‍Build a Bridge Between Sales and Marketing

Are sales and marketing associates in your organization marching in the same direction? Or are they on divergent paths? Even though they have shared goals to grow an organization, sales and marketing are often out of sync.

So, resolve to work together. What does that mean? You need to agree on your marching orders. Marketing must deliver leads to sales. Field sales must call on those leads and maximize salesconversions.

These marching orders, however, are not specific enough to create results without a shared definition of a lead. If the marketing team doesn’t do its job of nurturing and qualifying leads according to that mutually agreed upon definition, sales will likely lose interest in following up on the leads.

Thus, to put this resolution into action: 

o    Schedule a meeting between marketing and sales leaders to draw up a common definition of a qualified lead

o    Set up rules for scoring and qualifying leads

o    Define your process for nurturing leads that are not ready yet for a sales call

o    Outline data to be included with leads when they are handed off to sales

o    Set time frames for each step in the process,so all team members understand expectations

If you’re unable to complete these steps internally, we are here to help.

2.  Include the Human Touch in Marketing

We hear a lot today about the ‘brand experience.’ The experience doesn’t start when someone becomes a customer. It encompasses the whole buying cycle from initial awareness to buyer and brand advocate. The human touch has a powerful impact on the brand experience. The human touch also increases sales. That’s because it enables businesses to break through the clutter to establish a genuine connection,build trust, gain credibility, and maintain valuable relationships.

While marketers are on the right track by using technology and automation to increase the efficiency of routine processes, real one-on-one personalized marketing cannot be fully automated. We're the closest thing to it.

3.   Embrace Technology

The Chief Marketing Technology Officer is now an essential position for many B2B organizations. That’s because even in a world where the human touch is essential, you have to stay ahead of the curve on technology. Every day there are new marketing tools that can increase efficiency and improve the customers’ experience.