Sales enablement can be a lonely role, with solo enablers having no internal team members to work alongside and brainstorm with. 

Luckily, SEC’s enablement community is full of enthusiastic members eager to help and support their peers. And that’s exactly what Joana Borges and Sergio Simón did by starting Coffee Talks for Solo Enablers. 

Coffee Talks for Solo Enablers is a monthly group call hosted by Joana, Head of GTM Enablement at GoodData, and Sergio, Global Sales Enablement Leader at Cobee.

Anyone is welcome to join in and chat about their experience as a solo enabler. Each month, the group discusses key topics and potential solutions to the challenges solo enablers across the globe are facing.

We talked to Joana and Sergio about how Coffee Talks started, and why you should join if you’re a solo enabler looking for new connections and shared experiences!

You can find all the info on upcoming sessions, and vote on future topics of discussion in the #solo-enablers channel in our free Slack community. 👈

What sparked the creation of Coffee Talks for Solo Enablers?

Joana: 

Almost a year ago, Sergio was about to test three different tools and was asking for people for their experience with them. It was serendipitous in that I’d tested a few of those tools myself very recently. 

I offered to share my experience with them and we had an interesting chat. That’s how we both realized we're probably not alone, particularly in Europe, where the sales enablement function is less common. 

I realized conversations like ours, and the peer-to-peer brainstorming, isn’t something I can do inside my company. I can talk to people in product marketing about certain aspects of the job, or to sales leadership about certain parts but there's no one person that has the exact same challenges, deals with the same responsibilities, and so we thought that brainstorming as a bigger group could have some advantages.

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Attendee's view:

I've really enjoyed the solo enabler chats. It’s easy to feel isolated or alone as a team of one who plans several initiatives for the company. Meeting with solo enablers gives me a sense of being part of a large enablement team. It’s great to connect and work with like-minded people!

- Allison Baldwin, Director of Sales Enablement at MoxiWorks

What has been the most enjoyable part of the Coffee Talks?

Sergio:

For me it’s the possibility of learning more about the priorities of other colleagues and peers. Sometimes, you’re so focused on your own day-to-day, that you don’t know exactly what's happening in the function in other companies, and you can’t really be aware of the trends, challenges, and priorities of other companies and colleagues. 

That's why, when we do this kind of brainstorming, it's allowed me to understand what's happening right now.

Joana: 

It's been a really enriching experience. I'm learning a lot. The brainstorming aspect of it and realizing we're not alone is great. It has helped me realize we're not unique in the way we do our job. There are a lot of people dealing with the same responsibilities and overwhelming feelings of the sales enablement function - it comes with the job. 

I'd say it's great to feel listened to. You feel other people have the same challenges, and it's really nice to discuss specific topics - understanding how people are dealing with everboarding was a topic that wasn’t on the agenda for the last session, but we pivoted into that just because the conversation went there. 

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Attendee's view:

All the meetups I have joined have been a great way to share with a wide variety of industry experts going through the same challenges as myself on a daily basis.

Being a solo enabler can be a real challenge at times, trying to find your place with in the company and build a foundation to grow from. Hearing how others tackle these challenges, whether it worked or not, is always insightful.

It's great to have a clan you can talk to in open space, where there is no judgment and can speak to like minded people across the globe.

- Jack Leftwich, Sales Enablement Manager at Echo Analytics

How has it been to work with the SEC team in organizing Coffee Talks?

Joana: 

I have nothing but good things to say about it, it has been a really good experience. Harshil (SEC’s community manager) is super supportive. When we spoke to Harshil initially about organizing something like this, we asked if it was something that was allowed, and it was really well received by Sales Enablement Collective, and Harshil was extremely supportive and has been throughout the whole process.

Sergio:

From the very beginning we were told that “we’re going to help you with organizing this”, so posting, doing creative things for the announcement of sessions, so, yes, really helpful!

If someone was on the fence about attending a Coffee Talks session, what would you say to convince them to come along?

Joana: 

Everyone is super nice in the group! The meetings aren't recorded either. The only goal of the meetings is to share between each other and learn from one another. 

There's no pitching, no one's trying to sell anything. We're all coming from software companies, so I could pitch my software to Sergio's company, and Sergio could pitch his to my company as well, but we know that’s off limits. 

We're there to help each other and to have these conversations. It's a really nice group of people and everyone learns from each other. 

Sergio:

Yeah, I agree with Joana. And every session, someone new is joining. So it's not like a group that we have with no one new coming along. Every session there are more new people joining, so I think that’s a message to everyone that they‘re not alone.

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Attendee's view:

The solo enablers group is where we come together to bridge the gaps between the sales enablement team and sales teams that still exist today by discussing unique ways to partner with front line sales managers and how we can empower their reps throughout their entire life cycle at the company, way beyond their first 90 days of onboarding.

- Ariana Guerrero, Sales Trainer at SheSells Academy

Get involved!

Are you a solo enabler? Is your interest piqued? There’s no better time to get involved!

Sign up to our free Slack community, join the #solo-enablers channel within, and attend the next Coffee Talks for Solo Enablers and forge new connections and friendships with Joana, Sergio, and many more of your peers in attendance. 🤝