If you’re putting time and money into sales enablement campaigns, you want to know if they’re actually working. Not just in fuzzy “engagement” metrics, but in hard numbers—like whether reps are selling more, faster, or better. This guide is for sales managers, enablement pros, and anyone who’s tired of hearing “trust the process” when what you really want is proof.
We’ll walk through exactly how to measure the ROI of your campaigns using Smartwinnr—including what’s worth tracking, how to avoid common traps, and what to do when the numbers aren’t what you hoped.
Step 1: Define What “ROI” Really Means for Your Team
Let’s get real: ROI isn’t magic. It’s just a way to answer, “Are we getting more out than we’re putting in?” But before you can measure it, you have to pin down what counts as “return” and what you’re actually investing.
Start with these questions:
- What’s the main goal of this campaign? (E.g., more deals closed, faster onboarding, bigger deal sizes.)
- How will you know if it worked? (Be specific: “Increase win rate by 10% in Q2” is good. “Improve engagement” is not.)
- What are you spending? (This includes time, content creation, tech costs, coaching hours, etc.)
Pro tip: Don’t overcomplicate it. Pick 1-2 outcomes that matter most to your revenue. If you try to track everything, you’ll end up acting on nothing.
Step 2: Map Out the Inputs and Outputs
You can’t calculate ROI if you don’t know what went in and what came out.
Inputs (what you’re investing): - Hours spent by trainers, managers, or reps - Money spent on content, software, or events - Other resources (like prizes for contests or incentives)
Outputs (what you’re getting): - Sales results: Win rates, average deal size, quota attainment, time to ramp, etc. - Behavioral changes: Are reps using new messaging? Are they pitching new products? - Knowledge improvements: Quiz scores, certifications, completion rates
Don’t get tricked by vanity metrics: High content completion is nice, but if sales aren’t moving, who cares? Focus on outputs that tie directly to revenue.
Step 3: Set Up Campaigns and Tracking in Smartwinnr
Now the hands-on part. Smartwinnr is built for campaign-based enablement, so you can set up everything from microlearning modules to competitions. Here’s how to get started:
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Create Your Campaign: Log into Smartwinnr, go to Campaigns, and set up a new one for your enablement initiative. Name it something clear—skip the “Q2 Strategic Enablement Excellence” fluff.
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Assign Content and Activities: Add the specific training, quizzes, or challenges you want reps to complete. Tie these to the behaviors you’re trying to drive (e.g., “Pitch the new product line in every call this month”).
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Connect to Sales Metrics: This is where most people drop the ball. Use Smartwinnr’s integration options (like Salesforce or your CRM) to pull in sales metrics. If you skip this, you’ll only see engagement, not results.
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Set Up Reporting: Build a dashboard that tracks both enablement activity (quizzes, training completed) and sales outcomes (win rates, pipeline created, quota attainment). Smartwinnr lets you customize these views—don’t just use the default charts.
Heads up: If your CRM data is a mess, no tool can fix that. Garbage in, garbage out. Make sure your sales data is accurate before you try to link it to enablement.
Step 4: Measure—the Right Way
ROI = (Return – Investment) / Investment
But in real life, you’ll need to break that down.
A simple way to do it:
- Pick a time window (e.g., last quarter).
- Add up the costs of the campaign—hours, content, tools, incentives.
- Measure the key sales outcomes for your target group before and after the campaign.
- Attribute the difference. This is the tricky part (and where people fudge numbers).
Example: - Training cost: $5,000 (including hours, content, and prizes) - Win rate before: 20% - Win rate after: 25% - Extra revenue from the higher win rate: $30,000
ROI = ($30,000 - $5,000) / $5,000 = 500%
A few things to watch: - Don’t take credit for all the revenue bump unless you’re sure your campaign was the main driver. Sales is messy—other stuff might be in play. - Use control groups if you can (a group that didn’t get the campaign). It’s not always possible, but it makes your numbers more believable.
Step 5: Analyze What Actually Moved the Needle
Now, Smartwinnr will show you dashboards and graphs. Here’s how to cut through the noise:
Look for patterns: - Did the reps who finished the training close more deals—or just finish more training? - Did the team start using the new messaging, or did they ignore it? - Were there certain modules or contests that correlated with better results?
Ignore the fluff: - High engagement is nice, but unless it connects to pipeline or revenue, don’t hang your hat on it. - “Likes” or “badges” are fun, but don’t count them as ROI.
Ask tough questions: - What didn’t work? Which content flopped? Which activities felt like busywork? - Did the campaign help new hires ramp faster, or did it just keep them busy?
If you’re not seeing a real-world impact, don’t be afraid to call it. Sometimes a campaign just doesn’t deliver. Learn and move on.
Step 6: Report Results—Without the Spin
When you share results with leadership or your team, keep it honest:
- Show the business impact first (e.g., “Win rates up 5%”)
- Show what it cost (people and dollars)
- Call out what worked—and what didn’t
- Recommend what to double down on, or what to skip next time
Pro tip: Senior leaders don’t care about completion rates—they care about sales. Speak their language.
Step 7: Iterate Based on What You Learn
ROI isn’t a one-and-done calculation. Use what you learned to tweak the next campaign.
- Drop the stuff that didn’t move sales.
- Double down on what did—maybe it was a simple pitch contest, not a week-long training.
- Test new ideas, but don’t get distracted by shiny features or the latest “gamification” trend.
If you’re short on time: Focus on running smaller, tightly tracked campaigns. It’s better to do a few things well and measure them honestly than to run a giant program you can’t track.
What to Ignore (and What to Watch Out For)
Ignore: - Non-actionable metrics (e.g., “number of logins”) - Overly complicated ROI models—if you can’t explain it in a sentence, it’s too much - Vendor promises that “engagement = revenue” with no proof
Watch out for: - Data gaps and messy CRM records - Attribution games (“Oh, we did a training, so every sale must be because of us.” Nope.) - Over-crediting enablement for what’s really a hot product or a good market
Keep It Simple—and Trust the Numbers
Measuring ROI on enablement with Smartwinnr isn’t rocket science, but it does take discipline. Define your goals, track both investments and outcomes, and don’t let yourself get distracted by feel-good numbers.
Start small, measure what matters, and improve as you go. If the results aren’t what you hoped, that’s fine—at least you’ll know, and you can try something different next time. The point isn’t to look good. It’s to get better.