When will World Enablement Day be celebrated? June 10th of each calendar year.
What is World Enablement Day? Sales, marketing, and customer success have their own holidays. As the bridge between these go-to-market functions, it’s time for enablement professionals to get the recognition they deserve for their pivotal role in organizational success. World Enablement Day does just that. It celebrates the heartbeat of successful businesses — over 300,000 enablement professionals worldwide who drive growth, foster empowerment, and shape the future of customer experiences.
How should World Enablement Day be celebrated or observed? Enablement professionals, gather together with your teams today to celebrate all that you do! You can also share about your professional journey and the rapid rise of the industry on social media. If you’re in sales, marketing, or customer success, reflect on how enablement improves your work (and life!) and share your gratitude with a note to your enablement team or on social media. If sharing on social media, use #WorldEnablementDay.
Why was World Enablement Day created? In 1999, sales consulting firms began to uncover a sales execution problem: too often, organizational red tape and roadblocks prevented sellers from focusing on what they were hired to do: sell. To make matters worse, this challenge wasn’t limited to a certain industry, location, or company size; it was common and widespread amongst many organizations with a large customer-facing presence.
To address this sales execution problem, John Aiello, a former Brand Manager, and Drew Larsen, a telecom consultant, joined forces to pioneer and evangelize sales enablement to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of salespeople. Through the management, personalization, and analysis of content, enablement effectively united the entire sales ecosystem – made up of people in marketing, product, sales operations, and training – around improving engagement with clients.
In the early 2010s, growing interest led to the emergence of companies in North America, Oceania, and Europe dedicated to developing advanced enablement technology solutions: Seismic Software (2010 in San Diego, CA, U.S.), Bigtincan (2011 in Sydney, AUS) and Showpad (2011 in Ghent, BE). By 2017, 59% of companies had a dedicated sales enablement person, initiative, or function. In 2023, that figure exceeded 80% as enablement became a strategic imperative for companies.
Now, sales enablement has a USD 4.58 billion global market valuation, and the market size is expected to reach USD 12.78 billion by 2030. What was once a niche function is now mission-critical for organizations worldwide. It’s no surprise the same substantial growth can be seen in the job market: In 2017, a mere 3,233 LinkedIn users held sales enablement jobs. Fast forward to today, and over 300,000 professionals worldwide champion enablement. That’s a 9000% jump in just seven years! And the momentum continues: “Sales enablement specialist” ranked as the 6th fastest-growing job title on LinkedIn in 2023.
There’s no better time than the present to recognize the rapid rise of enablement. These tools played a critical role in empowering remote teams in 2020, fostering motivation, skill development, and customer-centric interactions — a trend that continues today. Now, artificial intelligence and cutting-edge enablement tools propel the industry and its practitioners into a new era of effectively meeting the rapidly evolving needs of buyers in less time than ever.
Who created this day? This day was created by Seismic in 2024.