How Sales Leaders Can Unlock the Full Potential of Enablement

The Missed Opportunity in Most Sales Organizations

Too often, sales enablement is treated as a support function - the team that builds playbooks, runs training, and delivers content when asked. This mindset leaves value on the table. Enablement isn’t just about “helping sales sell”; it’s about multiplying the effectiveness of your entire go-to-market engine.

In my Project Moneyball series, I’ve seen how companies either thrive or stall based on how they leverage enablement. The difference comes down to whether enablement is positioned as a reactive sales-support function or as a strategic multiplier.

1. Shift from Reactive to Proactive

Enablement should not sit around waiting for requests like “We need a new deck” or “Can you train the new reps?” Instead, they should lead by identifying systemic friction points - from misaligned handoffs between SDRs and AEs to outdated qualification criteria.

In The Multiplier, I shared a case where a company’s win rate was declining despite aggressive pipeline growth. The enablement team discovered that the problem wasn’t prospecting - it was inconsistent discovery practices. By introducing a uniform discovery framework and coaching managers to reinforce it, the business saw a 17% increase in conversion within one quarter.

2. Treat Enablement as Revenue Intelligence Analysts

Sales leaders have dashboards full of lagging KPIs. But what about the leading indicators? Enablement teams, with the right lens, can act as analysts of revenue health.

In Project Moneyball, I emphasized the importance of measuring the inputs that shape win rates: handoffs, ICP adherence, GTM collateral usage, and coaching consistency. When enablement tracks and interprets these parameters, they don’t just train - they guide the business toward predictable revenue.

3. Make Managers Reinforcement Engines

A lesson I’ve repeated in workshops: training doesn’t stick unless managers reinforce it. Sales leaders must empower enablement to work through frontline managers, not around them.

When I enabled a global sales team across 10 offices, we realized managers were the bottleneck. We equipped them with enablement-designed reinforcement guides - turning each pipeline review into a coaching opportunity. The outcome? Faster ramp for new hires and consistency across regions.

4. Integrate Enablement Across GTM Functions

Enablement’s full potential emerges only when it bridges silos—connecting marketing, sales, and customer success. For example:

• Marketing provides collateral, enablement ensures reps know when and how to use it.

• Customer success surfaces retention challenges, enablement translates them into sales plays that prevent churn before it happens.

• Product updates aren’t just shared—they’re translated into revenue stories.

This orchestration turns enablement into the glue of the GTM strategy.

5. Position Enablement as a Multiplier, Not a Cost Center

The final shift is mindset. When enablement is judged purely on “did they run training on time,” leaders miss the point. True enablement ROI lies in:

• Shorter ramp times

• Higher quota attainment

• Improved deal velocity

• Reduced no-shows in early engagements

Enablement is not an expense- it’s a multiplier of your sales organization’s capacity.

Closing Thought

Sales leaders: your enablement staff is more than a training team. They are the intelligence unit, the connectors, and the multipliers of your GTM success. When you unlock their full potential, you don’t just improve sales performance—you scale it.

But here’s the most important piece of the puzzle: authority.

Most enablers lack the authority and influence they need. They have the skills and deep visibility into the business, but too often sales leaders either don’t trust their strategic opinion—or let ego get in the way of shared decision-making.

The irony? The best partner for making those decisions is the seasoned enabler—the one who lives in the trenches and knows exactly what works and what doesn’t. Especially in the areas leaders tend to overlook due to lack of time or skills (like the early engagements of the sales cycle).

As I wrote in The Multiplier (Book 2): “Enablement is no longer about creating content. It’s about creating impact.” And impact only happens when you give enablement not just responsibility—but authority.