Marketing and Sales Alignment: How To Start

One of the biggest (and costliest) barriers to growth many businesses face is the lack of communication between marketing and sales teams. Instead of working in tandem to increase revenue, these two departments are often seen in opposition with one another.

In this blog post, I’ll show you how to get marketing and sales on the same page and working together in synchronicity.

What is marketing and sales alignment?

Marketing and sales alignment is the process of creating a shared system of communication, goals, and strategies that close the loop between marketing and sales functions. By integrating these two teams into a unified whole, your organization can gain a better understanding of how marketing is impacting sales and create an intradepartmental focus on tactics that promote revenue growth.

Marketing and sales alignment allows you to go beyond metrics such as traffic and lead volume to hone in on the functions that provide direct support to your sales team. The result:

• Better communication, transparency, and reporting
• Higher efficiency both between marketing and sales, and the company as a whole
• Better qualified sales leads brought through the funnel by marketing efforts

Why is marketing and sales alignment important?

Getting marketing and sales teams working together is not an easy task. So why go through all the trouble? Because it will literally transform your business by making your team’s and your customer’s lives easier. Here’s how:

The Benefits of Good Marketing and Sales Alignment

• Higher efficiency (no more chasing unqualified leads)
• More effective in closing deals 
• Built trust between departments
• Increased collaboration 
• Improved morale (Instead of pointing fingers, we are coming together and trusting one another)
• Increased transparency and better access to information
• Better scalability
• Eliminated uncertainty around goals and reporting

What does marketing do for sales?

• Builds trust by educating leads and demonstrating empathy throughout the marketing funnel.
• Uses behavioral insights to qualify leads and determine when they are ready to be handed off to sales 
• Weeds out the bad fits so only qualified leads reach the sales team
• Uses automated lead nurturing sequences o rekindle interest and stay top-of-mind when a lead drops off
• Solicits existing customers for referrals

What does sales do for marketing?

• Provides insight into customer queries and FAQs that come up in conversation
• Act as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) when developing marketing content
• Provides insight into how customers are using the product or service in the real world 
• Assists with buyer persona refinement (acutely aware of needs and pains in sales)
• Provides continuous feedback on lead quality to improve marketing strategy

Thinking Like a Customer

The way prospects consume information and make buying decisions has changed. The internet has made it easier than ever for consumers to find the information they need and educate themselves. 

The result? Your customers no longer want to be sold to. Instead, they are searching for education and resources to consume that will help them on their buyer’s journey. 

By the time a prospect arrives at a buying decision, they are pretty informed in which way they will go. The role of sales is now less about selling in the traditional sense, and more about building relationships through customer advocacy.

Why is achieving marketing and sales alignment hard?

There are three main reasons why many b2b organizations struggle with marketing and sales alignment:

1. There is a natural disconnect between marketing and sales departments. In many b2b organizations, the goals and functions of these two entities are separate from one another. This opens the door for finger-pointing and other blame games. In reality, marketing and sales are actually chasing the same goal: revenue growth.
2. Outdated sales processes make it hard to integrate technology. Being “experts in their field” often clouds the sales team’s perception of how Marketing could help. As a result, new technologies such as automation, video, and multi-channel communications do not get used to their fullest potential.
3. Lack of a centralized CRM. Without this single source of truth, it becomes difficult to track a customer’s history throughout the entirety of both marketing and sales funnels. Using a single CRM to store all of a company’s contact information makes it easier to share information between departments.

Taking The Next Step

Marketing and sales alignment is no easy task, but WEBITMD has the tools and experience to help overcome hurdles and get your business working like a well-oiled machine.

We provide regular sales workshops and will train your team to use the latest sales tools and technologies including automation, CRM, video, and much more. Get in touch today or download your free Growth Stack guide to learn how we can help you.