Sales enablement: Unlock data-driven growth with consumer insights

The best sales teams today aren’t just hustling harder, they’re understanding their buyers better. Decks, coaching guides, and playbooks are still super handy for sales enablement, but when you mix in fresh, real-time consumer insights, you’re not just guessing what buyers care about, you know.

With access to behavioral data straight from real people all over the world, you can zero in on the right prospects, craft outreach that actually hits home, and step into every conversation already clued up on what matters most to them.

What is sales enablement?

Sales enablement is the process of equipping sales reps with the tools, content, coaching, and feedback they need to close deals more effectively. It simplifies day-to-day tasks by delivering the right resources at the right time, from tailored content and structured training to performance analytics that actually inform next steps. Sales enablement helps teams shorten ramp time, improve win rates, and align sales and marketing around a shared buyer journey.

Ask any sales rep what their week looks like and you’ll likely hear the same themes - juggling calls, scattered resources, and non-stop decks. Sales enablement exists to clear through the chaos, giving reps exactly what they need, when they need it. 

What is data-driven enablement?

Data-driven enablement is a modern approach to sales enablement that integrates real-time consumer insights into every stage of the sales process. Rather than relying on static personas or outdated assumptions, it brings fresh consumer insights, like buying motivations, preferred channels, and engagement trends, into content creation, coaching, and outreach. This makes reps more agile, relevant, and confident in every interaction.

Let’s give an example. Say you’re a salesperson looking to target mid-sized software companies evaluating new tools. With GWI, you build an audience to mirror this segment and discover your target audience is significantly more likely than average to start with a time-limited trial before committing to purchase. This gives you a strategic advantage, as you now know to lead with a free trial offer, not a generic demo in your outreach messages, significantly improving your chances of success. Nice!

Sales enablement vs data-driven enablement: Key differences and overlaps

Traditional enablement still plays a key role, and sharing decks, coaching tips, and lessons from past wins certainly all have a place. But when the market shifts, it can take months to catch up.

Data-driven enablement is like having a play-by-play feed on your buyers in real time, direct to you. Let’s say your main buyers used to be retail managers, but now more decisions are being made by ecommerce heads. With traditional desk research, it could take you weeks, even months, to understand this new audience, and how their approach and priorities differ. But with access to real consumer insights at your fingertips, you can get up to speed and adapt your approach in no time at all.

Both traditional and data-driven approaches help sales reps, but only data-driven enablement helps you keep up with your buyers in real time.

Why consumer insights power high-performing enablement

According to McKinsey, 71% of B2B buyers expect personalized interactions, and 76% feel frustrated when that doesn’t happen. Meanwhile, Salesforce found that 73% of customers expect companies to understand their unique needs and expectations. When buyers feel like you ‘get them’, they lean in. 

We hear time and time again from our customers just how powerful consumer insights are when it comes to winning business. For sales teams, the ability to back up your pitch with robust, relevant data can be the difference between closing a deal and missing out. As First and First Consulting put it, “The ability to pull such compelling data in ever-tightening timelines has been vital in helping many of our agency clients win pitches.” Bright/Shift shared, “Our clients like the fact we use GWI in most of our pitches. It shows we know what we’re talking about.” When you can walk into a conversation armed with insights about your prospect’s behaviors, attitudes, and priorities, you don’t just look prepared, you prove you understand what matters to them.

Five ways GWI data supercharges sales enablement

Sales enablement works best when it’s backed by real-world data. Here’s how GWI helps teams with sharper targeting, stronger messaging, and clearer proof of ROI.

1. Sharpen targeting and ICP definitions

Your reps shouldn’t have to spend hours playing detective on LinkedIn. With our audience builder feature, you can build bespoke segments that match your targets precisely, whether that’s finance leaders who value sustainability or early adopters in tech. Get a 360-degree view of what they think, feel, and do, all in one place. Then plug these rich insights into dynamic battle cards, so your team can focus on high-potential prospects with total confidence, and none of the guesswork.

2. Make pitch prep a piece of cake 

Need to prep for a last minute pitch? With GWI, it couldn’t be easier. Start by exploring ready-made or custom audiences that fit your ideal customer profile, or use our in-built AI capabilities to build one from scratch. Once you’ve zeroed in on who you want to reach, you can use GWI Canvas to instantly pull fresh, relevant insights into an automated deck that showcases exactly why your solution is relevant to them. No more cobbling together slides from scratch or scrambling for supporting data. 

3. Coach with real-world context

Ever sat in hours of sales training that feels completely disconnected from real conversations? Plugging GWI data into your coaching helps to bring it back down to earth with examples and scenarios built on real consumer data. Reps can role-play conversations that actually sound like the ones their buyers are already having and objections they may be coming up against, based on relevant data on things like price sensitivity or what channels they prefer. 

4. Unlock critical cultural nuances 

Need to get up to speed in a new sales territory? Whether you're breaking into a fresh region or expanding your global reach, understanding the cultural context and audience expectations is crucial. With access to real consumer data from 54 global markets, you can decode cultural nuances, anticipate preferences, and pitch with confidence.

5. Make every message count

With access to real consumer insights, you can tailor sales cadences that reflect each prospect’s industry, challenges, and priorities. Use data on behaviors, attitudes, and motivations to write email sequences that show you’ve done your homework and understand their world. This level of personalization helps build trust and improves response rates.

How GWI platform features empower enablement teams

More tools don’t make a better sales team. The right ones that work well together do. GWI gives you a full toolkit to build, customize, and deliver smarter strategies:

• Audiences: Build customer profiles in minutes, keeping your targeting and prospecting fresh.
• Charts: Visualize data, simplify complex information, and tell engaging stories.  
• Dashboards: Create personalized dashboards, showcase multiple audiences, and supercharge your storytelling.

• GWI Spark: Grab quick insights on the fly to spark new ideas and sharpen your sales pitches. 

• GWI Canvas: Get pitch-ready in minutes with autogenerated insight decks. 

Building a data-driven enablement framework in three steps

You don’t need to burn down your current system to get a better one (tempting though it often is). Just make it smarter, step by step. 

1. Audit what’s working (and what’s ignored). Find content gaps and look for areas where consumer insight could sharpen the message.
   
   
2. Embed insights where reps already work. Don’t make them dig. Use consumer insights to inform everything from content creation to call scripts and CRM prompts.
   
   
3. Review and adapt monthly. GWI updates quarterly, making it easy to refresh your approach and stay in sync with shifting market needs.

Keep with this rhythm and you’ll build an enablement engine that evolves as fast as your buyers do. Bingo.

Summary: Turning insights into revenue

The bottom line? Sales is all about connection, and that starts with speaking the same language as the person you’re selling to. With rich consumer insights, you get the intel you need to understand your audience’s mindset, challenges, and motivations. GWI helps you tailor your outreach with greater precision, making every message more relevant and more effective. It’s a smarter way to target, a sharper way to sell, and a faster way to win more deals.