Your sales team is frustrated with marketing support. How can you bridge the gap in Sales Operations?

The sales team and marketing team are two teams that are interrelated because they have different tasks and functions but support each other. Both teams must be able to work together to achieve the organization's goals. One thing is for sure, the sales team is responsible for product distribution while the marketing team is responsible for brand building and market demand creation. Only when they work together in harmony will there be synergy effect.

This is why I love OKRs as it gives the business the same target and helps brings teams together. The successful companies I have worked with all have a sales and marketing team aligned.

In my experience, when a marketing team and a sales team collaborate at the beginning of a project, they are way more effective when it comes to results - the cash ones !!!!!

Bridging the Sales-Marketing Gap Align Goals: Ensure both teams understand and work towards shared objectives. Open Communication: Create regular channels for feedback and discussion. Data-Driven Decisions: Use analytics to measure performance and identify areas for improvement. Joint Training: Educate both teams on each other's roles and processes. Customer-Centric Focus: Prioritize customer needs and align marketing efforts accordingly. Experiment and Iterate: Test different approaches and learn from results. Empowerment: Give both teams autonomy and accountability for their work.

The approach I took was very much the one team approach. Sales, Marketing, Alliances, all with aligned visions, goals and processes. The success will be driven by everyone in their respective roles as part of our RevOp structure. Process and accountability within roles is key, with regular review meetings as a team, discussing how we are doing from a target/KPI standpoint- and making changes if required. Shared team responsibility for delivering success. Lots to improve on, but approaching it as one team (RevOps) has really helped and driven tangible results.

It's extremely important for sales and marketing to have an open, constructive, and collaborative dialogue. They need to be able to provide feedback to each other that can help drive metrics. Have regular meetings between and encourage an open transparent atmosphere where they can solve problems together, listen to each others concerns and strategize how to solve them. We need to remember that this is really one team and while they may have different functions they are not autonomous. It's incredibly important that each team builds trust in the other so that they can give each other meaningful feedback. Ultimately a regular open dialogue is the way to solve this tension. Each team needs to realize that together they are a single unit.

What we have found helpful is including marketing in sales meetings, and inviting sales to marketing meetings. This gives each side the other's perspective and the ability to voice their ideas.

Cross-training helps both teams align on shared goals and objectives. When each team understands the other's targets and metrics, they can work together more effectively to achieve them. Exposure to different perspectives and ideas can spur creative solutions and innovative approaches to reaching and engaging customers. With a shared understanding of challenges and goals, both teams can collaborate more effectively to troubleshoot issues and develop solutions that benefit the entire organization.