Sales Enablement vs. Sales Engagement

The CSO Insights definition of sales enablement is: A strategic, collaborative discipline designed to increase predictable sales results by proving consistent, scalable enablement services that allow customer-facing professionals and their managers to add value in every customer interaction. Starting with a company’s leadership recognizing the need for a sales enablement charter, cross-functional collaboration and coordination, and ongoing investments in systems and skills to delight customers.
The definition of sales engagement is: Doing it.
Salespeople remain disengaged. CRM user adoption is poor; sales training is only sporadically practiced; and there is generally a lack of sales uptake (i.e., utilization) of tools purchased to improve their performance.
An analogy we’ve made in the past is a company investing in its employees’ fitness. The company pays for a gym membership and full monthly fees for each person. Does this enablement translate to greater fitness? Not if no one goes to the gym and actually works out. Enabled, yes.