by Bronwen Edwards
November 24, 2020
So you’re looking to…
It all sounds great, doesn’t it?
So, Where do You Get Started?
You’ve read all the reports, seen the statistics, and watched the infomercial on why alignment works. Even with all of that, you’re still stuck on where to get started. There are perfect duos in our world – salt and pepper, which simply just go together. WFH and “activewear” – which also go together (but don’t rhyme as nicely). But marketing and sales are more like oil and vinegar – they just don’t mix. That is unless you shake the bottle hard enough.
Shaking the Bottle
Sales and marketing – it’s definitely a complicated relationship – but it’s not impossible. At the end of the day, aligning marketing and sales is all about finding common ground and a common language, and maybe shaking things up a bit. And believe it or not, that common ground already exists – with your customers. Pivoting both teams to work towards the same customer and revenue goals is the key to getting on the same page.
Let’s walk through a few top tips to get you started on the road to alignment.
(Don’t like reading? Watch the 25-minute webinar instead!)
#1 The Importance of Joint Ownership
Let’s start with ownership. According to The B2B Lead, sales teams ignore up to 80% of marketing leads. It’s not because they want to, it’s just that there’s been no agreement on what a lead is, let alone what a quality lead is. There’s no common language, so it all ends up being a big miscommunication. Getting together to talk and agree about who is responsible for the different parts of the customer experience and the funnel is a good place to start.
#2 Fetching the Right Technology
There’s no reason for you to do this the hard way – when embarking on this type of transformation project it’s really worth reviewing the existing capabilities within your tech stack to see if they are up to scratch. Do you have the right CRM and marketing automation platform – and if you do, how well are you using them and could you be leveraging these in a better way. These platforms are critical enablers to the process and there’s a firm correlation of teams that are aligned with those who are using their CRM and MA platforms effectively.
Need a marketing automation health check? We got your back, reach out to us here.
#3 Setting Metrics
Two of the biggest barriers to alignment are having different internal incentives (48%) and measuring results differently (48%). Have a look at the KPIs and metrics that marketers are tasked with and compare those with sales. Is there any cross over at all, or are both teams targeted with completely different outcomes? How both of these teams are measured (and often compensated) is critical to them working together so bringing some commonality into the KPI’s of both teams can help to drive the teams closer together.
#4 Communicate and Iterate
The metrics are just the conversation starter – it helps both teams to come together and talk about the same outcomes in the same language. It is extremely important to have that regular cadence for sales and marketing to get together and talk about how everything is working, and what needs to be changed to improve things.
#5 Have Fun!
Look, it wouldn’t be a Top Five Tips for “Blah” list, without having at least one that is about having fun. When it comes down to it, developing the strategy for the alignment in the first place is actually the easy part. Maintaining that alignment over months to come is the real challenge – so anything you can do to keep things fun and interesting across the two teams is just going to be the grease on the wheels. Want to know more – why not watch the webinar!
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