Sales Enablement Perspectives: A conversation with James Mooney, Founder & CEO of ROInnovation
By Jerry Rackley
Editor’s Note: This post is part of a series of interviews with sponsors and speakers at the upcoming Demand Metric Sales Enablement Virtual Summit, which will take place on April 3, 2014.
James Mooney, founder and CEO of ROInnovation, a gold sponsor of the upcoming Sales Enablement Virtual Summit. We asked Jim to share his thoughts on Sales Enablement:
Why is Sales Enablement so important?
As we are all aware, the B2B sales cycle has dramatically changed over the past years, the buyer is much more informed on what they are looking for, who the competition is or what vendors have made their short list, and perhaps even much of the budget decision has been made. They "engage" or enter the "Sales Cycle" much further than in years past, and they know exactly what they are looking for from the Selling organization or Sales rep. IF that Sales rep does not recognize that, IF that Sales rep is not able to Engage that Prospect with the Right information at the Right Time and in a Timely Manner, they have dramatically reduced their opportunity for success. Knowing when the prospect is engaged, when to follow up, and with what materials is the Competitive Advantage that the selling organization requires. That is where Sales Enablement and our technologies and solutions need to focus.
Our research shows that only half of organizations have a Sales Enablement function, and many that do have it aren't doing it well. Why do you think this is?
Sales Enablement, Knowledge Management, and other names we have seen are being placed on this growing unit. With companies becoming much more aware of this "labeling" of the category, I believe this statistic will grow very quickly. We are seeing more and more of our customers having departments with the title: "Sales Enablement". For the past 12 years, ROIInnovations has been providing the ability to leverage the Voice of the Customer in their Sales Cycles, much as today's Sales Enablement category dictates, the category did not really have a name until the last couple of years. Kudos to Demand Metric for helping stage this type of event to help companies better understand the definitions around Sales Enablement and what it may mean for their organization.
You're sponsoring a customer success panel at the Virtual Summit - what can visitors learn from it?
In our session we are joined by one of our customers: Broadsoft. Not only does Sales Enablement impact the Direct Sales organization, but it extends to the Channel as what we call Channel Enablement. Jeanne Sauer, director of solutions marketing at Broadsoft, will join me to discuss how she is leveraging our Sales and Channel Enablement solution to support her partner community in preparing them for success representing Broadsoft solutions.
About James Mooney
Jim Mooney is Founder and CEO of RO|Innovation, a pioneer in sales enablement and customer reference management solutions. Combining strategic vision with tactical precision, Jim has spearheaded the development and introduction of SaaS and mobile applications that address challenges in the sales, marketing and customer reference landscape. Companies ranging from nimble SMB’s to Fortune 500 companies have relied on ROlInnovation to help them streamline their customer reference process and increase sales force efficiency. Throughout his career, Jim has achieved success at all levels of sales innovation and management. He has provided complex business solutions to blue chip clients including Coca-Cola, American Airlines, Wal-Mart, United Airlines and Shell.
