According to ITSMA research, Thought Leadership (TL) has become a critical part of the buyers decision making process (ITSMA, February 2012). Thought Leadership is indeed important as it captures attention, create a dialogue between the vendor and potential buyer and is building trust which might lead to sales. On the other hand, most product/services companies are still looking for sales enablement only. So where should you focus on?
To me personally, both functions are equally important to drive sales. More precisely: they should go hand in hand in order to create most value for sales.
Sales Enablement needs to be an integral part of Thought Leadership – and vice versa. At the end, Sales Enablement organizations need to build TL material and educate sales how to leverage these during deal cycles.
What are your thoughts/experiences? Please join me in this conversation.
