Alignment is crucial for marketing and sales teams everywhere. Despite this, many businesses struggle to stay aligned. Working in lockstep can be difficult due to distributed workforces, office politics, and changing market dynamics. Regardless of the underlying cause, resolving sales and marketing misalignment is critical to long-term success.
Every email nurture campaign, blog post, whitepaper, or webinar marketing effort is a waste of time if there is no real alignment. Marketing efforts fuel sales prospects and neither one thrives if they aren’t in sync. Marketing teams must build a strategy that accounts for and visibly supports sales objectives to ensure complete alignment. Marketing automation and regular collaboration are two strategies that can help.
Here are some strategies for marketing and sales alignment:
Become Acquainted with One Another
Spending more time together may be the simplest way to align the sales and marketing teams. Quarterly mixers, lunch-and-learns, training, or anything that brings both teams together face to face is vital for building rapport and culture. Leaders can explore strategies for socializing online if their teams work digitally or it’s tough to meet in person. Employees can use an online chat tool to help them make communication more convenient. Sales and marketing do not have to be best friends, but they align towards the same objectives.
Meet on a Regular Basis
Regular collaboration in the past meant holding meetings regularly. However, this may imply video conference calls, emails, SMS, and in-app notifications in CRM software in the digital, remote working world. Every sales and marketing touchpoint is essential. While full team participation is advantageous, the most critical connections are made among leaders. The right priorities will trickle down across all teams if marketing and sales leaders agree on goals.
Also Read: B2B Marketing Strategy Using a Multi-Channel Approach
Collaboration is Key
While social activities and regular meetings are beneficial, the most crucial aspect is day-to-day work. Sales and marketing must be able to work together seamlessly in the systems and surroundings they work in daily. More importantly, it’s critical to collect feedback from sales regularly to figure out what’s working and what isn’t. Then, to help sales customize their approach and eventually reach team goals, support materials can be modified.
Identify Common Objectives
While budgets vary by industry, most companies devote substantial revenue to sales and marketing. Creating alignment ensures that money isn’t wasted and that the company’s investment is maximized for a higher return.
Before simply creating goals to achieve metrics that other businesses strive for, leaders must question their teams about what they want to accomplish and why. What tasks and initiatives will assist them in achieving these objectives? What kind of help or resources will they require to achieve their objectives? And so forth.
Embrace Constructive Criticism
While team conflict might be unpleasant, it is vital for growth. The fastest way to lose competitive advantage is to become complacent with current strategies, processes, or systems. However, many companies operate in an environment where employees fear conflict and retaliation if they speak up.
Promoting constructive criticism can help bring marketing and sales closer together; it allows all parties to understand why certain decisions were taken, improving the end result. Embracing these difficult conversations will ensure that teams make the best decision possible, not just the easiest.
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