Unifying Sales and Marketing for Breakthrough Success
Almost all companies reach a stage in their business growth cycle where sales stagnate, and they don’t know how to break through to get to the next...
5 min read
Olivia Walls
:
Nov 22, 2023 8:11:00 AM
Sales and marketing are two very important, but different functions within a business or organization.
Simply put, marketing involves laying the groundwork for the sales process. That includes attracting leads and prospects to your business. Sales teams work on closing the deal, on the other hand.
Easy enough, right?
Not so fast.
Unfortunately, for many companies, these two departments often compete instead of working together. And, if there is a lack of communication and feedback between the two, the company’s success may suffer.
It’s more important now than ever before, for these two departments to work together. Although different, sales and marketing efforts are connected and share a common goal … to attract prospects and turn those prospects into customers.
When businesses understand that both functions are critical to the buyer’s journey and recognize that by working in alignment they can continually improve sales strategies and processes, they can produce better results.
If the two aren’t already aligned in your company, here’s why they should be.
Marketing informs people about your business, educating them about how the product or service you offer meets their needs or wants.
The marketing process takes the reins in determining the business’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP) - essentially, what it is that makes your company stand apart from the competition. Marketing researches target audiences, what those audiences need and how the company’s products or services best meet those needs.
Today, the biggest driver for most businesses is online marketing. There are several different types of marketing that may benefit your company depending on your target audience or buyer persona:
All of these marketing strategies use lead generation techniques to drive new prospects and, ultimately, new customers. After hiring a marketing agency, the firm should work with you to determine which of these types of marketing are best for the sales goals you want to achieve.
More sophisticated marketing teams use a combination of the above and typically segment their target audiences to ensure the right people are receiving the right messages. They often use advertising, public relations, digital tools like email and social media, and other resources to distribute their carefully crafted message at the right time and right place to best create opportunities.
Once marketing has generated leads, the sales team is generally responsible for converting those leads into customers.
Although sales is often thought of as the conversation that helps people determine whether or not they will buy from you, there’s a lot more to it than that. It includes all of the activities that are necessary to sell your company's product or service...contacting the lead, determining the prospect's needs, pricing products and services, preparing proposals or quotes, and more.
A Gartner 2019 Chief Sales Officer poll identified the top three priorities of sales organizations in the U.S. were account growth, improving manager effectiveness, and enhancing pipeline activities.
Salespeople work to build relationships in a more personal, one-on-one way. Their strategies are about developing an understanding of the customer and overcoming objections. Through their more direct and personal approach, they often serve as excellent brand ambassadors for the company, while also becoming a trusted partner and problem-solver for the client.
There are distinct differences between sales and marketing. Below are some of them.
|
Marketing |
Sales |
Goals |
|
|
Plans |
|
|
Strategies |
|
|
|
|
|
Without marketing, customers and potential customers might never be introduced to the company. Without sales, the company might not be able to maintain the necessary revenue stream needed to stay in business.
The need for both marketing and your sales department is evident. Today, however, it’s more important than ever that the two work together.
Here’s why:
Other benefits of aligning the two teams include better communication, improved transparency, and an overall better collaborative environment.
For example, because of the relationships they build with customers, sales professionals are in an excellent position to provide useful feedback and customer insights to the marketing team so that they can continually improve products, positioning and understanding of the buyer’s journey.
Given the value of what both of these departments bring to the table, it only makes sense that combining these two departments will be a powerful force for your company’s growth.
Here are some ways to get Sales and Marketing to break through the divide and work together to boost your company’s sales:
You can learn more in our article, Unifying Sales And Marketing For Breakthrough Success.
Whether you are doing your marketing in-house or hire a small business marketing agency for your business, it is important to understand the differing roles and importance of unified marketing and sales teams.
Your company's future depends on it.
Almost all companies reach a stage in their business growth cycle where sales stagnate, and they don’t know how to break through to get to the next...
Marketing today can be like a minefield. With countless articles about the different strategies and platforms, finding the techniques that will work...
There's no way around it. For a sales team to flourish and a business to be profitable, it needs a steady stream of quality leads. Qualified...