If you’ve ever worked within a company’s marketing or sales team, you’d know that (except for the rare and glorious case) relations between both groups are usually horrible. The marketing team complains that the sales team is being stingy with existing customer information. Or the sales team is complaining that marketing content doesn’t drive sales. The list of squabbles goes on and on.
But, do you know that companies with sales and marketing alignment are 67% better at closing deals and drive 209% more revenue? This is a stat that shows the importance of communication between your marketing and sales teams.
If we’re honest, there’s an atom of truth in every rumor. This is true for the complaints the two teams throw at each other. If it’s really severe, it points to fundamental issues in your structural organization.
These are problems that may turn into crises if not adequately solved. So, let’s take a look at why it’s worth braving the muddy waters of an ongoing sales and marketing war. Here’s why communication between your marketing and sales teams is important.
Content Creation
Content creation is usually the sole forte of the marketing team. However, any sales rep will tell you that most of that stuff is left unused, in reality. This is because, though the marketing team has great marketers, most are rarely aware of what actually sells.
This is where the sales team reigns supreme. They’re on the ground every day, trying to close leads and meet client’s needs. They can tell you what clients need, what they like to hear and see. This is vital information for marketers and can help them create content that’ll generate better leads. How will they know this if they’re still in the middle of a turf war?
KPIs
Both teams monitor a lot of the same key performance indicators. Sales, lead conversions, social media engagement, etc. These are necessary KPIs for each side, and monitoring them helps to solve problems as they appear. Or it should.
Like we said before, there are some things that the marketing team understands more than the sales team and vice versa. This applies to KPIs. Having all your executives from both teams communicate and understand these overlapping KPIs is critical. It allows everyone to comprehend better why the numbers are where they are and how to improve them.
Customer Relations
While the sales team has a better understanding of customer needs, marketing has better ideas of marketable content. Each side has what the other needs to generate better leads and make more sales.
Sales can help marketing create better buyer personas. This helps marketers create better content to drive more sales. It also helps reduce the need for market research.
How To Improve Communication Between Your Marketing and Sales Teams
Meetings
Nobody likes meetings, but they’re a necessary evil. Both teams need to hash out their issues and then learn how they can profit from working together
Asking the right questions
The marketing team can benefit greatly by asking the right questions politely. Questions that focus on building better buyer personas like “what motivates your prospects?” can help bridge the gap in communication.
Encourage information sharing. Encourage the sales team to give their feedback on the marketing team’s work and vice versa.
Conclusion
Our list of methods to improve communication is by no means exhaustive. However, these are the most important ones to facilitate better alignment between the sales and marketing team.
When the going gets tough, remember that in one year, total decreased sales productivity and wasted marketing efforts due to misalignment cost $1 trillion.