If you’ve ever been part of a company whose sales and marketing teams tend to finger-point, you’re not alone. While each function is responsible for driving customer acquisition and revenue, each plays a different role towards that goal. When things go wrong and goals are missed, the blame game ensues! Unfortunately, once started, it’s a vicious cycle to break and, even when things go well, each team tries to claim the credit.

The truth is, there is no marketing “secret sauce” to attract prospects, just as there is no “magic wand” that sales teams wave to close a deal. When you’re dealing with people – your prospective customers – and working to close the sale, you’re managing a whole host of possible issues, barriers, objections, delays, and questions.

Playing to Strengths

The best way to achieve your company’s overall revenue and growth goals, is to have the marketing and sales teams aligned. This happens when each team knows its role and plays its part in relation to the sales funnel.

Consider a standard sales funnel – Awareness > Interest > Consideration > Intent. The primary objective of marketing is to create awareness and generate interest in a company’s product or service. Marketing fulfills this objective by creating a favorable perception of the brand, attracting potential customers, and nurturing interested prospects. This includes deploying the right messages through the proper channels in order to reach and engage the target audience. Sales takes over when a prospect expresses interest and works hard to convert prospects into customers. Their primary focus is on developing the relationship with the prospect and closing the deal.

Closing the Feedback Loop

Even when marketing and sales execute their roles, the missing ingredient that can sometimes wreak havoc is the lack of a solid feedback loop between the two. Open lines of communication foster better sales and marketing alignment.

For example, when a sale gets stalled, communication from sales to marketing about the details for the delay can spark ideas about ways to remove obstacles. Perhaps more information or more effective communications earlier in the funnel could help facilitate a faster decision by the prospect. Similarly, when a sale goes smoothly or a customer has great things to say about how they came to know about your company, let marketing know so they can build on that.

The more conversations had between sales and marketing throughout each phase in the funnel, the easier it is to proactively break down purchasing barriers, devise creative ways to overcome objections, and build nurturing programs designed to remove delays and enable a more streamlined process from awareness to close.

Taking the Next Step Towards Sales and Marketing Alignment

If your business is stuck in a finger-pointing cycle, or you’re not sure how to engage the sales and marketing functions in a way that fosters company growth, consider taking a few simple steps:

  1. Start with a clear understanding of the roles of each function.
  2. Identify responsibilities as you walk through the entire marketing and sales funnel together.
  3. Make sure all team members understand where the handoffs take place.
  4. Get clear about what a marketing lead is, and when sales takes over.
  5. Create some space for regular dialog between the two teams.

5280 Accelerator understands the dance between marketing and sales. We know how to align the two functions so the give-and-take is smooth. When we come on board to accelerate your growth, rest assured that we also work closely to best align ourselves with your sales process and your sales team. Together, we can create some real magic.