Marketing and Sales

They’re similar, and they do have some overlap. However, the way that it works is that the process starts with marketing and ends with sales. To sum it up, marketing creates and distributes content, following marketing best practices, to create leads. Then sales kicks in and nurtures specific prospects, hopefully ending with a sale. You can say that marketing is more global, while sales focuses on one person at a time.

The Need for a Relationship

Great, you may say. So let marketing do its thing, and sales do hers, right? Well, the problem is that that model won’t be super effective. Think about how just leaving it as it is can fail. If marketing doesn’t know what sales considers a qualified lead, then how can they tailor content towards that persona? Both departments need to see eye-to-eye about your company’s target buyer. In fact, companies retain 36% more customers and see a 38% higher rate in sales wins when marketing and sales are aligned.

Change the Way You Think

It’s common to hear terminology like “we’ll hand this over to sales”. However, everyone will benefit if, instead of envisioning two separate marketing and sales funnels, to view it as one long funnel. Essentially, it’s all one team, with one goal. Even if you don’t have a big marketing and sales teams, this way of thinking can improve the flow.

Read More: Sales Calls in Five Easy Steps

Have the Two Communicate

It’s imperative that everyone know who is responsible for what. The only way to do this is keeping communication open. Have regular meetings and other means of communication to spell out who takes care of what, so that nothing falls between the cracks.

Marketing: Step Into Sales’ Shoes

The caveat with marketing is that it’s easy to fall into the data and lose touch with the humans you are marketing to. Step into sales’ shoes for a day- speak to customers, interact, or, at the very least, speak to sales reps about the prospects they are in contact with. We’ve spoken about buyer personas here on the blog- this is your chance to strengthen them.

Increase Sales Reps’ Visibility

Generally, marketers are the ones behind the content that is shared with your target market. However, a sales rep is going to be the one getting in contact with individuals. Why not have them write a blog post, or post to your social media? This increases their credibility and expertise, and also may create a degree of familiarity when they reach out to a lead who has read or seen what they have posted.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, we all have the same goal: increasing revenue for the company. And if two heads are better than one, then two teams can achieve more than one ever can. If you're a small business and don't have separate marketing and sales teams, this can actually work towards your benefit, because you know both sides well. However, it's still important to keep an open mind and not separate the two.

Get more insight into the sales game.