Have you ever had to build something from scratch – something that didn’t even exist before, with no roadmap and no template to follow? No? Well, whether that’s your worst nightmare or the stuff of dreams, that’s exactly what my team and I had to do at one of the world’s most recognised brands.

I’m Kyle Pickett, and I’m the Global Ad Sales Curriculum Designer at Netflix. And today, I want to share the journey of how we built our sales enablement function from scratch at Netflix, tasked with building not only a new function, but doing it in a way that remained true to Netflix’s well-known culture.

My goal is that, by the end of this, you’ll have a clearer picture of how to approach building your own sales enablement function – or maybe just pick up a few helpful insights along the way.

Let’s get started.

Why Netflix needed a sales enablement function

So, why did we even need a sales enablement function at Netflix in the first place? For 25 years, Netflix had no sales team. That’s right – no salespeople, no ads. When you think about it, it’s pretty wild! 

But things changed when we decided to enter the advertising business. It was a bold shift in strategy, and with that came the need to build out a sales team from the ground up.

Netflix is known for its culture, and that’s what makes our approach to building new functions so unique. We’re not just about hitting targets or making sales, we’re about making sure that everything aligns with the company’s core values. We had to figure out how to integrate the company culture with a whole new business model. 

And while we didn’t have a sales team for a long time, we did have a strong team of cross-functional partners who were already used to collaborating. Sales enablement was the next logical step to help this new function succeed.

Building this from scratch was a challenge, but we were determined to not only create a sales enablement team but to ensure it reflected the very essence of Netflix’s culture.

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How we built the sales enablement team from scratch

When it came time to structure our team, we didn’t just rush into the process. We knew we needed clarity – clarity about why we exist, what we do, and how we behave. It wasn’t just about “building a team.” It was about making sure that every part of the team had purpose, focus, and the flexibility to adapt to Netflix’s fast-paced, ever-shifting environment.

We started by looking at organizational models for inspiration. A major influence was the book The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni. In this book, Lencioni talks about six questions of clarity that every team should answer. These questions became the foundation for our team’s formation:

  1. Why do we exist?
  2. How do we behave?
  3. What do we do?
  4. How do we succeed?
  5. What is important right now?
  6. Who does what?

Let’s dive into how we answered each of these.

1. Why do we exist?

The first question we asked ourselves was the most fundamental: Why do we exist as a sales enablement team? This was crucial because it helped us define our mission and reminded us of the bigger picture. 

To answer this, we worked closely with the team, asking each member what they valued in mission statements, what they felt worked, and what didn’t resonate with them. From there, we workshopped our mission statement together, which ultimately became:

"Empower sales with innovative tools, aligned strategies, and comprehensive training to drive revenue growth, ensuring a seamless and impactful experience for our clients and partners."