What if the missing ingredient in sales enablement isn’t a tool—but balance? I recently sat down with my friend and longtime enablement leader, Roderick Jefferson—author of Sales Enablement 3.0 and the forthcoming Stroke of Success.
We planned to talk tech (yes, the kind with letters “A” and “I”), but we started with something more human: how grit without self-care breaks teams, and how leaders can recalibrate for sustainable performance.
Roderick nearly didn’t survive a stroke. That experience didn’t just change his life; it clarified his leadership.
His big takeaway: when what you do overtakes who you are, the system fails—you, your team, and ultimately the customer. That insight reframed our conversation about enablement entirely.
UPCOMING EVENT: WHAT A FAILED SALES HIRE REALLY COSTS YOU (AND HOW TO AVOID IT)
Can you imagine spending $250K on recruiter fees—only to have those hires fail within six months? With 75% of sales hires failing and 33% fired in the first year, the odds aren’t in your favor.
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THE BIG SHIFT: FROM “SALES ENABLEMENT” TO GO-TO-MARKET ENABLEMENT
Ask 10 people to define sales enablement and you’ll get 12 answers. Roderick’s view: the phrase itself is too narrow. It can put sales on a pedestal and everyone else in orbit. Instead, think go-to-market enablement—a connected ecosystem that integrates strategies, processes, platforms, and people across the entire customer lifecycle, from demand to renewal and expansion.
Enablement, done right, should:
- Accelerate speed to revenue
- Increase productivity per head
- Build customers for life
Metrics, platforms, playbooks—those are table stakes. The strategy is what ties them to outcomes customers actually feel.
“We used to force buyers through our funnel. Now the work is to understand their journey—and align the business around it.”
THE FORMULA: IQ + EQ + AI
The “missing ingredient” isn’t a shiny platform. It’s balance.
- IQ: Clear thinking, frameworks, data fluency, and business acumen
- EQ: Coaching, self-management, culture, and human connection
- AI: Acceleration, pattern-finding, automation, and adaptability
Leave out any one of these and performance becomes lopsided. Roderick calls it gumbo—you taste, adjust, and rebalance continuously.
THE 7 PS OF MODERN ENABLEMENT
Roderick maps today’s enablement work to seven interlocking pieces. If you’re rebuilding (or rescuing) enablement, start here:
- Purpose – Define the charter. Who do we serve? Why do we exist? What outcomes will we own?
- People – Structure the team for capability, not just coverage. Hire for the skills the future demands.
- Programs – Design the journey end-to-end: onboarding → continuous learning → reinforcement → leadership development.
- Platforms – Choose the right tech, not the newest. Integrate it. Kill the “shiny object” impulse.
- Processes – Operationalize workflows. Remove friction. Make the right thing the easy thing.
- Promote – Act as the internal communications hub. Translate across Sales, CS, Marketing, Product, RevOps, Finance, HR.
- Partnership & Performance – Build internal/external ecosystems. Measure what matters, then adjust and iterate quickly.
“Enablement leaders are translators—speaking Sales, Marketing, CS, Product, and Finance, then turning it all into one revenue language.”
CO-CREATION BEATS COMPLIANCE
One study I cite in my book shows people value what they help create. That applies to both customers and your internal teams. The fastest way to kill an initiative? Roll it out at people, not with them.
Use AI to co-create with sellers, CSMs, SEs, and managers:
- Gather field data, patterns, and objections.
- Generate first-draft collateral or playbooks that mirror how teams actually sell and support.
- Rapidly iterate through feedback loops so the content is relevant on Day 1.
When people can see themselves in the work, they use it.
WATCH THE REPLAY NOW
TIME TO RECALIBRATE (NOT PANIC)
Feeling overwhelmed? You’re not alone. The good news: AI raises the ceiling and the floor. It gives you tools to move faster and get more precise—if you implement thoughtfully. Different teams are at different maturity stages, so copy-pasting a peer’s stack rarely works.
Roderick’s practical list to increase efficiency and productivity—without throwing out all your previous work:
- Streamline Lead Scoring
Use AI to prioritize by fit and intent, so reps spend time where conversion is likely. - Automate Task Management
Offload scheduling, follow-ups, and data entry to reclaim time for relationship-building. - Real-Time Analytics
Shift from lagging “post-mortems” to live insights that guide behavior now. - Personalized Coaching at Scale
Analyze emails, calls, and meetings to create individual coaching plans. Kill the peanut-butter approach. - Auto-Generated Proposals & Contracts
Standardize guardrails, personalize content, and compress cycle times. - AI-Assisted Customer Success
Let automation handle routine inquiries so CSMs focus on complex issues and expansion opportunities.
“If you’re not using AI in some fashion, you’re behind. But you can catch up fast—if you calibrate to your stage of growth.”
FIX THE HANDOFF: TIE THE FRONT AND BACK OF HOUSE
If renewals are on fire, the spark often started in discovery. Selling that overpromises sets CS up to fail. The remedy:
- Bring CSMs in early. Design the solution and the success plan together with the buyer.
- Organize in pods. Group Sales, CS, SE, Support, and Marketing by segment/industry to create a consistent, sticky experience.
- Make the handoff a handshake. Shared goals, shared context, shared accountability.
When front and back of house flow together, customers stop feeling like the “kid in the middle” of a parental argument.
LEADER’S CORNER: CULTURE, MASKS, AND PERMISSION
High achievers—especially in corporate—often wear the “I have all the answers” mask. Roderick’s challenge to leaders:
- Model mistakes. Give (and take) permission to get it wrong, learn, and adjust.
- Protect the red line. Chronic stress is not a badge of honor. Balance intensity with recovery.
- Coach coaches. Most sales leaders were never truly taught to coach; build that capability intentionally.
And to my enablement peers: remember the airplane rule. Put your own mask on first. Over-givers burn out. Burnout breaks systems.
QUICK START: A 30-DAY REBALANCE PLAN
Week 1: Purpose & Baselines
- Write (or refresh) your enablement charter in one page.
- Select 3 outcome metrics: time to first revenue, productivity per head, retention/expansion.
Week 2: Co-Create with the Field
- Host a 90-minute feedback session with AEs, BDRs/SDRs, SEs, and CSMs.
- Use AI to synthesize patterns into 3 “must-fix” workflow gaps.
Week 3: Pilot 2 AI Workflows
- Example: automated follow-up generation + opportunity risk signals.
- Example: personalized coaching plans for two managers’ teams.
Week 4: Front/Back Integration
- Redesign the handoff: shared success plan, shared notes, shared goals.
- Stand up a cross-functional pod for a single ICP and run it for one quarter.
Ship, learn, adjust. Balance is a practice.
MY FAVORITE RODERICK MOMENTS
- The Horse vs. Automobile Analogy: New tech doesn’t eliminate the old; it changes how we leverage it.
- IQ + EQ + AI: The most useful equation I’ve heard in years.
- Enablement as Translator: If your team isn’t bilingual in every GTM dialect, you’re leaving revenue on the table.
IQ plus EQ plus AI—that is the new business formula.
Enablement won’t be “saved” by another platform. It will be elevated by balance—across IQ (thinking), EQ (human connection), and AI (acceleration). Define your purpose, co-create with the field, design across the lifecycle, fix the handoff, and measure what matters. Then iterate—at the speed of AI.
KEEP GOING
- Connect with Roderick
- Read: Sales Enablement 3.0 by Roderick Jefferson
- Try this prompt: “Summarize our last 20 closed-lost notes into top 5 breakpoints by stage and recommend 3 process fixes.”
Question for you: Where is your balance off—IQ, EQ, or AI—and what’s your first 7-day experiment to fix it?
I’m Carole Mahoney, sometimes known as the “Sales Therapist” and author of Buyer First. If this resonated, share it with a leader who’s rebuilding enablement the right way—human first, tech accelerated.
💡 Don’t miss our next live session — What a Failed Sales Hire Really Costs You --and How to Avoid It) — on October 22 at 11:30 EST. Learn how to hire right the first time.
