Why does it matter?
Having misaligned sales and marketing teams is an unfortunately common phenomena. These teams put each other at a disadvantage when they’re divided. While they may share the same goal of driving sales and revenue, their everyday activities and objectives vary. This doesn’t mean that they can’t still align their varying objectives, as the outcome of alignment can result in improving the overall business performance. Prioritizing alignment for these teams, and uniting around a single revenue cycle results in improved ROI, productivity, and most importantly, top-line growth.
Signs that your sales and marketing teams are out of alignment:
- The sales team is ignoring marketing guidance
- Marketing collateral goes unused by sales
- Missed opportunities
- Lacking communication
- Unaligned customer journey
How to align sales and marketing teams:
Align goals
The two teams have varying roles from one another, obviously, although shared goals can tremendously assist with alignment. Some KPIs they can share include conversion rate and lead value. So, identify shared KPIs within your organization. This way your two teams can work together towards the same goal.
Help showcase sales expertise
While marketing is responsible for promoting all aspects of the organization, one aspect of this includes the expertise of the sales team. Ghostwriting blogs or social posts for the sales team is a great way to help them establish credibility, all while creating more marketing content.
Consistent communication
Further, the best way for both teams to stay connected is to have regular meetings between the teams. Weekly and monthly meetings allow the sales team to discuss their quotas and goals, and marketing teams to share upcoming campaigns and offerings.
The result of a successful alignment program between departments
Finally, note these statistics:
Alignment can lead to a 32% increase in year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth (Aberdeen Group).
208% growth in revenue (Wheelhouse Advisors) can be made available by aligning
Aligning can lead to 38% higher sales win rates (MarketingProfs).
Lastly, as always, we value your input and comments. Reach out to #teamASAR and let us know what you think!