天涯海角APP

Sales enablement ROI: Why more features doesn't equate to better outcomes

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"Enablement only works if your reps actually use it." 鈥 Melanie Fellay, CEO, 天涯海角APP

Sales enablement isn鈥檛 broken but the way we measure its impact might be.

Despite larger budgets and more advanced tools, most teams are stuck in the same frustrating cycle: building content reps don鈥檛 use, implementing features they don鈥檛 need, and constantly fighting for executive buy-in.

The 2025 Impact of Enablement report produced by the Sales Enablement Collective lays it bare: if you can鈥檛 prove sales enablement ROI, your seat at the table is never secure.

Let鈥檚 break down the numbers, the disconnect, and most importantly鈥攖he path forward.

The good news: budgets are holding steady (and even growing)

According to the report, 85.4% of enablement budgets are staying the same or increasing, with 41.9% of teams seeing a boost. On the surface, that sounds like a win.

2025 Impact of Enablement Research Report

But here鈥檚 the catch: more money doesn鈥檛 mean more impact.

鈥淭his is only true for those teams that can convince the relevant stakeholder of enablement鈥檚 impact.鈥 鈥 Impact of Enablement 2025

In fact, 40.3% of enablers report their CRO owns the enablement budget, which means you're not just building for reps鈥攜ou鈥檙e constantly pitching the value to power players.

And unfortunately, they鈥檙e not always listening.

  • 38.7% of enablers say they don鈥檛 have full buy-in from senior leadership.
  • 75% say their sales leader logged in to the platform fewer than 5 times last quarter.
  • 16.1% said their CRO didn鈥檛 log in at all.
2025 Impact of Enablement Research Report

So where鈥檚 the disconnect?

The ROI problem no one wants to talk about

Most sales enablement teams are running blindfolded into a storm.

They build beautiful content libraries, invest in shiny new platforms, and stack up features like a SaaS buffet only to realize reps are still searching Slack, Google Drive, and emails for the one piece of content or answer they actually need.

Here鈥檚 what the report uncovered:

  • 60.1% of teams switched platforms due to poor content management.
  • 55.2% cited low adoption by reps.
  • 50.8% pointed to bad UX.

And the most shocking stat of all?

鈥24.2% of enablers say over 80% of their content isn鈥檛 used.鈥

It鈥檚 not just content. 79.7% of enablers say reps use less than 40% of platform features. That鈥檚 not just low ROI鈥攊t鈥檚 lost investment.

Why this happens (and how to fix it)

Let鈥檚 be real. The platforms aren鈥檛 always the problem.

The problem is bloat.

Tools were built for what enablement used to be: top-down, one-size-fits-all, and clunky. But the modern seller lives in Slack, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Gong鈥攏ot in a training portal or static LMS.

鈥淭he best experiences happen when the platform is fully integrated into the seller鈥檚 workflow.鈥 鈥 Anna Vuong, Juniper Networks

The data agrees:

  • 77.4% of enablers are not using a just-in-time platform.
  • Only 22.6% have content that surfaces in the flow of work.

Let that sink in: nearly 80% of enablement teams are trying to train modern reps with disconnected, outdated tools.

Sheevaun Thatcher Research Report

Tactical playbook: how to start improving your sales enablement ROI today

If you鈥檙e spending more, but proving less, it鈥檚 time to make enablement invisible.

Here are three plays to turn insight into impact:

1. Stop chasing adoption. Engineer it.

If reps aren鈥檛 logging in, don鈥檛 blame the reps. Blame the system.

Enablement should show up where reps already are without switching tabs, disrupting their workflows, or digging through outdated folders.

厂辫别办颈迟鈥檚 just-in-time enablement surfaces training and content the moment it鈥檚 needed鈥攏o digging required.

2. Prioritize content governance over content quantity.

According to the report:

  • 48.8% of enablers say 40% or more of their content needs refreshing.

Outdated content erodes trust faster than a bad sales call. And once reps get burned, they stop using your materials altogether.

Set a quarterly refresh cadence. Track usage. Use tools that make maintenance frictionless.

3. Choose features reps will actually use.

Reps don鈥檛 care about certifications or digital sales rooms if they can鈥檛 find the deck they need before a demo.

鈥淩eps don鈥檛 want 50 new functionalities鈥攖hey want the right three to five that directly impact their sales process.鈥 鈥 Anna Vuong, Juniper Networks

When evaluating platforms, cut the fluff. Focus on:

  • Ease of content access
  • Simplicity of admin
  • Accessibility, searchability, and contextual relevance

The shift from enablement tools to enablement impact

The report is clear: traditional platforms aren鈥檛 cutting it.

Reps waste time toggling between three or more tools. Enablers lose hours every week on admin. Content adoption is low. Platform feature use is lower.

It鈥檚 not a feature problem. It鈥檚 a simplicity problem.

鈥淓ven the most feature-rich platform is useless if your reps don鈥檛 adopt it.鈥 鈥 Impact of Enablement 2025

That鈥檚 why the new era of enablement belongs to tools that feel invisible鈥攎eeting sellers in their flow of work and surfacing guidance exactly when they need it.

Why 天涯海角APP leads the next era of sales enablement ROI

天涯海角APP wasn鈥檛 built to add another login. It was built to eliminate them.

As the only platform purpose-built for just-in-time enablement in the Change Economy, 天涯海角APP is redefining what it means to drive revenue through enablement:

  • Automatically connected to the tools your sellers already use
  • Context-aware intelligence that knows what your rep needs, when they need it
  • AI-powered insights to detect content decay, track usage, and streamline updates

鈥淭he best platform doesn鈥檛 have the most features. It has the right ones.鈥 鈥 Melanie Fellay, CEO, 天涯海角APP

The result? Higher rep adoption. Faster onboarding. Sharper execution. Clear ROI.

Final takeaway: prove it or lose it

Enablement is under the spotlight. Budgets may be holding steady, but scrutiny is rising.

If you want to keep your seat at the table, you need to show more than effort鈥攜ou need to show impact.

And the fastest path to proving ROI?

Ditch the bloated, traditional platforms of the past. Choose a system that simplifies workflows, strengthens rep confidence, and finally makes enablement measurable.

馃搱 Ready to move from 鈥渘ice to have鈥 to 鈥渘on-negotiable鈥 in your org? See how 天涯海角APP delivers real ROI 鈫

About the author

Elle Morgan
Director, Content & Communications
Elle is a boy momma 2x, brand builder, storyteller, growth hacker, and marketing leader with 12+ years of experience scaling SaaS B2B organizations.

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