The Data-Driven ROI of Hiring a Sales Enablement Agency in 2026

Introduction

Is your B2B sales team struggling to boost win rates despite heavy investments in training and tools? You’re not alone. In fact, organizations with a sales enablement strategy achieve a 49% higher win rate on forecasted deals (2). Yet many revenue leaders still grapple with proving the ROI of these efforts. Enter the sales enablement agency – an external partner focused on equipping your salesforce with the resources, data insights, and outreach support needed to drive revenue growth. By 2026, hiring a sales enablement agency isn’t just a trend; it’s a strategic move backed by hard data on performance and efficiency gains.

In this in-depth guide, we’ll break down exactly what a sales enablement agency does and why it matters for CROs, CMOs, and sales leaders. We’ll explore the data-driven ROI you can expect – from faster sales cycles to cost savings – and how sales enablement consulting services can transform your pipeline. 

Let’s dive in and see how a sales enablement partner can be the catalyst for your 2026 revenue goals.

What is a Sales Enablement Agency and What Do They Actually Do?

Sales enablement agencies are specialized B2B service providers that act as an extension of your sales and marketing teams. Their mission is simple: to arm your sales reps with the right strategy, content, training, and qualified prospects to close deals faster. In practice, that can include everything from conducting training workshops and refining sales playbooks to running lead generation campaigns and managing outreach on your behalf. Essentially, a sales enablement agency offers “sales enablement consulting services” in an outsourced model – providing expertise and manpower to boost your sales productivity and effectiveness.

Why have these agencies gained prominence by 2026? For one, companies recognize that enabling their sales teams is critical to hitting revenue targets. A whopping 90% of organizations now have a dedicated sales enablement program (1), up from 75% just a few years prior. But building all this capability in-house is challenging, which is where sales enablement consultants come in. These agencies bring experienced sales consultants, content creators, and data analysts to diagnose gaps in your sales process and implement solutions that drive ROI.

Key functions of a sales enablement agency often include:

• Sales Content & Training: Crafting playbooks, case studies, and training sessions so reps are better prepared for customer conversations.
  
• Technology & Analytics: Implementing sales enablement platforms, CRM optimizations, and analytics to track what’s working and ensure reps use the best tools.
  
• Lead Generation & Outreach: Running targeted campaigns (email, LinkedIn, calls) to fill the pipeline with sales-qualified leads, effectively acting as your outsourced SDR team.
  
• Process Consulting: Analyzing your sales funnel data to find choke points (e.g. low conversion rates or long onboarding times) and recommending fixes.

What services should you expect from a sales enablement consulting firm?

While services vary by provider, a full-service sales enablement agency will offer a mix of the following core services:

• Lead Generation & Prospecting: Building target lists, cold emailing, cold calling, LinkedIn outreach, appointment setting – essentially filling the top of your funnel. (E.g., Martal Group, SalesRoads excel here.)
  
• Sales Training & Coaching: Developing and delivering training programs for your sales reps (new hire onboarding, ongoing skills workshops, product training, etc.), sometimes including role-playing and coaching sessions.
  
• Content Creation: Producing sales collateral and playbooks – case studies, battlecards, email templates, demo scripts – and establishing a content repository for sales.
  
• CRM & Tools Optimization: Implementing or improving CRM usage, sales engagement platforms, and analytics dashboards. Ensuring your team leverages tools properly (which is often a huge gap in organizations).
  
• Strategy & Process Consulting: Analyzing your current sales process and pipeline metrics, then advising on methodology changes, territory design, handoff processes between marketing and sales, compensation plans, and more. Essentially, management consulting for sales effectiveness.
  
• Recruiting & Staffing: Some agencies will help hire or even place interim SDRs/BDRs or sales leaders, especially if they’re doing fractional team services.

When scoping, clarify which of these you need. For example, a younger startup might want end-to-end lead gen plus playbook creation. A mature company might only need training on a new methodology. Top agencies can customize their offerings. Ensure sales KPIs are attached to each service (e.g., X leads per month, or training resulting in Y% more reps hitting quota). That way expectations are aligned, and you can hold the agency accountable to deliver value.

In short, a sales enablement agency serves as a one-stop shop to “enable” your sellers – providing strategic guidance, manpower, and technology to maximize sales performance. They differ from general marketing agencies in that they focus deeply on the sales process and work hand-in-hand with sales leaders to deliver measurable outcomes (meetings booked, win rates, revenue growth).

💡 Quick example: If your in-house team is great at closing deals but struggling to prospect, a sales enablement agency can deploy outreach specialists and AI-powered tools to engage your ideal buyers on multiple channels. This frees your reps to focus on high-value activities (like demos and negotiations) while the agency feeds them a steady diet of qualified leads.

Why Hire a Sales Enablement Agency in 2026?

Why partner with an external sales agency for sales enablement instead of keeping it all in-house? The decision often comes down to speed, expertise, and efficiency – all critical for revenue leaders under pressure to hit ambitious targets. Here are the top reasons B2B companies are hiring sales enablement agencies (backed by data and real-world results):

• Faster Scaling & Market Reach: When you need to ramp up pipeline now, agencies offer an immediate boost. They come with trained SDRs, proven playbooks, and established processes. No months-long hiring or training required. You can deploy new outbound campaigns or enter a new market in weeks instead of quarters. For example, outsourced sales partners enable companies to launch outreach without the usual delays – a huge advantage when timing is everything.
  
• Cost Efficiency: Budget-conscious CROs appreciate that outsourcing can be far more cost-effective than building an internal team. In fact, 59% of companies outsource specifically to reduce costs (7). Consider the expenses of recruiting, salaries, benefits, and software for an in-house SDR team – it may cost up to 60% more to hire internally than to work with a trained external team (4). By hiring a sales enablement agency, you essentially share the cost of expert talent and infrastructure across their client base. One analysis found companies can save as much as 70% versus employing full-time sales development reps on-site (3). The bottom line: you get more bang for your buck, turning what would be fixed headcount costs into a flexible, scalable service.
  
• Specialized Expertise and Tools: Sales enablement agencies live and breathe outbound sales and pipeline growth. Their teams include seasoned sales consultants, copywriters, data analysts, and technologists who specialize in areas your team might lack. They also come equipped with premium tools (sequencing platforms, intent databases, AI analytics) that might be cost-prohibitive to license in-house. For instance, many agencies leverage AI-driven sales tech to personalize outreach and prioritize the best leads. This isn’t just hype – revenue organizations that adopted AI in sales reported 29% higher sales growth than peers without AI (1). By tapping an agency, you essentially rent world-class talent and technology for a fraction of the cost, gaining capabilities that would be hard to build internally (especially for smaller firms).
  
• Time Savings & Focus: Ask any VP of Sales or SDR manager – prospecting and top-of-funnel work are incredibly time-consuming. Researching accounts, sending cold emails, following up incessantly… it eats up hours that could be spent on closing deals or strategizing. In fact, the average B2B sales rep only spends 13 hours per week actively selling, out of a full 40+ hour workweek (1). The rest is administrative burden. This is where a sales enablement agency shines: they take on the heavy lifting of lead generation and sales ops, freeing your in-house team to focus on what they do best (building relationships and closing). Your account executives and sales managers will thank you as they see their calendars fill with qualified sales meetings without burning out making cold calls. Plus, you avoid the opportunity cost of having high-salary reps doing entry-level prospecting tasks.
  
• Data-Driven Improvements: Top agencies don’t operate on guesswork – they thrive on data and continuous optimization. They’ll bring fresh eyes to your sales funnel and identify where deals are stalling or leads are dropping off. Maybe your email outreach isn’t getting replies, or your demo-to-close rate is below benchmark. An enablement partner will track the right metrics and tweak the approach in real-time. This scientific, KPI-driven mindset means better ROI on campaigns. For example, if email open rates are low, they might A/B test new subject lines or send times. If conversion rates lag, they may refine the qualifying criteria. Over time, these data-driven adjustments compound into significantly higher sales productivity.
  

In-House vs. Hiring a Sales Enablement Consultant: It’s worth noting the difference in ROI when comparing an internal hire to bringing in an external sales enablement consultant or agency. An in-house team gives you full control but comes with steep costs and slower ramp-up. On the other hand, a specialized agency can hit the ground running with a proven engine. You avoid the risk of a bad hire (which can cost upwards of $97,000 in turnover costs for a sales role (6)) and instead gain a team of experts for roughly the cost of one full-time employee. Given those trade-offs, it’s no surprise that many scale-ups and even enterprise firms are augmenting their staff with enablement agencies to accelerate growth.

Finally, consider the competitive edge. If your rivals are engaging buyers in a more personalized, proactive way (perhaps with the help of their own enablement partners), you risk falling behind. Sales enablement agencies often bring best practices from across industries, acting as a bridge between what the top performers are doing and your team. In 2026’s hyper-competitive B2B landscape, that edge in process and execution can make all the difference.

The Data-Driven ROI of Sales Enablement Consulting Services

When you invest in sales enablement – whether through an agency or internal program – you should expect a tangible return on investment. Let’s quantify the ROI of hiring a sales enablement agency by looking at key performance areas it impacts. The following data-backed results show how sales enablement consultants drive improvements at each stage of the sales cycle:

1. Shorter Onboarding & Ramp-Up Times: One of the fastest payoffs of enablement is reducing how long it takes new sales hires to become fully productive. By providing structured training, playbooks, and coaching, an agency can significantly accelerate onboarding. Studies show sales enablement can decrease rep onboarding time by 40–50% (2). That means your new SDRs and AEs start bringing in revenue months sooner than they would with trial-and-error learning. Faster ramp-up directly translates to a higher ROI because you’re getting more value from salaries you’re already paying. Plus, agencies often supply their own trained reps (in a Staff-as-a-Service model), who can start producing in weeks. Either way, you save the opportunity cost of lengthy ramp times.

2. Higher Win Rates and Sales Productivity: Enablement isn’t just about doing things faster – it’s about doing them better. By improving sales training and buyer engagement, agencies can lift your team’s overall effectiveness. For example, ensuring reps have relevant content and insights for each buyer interaction boosts close rates. It’s reported that organizations with formal sales enablement see win rates improve nearly 49% relative to those without (2). Similarly, enabling tools like guided selling platforms can lead to more reps hitting quota. In one case, providing reps with a strong enablement platform and coaching improved win rates by an additional 7% for a client (6). These percentage gains compound into major revenue growth over time – a clear ROI for the cost of hiring the enablement experts.

3. Expanded Pipeline & Revenue Opportunities: A core service of many sales enablement agencies is outbound lead generation – and this directly fuels top-line growth. By outsourcing your outbound prospecting or account-based marketing tasks, you should see a significant increase in qualified leads and booked meetings. For instance, Martal Group (profiled below) focuses on delivering sales-qualified leads so that “your calendar stays filled with qualified appointments”. More at-bats for your sales team inevitably lead to more wins. Some agencies even tie their fees to performance (e.g. per meeting or per SQL), underlining their commitment to ROI. Additionally, external consultants can identify untapped market segments and ideal customer profiles you might be missing, effectively expanding your revenue opportunities beyond your current reach. The ROI here comes in the form of net new pipeline that wouldn’t exist otherwise.

4. Cost Savings and Efficiency Gains: While growth metrics get the spotlight, don’t overlook the cost efficiencies an agency delivers – which contribute directly to ROI (since money saved is money earned). We discussed how outsourcing can save on hiring and overhead earlier. To reiterate, the average company can save 20–30% or more on sales development costs by using an external team, according to various industry benchmarks. A Deloitte survey found 59% of firms outsource specifically to realize those cost efficiencies (7). Moreover, by having specialists handle routine tasks, you reduce hidden costs like manager oversight time, turnover, and tech subscriptions. The agency spreads those costs across clients. When measuring ROI, these savings are a crucial part of the equation – resources that can be reinvested elsewhere.

5. Improved Sales Cycle & Deal Size: Quality sales enablement generates sales leads and often leads to better leads and more effective deal progression. With strategies like lead nurturing, targeted content, and deal coaching, agencies help move prospects through the pipeline faster. You may find your average sales cycle shortens thanks to more educated buyers or smoother hand-offs from marketing to sales (a common win from alignment efforts). Likewise, by equipping reps to articulate value more convincingly (through training or playbooks), enablement can increase your average deal size or lifetime value. One B2B firm noted that after enablement changes, their average purchase value grew because reps learned to bundle higher-value solutions and engage more decision makers (6). These improvements mean you’re extracting more revenue from each opportunity – a clear ROI boost.

To truly quantify the ROI of hiring a sales enablement agency, you should track a combination of these metrics before and after engagement. Common KPIs to watch include: ramp time for new hires, quota attainment %, win rate, average deal size, lead-to-opportunity conversion rate, and cost per acquisition. An effective agency will help set up dashboards or reports for these, and often provide transparent reporting of their own performance. Remember, an ROI calculation is simply (Revenue Gains + Cost Savings) / Cost of Investment. With sales enablement agencies, the gains come in both increased revenue and operational savings.

For example, let’s say you invest $10,000/month in an agency. In return, after 6 months you’ve closed an extra $200,000 in deals and avoided hiring two additional SDRs (saving perhaps $15,000/month in salaries). The rough ROI in half a year would be: ($200K+$90Ksavings)/$60Kcost(\$200K + \$90K savings) / \$60K cost($200K+$90Ksavings)/$60Kcost = 4.83x – a 383% return. Your mileage will vary, but numerous case studies show high returns like this when sales enablement is executed well. In fact, 76% of business leaders say sales enablement investments have improved sales performance in their organizations (2), validating that it’s a worthy investment.

Finally, one more intangible ROI factor: customer experience and retention. Enablement isn’t only about getting new customers – it also helps you keep and grow them. By aligning sales and marketing messages, and training reps to truly solve customer problems, agencies indirectly improve customer satisfaction. Happy customers stick around longer and buy more, boosting your CLTV (customer lifetime value). While harder to measure, this long-term ROI can dwarf the initial gains from new deals.

Top Sales Enablement Agencies in 2026 

If you’re considering outsourcing, it’s essential to choose the right partner. Below we feature sales enablement agencies making waves in 2026.

1. Martal Group – Fractional Sales Teams & AI-Powered Outbound

We are a B2B lead generation and sales enablement agency helping technology and service companies accelerate growth. Headquartered in Ontario, Canada, with teams across North America, Europe, and LATAM, we provide “Sales Executives on Demand” – fractional SDR teams that integrate with your organization to handle outbound prospecting, outreach, follow-ups, and appointment setting.

Our approach is data-driven and multi-channel. We combine targeted cold emails, LinkedIn lead generation, and cold calling to engage prospects effectively. 

We focus on quality over quantity, using intent data, technographics, and other buying signals to identify and qualify prospects that fit your ideal customer profile. This ensures you meet the right prospects at the right time and receive a steady flow of high-quality leads that convert at above-average rates.

Key Features:

• Sales-as-a-Service model: SDRs and account executives act as an extension of your team
  
• Multi-channel outreach: Cold emails, LinkedIn, and calling
  
• Data-driven targeting: Intent data and technographics to identify and qualify prospects
  
• AI-powered platform: Proprietary “Landbase GTM-1 Omni” prioritizes leads, personalizes messaging, automates email verification and follow-ups, and protects sender reputation
  
• End-to-end services: Lead generation campaigns, appointment setting, cold outreach, LinkedIn engagement, and sales development consulting
  
• Transparent reporting: Weekly updates on outreach activities, lead quality, and pipeline progress

Ideal For:

• Companies looking to scale their sales pipeline without hiring internal SDRs
• Organizations across 24+ industries, including SaaS, manufacturing, and telecom
• Startups and enterprise firms needing consistent, qualified sales meetings
• Teams expanding to new regions or ramping up after funding rounds

We help companies focus on closing deals while we continuously fill their pipeline with qualified opportunities. With experience across diverse industries and a combination of human expertise and AI-driven tools, we deliver high-quality leads, streamline outreach, and provide clear visibility into results. Our clients, ranging from startups to Fortune 500 firms, rely on us to quickly scale their sales efforts and maintain consistent growth.

2. SalesRoads – Tech Industry Outbound 

SalesRoads is a U.S.-based sales outsourcing agency focused on outbound lead generation for technology and SaaS companies. They provide dedicated SDR teams that manage cold calls, emails, and LinkedIn outreach. While their structured processes and reporting offer transparency, their approach is primarily outbound-focused and may not cover broader inbound or multi-channel strategies.

Key Features:

• Dedicated SDR teams for targeted outreach
  
• Development of ideal customer profiles and messaging strategies
  
• Flexible engagement models (short-term pilots to long-term campaigns)
  
• Weekly analytics, call recordings, and ongoing campaign adjustments
  

Ideal For:
Mid-market B2B tech companies needing a fully managed outbound prospecting team, particularly those without an internal SDR department.

3. Pearl Lemon Leads – Inbound + Outbound Lead Gen

Pearl Lemon Leads is a UK-based boutique agency offering combined inbound marketing and outbound lead generation. Their full-funnel campaigns include content creation, SEO, and personalized outreach. The small team allows high attention to clients but may not scale as quickly for larger campaigns.

Key Features:

• Hybrid approach: inbound + outbound lead generation
  
• Marketing automation and content-driven lead capture
  
• Personalized outreach and nurturing to convert leads to SQLs
  
• Hands-on service from senior strategists and founders
  

Ideal For:
Small to mid-size businesses looking for a personalized, creative approach that integrates marketing and sales development.

4. Leadium – Appointment Setting

Leadium is a research-oriented B2B appointment-setting agency with a global team. They build customized lead databases and execute multi-touch outbound campaigns. While their data-driven focus uncovers hard-to-reach prospects, their process relies heavily on client collaboration and defined ICPs.

Key Features:

• Custom lead database creation and enrichment
  
• Multi-channel outbound outreach (email, LinkedIn, calls)
  
• Campaign dashboards with full funnel visibility
  
• Flexible monthly retainers to scale outreach
  

Ideal For:
B2B companies needing rapid top-of-funnel scaling, especially SaaS firms or agencies with small internal sales teams.

5. Cleverly – LinkedIn Lead Generation 

Cleverly specializes in LinkedIn outreach for B2B lead generation, focusing on personalized messaging and connection campaigns. Their approach works best for LinkedIn-active prospects but has natural limits on volume and channel diversity.

Key Features:

• LinkedIn profile optimization and prospect list building
  
• Automated, personalized messaging sequences
  
• Weekly reporting and performance adjustments
  
• Low-cost entry packages for small campaigns
  

Ideal For:
Businesses seeking to generate leads via LinkedIn, particularly for niche roles or hard-to-reach prospects, as a supplement to broader sales efforts.

These are just a few of the many sales enablement agencies out there. Each has its own flavor and strengths, so it’s wise to match an agency’s expertise to your specific needs (industry, sales motion, budget, etc.). Always vet agencies carefully: ask for case studies or references in your field, understand their pricing model, and make sure they align with your brand values (since they may be representing you to prospects). The good news is that with the clusters of “sales enablement consultants” now available, you can find a partner tailored to almost any scenario – whether you need end-to-end sales outsourcing or just a boost in one area like content or training.

When is the Right Time for a Company to Invest in Sales Enablement Consulting?

There are a few clear signals it’s time to consider outside help:

• Stagnant or Declining Sales: If your revenue growth has plateaued or reps are missing quota consistently, an agency can diagnose issues and jumpstart your pipeline.
  
• Insufficient Leads: Your marketing isn’t generating enough quality sales leads, and your sales team is too busy to prospect heavily – a classic case for bringing in lead generation specialists.
  
• Entering a New Market or Launching a Product: You need to scale up sales activity quickly (perhaps a new region or vertical) and can’t afford the delay of hiring and training a new team from scratch. Agencies provide instant capacity.
  
• After a Funding Round or Aggressive Targets: When the board hands you a big new revenue target, an agency helps ramp volume fast – they can start booking meetings in weeks while you work on strategic hires in parallel.
  
• Sales Process Gaps: Perhaps you have a lot of junior sales reps with no formal training program, or marketing and sales are misaligned. Enablement consultants can come in to build playbooks, training curricula, and bridge departmental silos.

In general, if you find your team stretched thin, lacking certain expertise, or simply not achieving the desired sales results, it’s a smart time to explore a sales enablement partner. Many companies engage agencies during periods of rapid change or growth to ensure they don’t miss opportunities due to operational constraints.

How Do You Measure Success or ROI from Sales Enablement Services?

Measuring ROI involves comparing the outcomes of your enablement initiative to the costs invested, and it’s important to track both quantitative and qualitative impact:

• Set Baseline Metrics: First, record your starting point for key metrics like win rate, average deal size, leads per month, reps achieving quota, sales cycle length, etc. This provides a before/after comparison.
  
• Track Direct Metrics: During and after the enablement program or agency engagement, measure changes in those demand generation metrics. For example, did win rates rise from 20% to 30%? Did average sales cycle time drop from 60 days to 45 days? These changes can be translated into revenue gained or savings (time is money). Also track output from the agency: how many meetings set, leads generated, training sessions completed, etc., as relevant.
  
• Calculate Revenue Gains: Attribution can be tricky, but try to tie revenue to the initiative. If the agency sourced 50 deals and 5 closed, what is the value of those 5? Or if content training helped reps increase average deal value, estimate the incremental revenue.
  
• Calculate Cost Savings: Include any savings (e.g., not having to hire 2 extra SDRs saves $150k/year, or reduced rep turnover saves hiring costs). Enablement often improves rep retention and productivity, which has cost benefits.
  
• Factor the Costs: Sum up what you spent – agency fees, consultant fees, new software, etc. This is the investment.
  
• ROI Formula: Use (Revenue Gains + Cost Savings – Investment) / Investment. For instance, if gains + savings = $200k and investment = $50k, ROI = (200-50)/50 = 3 or 300%.

Also collect qualitative feedback: are your reps more confident? Are customers responding better? These don’t show up in a spreadsheet immediately but often lead to long-term ROI through better customer relationships.

Pro tip: Give any enablement program at least a full sales cycle (or two) to properly assess results – immediate bumps are great, but sustained improvement is the true goal.

Conclusion & Next Steps

Investing in a sales enablement agency is a strategic decision that can yield significant data-backed ROI. By leveraging external experts to streamline your sales process, fill your pipeline, and upskill your team, you’re essentially fast-tracking months or years of development. The data speaks for itself: higher win rates, faster onboarding, more leads, and lower costs are all on the table. But to capture these benefits, you need the right partner.

If your organization is ready to boost sales performance and outpace the competition, consider tapping into the expertise of Martal Group or one of the other agencies profiled above. They have the tools and talent to convert your growth goals into reality.

Remember: the true power of sales enablement lies in execution and consistency. It’s not a one-time project, but a continuous improvement cycle. A great agency will not only deliver quick wins but also set your team up with repeatable frameworks and insights for long-term success.

Ready to see the results for yourself? Martal Group offers industry-leading outbound sales support – from cold email campaigns and LinkedIn lead generation to full outbound sales outsourcing. Our team can become your unfair advantage in the market. Book a free sales enablement consultation today to discuss your goals, get a tailored strategy, and discover how an on-demand sales team can drive predictable revenue growth for your business. There’s no better time than now to empower your sales force with data-driven enablement and start 2026 on a trajectory to record ROI! 

References

1. Spekit
2. G2 Learn
3. OneShot.ai
4. Punch! B2B
5. Activated Scale
6. Mindtickle
7. Deloitte Outsourcing Survey