In this article we’ll provide an overview of what can be expected for a sales enablement manager salary. As well as the various other factors that may contribute to compensation.
A sales enablement team is responsible for helping sales teams do their jobs with greater efficiency. These roles will vary from one organization to another, but these managers are always laser-focused on:
- Selling performance
- Revenue performance
What is a sales enablement manager? How much do they make per year? What positions can you advance to as a manager? We’re going to cover these questions and more in the guide below.
| Job Title | Average Salary |
| Sales Enablement Manager | $112,416 |
| Senior Sales Enablement Manager | $164,060 |
| Director Sales Enablement | $208,831 |
| Vice President Sales Enablement | $305,314 |
What is a Sales Enablement Manager?
A sales enablement manager helps improve sales team performance and increase sales. These professionals work with sales and marketing teams, acting as a liaison between the two to increase productivity in key areas. They also work cross departments with the product team to convey new updates. In a way, they act as a filter to the sales team, including the SDRs, Account Executives, Account Managers, and more.
An enablement manager is responsible for providing teams with the resources they need to maximize productivity, which may include:
- Sales Training
- Product Updates
- Sales Tool Trainings
- Sales strategies
- Battlecards
- Create Processes
- More
Sales Enablement Manager Salary
The average sales enablement manager salary varies by field, but the average position pays $112,416annually. The salary for this position is broken down into two main categories:
- Base Pay: $83,033
- Additional Pay: $29,383
The salary for this position ranges from $72,000 to $180,000. In the tech field, these professionals can command a salary of $135,985.
Pay is higher in different cities, such as San Francisco and New York.
Sales Enablement Manager Salary San Francisco
The average sales enablement manager salary San Francisco ranges from $138,874 to $185,925. The average salary in this position is $159,836.
Sales Enablement Manager Salary New York
New York, New York is known for its fast-paced lifestyle and high salaries. Professionals in this state working as a sales enablement manager earn between $88,000 and $226,000. The average salary in this position in New York is $139,360.
Senior Sales Enablement Manager Salary
As a senior sales enablement manager, you’ll work with sales leaders and assist in sales methodologies in the organization. These professionals may manage sales enablement teams and will work closely with the director.
Salary
Sales enablement roles position professionals to move up to senior, director and even vice president positions. A senior position pays an average salary of $164,060, broken into:
- Base Pay: $106,302
- Additional Pay: $57,758
Senior sales enablement manager salary can range from $103,000 to $269,000. In the tech industry, the position pays slightly more than the average, with professionals earning $167,750 in this role.
Director Sales Enablement Manager Salary
The role of director comes with more responsibility, and it’s the job of these professionals to define strategies, tools and processes for sales and marketing teams. A director may focus more on creating a culture for these managers and will meet with team leaders to ensure initiatives are met.
Salary
The director of sales enablement is a well-respected figure in the marketing and sales teams. As proven leaders, these professionals can command an average salary of $208,831. Salary is divided as follows:
- Base Pay: $114,623
- Additional Pay: $94,208
Workers in this position can earn $130,000 to $347.000. In the tech industry, the average director will earn $227,574 per year.
Vice President of Sales Enablement Manager Salary
As a VP of sales enablement management, the responsibilities shift to oversight and ensuring that the goals of each sales enablement manager are aligned with the vision of the company. These professionals will be responsible for meeting with directors and play an integral role in shaping the sales of the company.
Salary
Promotions to the VP of sales enablement manager come with an average salary of $305,314. The director will earn a salary that is split into two main components:
- Base Pay: $159,323
- Additional Pay: $145,991
However, moving up in salary every year is possible, with salaries ranging from $182,000 to $527,000. Working in the tech industry will boost the average pay significantly to $331,155.
Factors That Affect a Sales Enablement Program Manager Salary
Multiple factors may impact the average sales enablement program manager salary, including:
Experience
Experience in the industry shows commitment and skill. Base salary increases annually, and there’s always the potential for additional pay. As professionals gain experience in their roles, they’ll earn more money even if they choose not to move up to a senior, director or vice president position.
Industry
Industry will play one of the most important roles in salary. As seen in the salary guide above, it’s not uncommon for someone in the tech industry to earn $5,000 to $30,000 more than the average across all industries.
Licensing and sales in this field may be for higher-ticket items, and there is a massive market to capture to generate more capital.
Every industry can benefit from the help of a sales enablement program manager, but the pay can be 10% less in some industries.
Performance
High performance demands higher pay. If a manager can show their ability to increase revenue and sales, they’ll earn more money. Experience plays a significant role in the ability to demand more money in this position.
In emerging industries, it’s common for high-performance businesses to try to capture more market share.
Location
Like in any industry, location will play a role in salary. San Francisco is a prime example of where managers make more money, sometimes significantly more than in New York, New York. The main driver is the area’s high-performing tech industry.
Smaller cities often have lower salaries, but in industry hubs, some of these locations pay significantly more than in major cities.
Sales Enablement Job Description
Sales enablement managers provide sales representatives and leaders with the resources they need to help drive growth and success. Those who work in this role will have a variety of responsibilities.
Often, sales enablement managers will work with sales stakeholders to determine sales enablement priorities. They will also work with sales leadership to help create, develop, oversee and optimize the company’s sale enablement program. Additionally, their job also involves communicating KPIs and the enablement strategy to stakeholders.
As a leader, sales enablement managers will work as liaisons between different revenue-facing teams within the company.
Among their many duties, sales enablement managers will also work with sales and marketing teams to assist in content creation.
In many ways, sales enablement managers work as coordinators, coaches and individuals who bring key personnel together to support growth and improve the business’s performance.
While sales enablement managers have many general responsibilities, it’s important to remember that individual companies will have their own requirements as well. These professionals may need to:
- Maintain CRM procedures and trainings
- Create documented sales processes
- Track and analyze sales to find ways to better optimize and use data to improve sales further
- Work with the sales leaderships such as the VP of Sales to better understand the sales pipeline and have conversations on what’s working and what’s not working
- Answer questions and help solve sales and marketing team problems as they arise across an organization
For example, some companies may require proficiency in certain sales software or platforms like ZoomInfo or Salesloft. Others will have requirements for data analysis and coordination with other teams. Ultimately, it depends on the field and the employer. Requirements usually, but not always, are reflected in the sales enablement manager salary.
Sales Enablement Roles and Responsibilities
Sales enablement roles and responsibilities depend on the role itself. Some roles have more responsibilities than others which will be represented in the sale enablement manager pay. The more senior the role, the more responsibility in overseeing the sales enablement program.
Sales Enablement Manager
- Act as a liaison between marketing, sales and product teams
- Build relationships with sales representatives
- Collaborate with sales leaders to optimize and oversee the enablement program
- Communicate KPIs and enablement strategies to stakeholders
- Provide onboarding and training to sales reps
- Coordinate ongoing training efforts
Senior Sales Enablement Manager
- Track and measure the sales enablement program
- Engage with and build relationships with stakeholders involved in executing the sales process
- Track, measure and report on the impact of sales enablement programs
- Design, develop, deliver and oversee sales process and methodology
Director Sales Enablement Manager
- Create and optimize onboarding and foundational courses
- Serve as coach, leader, and manager
- Identify and implement tools and programs to close knowledge gaps
- Managing and improving sales forecasting analytics and reporting
- Collaborate with finance departments on reporting and compensation
- Develop and manage a 12-month sales enablement roadmap
Vice President Sales Enablement Manager
- Provide coaching to other team members
- Collaborate with sales leaders to identify priorities and opportunities for growth or improvement
- Develop new approaches to support new business growth and retention
- Lead the effort to track the impact of growth and retention programs within the company
- Support product managers to help product launches succeed
- Create and develop processes, tools and collateral to improve sales
- Perform quantitative and qualitative analytics
How To Become a Sales Enablement Manager
Are you interested in a career in this field? The path to becoming a manager is a long one, but it’s worth the time and patience. Here’s how to become a sales enablement manager:
Earn a Bachelor’s Degree
The first step to becoming a sales enablement manager is to earn a bachelor’s degree. While there are no particular requirements for your discipline or major, a degree in business or marketing will be helpful.
Gain Experience and Work Your Way Up the Ladder
Experience is a key requirement for this role and you’ll see your sales enablement salary increase with time. Most managers will begin their careers as sales representatives and then work their way up to supervisory roles.
Most companies will require five or more years of experience.
Some individuals will transfer to this role after a successful career in sales training, marketing or sales operations.
Hiring managers will want to see that your past work experience has had a positive impact on business outcomes and that you have had involvement in sales enablement communities or groups.
Skills Needed to Become a Sales Enablement Manager
In order to succeed in a career in this role, sales enablement managers will need a variety of hard and soft skills.
Soft Skills
- Communications: Sales enablement roles play a connective role, so they must have excellent communication skills. Honing your listening, writing, speaking and presenting skills will serve you well in this career.
- Bringing Key Personnel Together: Sales enablement managers often play a supportive role for multiple revenue teams. They should be familiar with being able to identify stakeholders and facilitating collaboration between key personnel. This may include internal teams and outside professionals like B2B sales consulting firms.
- Creative Problem-Solving: A successful sales enablement manager thinks outside of the box, finding creative solutions to problems and new ways to help improve results.
- Time Management: Sales enablement managers must be able to streamline workflows and existing operations to improve performance and results. Knowing how to manage and maximize their time is crucial to achieving this outcome.
- Critical Thinking: Problem-solving and critical thinking work together perfectly as soft skills that these professionals possess. It’s up to managers to find new, exciting ways to increase performance and revenue. Lateral thinking will empower these professionals to outpace the competition.
- Documentation: One of the soft skills that are often not part of a skillset is documentation. Businesses are looking for professionals that have strong documentation skills that allow workers across the business to work more effectively.
Hard Skills
- Project Management: Managers will be overseeing multiple projects and initiatives, all of which require careful management. Those in this role must leverage their organizational skills to create strategies that will ensure the successful execution of these initiatives and projects.
- Tech: Sales enablement managers must be tech-savvy. Sales enablement teams rely heavily on technology in their day-to-day tasks, from CRM to CMS and internal platforms.
- Data Analysis: In addition to organizing and overseeing initiatives, sales enablement managers are also responsible for evaluating the results of these initiatives. Being skilled in data analysis is crucial.
- Understanding the Buyer: A sales enablement manager must have knowledge of the buyer journey and how it is evolving.
- Sales: Of course, sales enablement managers should have extensive knowledge of the best practices of sales management, including developmental sales coaching. They should also have knowledge of modern sales processes.
All of these skills are important, but most employers agree that delegation and prioritization are two key skills that sales enablement managers should possess. Sales enablement managers should have expertise in providing guidance and collaboration. Their role often requires them to act as a bridge between different teams and departments. The importance of the various skills required contribute to the higher than average sales enablement manager salary.
Advancing in a Sales Enablement Manager Career
There are many opportunities for growth for sales enablement managers. To advance, you will need to gain experience and continue your education. As you move up the chain, this will be reflected as an increase in your sales enablement manager salary.
The more experience you have, the greater the chance of successfully advancing to a higher role, such as:
- Director
- VP status
- Beyond
There are several steps you can take to advance in your career, including:
- Take certification courses
- Stay on top of new developments in the field
- Attend educational events, workshops and networking events
- Join industry groups and associations
Having a deep understanding of the company’s sales enablement program is a great start. Gaining the education and additional training you will need for more senior roles is also crucial. By doing this, you’ll see your sales enablement manager compensation increase. To move into a role as VP or higher, you will need extensive experience and be able to demonstrate your ability to lead. For some, the increase in senior level responsibilities is not worth it. For those chasing a higher, sales enablement manager salary, the added stress is a fair trade.
Additionally, you can always open up your own sales enablement consulting firm or get into sales process consulting.
Conclusion
Sales enablement managers play an integral role in a company, and their importance is reflected in their responsibilities and salaries. While this role requires experience and education, it is worth the time and effort to climb the ladder to this in-demand position. If you’re looking for the best sales enablement tools for your sales enablement manager, we’ve got you covered.
