Most enablement teams are stuck in a frustrating cycle. They create training programs, build content libraries, run workshops, but when leadership asks about business impact, they struggle to show a direct connection to revenue. Sound familiar?
Jordan Timothy, Head of Enablement at Semrush, believes this needs to change. With experience spanning hardware sales to tech enablement at companies like InsideSales.com, Jordan has seen firsthand how enablement teams can transform from training coordinators into strategic revenue drivers. The secret? Owning the right metrics.
In this article, we will analyze the three critical numbers every enablement professional should own, and more importantly, how to own them successfully.
Here's the uncomfortable truth that Jordan highlighted: most enablement teams operate without revenue accountability. They're busy, incredibly busy, creating programs, coordinating training sessions, and managing content. But when it comes to proving direct impact on the business, they come up empty-handed.
This lack of accountability creates a dangerous position for enablement teams. When budgets get tight or leadership questions ROI, enablement becomes vulnerable. Without clear metrics tying your work to revenue, you're just another cost center hoping your programs "stick."
Jordan's solution is straightforward but challenging:
Before we dive into what you should measure, let's clarify what you shouldn't own:
These metrics are outcomes influenced by too many factors outside enablement's control: market conditions, product-market fit, pricing, competition, and individual sales performance.
Instead, Jordan recommends owning metrics that directly impact revenue AND that you can actually influence through your programs. This approach transforms enablement from a support function into a strategic growth partner.
The first metric every enablement professional must own is ramp time - how fast new hires become productive sellers.
Think about the math: if your reps take 90 days to ramp instead of 60 days, that's an entire month of lost selling time. Multiply that across your entire sales organization, and you're looking at significant revenue impact.
Jordan emphasizes that ramp time isn't just about getting someone through onboarding. It's about tracking the entire journey from new hire to productive seller. This includes time to first call, time to first deal, and time to achieve 50% pipeline coverage.
Jordan shared specific strategies for taking ownership of ramp time:
Don't wait until day one. Get new hires engaged with pre-boarding materials, company culture content, and basic product information before they officially start. This gives them a running start and reduces the cognitive load during their first week.
Break down ramp time into measurable checkpoints. Non-revenue milestones might include completing product certification, shadowing five customer calls, or delivering a pitch to the team. Revenue milestones track actual selling activities—first outbound call, first meeting booked, first deal closed.
General onboarding is just the foundation. Create specialized tracks for SDRs, account executives, and customer success reps that address the unique challenges each role faces.
Measure time to first call, first deal, and 50% pipeline coverage. These metrics tell you whether your onboarding programs are actually working or just checking boxes.
The second critical metric is pipeline generation - ensuring your reps have the skills to consistently build healthy pipeline.
Poor pipeline skills lead to missed targets. And when targets are missed, guess who often gets blamed? Enablement. Jordan points out that this is actually a fair criticism if you haven't taken ownership of the skills that drive pipeline creation.
Pipeline generation is where many reps struggle. They might know the product inside and out, but do they understand ideal customer profiles? Can they identify buying triggers? Do they know how to effectively use prospecting tools?
Jordan outlined a clear approach to owning pipeline metrics:
Don't just teach reps who to target, teach them when to target. What signals indicate a prospect is ready to buy? What pain points are they likely experiencing? This contextual knowledge transforms cold outreach into warm, relevant conversations.
Your sales tech stack is only valuable if reps know how to use it. This means training on CRM workflows, prospecting platforms, and AI sales tools that can accelerate their work.
This is where you prove impact. If your prospecting training is working, you should see improvements in contact rates and appointment setting. If not, you know exactly where to focus your next program.
The third metric enablement must own is deal velocity (the speed at which opportunities move through the sales pipeline).
Slow-moving deals are expensive. They tie up sales resources, forecast uncertainty, and often result in lost opportunities as buyers lose momentum or competitors move faster.
Jordan emphasizes that velocity problems reveal skill gaps you need to fix. If deals consistently stall at the demo stage, maybe reps aren't qualifying properly. If they slow down during negotiation, perhaps they lack objection handling skills. If they're stuck at contract review, maybe they need training on business case building.
Jordan provided a framework for taking ownership of velocity metrics:
Track how efficiently deals move from activities to contacts to appointments to opportunities. Each conversion point tells a story about where reps are strong and where they need support.
If opportunities sit in discovery for three weeks when your benchmark is one week, that's a skill gap waiting to be addressed. Maybe reps don't know how to run effective discovery calls, or they're struggling to get stakeholder alignment.
Use your velocity data to pinpoint exactly where deals stall. Then design targeted training interventions—whether that's objection handling workshops, demo best practices, or negotiation skills.
Jordan highlighted an important shift in modern B2B sales: buyers often come in ready for demos, not discovery. They've done their research. They've read reviews. They might even know your pricing. Reps need skills to handle buyers at different stages of readiness, not just follow a linear sales process.
Practice becomes critical here. An AI sales coach like SellMeThisPen AI can help reps rehearse different scenarios - handling the buyer who wants to jump straight to pricing, the prospect who's already sold on your competitor, or the champion who needs help building an internal business case.
Ready to take ownership of these metrics? Here's how to start:
What are you measuring today? If it's mostly activity-based (training sessions completed, content accessed), you need to shift toward outcome-based metrics that tie to revenue.
You'll need access to CRM data and revenue intelligence tools to track these metrics effectively. Build strong relationships with your sales ops team—they're your allies in this transformation.
You don't need to own all three metrics perfectly on day one. Pick the one that's most broken in your organization and start there. Quick wins build momentum and credibility.
Make it clear to leadership and sales teams that you're taking responsibility for these numbers. Set targets, track progress, and report results regularly.
You can't scale practice and coaching manually. AI roleplay tools enable sellers to practice constantly, get instant feedback from their AI coach, and improve the skills that drive your metrics.
The era of enablement as "training coordination" is over. To survive and thrive, enablement professionals must embrace revenue accountability by owning the metrics that matter: ramp time, pipeline generation, and deal velocity.
These aren't just numbers on a dashboard. They're the bridge between your programs and business impact. They're how you prove that enablement is a strategic investment, not a nice-to-have cost center.
By tracking how fast new hires become productive, ensuring reps build healthy pipeline, and identifying where deals slow down, you transform from support function to revenue driver. And with AI tools making it easier than ever to scale practice and coaching, there's never been a better time to make this shift.
The question isn't whether enablement should own a number—it's which numbers you'll choose to own, and how quickly you'll start.
In this episode of SellMeThisPen Podcast, Michael and Jordan discuss why enablement teams need revenue accountability, the three critical metrics every enablement professional should own, and how to transform from training coordinator to strategic revenue driver. They explore practical strategies for accelerating ramp time, improving pipeline generation, and increasing deal velocity through targeted training interventions.
Jordan Timothy is the Head of Enablement at Semrush with extensive experience in tech sales and enablement. He began his career in hardware sales before transitioning to tech at InsideSales.com, where he embraced early AI and data-driven selling strategies. Jordan brings a revenue-focused mindset to enablement, believing that enablement teams must own metrics that directly impact business growth.
