way

the market conditions have been, many

453

people have been affected by layoffs

and that kind of thing in recent months.

454

And that is that's hard.

455

That's really hard for all of us to

see, but I do think that there are

456

more resources available to help people

lift their enablement practice up,

457

but it's not just on the shoulders

of the enablement practitioner.

458

It's also a responsibility of the CRO.

459

The CEO to understand truly what a

functional enablement practice can look

460

like and to know the value it can drive.

461

I think there's still some education

that needs to happen there.

462

And the second part of your

question was around how we can

463

level up our field teammates to

speak that executive language.

464

And I think Sheevaun has actually done

some work on this as well with Dr.

465

Steven Timmy.

466

Around financial acumen and educating

sellers on how they can take advantage of

467

the available resources that they have to

develop a point of view to bring insight

468

to that executive level conversation.

469

No executive will show up

and have a conversation about

470

a feature dump or, Hey, Mr.

471

Erich CEO, tell me what your

top priority is this year.

472

They're not going to sit around for

those conversations, but they will

473

stick around for those conversations

when a seller can come to them

474

and say, here is my observation.

475

Here is my hypothesis.

476

Can you gut check me on that?

477

Can you correct me on that?

478

What is your perspective?

479

They're much more likely

to engage in that way.

480

And I do think that there is a big

opportunity for our selling teammates,

481

anybody who is customer facing to have

that ability to have those conversations.

482

Erich Starrett: Couldn't agree more.

483

So we've covered the past, we've

spent some good time in the present,

484

and we've peeked into the future.

485

But let's maybe open it up to

land on, what do you see the

486

biggest opportunity going forward?

487

And if it doesn't involve AI in some

way, shape, or form, I think the

488

listening audience might be disappointed.

489

Meganne Brezina: That's a

subtle hint to talk about AI.

490

Erich Starrett: It's just, it's

funny, the future, and it's that's

491

actually the present, right?

492

Meganne Brezina: Yes it is.

493

Isn't it amazing?

494

The productivity gains are

just it's just phenomenal.

495

I was actually listening to

a call with our VP product.

496

One of our product VPs here at

Seismic, who's focused on the

497

development of AI and he made the most

interesting comment where he said.

498

I don't even go to Google.

499

I never go to Google anymore.

500

Everything I do is in an AI tool

because where I used to go to Google

501

to get code and I, I'd put it in and

I'd have to sift through content.

502

Now I ask, name your AI tool.

503

Now I ask AI the code and I have it

right away without all of that sifting.

504

And just organically in that one single

example, the productivity gains that

505

just, Go through the roof on that.

506

I think we're in a moment now where

we're trying to figure out how to

507

harness those productivity gains.

508

We're still in education

mode, no doubt about it.

509

I think about my sellers and the simple

prompts of what you can use when you're

510

just preparing for your initial call

with a prospect, for example, like

511

harnessing what that needs to look like.

512

But then also teaching people

what is the best use of your time.

513

After you have gained that

time back, what are those other

514

revenue generating activities

that you should be leaning into?

515

I think it's that moment of

education that we're in now.

516

But when I think about enablement,

enablers and the leaders in the

517

space, AI will, it'll fundamentally

change everything that we do.

518

But.

519

I think some of the things that we already

have in place, like this idea of an

520

enablement value chain, only get enhanced

and further evolved with the use of AI.

521

So I think there are already some

things in place that are scalable,

522

that are standard, that can adapt

and evolve with the expectations

523

that are in the space now.

524

It'll just further be enhanced by AI.

525

Erich Starrett: 10 years from

now, what are your thoughts

526

on the enablement profession?

527

And what will it take us as

a community to get there?

528

And maybe we can land on that.

529

Meganne Brezina: 10 years.

530

Boy, you're really asking me to

get the crystal ball out here.

531

Erich Starrett: You know what?

532

The pace we're going two and a half,

533

Meganne Brezina: Thank you.

534

Yep.

535

I was just going to say that,

10 years ago, I don't even know

536

that you and I would have been

having this conversation, right?

537

So who knows what will happen in 2034?

538

But I think in the next couple of years,

I think we will start to see practices

539

really leaning into data and analytics

much more than they have in the past to

540

drive their decision making processes.

541

Layered with that, this idea of AI

to make those data driven decisions,

542

A, much faster than they have been

before, but B, also having the ability

543

to make decisions in real time.

544

This idea of launching a campaign,

launching a program, and then

545

waiting six months to see if

anything's happened with it?

546

Done and gone and dusted.

547

As we think about the future of a I

practitioners are going to have the

548

ability and frankly, they already do today

to make these decisions in real time so

549

that they can course correct in real time

and make those adjustments to gain more

550

progress against the goals that they have.

551

Erich Starrett: And your book all the

stuff you're giving back to the community.

552

I like our chances in two and a half to

10 years on out there, Meganne, for sure.

553

Meganne Brezina: I'd say say so!

554

Erich Starrett: To everyone in

the audience, make sure you like

555

and follow and get the book.

556

Whether your penchant be PDF or

Kindle or Dead Tree coming soon

557

to a distributor near you, right?

558

Final word, Meganne, it's yours.

559

Meganne Brezina: Oh, Erich.

560

Thank you for the opportunity

to be here to all of my fellow

561

enablement practitioners.

562

One of my favorite things to do in life

is to brainstorm challenges and figure

563

out solutions to those challenges.

564

So please reach out.

565

You can always find me on LinkedIn

and I hope to see everybody at the RES

566

conference in Chicagoland this October.

567

Erich Starrett: Great

way to land the plane.

568

That's awesome.

569

Thanks so much for your time,

Meganne, for your service in the

570

RES, and in WISE, and for the book.

571

And for giving back to the

community in all of those ways.

572

So great to have you on the show.

573

Hope to see you again soon in Chicago.

574

If not before

575

Meganne Brezina: Thanks, Erich.

576

That was fun!