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A few years ago, I attended an enablement session with our go-to-market team themed around baseball. Everyone designed their own baseball card in a mural to share personal “stats.” It was so engaging and fun that I forgot I was at work in a training session.
I’ve seen many clever ideas come from Revenue colleagues since: a Minions-themed customer workshop, a Settlers of Catan-inspired game for our Revenue Kickoff, a Beyoncé and Taylor Swift concert for a teammate’s baby shower. Maybe you’ve tried our immersive templates like Road trip, Outer space, or Amusement park.
The takeaway: Small, interactive tweaks to your sales enablement efforts can grab your sales team’s attention and create major impact. I chatted with two colleagues who have tons of experience training go-to-market teams at major organizations, now on the Revenue team at Mural:
- Alejandro García Machuca, Principal Consultant at Mural, formerly a regional head of sales enablement for SAP
- Julie Newhouse, Director of Revenue Enablement at Mural, formerly a manager in sales enablement for Lyft, Google and others
Specifically, we explored how they support sales reps to increase their product knowledge. Let’s dive in!
Key takeaways from this article:
- Sellers must understand how to map problems to product solutions to more easily build trust with potential customers.
- When sellers show they’re honest about the extent of their product knowledge, customers feel more secure and are more likely to trust your brand.
- Experiential training methods help sales reps practice, stay engaged, and convert more customers.
Why product knowledge is critical to sales success
Product knowledge boosts sellers’ confidence when talking to customers, allowing them to clearly explain benefits and features. Sales teams can’t sell what they don’t understand, so understanding your products and features helps address customer concerns and build trust. With the right training, your go-to-market team will be informed and ready to inspire their prospects with creative solutions, driving sales success.
Here’s an example of how product knowledge can help move the needle. Alejandro shared a story about a recent customer call, where a simple feature demo led to a major a-ha moment:
“I was coaching a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt practitioner who was doing a retro in Mural, but it took him 2 or 3 hours to go through every sticky. When I showed him a shortcut to filter by color, his eyes just went big."
Why did this interaction have such a positive impact on the customer? Alejandro explains:
“Our customers always have a story. They’re trying to accomplish something. I’m just there to open that door for a different way of looking at things. They realize the product is much more nuanced and sophisticated than they ever used it for.”
Sales reps should feel as confident as Alejandro heading into a meeting with a customer. Knowing your product and its features well can significantly impact how successful sellers are when they talk to potential or current customers.
Benefits of enabling sales teams with product knowledge
In her role as Director of Enablement, Julie is responsible for upskilling go-to-market teams. She shared her view on why enabling sales teams on product matters:
“Understanding how product features come together to solve a customer’s problem is the ultimate goal product enablement. Often sales teams default to selling feature by feature, without recognizing what problem they are trying to solve. By understanding how to map problems to product solutions, sellers can build trust with potential customers.”
Here are a few ways sales enablement boosts team performance by improving product knowledge:
Increase conversion rates
Well-trained sales teams with in-depth product knowledge are more likely to convert leads into paying customers. When sellers have expertise, they can more easily address customer needs or deal with pushback, leading to a higher chance of conversion. And customers are more likely to move forward with a purchase when they feel understood, valued, and supported throughout the sales process.
Reduce sales cycle time
Skip scheduling extra meetings or following up via email. If sales reps are ready to handle questions or concerns in the moment, the process is more efficient. No need to make an introduction to the product team for a comprehensive demo or Q&A, unless that’s part of your strategy! Reps can keep the sales cycle short and get to closing faster when they are knowledgable.
Alejandro says, “When sellers have product expertise, they need fewer calls. They can probably shorten the time they need to ask questions in half, easy. The more they know about the product, the less time they need to show it.”
Strengthen customer trust
Did you know 86% of buyers expect sales reps to act as trusted advisors? When your sales team is honest and transparent, customers feel more secure and are more likely to trust your brand. Alejandro explains:
“The moment the prospect asks something that you, the seller, don’t know how to do…because of all you know, you’ll have an easier time saying, ‘I don't know. But I'm going to do the research.’ Just saying no more confidently builds a lot of trust.”
Gain competitive advantage
Knowledgeable sales teams can clearly explain product benefits and differentiators, giving them an edge over competitors and helping to secure more deals. But knowing your product’s limitations matters too.
Alejandro handles conversations about competitor product features with radical transparency: “Because I know my product well, I know what it doesn't do well. And I’m very content praising my competitors.”
6 Steps to enable sales teams with product expertise
Now that we’ve covered the importance of having a well-informed sales team, here are six key steps to make sure they’re confident and fully prepared to succeed.
1. Assess training needs
Great product training starts with assessing training needs and pinpointing knowledge gaps through surveys, interviews, and performance data. Set clear objectives that align with business goals so training is strategically beneficial.
2. Align with key stakeholders
Make sure your enablement team is aligned with product, product marketing, and sales leadership. Julie shares her view:
“Where I’ve seen product launches fail in the past is if teams are misaligned on success looks like for a new product introduction. For example, if there’s a product with a new SKU (i.e. customers must pay for it), sales leadership needs to be in agreement on product goals or revenue targets and understand if there’s an impact on the sales compensation model.”
3. Offer in-depth training sessions
Next, develop engaging and comprehensive training content. Set a delivery schedule and method to keep the sales team updated on product changes. Consider what works best for your reps: a series of live sessions? Lots of time for Q&A? On-demand learning?
There are a range of methods enablement teams can use, including:
- In-person / live: workshops, seminars, webinars, discussions
- Online / async: e-learning courses, async Mural activities
- Hands-on: interactive product demos, coaching
- Role-playing scenarios: simulated conversations, gamification for engagement
- Continuous training: regular assessments, refreshers
4. Develop a hub of on-demand resources
A centralized knowledge hub like Mural, Sharepoint, Drive, or an LMS can house all materials, simplifying access for sellers. Use technology to give updates right away through notifications in apps, Slackbots, or pop-up microlearning content. Let reps participate in their own time through these async learning opportunities, fostering continuous improvement in the flow of work.
5. Integrate product knowledge into sales activities
Weave in product knowledge into routine sales tasks like presentations, discovery, follow-ups, and proposals to improve your sales team’s effectiveness. When representatives deeply understand (and even like!) the product, they can address customer concerns and highlight unique advantages, without seeming overly sales-driven. The focus is on the product and solutions for the customer.
Embed updates on product features into the sales workflow from initial contact to closing to foster more meaningful interactions and close more deals. For example:
- Presentations: Share relevant case studies featuring your product.
- Discovery calls: Connect customer pain points to specific product features.
- Follow-ups: Include recent product updates or data-driven success stories.
- Proposals: Emphasize specifically how the product meets client needs.
6. Measure the impact of enablement
How do we know training is working? Look at increased sales metrics like higher conversion rates and shorter sales cycles. You can also measure success via improved assessment scores, direct feedback from sales reps, or customer satisfaction.
“Typically new feature launches will have an adoption metric that enablement will track,” says Julie. “This could be as simple as asking sales to reach an outreach or prospecting target or as complex as a sales revenue target. In past roles, we’ve identified target customer list and then tracked seller performance to a certain product adoption goal within that list.”
Sales enablement best practices using Mural
Here are a few best practices for using Mural as part of your product training:
- Communicate value: Match product features with customer needs using real-world examples. Have sellers practice speaking persuasively with role plays, and document peer feedback using the Rose, Thorn, Bud template. This will help the team explain your product’s worth in an engaging way.
- Build trust through expertise: Beyond your own product, understand the prospective customer’s industry. Research trends, challenges, and competitors to keep your team informed and credible. Use a competitive analysis template to examine multiple customers at once.
- Handle objections confidently: Teach objection-handling techniques, and practice with both scripts and improvised answers. Try a method like Round Robin to collectively iterate on scripts. Well-prepared reps can address concerns smoothly, turning roadblocks into opportunities.
- Upselling and cross-selling: Know the product well to spot additional sales opportunities, and suggest relevant upgrades or complementary solutions. Have sellers note possibilities for upselling in a sales account planning template as a hands-on enablement activity or post-training action item.
- Keep information flowing: “Keeping sales teams up-to-date on product features is difficult,” Julie advises. “Changes can be released ad hoc, come through various communication channels, and have varying levels of relevance. Regular updates, training sessions and demo certification helps to hold teams accountable for the latest product experience.” Centralize information for cross-functional team members in a roadmap or a calendar.
Advice from sales enablement experts
Phew! You made it this far. Alejandro and Julie offer a few final recommendations for impactful sales enablement:
Make it experiential
Alejandro highlights the importance of making enablement experiential with scenarios: “I always try to put sales teams in realistic situations so they can practice in a safe environment. I'm going to be that customer that I’m sure you’re gonna find, even with awkward silences.”
Buyer personas can also be used to make your scenarios come to life and have real-world applicability.
Show, do, coach
Julie says her favorite framework is Show, Do, Coach. Here’s how it works:
“Enablement or product marketing teaches sellers about a new product or feature, including the intended audience, the problems it solves, how it works and what it takes to implement. Sellers practice demoing the solution, and the managers coach. (Repeat!) Enablement can coach at scale using a call coaching tool like Chorus or Gong to see if teams are pitching the new product correctly.”
Use real customer stories
Julie also recommends using stories to help product features stick in the brains of your go-to-market team. Account teams can document their own anecdotes using a storytelling template, or your whole team can routinely share stories that can be later re-told.
You can even “bundle feature releases alongside a compelling story or anecdote,” according to Julie. “When you tie product updates to customer stories and real customer pain points, it helps sales teams communicate product benefits clearly.”
Manage overwhelm
To keep sales enablement training manageable for the internal training team, Julie suggests using call recording software and AI to see trends across large sales teams. And for the reps, consider balancing product knowledge sessions with sales skills sessions to avoid information overload.
Upgrade your sales enablement with Mural
According to a 2024 Highspot report, 72% of executives say sales enablement technology helped improve their company’s sales performance. Mural makes developing meaningful sales enablement training more visual and collaborative. Your enablement team can save time and run better sessions using our pre-designed templates, leading to greater impact.
Get started with our workshop toolkit template to:
- Engage with your participants’ to build an empathetic environment.
- Use structured activities to gather and use the group's knowledge for informed decisions.
- Adjust the workshop outcomes based on participant feedback to ensure they are practical and meaningful..
Contact our sales team to learn more about Mural, and to chat about building engaging and meaningful content for your sales enablement.
