How to Enable Your Testing Teams to Speak the Client's Language

I never thought I'd become passionate about enablement. But here I am, writing about how transforming our enablement approach changed not just our marketing team but our organization's ability to communicate and deliver our testing services.

The Wake-Up Call

I was sitting in a client meeting, watching our account manager struggle to explain our test automation capabilities while our delivery team lead jumps in with technical jargon that makes the client's eyes glaze over. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about the beautifully crafted marketing materials that neither of them is using. That was my lightbulb moment. We didn't just need better marketing collateral; we needed a complete overhaul of how we enabled our teams to talk about and deliver our services.

Starting from Where I Could Make a Difference

Let me be clear, I couldn't overhaul the entire company's enablement program overnight. But I could start with what I knew best - helping our teams understand and communicate our services effectively.

Here's what worked for us:

1. Creating a Unified Service Language Marketing used to talk about "comprehensive QA solutions," while our testing teams discussed "functional testing methodologies" and "test case creation." No wonder our clients were confused! We worked with the delivery teams to create a simplified, client-friendly way to describe our services. Now, whether you're talking to marketing, sales or a testing engineer, you'll hear consistent messaging.
2. Building Cross-Functional Knowledge Sharing I started a monthly "Testing Insights" session where our QA experts would break down complex testing concepts for the marketing and sales teams. In return, we'd share client feedback and market trends. These sessions helped bridge the gap between our technical expertise and client communication.

Real Results from Our Marketing-Led Enablement

We were struggling to explain the value of our performance testing services to potential clients. The testing team would dive straight into talking about response times and load simulation, while clients wanted to know about business impact.

We created what we call "Value Translation Sheets" - one-pagers that show how technical testing metrics translate to business benefits. When a tester says "We found a 3-second lag in the checkout process," our client-facing teams can immediately add, "Which typically results in a 20% drop in sales completion for e-commerce sites."

The Tools That Made a Difference

In marketing, we're always trying out new tools, and some of them proved invaluable for enablement:

• We use tools like Active Presenter to create quick video walkthroughs of our testing processes
• Our KBase houses all our service descriptions, case studies and communication templates
• We created an internal channel where teams can share real examples of how our testing caught critical bugs for clients

Navigating Challenges

Let's be honest - not everything worked perfectly. Our first attempt at creating service decks was a flop - too marketing-heavy for the delivery teams, too technical for the sales team. We had to find a middle ground. We also faced some initial resistance from seniors who didn't see the value in "dumbing down" technical expertise. Building trust and showing them how better communication leads to more interesting projects helped turn them around.

Culture Shift in Action

One of my happy moments was overhearing a lead on a client call. Instead of diving into the technicalities of our regression testing process, he started by asking about the client's release cycles and the business impact of bugs slipping through to production. That's when I knew our enablement efforts were making a real difference.

Where We Go from Here

I'm still pushing for more improvements. We're currently working on:

• Better client facing documents
• Better internal documents that both technical and non-technical team members can understand
• A client education program to help them get more value from our services

My Advice to Other Marketing Leaders in Tech Services

If you're in a similar position, start with what you know best - communication.

Technical expertise is crucial but the ability to effectively communicate that expertise to clients is what sets great service companies apart from good ones.

Don't try to boil the ocean. Start small, focus on initiatives that align marketing goals with delivery team needs and build from there. And most importantly, always stay curious about the technical side of your business - it makes you a much more effective enablement partner.

Remember, in services, our people are our product. The better we enable them, the better we serve our clients.

Would love to hear about your experiences! Have you tackled similar challenges in your organization?