One feature that is present in all successful businesses is that their sales and marketing functions are aligned. Aligned teams work more effectively and perform better, they work leads efficiently and have a common goal to convert them into a customer.
In today's heavily contested markets where resources are scarce and budgets are reduced the need for everyone to be on the “same page” is therefore even more important than ever before. Misaligned sales and marketing teams are inefficient, they create campaigns without a clear objective and, ultimately, waste resources.
Today we take a look at what sales and marketing alignment really is and some best practice advice of how to get the teams in your organisation working together.
What is sales and marketing alignment?
Sales and marketing alignment is where your teams share communications, strategy, and goals that enable marketing and sales to operate as one. By working together, aligned teams will deliver high-impact, effective marketing campaigns, boost sales conversion rates, and increase revenue.
We have all come across companies where sales and marketing clearly don’t work together. They don’t talk until there is a hand off of a lead, and when it fails to convert each readily blames the other for the failure to win business.
With non-aligned teams the sales funnel is very linear and there is a distinct hand over of responsibility. Customers are now constantly engaging with businesses through multiple channels long before they purchase and well after a deal closes so it is important to deliver a seamless customer experience which is why alignment is important.
Clunky handoffs and duplicate communications can sour a buyer’s perception of your business — and result in lost revenue. Instead, successful organisations approach alignment as a key factor in achieving their business goals.
How to get your sales and marketing teams to work together
In order to have a coordinated and aligned sales and marketing team, everything must work together we have put together a few pointers that you can use to check if your sales and marketing teams are aligned.
1. Shared Goals
The first step for sales and marketing is to agree the goals they are both working towards. These can be as simple as company goals such as doubling turnover or more specific such as launching a new service.
This is because generally marketers will look at metrics such as the number of leads where as sales teams are more focused on the final outcome such as sales value. A shared goal will unite their perspectives and bring better collaboration.
2. Create the strategy together
Sales and marketing teams need to come together to understand the market situation, what potential customers need now, and how your solution can meet their requirements. By developing the strategy together you will ensure that you have cross-team buy-in, eliminate confusion, and guarantee your teams are working towards the same goal.
3. Agree processes
When sales and marketing teams start working more closely together it can quickly become confusing with each not knowing what the other needs to do and this can disrupt delivering a seamless customer experience. You should determine and document how you expect sales and marketing teams to work together, what roles and responsibilities each will have and how they will communicate between each other.
4. Feedback is critical
For sales and marketing teams to truly be aligned they need to be able to feedback to each other honestly and openly. By giving constructive feedback to each other rather than blaming each other teams will work together to improve overall performance to reach the shared goals.
5. Regular communication
One of the biggest contributors to misalignment is poor communication.
To help sales and marketing teams work together communications should be kept to a single channel so that stakeholders never miss an important conversation or task. Microsoft Teams is becoming an important tool for many sales and marketing teams as they can use it to share information, use applications to plan and deliver activities, as well as keep track of what is going on.
6. Invest in the right assets
One of the most popular marketing strategies today is content marketing and when used by sales and marketing teams it is highly effective at nurturing prospects through the different stages of the sales funnel.
By working together sales and marketing teams can create great content which they know how to use and ultimately help them which meet their objectives.
7. Lead by example
For sales and marketing alignment to benefit your business senior leaders need to show, by their actions, that alignment is the way forward. This will help with the adoption of new processes and methods of working which will eventually be reflected in increased sales, better existing customer retention and a higher return on investment.
Getting your sales and marketing teams to align can be a challenge for any business regardless of its size but if you want to succeed then following these pointers could be a step in the right direction. When you start developing your next marketing campaigns ensure that your sales team is bought into the process and will work with you to make your business successful.
If you would like to talk through any of the points raised in our article or meet up with one of our marketing consultancy team please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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