Marketing & sales - their marriage is no longer on the rocks

Let’s be honest: marketing and sales have been on the brink of divorce since their forced marriage started. Their communication sucks. Their resentments could fill canyons. And they’re happy to let the other fall on their face. 

In fact, 60–70% of the content the marketing team creates for sales is never used. And sales is ignoring as many as 50% of their marketing leads, according to one study. 

Just like any contentious marriage, both parties feel like they’re in the right. Sales feels like marketing isn’t doing enough for them, isn’t listening, doesn’t appreciate what they contribute. Marketing feels like it’s doing so much to support sales and isn’t getting the credit for its hard work. 

It is enough to make everybody crazy.

And then 2020 happened. And in between the murder hornets, the eerie orange skies, and the months upon months of self-isolation, sales and marketing reached across the gap and came together like never before.

Because, to be frank, they had to.

Sales needs marketing’s support to help nurture and drive prospects through a now-more-digital-than-ever funnel. They need digital sales tools more urgently than before. 

On the other side of the coin, with consumer spending uncertain and shifting throughout the year, marketing needs sales’ input on what’s working, what’s important to prospects, and how they need to pivot to hit their goals. 

And so we’ve watched many teams shift and shelve their differences and embrace collaboration. And the brands whose teams have come together are reaping the rewards. In fact, 87% of marketing leaders say “close collaboration enables critical business growth.” 

So, here’s the question we all need to ask ourselves: Are our sales and marketing teams collaborating closely yet—or do we need some marriage counseling?

Because now is the time to bridge the gaps, support each other, and drive business together. Now’s the time to set aside differences. If your teams are still siloed, it’s time to break down the walls.

And if you aren’t sure how to bring those teams together? As always, we’re here to help. Some of the ways we’re helping teams come together right now include:

Messaging maps

By helping marketing and sales teams understand the full customer journey (as it spans across both their functions) and key points where customers need key messages from either or both teams, we can also bring those teams together. Mapping journeys and messaging together means input from both valuable sides of the customer journey equation. 

Sales enablement

If your teams are going to collaborate in real-time, they need the right tools to do it. We’ve been helping clients assess tools, set them up, and train teams to hit the ground running.

ABM programs

Have we mentioned that we love ABM? Because B2B sales funnels are more complicated and full of decision-makers than ever—and ABM aligns sales and marketing to focus on accounts instead of individuals.

Good user experience

Bad user experience drives away prospects. Full stop. And neither sales nor marketing can do their jobs if your website is complicated, confusing, and impossible to navigate. In fact, 88% of customers say they’ll leave your website and never return after a bad user experience. Fixing UX problems is foundational to helping both sales and marketing do their jobs. 

Market research

Who is your ideal customer? What do they need? Sales and marketing often have different ideas about the answers to those questions—which can create major disconnects in customer experience, user journeys, and brand. Which is why it’s just smart to do some market research to better understand whom you’re serving, what they need, what problems they want to solve, and at what point in their journeys they’re encountering marketing and sales.

Ready to get your sales and marketing back on the same page?

We’ve got the tools, strategies, and deep respect for both teams to bring them together, enable collaboration, and help you better reach your goals. Reach out anytime to talk about how we can help.