Achieving Sales and Marketing Alignment

When talking with clients, generating leads is the number one priority. Due to continuous technological advancements, shifts in buyers' journeys, smart social marketing techniques, and data-driven performance. When the right strategies are in place, businesses can bring their customers closer to prospects, resulting in better outcomes. However, the journey doesn't end with lead generation alone; the true game-changer lies in following up with leads and successfully closing deals, where marketing and sales truly converge.

Challenges in Lead Generation with Large B2B Clients

One of the primary challenges faced while working with large B2B clients revolves around follow-up and collaboration between sales and marketing teams. Often, we observe a lack of alignment between these two crucial units, particularly toward the end of our campaigns. To address this, it's essential to involve sales representatives from the outset, ensuring they understand the marketing initiatives, goals, and expected outcomes. Sales and marketing should share the same vision and collaborate closely to achieve mutual success. After all, sales teams possess valuable insights about end customers that can significantly benefit marketing efforts.

Defining a Lead: The Importance of Clear Communication

As I frequently talk with our marketers’ clients, I’ve noticed that even the term 'lead’ is not properly defined between Sales and Marketing. Various terms like MQL, SQL, and opportunity are used interchangeably, leading to confusion and miscommunication. In addition, each marketing team has its own special terminology. I have found myself on several occasions in the position of having to explain how a lead is defined even at the last call we have with a client, when Sales show up, and when we are supposed to discuss the overall campaign. To overcome this, establishing a common language and understanding right from the start is vital. By clearly defining what constitutes a lead and aligning the terminology, we can ensure smoother communication and a more effective lead management process.

Expectations vs. Reality: Setting Realistic Goals

To avoid disappointment and defend marketing efforts against results, it's crucial to set realistic expectations from the outset. But what are real expectations in marketing? 20 leads or 5 SQLs? Or is it the ROMI? The best way to approach this would be to start from the very end goal and work backward in order to calculate the right budget and then take it from there. More often clients want just ‘new leads’ or ‘increased revenue’ or ‘new pipe’. If for instance, your goal is an additional 10k of revenue, this could mean five deals of 2k each. Then you need to calculate the % of SQLs from the % of MQLs generated from the overall size of the pipeline, taking into account the ability of Sales to close a % of SQLs. The right budget can then be identified. When clients come to us and say: “I’ve got 5k to spend and I want 50 SQLs,” we know that this just won’t work! So, get your calculators out, be precise, and stop depending on wishful thinking. Especially, when a marketing fund is provided to you, be smart about what you can actually achieve, based on your capacity, resources, and deadline.

Strengthening Sales and Marketing Collaboration

In order for Sales and Marketing to come closer together, sales reps should be informed about the concept behind any GTM activities, so they can find some kind of pleasure and think about how to make themselves handy to marketing. Why should anyone do more than what is required anyway? What’s in it for them? Sharing the big picture and making GTM a common effort might take sales reps out of the misery of having to just follow up on some random leads generated by marketing provided in a poor Excel file. Sales and Marketing should be best buddies rather than acting like a divorced couple who are ignorant of each other’s business. And we have seen the outcome so many times with our clients. When we have joint calls with marketing and sales or business development reps, the best discussions occur, there is such a vibe and energy all looking at achieving max results out of a common effort.

The Art of Follow-Up: Nurturing Leads

A critical aspect of lead management is the art of follow-up. We are very often asked how follow-ups should be handled, i.e. what to say, in what tone, whether is it best to call the client or try to get in touch via email, etc. We always reply that each lead should be handled based on the content they have engaged with during marketing campaigns. Sales reps should familiarize themselves with the campaign materials to ensure meaningful conversations with leads. Gathering additional information, such as job titles and company size, helps understand their influence on business decisions. Utilizing a CRM system to store and track information is crucial for seamless communication and continuity. It's also essential to avoid sounding overly sales-oriented in initial contacts, focusing on building interest and understanding the lead's needs before diving into the sales pitch.

Let's Unite Sales and Marketing for Successful Campaigns!

At CONSALTA , we believe in the power of aligning sales and marketing efforts to achieve exceptional results. If you're interested in learning more about how to synchronize your sales and marketing teams for successful campaigns, reach out to us.