We all know that aligning sales and marketing is crucial for business success. But in today’s customer-centric landscape, optimising collaboration requires continuous reassessment. Even for seasoned executives, there are always opportunities to refine strategies.
In this post, we’ll look at emerging ways of improving sales and marketing alignment, and offer some tips to strengthen your strategy.
What we cover
The Old View of Sales vs. Marketing
Traditionally, sales and marketing have been seen as competitive or even split. Marketing complains that sales don’t follow up on leads. Sales complain that marketing sends them low-quality leads.
This tension stems from the different KPIs and mindsets of each department. Marketing focuses on brand building and lead generation metrics, while sales focus on revenue – creating misalignment around goals.
Additionally, sales and marketing have historically operated in silos. There’s been a lack of communication and transparency between the teams.
Modern Insights: Collaboration is Key
Forward-thinking companies now recognise that collaboration between sales and marketing is essential. When the teams work together, they can create unified messaging and a seamless customer experience.
Recent research by McKinsey found that sales and marketing alignment can deliver a 20% increase in sales conversions and a 15% faster time to market. However, only 19% of respondents said their sales and marketing teams were truly aligned.
How can you ensure your sales and marketing teams are in sync? Here are what we’ve found are three best practices:
1. Set Shared SALES & MARKETING Goals
Make sure sales and marketing agree on shared goals and metrics for success. Consider setting up a joint revenue target that marketing contributes to by delivering qualified leads. This gives both teams skin in the game.
2. Improve Communication
Create regular touchpoints for sales and marketing to communicate. This could include weekly pipeline review meetings, sharing CRM data, and including salespeople in campaign development. Better communication enhances understanding of what each team needs.
3. Invest in Technology
Robust CRM and marketing automation systems unite sales and marketing data. This provides visibility into the customer journey and helps coordinate outreach. Platforms like Salesforce and Marketo can get your teams on the same page.
Next Level: Build a Revenue Marketing Team
For truly aligned sales and marketing, consider integrating both teams into a single revenue marketing team. Revenue marketers own the full revenue cycle in collaboration with sales, rather than just demand generation.
HubSpot is one company finding success with this model. As HubSpot’s CRO noted, “Sales and marketing no longer exist. It’s one organisation focused on revenue.”
A revenue marketing approach requires changes to team structure, culture and systems. But the unified focus on revenue growth can be worth the effort.
Over to You
With new research affirming the value of sales and marketing alignment, now is the time to build tighter collaboration. Start by auditing your current alignment levels, pain points, and opportunities for improvement.
At Moreish, we’re ready to support you in assessing and strengthening your sales and marketing strategy. Let’s connect to explore how we can set your teams up for shared success. The first step is getting sales and marketing leaders in a room together – and we can help.