Your Enablement Team Is Flying Blind (And Your Revenue Is Paying the Price)

If you're not systematically capturing voice of the field, your enablement function is making decisions in a vacuum. You're creating training programs nobody asked for, rolling out processes that don't fit reality, and wondering why your credibility is stuck at "order-taker" status.

Leadership makes strategic decisions based on reports and dashboards. Your reps are in the trenches every day, hearing objections you've never documented, losing deals for reasons that never make it into your CRM, finding workarounds to systems that don't work.

Someone needs to be the bridge. That should be enablement.

Why Revenue Advisory Boards Work

I've built these at multiple organizations. They've consistently been the single most effective tool for transforming enablement from a support function into a strategic partner.

Get the Right People in the Room

Don't just grab your top 5% performers. Your Presidents Club winners aren't always the ones with the most valuable insights about what the average rep is experiencing.

I look for:

• Respected core performers who are consistently close to quota—the people everyone goes to for advice

• A cross-functional mix of sellers, CSMs, and sales engineers

• People who have a pulse on the business and aren't afraid to speak up

This gives you the real story, not the highlight reel.

The Format Is Simple

Meet quarterly. That cadence is intentional—frequent enough to stay current, spaced enough to actually implement changes and show progress between meetings.

Executives come in with questions, not answers. They prepare 2-3 questions for a 45-minute session. No presentations. No pontificating. Just conversation.

Questions like:

• "We're launching this new product—how do you think customers will react?"

• "Here's our new pricing structure—what concerns do you have?"

• "We're changing the sales process in Salesforce—walk us through how this impacts your day-to-day."

• "What's the single biggest thing holding you back from hitting your number?"

The executives listen. The reps talk. Real insights come out.

Make It a Safe Space

This only works if people feel safe being honest. All feedback is anonymized before it leaves the room.

Reps can tell the VP of Product that the new feature is creating more objections. They can tell the CRO that the latest process change added two hours to their week for no clear benefit. They can be honest about what's actually happening in deals.

The feedback gets documented, synthesized, and shared across departments—never attributed to specific individuals. This creates candor.

What You Get Out of It

For reps: executive face time, the satisfaction of being heard, visible proof their input drives decisions.

For enablement, it changes everything.

You become the trusted source of field intelligence. When you walk into a meeting with product or marketing, you're bringing systematic insights from the people closest to customers—not just anecdotes.

You spot issues before they become crises. That pricing objection that's starting to pop up? You hear about it before it tanks the quarter.

When you build training, you're addressing real problems. Adoption rates go up because reps actually want what you're creating.

Product listens to you. Marketing asks for your input. Operations includes you in planning. Because you represent the field.

Here's the Thing

Your reps have the answers to questions your executives don't even know to ask. They're seeing patterns in real-time that won't show up in reports for another quarter. They know which processes are broken, which tools aren't working, which competitors are suddenly winning deals.

That intelligence is worthless if it stays in Slack channels and hallway conversations.

A Revenue Advisory Board is your systematic approach to capturing institutional knowledge, building enablement credibility, and turning field insights into organizational action.

Block time in the next two weeks to identify your first advisory board members. Find 6-8 reps who represent different roles, tenures, and perspectives. Schedule your first session for next quarter. Invite one executive with real decision-making authority and 2-3 good questions.

Watch what happens when you close the loop between the field and the people making decisions.