Sales and Marketing: A Match Made in Business Heaven (If They Ever Start Talking) ????

Hello there,?

Are you ready to play cupid for your Sales and Marketing team? Grab a cup of tea (or something stronger if you've just sat through another Sales vs Marketing blame game), and let's dive in!

The Great Wall of Sales and Marketing?

Once upon a time, in businesses all over the world, Sales and Marketing lived in separate kingdoms. Marketing complained that Sales never followed up on their beautifully nurtured leads. Sales grumbled that Marketing's leads were about as qualified as a toddler for brain surgery.

Sound familiar? Well, it's time to tear down that wall. And no, I don't mean by starting a war (put down that nerf gun, Karen from Sales).

Here's how we can turn this dysfunctional family into a power couple that even Posh and Becks would envy:??

Speak the Same Language?

First things first, we need clear, concise Sales processes that everyone understands. And by everyone, I mean Marketing too.?

Picture this scenario - Marketing actually knowing what happens to a lead after they hand it over. Revolutionary, isn't it? We recommend getting Sales and Marketing in a room. Order pizza. Don't let them out until they've mapped out the entire customer journey together.

SLAs: The Prenup of Business Relationships

Service Level Agreements might sound about as exciting as watching paint dry, but they're the secret sauce to alignment.?

Think of SLAs as a prenup for your Sales and Marketing relationship. Who does what? When? How? Get it in writing.

For example: The agree might entail that Marketing generates a lead, and Sales follows up within 24 hours. Not 24 days. Not when they feel like it. 24 hours.?

Which brings us to...?

The 24-Hour Rule: Because Time is Money (And leads go colder faster than our coffee)?

Leads are people. And people have the attention span of a goldfish.?

If Sales doesn't follow up within 24 hours, that hot lead turns into a cold lead faster than you can say "I'll call you back next week".?

How can you ensure leads are followed up? Set up an automated alert system. If a lead isn't contacted within 24 hours, klaxons go off and a large neon sign flashes "FOLLOW UP NOW". Or, you know, you could just send a reminder email. Whatever works.

Data Sharing: Because knowledge is power (And power is lead conversions)

Encourage your teams to share data. Sharing is caring should be the motto here. He feedback loop is critical to success, Sales should feed insights back to Marketing about which leads convert and why, not just the standard, ‘leads are &@*!’? Marketing should share campaign data with Sales so they know what prospects have seen.?

It's not just nice to have. It's the difference between shooting in the dark and using a heat-seeking missile.

Do you need more leads or do you need more of the right leads? Do marketing need to provide more nurturing support to help with close rates? Sales and marketing collaboration can help teams work smarter, not harder.??

Shared Goals: United we stand, divided we fall

Nothing brings people together like a common enemy. In this case, let that enemy be missed targets and lost revenue.

Set shared goals for Sales and Marketing. Revenue goals. Lead quality goals. Customer satisfaction goals. When both teams are working towards the same targets, magic happens.?

And by magic, I mean increased revenue. Which is better than magic, because you can't buy a yacht with card tricks.

True Sales and Marketing alignment is about creating a seamless, efficient, lead-converting machine.

It's about Sales and Marketing finishing each other's sentences, high-fiving in the hallways, and maybe, just maybe, voluntarily sitting together at the Christmas party.

Remember that when united, Sales and Marketing are unstoppable. Divided, they're just two teams pointing fingers and wondering why the leads aren't converting.?

Until next time, may your funnels be full and your teams aligned!?

Amy