Allan Obrien

Background

About Allan Obrien

After 15+ years carrying a quota and getting my teeth kicked in by rejection, then 7+ years trying to help other people avoid the same beatings, I've reached an uncomfortable conclusion: most sales enablement is garbage. Here's why: most enablement programs fail because they're built by people who've never actually sold anything, or by top performers who think being good at something automatically makes you good at teaching it. THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH: I've been fortunate enough to build programs that delivered 30%+ revenue growth, improved customer satisfaction scores by 25%, and reached 500+ stakeholders globally. But here's what nobody admits: most of these "wins" came after spectacular failures that taught me what NOT to do. Here's the thing: half the sales training industry is selling solutions to problems they don't understand, to people who don't want to be there, using methods that don't work. WHAT I'VE ACTUALLY LEARNED: Most recently, I ran enablement for 200+ channel partners across 15+ countries at Oracle NetSuite. We used AI coaching platforms, AI analytics, and all the sexy tech buzzwords that make executives write checks. But the real breakthrough wasn't the technology. It was admitting that most sales training is designed to make trainers feel smart, not to make salespeople better. The best enablement feels like learning from that one colleague who actually knows their stuff and isn't afraid to tell you the truth. Everything else is just expensive performance art. WHY THIS MATTERS: Every time someone stops pretending they understand something they don't, starts asking better questions, or admits they've been doing something wrong for years, that's when real growth happens. The promotions and quota achievements are just side effects of people getting honest about their gaps. 🤝 LET'S CONNECT IF YOU- Think most sales training is a waste of everyone's time (you're probably right)- Want to discuss what actually moves the needle versus what sounds good in meetings - Believe the best technology makes us more human, not less - Have scars from enablement programs that promised the moon and delivered disappointment