The marketing team’s job is to generate potential customers through leads and the sales team’s job is to convert leads into potential subscribers and buying customers. Marketing and sales team has a sibling rivalry kind of relationship with each other. Miscommunication and lack of trust between the two teams may drag down a company’s results.
So by aligning the marketing and sales team and by allowing them to work hand in hand, we can achieve optimal performance and boost our company’s reputation and knowledge. Now, proper strategy and efforts can be made to align both the teams and generate revenue single handedly. By implementing data driven tools and software that helps in open communication we can begin to align teams by this method as well. Many tactics can be used to target higher paid leads by sales means.
Let’s discuss some leading ways of how to align your marketing and sales team.
1) Management Is the Key
Alignment starts from the very first position in the management. If the sales and marketing team directors are not in agreement, then this could affect other teams’ hierarchy. Both teams’ point of focus is in achieving the target together and this target can be achieved by mutual planning. It is also important to keep coordinated with each other, share processes, resources and practices. This will give chance to get to know each other and better way to understand how both of their works are interlinked with each other.
2) Scheduling and Attending Regular Meets
Scheduling and attending meeting every once a month, or in a week or two allows marketers to know about sales agenda, how sales is performing and can provide the help in marketing sense to achieve more profit for the company. Interacting every once awhile with each other, allows teams to know about the shortcomings in the content from the sales end. Main target of both teams is customer satisfaction in which marketing team act as inventor or publisher and sales team acts as representatives of consumers who are directly aware about the shortcomings, demands and their feedback.
3) Measuring the Results
For keeping the coordination intact, both the teams must speak the same language in whichever they are comfortable with. This makes their communication easier and also can understand each other’s point of view.
Alignment of teams can also be done by setting goals. Once the goal is set, they would be allowed to work on it to achieve it. This can ensure us that they are working towards the same outcome.
Once they are allowed to communicate in their own comfortable language, they are allowed to work upon a goal for the same outcome, then we can analyse the result. Which means that measuring the results gives an overview of the team performances. This gives us analysis to recover the differences (if any) and an overview of how to proceed with two teams hand in hand by aligning.
4) Content Creation Process
Sales teams are in constant contact with potential and existing customers. This makes them aware that what the point of attraction for the customers is. But, due to lack of time sometimes the customers are not able to write the genuine feedback.
So, meeting can be held and sales team may be asked to share their views as well as the solutions. They can let us know what are the demands and feedbacks of the work that has been created.
Marketers are continuously updating the content that has been created and sales team needs to be updated for the changes so that they promote with accurate information.
5) Facilitate Training if Needed
Constant training session must be organised for both sales and marketing. This makes the sales team more used to with the demo content, and marketers to analyse the demands of their target audience. This ensures proper coordination between both the teams. This training sessions may also be termed as discussion sessions, as this can also be the time to discuss various issues that can be related with anything whether between the teams or about the product feedback.
Bringing both departments together to implement new learning of software which can be mutually beneficial to both parties. An example of this might be the transition from collecting to follow up of leads through website visitor tracking.
6) Having Fun and Getting to Know Each Other
Now, this can sound weird, but it’s true. Proper fun sessions or games or environment can be maintained to erase the monotony in office. When colleagues don’t talk with each other, this can lead to boring environment which ultimately makes work not so interesting. So, some team lunches, outings, celebrations can help in smooth and exciting functioning in office premises.
So, these were some points that can help align marketing and sales team. Adapting to these points can bring laurels to the results as well as relationships between colleagues and teams.
