For the last 10 years we've seen the exact same thing happen in the L&D space with our sister brand Hive Learning.
The industry was obsessed with beautiful content, completion rates and a hit and hope approach to learning. People clicked, people completed but with this approach performance barely moved.
This is because content consumption doesn't equal behaviour change. With Hive Learning we pushed beyond that and now we're watching the same pattern emerge in sales enablement.
With Hive Perform we tried an experiment.
Instead of making reps 'do' training or 'complete' learning, we gave them a daily nudge.
- Deal insights
- Key call notes
- Skills for their actual pipeline (not some random made-up scenario that probably will never happen)
- Meeting recommendations based on deal data and the real people involved
And then we gave them just two buttons: prep and practice
Every single time, reps clicked on prep. This showed us that when learning is wrapped in deal prep, it's no longer learning. It's winning.
Measuring the right things
In the L&D space, tracking completion rates doesn't tell you who is applying skills when it matters most. Same goes for sales enablement.
If your reps engage with content but nothing changes in the pipeline then what's the point?
Enablement isn't about pushing content (which most people, even if it's deep down, know to be true) it's about performance and more of it.
It's easy to fall prey to the content trap - but if you remain clear on your enablement outcomes and what makes your reps tick you'll be able to reach your goals more quickly.